How to sell Digital Products online
If you've been looking for a simple way to make money online without worrying about inventory, packaging or shipping products, selling digital products might be just what you need.
In this guide, I'll walk you through how to create your first digital product, where to sell it and 15 digital product ideas you can create to make money.
What Are Digital products?
Digital products are files that customers purchase, download and print themselves.
They are usually sold in a few main formats:
A pdf file
A jpg file
An excel file
As a seller, you don't have to package anything or worry about shipping or holding inventory.
Once your digital product is created and uploaded to a platform that supports automatic downloads, it can be sold repeatedly without you having to fulfil each order manually.
This is why digital products are such an attractive business. You do the creative work upfront, and the same product can potentially generate sales over time.
Of course, you'll still need to market your products, answer the occasional customer question and keep your listings updated. But compared with running a physical product business, it's a relatively simple model.
How to Make Printables to Sell Online: Step by Step
Step 1. Pick a topic people are willing to pay for
Start by choosing a specific audience and finding out what they need.
A successful digital product solves a hyper-niche problem in a specific time frame.
For example:
A pdf of chatgpt prompts to help people create pinterest pins in under 5 minutes
A weekly cleaning schedule for busy mums.
A savings tracker for people trying to save for their first car
A printable meal planner for families with allergies
These are just a few ideas, but the goal is that each digital product you create should solve a specific problem for a specific person.
Step 2. Decide on your vibe and brand
Before creating your printable, think about the feeling you want your product to communicate.
People don't always buy products based on functionality alone. They also buy into an aesthetic or lifestyle.
For example, an eclectic style calendar will appeal to someone who loves maximal designs, while a retro digital wedding invitation will appeal to someone who wants their wedding to feel classic.
Think about your colours, fonts, illustrations and overall style. Keeping these consistent will make your ideal customer come back for more and give you a recognisable brand in your niche.
Step 3. Your design and size
Here are some common sizes of digital products. Many at home printers print in A4 or US letter. But depending on the type of product you want to sell, you can vary the size as shown below.
Printable | Recommended size |
Planners and worksheets | A4 or US Letter |
Wall art | A4, 8 × 10 inches, 11 × 14 inches |
Wedding invitations | 5 × 7 inches |
Gift tags | Multiple tags on an A4 or Letter sheet |
Flashcards | Several cards arranged on one page |
Once you've determined your page size and design, download it as a high-quality PDF, and print test copy to be sure that the quality is good and all the graphics are within the correct margin.
You'd be surprised how different some colours, fonts and layouts look on paper compared with your computer screen. Check that nothing is cut off, the text is readable and there is enough space for customers to write where necessary.
Step 4. Price and list your printable
There isn't one perfect price for every printable. A little market research will help you decide the good price point although it may take a trial-and -error process.
Digital products range from a few cents to as much as hundreds of dollars depending on the value given.
Check comparable products and make sure your price covers platform fees and the time you've invested.
How to Create Digital Products
You don't need expensive design software to get started. In fact, you might already have everything you need.
1. Canva
Canva is probably the easiest starting point for beginners. It allows you to create planners, calendars, invitations, flashcards, wall art, document and almost any other digital product you can think of.
You can start from tmeplates already on Canva. You have control over the text, shapes, designs, illustrations and many other design elements.
The free version of Canva's has many features to create plenty of products. Just make sure your designs comply with Canva's commercial-use and template licensing rules. Selling an existing Canva template or stock element essentially unchanged is not permitted.
2. Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets
For budget planners, expense trackers, debt repayment sheets, inventory lists and business worksheets, microsoft excel or google sheets can be used.
To give it a premium feel, you have to format it neatly, add simple colours and borders, then export it.
You could even sell two versions: a printable PDF for people who prefer writing by hand and an editable spreadsheet for customers who want automatic calculations.
3. Cricut Design Space
This is a great option if you want to create digital stickers, gift tags and decorative paper products.
Cutting software like cricut will allow you add marks to stickers so that buyers can easily cut either by hand or using cutting tools like the cricut cutter.
How to Sell Digital Products Online
Once you've created your printable, the next question is where to sell it.
The good news is that you don't necessarily need your own website. There are several platforms that allow you to upload digital files, accept payments and deliver products to customers.
1. Sell on Etsy
Etsy is one of the first places I would explore if I were starting a printable business from scratch.
Why? Because people already visit Etsy looking for digital products.
Etsy allows you to sell ready-made instant downloads or personalised files that you deliver after completing an order.
One thing to remember is that Etsy charges selling fees, and competition can be tough. Spend some time researching your niche before uploading dozens of designs.
2. Sell on Gumroad
Gumroad is another beginner-friendly option, especially if you're planning to promote your digital products through social media, Pinterest or your blog.
You can create a product page, upload your printable, set a price and share the checkout link with potential customers.
I particularly like the simplicity of this approach. You can create one useful printable, put it up for sale and focus on promoting it without building an entire online store.
Just remember that Gumroad is primarily a selling platform, not a guaranteed source of customers. You'll generally need to bring your own traffic. I've written a bit on how to drive traffic using Pinterest and make sales, you can check it out.
3. Add a plugin to your website
If you already have a website, you can add an ecommerce plugin like woocomerce that allows visitors to purchase your printables directly.
It's like having a shop on your blog.
You can create blog posts around problems your digital products solve, then offer the relevant product within the article.
Imagine writing a blog post about organising your home and including a printable weekly cleaning schedule for readers who want something ready to use.
That way, your content and products work together.
4. Sell on Stan Store
Stan Store is worth exploring if you primarily promote your products through Instagram, and TikTok.
It gives you a simple storefront where customers can purchase downloadable products, including planners, templates and workbooks.
However, Stan Store has subscription costs, so I'd weigh that against your expected sales before signing up.
5. Sell on Payhip
Payhip is another option for selling digital downloads.
You can set up a storefront, upload your printable and share your product link with customers.
It's particularly useful if you want to start small and gradually grow your collection of digital products.
Payhip also offers different pricing plans, including an option where you pay nothing but they only take a small commision when you make a sale. I see payhip almost as having your own shopify store because the product page looks so well put together.
6. Sell printables on Shopify
If your goal is to build a larger printable business with your own branding, Shopify is worth considering.
Unlike a simple product checkout page, Shopify allows you to build a complete online store with product collections and a more customised shopping experience.
Personally, I wouldn't rush into paying for a full ecommerce website before validating my first few products.
But if you're planning to create a large collection of printables and build a recognisable brand, Shopify could be a good long-term option.
15 Digital products to create and make money
Here is my most loved round up of 15 digital products you can make and sell in as short as one weekend.
Final Thoughts
If I were starting a printable business today, I wouldn't spend weeks designing an entire collection.
I'd pick one topic or audience, research a hyper speicfic pain point they want to solve, create one beautiful and useful digital product and put it up for sale.
Then I'd focus on creating content that entertains, educates or is relatable on the topic and then subtly point people to the digital product.
And that's the lovely thing about digital products. You don't need to start with a complicated business plan or a huge budget.
Sometimes, all it takes is one genuinely useful idea, a simple design and the willingness to put it out there.
Your first printable doesn't need to be perfect. It just needs to be something someone would be happy to pay for.
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