Whether you’re designing social media templates or filming video classes, selling digital products online can be more convenient and profitable than selling physical merchandise.
For one thing, you can start making content with your phone or other tools you may already have. Unlike manufacturing physical goods, the only equipment you may need to purchase in order to create digital products may be video or audio recording devices. You won’t need to handle any inventory or pay for storage space either. Instead, your biggest investment will be the time you spend creating and marketing your digital content. With regular promotion, updates, and an engaged audience, the content you add to your website can potentially earn revenue for years to come.
Many creators see digital content as a way to earn passive income that complements the work they already do. By thinking strategically and setting up your online store correctly, you can focus on making high-quality digital products and marketing them to people who value your work.
Read on to learn more about how to create digital products and sell them online.
Selling membership access to your digital products
Adding an ecommerce section to your website to sell the digital products you create can take two forms: a traditional online store, which sells each product individually, or a members-only area that allows you to charge people to access all the content you place behind a paywall.
To decide whether a membership model is right for you, ask yourself what kind of products you plan to create and how customers will use them. If you’re creating standalone products, like an e-book or individual photographs, a traditional ecommerce site may work best. If you’re creating a series of classes or a library of e-books, a membership model may be a better option.
Members-only websites come with benefits, including:
Charging a recurring fee for access, such as a monthly or annual subscription, may create a steady income stream for you.
A one-time, lifetime access fee is a convenient way to charge for an online course consisting of several types of digital products, such as videos and supporting documents.
Memberships can feel more personal than the traditional vendor-customer relationship. You can add exclusive ways for members to connect with you, such as email contact forms or online appointment scheduling.
Actively market your membership site to retain members and attract new ones. Create an email newsletter for existing members to let them know about new releases, ask them what they’d like to see next, and remind them of the value of their membership. Appeal to prospective members by posting samples of the digital products you offer on the public parts of your website. Post a few more on third-party platforms such as social media sites or online craft marketplaces, where people can discover your work and visit your website to learn more.
Learn more about creating Member Sites and charging for gated content
Selling your art and photography online
As a visual artist, photographer, or graphic designer who works in digital media, you have the opportunity to set up your own online art gallery on your website and earn revenue by selling your work directly to your following.
Creating an online gallery means thinking like a gallery owner who focuses on attracting customers and making sales. Think about the types of art that might be best-selling digital products for you. Then, consider how you’ll charge for your work.
Consider some of these popular strategies that digital artists use:
Create a membership option. If you are creating a body of functional artwork or templates that could be used by clients, such as a library of stock photography or illustrations, you might offer people paid access to a membership site that lets them choose a set number of images whenever they need them.
Sell digital collectibles. Many artists are selling collectible digital art, often in the form of nonfungible tokens (NFTs). NFTs register digital artwork ownership using technology called a blockchain, so the work can be sold instead of downloaded and copied. If you’d like to create and sell NFTs, first research the process and become familiar with this fast-moving technology, which is closely linked to cryptocurrency.
Sell physical reproductions. Many web-hosting services, including Squarespace, allow you to link your ecommerce site with print on demand services. Your customers can buy your digital artwork printed on canvases, high-quality photo paper, T-shirts, and other products. Plus, print on demand companies take care of the shipping and inventory, creating less work and more opportunities for you.
Your digital gallery is a way to earn passive income for your work while presenting a portfolio that showcases your creativity and talent. Don’t forget to advertise your custom photography, art, and design services, so prospective customers can reach out to commission new work.
Read more about how to sell your visual art through your website
Creating and selling design templates
Using your creativity to earn a living doesn’t just mean making art to sell or offering your services to clients. A third way that visual artists—particularly graphic designers—earn extra cash is by selling digital templates that people can use to improve the look and professionalism of their own work.
The market for digital templates is massive because they are affordable and easy to adapt. For designers, there’s an upfront investment of your time, but not much attention is needed to sell the templates afterwards.
Who buys design templates?
Professionals who need help formatting their resumes, business cards, and presentation decks.
Businesses with an active presence on social media who want to make sure their posts have an attractive look and feel.
Individuals looking for a stylish way to create a customized greeting card or invitation.
The best way to ensure you’re creating design templates that will sell well is to study the market closely:
Visit the online marketplaces where many designers have posted digital templates.
Download a few to study the way they’re formatted and the extra instructions that creators include.
Filter your searches by popularity so you can identify the types of templates that sell best and the design software that customers want templates for.
Then, use that information to brainstorm ways to make your templates stand out—either by tapping into new niches or applying your unique style to create great-looking resumes, brochures, or other materials.
Third-party marketplaces aren’t the only place people buy design templates. Consider selling templates through your own website. You can either sell them à la carte to the general public or offer access to a membership site where customers get exclusive design templates or a regularly updated library of templates for a subscription fee. Creative marketing strategies can help you maximize your profits and use your gallery of templates to attract new clients.
Designing and creating online courses
During the COVID-19 pandemic, interest in online courses spiked—and the public’s interest in e-learning remained high even after in-person gatherings resumed. People have discovered that online classes offer a convenient way to learn new skills or get some exercise. In turn, coaches, personal trainers, cooks, and professional consultants have found that teaching online courses is a way to make extra income.
If you’re interested in selling online courses and classes through your website, first:
Pick a format. Some course creators post new video classes to their website every few days or weeks, charging students for access to their growing library. Others design and sell a single course with several lessons and chapters, take-home materials, and even homework assignments.
Choose your tools. Consider the equipment you may need to buy to record video and audio for a high-quality online course. In addition, decide whether you want to hire professionals to film and edit the videos or design additional course materials.
Decide on your involvement. Think through whether you want to create courses that students follow at their own pace, or whether you want to play an active role by teaching live webinars, exchanging emails with students, or moderating a private social media group for class discussions.
Making a choice on the above will help you structure your course and make a budget to create it. Looking at the existing market in your field can help you identify the right topic to focus on, the students you want to target, and a market-rate course fee. Before you post your first class, take time to develop a marketing plan, so you can let your clients and existing followers know about upcoming classes and advertise them to the broader public.
Learn more about making online courses and charging for access
Create and sell on-demand videos
It might not feel like the right time for you to start a membership or online course. Maybe your audience tends to pick and choose between your videos or your content doesn’t fit a course format. Or maybe you’re just getting started with sharing your videos.
On Squarespace, you can paywall individual videos on a video page, so you can sell a video regardless of how far along you are. If you want to sell access to a video or video library:
Decide what you want to focus on. Picking one or two video topics to start with will make getting set up a bit faster.
Create a video page and upload your content. Add your whole video library—or just start with one.
Make it clear what you’re offering. If you’re sharing a collection of videos, make sure visitors can see descriptions and summaries. Or consider choosing one or two videos to use as free previews.
Add a paywall to start monetizing. The final step to selling on-demand video is to create a Pricing Plan and set the price you want to charge. Paywalls can be added to an entire video page, or individual video players.
These will all make for a clear, simple browsing process for your site visitors, which can make them more likely to buy a video.
Learn more about selling paywalled videos
Writing, designing, and marketing e-books
E-books now make up a large portion of both fiction and nonfiction book sales. Many writers self-publish e-books to focus on niche professional subjects or simply to keep the majority of the earnings for themselves.
Readers and authors alike know that e-books come in a wide variety of forms. They can be 10 pages in length or 300. E-books can be like workbooks from online courses, with room for self-reflection, or they can be filled with full-color illustrations and charts. Not only that, many readers now buy e-books directly from the author’s website either as a single purchase or by paying to access a library of e-books posted in a membership area.
If you’re interested in supplementing your income through writing, think through how to create a digital product like an e-book and where to sell it:
Find the right topic. Do some research to identify existing books in the market, find knowledge gaps that your expertise can help you fill, and see how professionals in your field are creating and selling e-books.
Make it look professional. Consider hiring an editor to organize the text and polish your prose as well as a graphic designer to create an attractive cover.
Develop a sales plan. Because you’ll be marketing the book yourself, figure out who your target audience is. If you’re creating digital books as a marketing tool or a resource for your business, think through how you want to let your professional network know about your work. If you’re reaching out to the general public, create a social media marketing strategy, and consider writing about the book’s subject for newsletters and blogs.
E-books can live on your website for years, earning income long after you’ve written them, so consider updating the book from time to time to release―and sell―a new edition.
This post was updated on March 8, 2024.