How To Make Several Hundred Dollars a Month Selling Digital Downloads

These days, there are many ways to make money online. In fact, the Pew Research Center found that 22 million American adults work from home.

A popular way to make money online is to create and sell digital downloads. A digital download is anything that someone can download after purchasing it. This can include songs, digital art, educational courses, recipes, eBooks and more.

What’s great about selling digital downloads, aside from this potential income, is that it’s less work than running an entire online shop. You don’t have to worry about things like packaging, shipping or inventory.

If you have digital downloads and are interested in making money from them, here’s how to do it – and how much you can make.

You Can Make Hundreds of Dollars Selling Digital Downloads

Some people who sell digital downloads online make hundreds of dollars per month or more. While the numbers aren’t clearly listed, here are some examples of what people are pricing their items at today:

You can also sell other types of digital downloads at different price points. For example, a typical full-length fiction eBook goes for $2.99 ​​to $3.99 per book. This may not seem like much on its own, but if you get 50 people to buy your book, you can earn an extra $150 to $200 a month this way.

Alternatively, you can create an online course for people. If you put your course on Teach:able, for example, you can use a baseline price of $100 per course. Even if only five people buy your course in a month, you could make $500.

How to Start Selling Digital Downloads

Thinking about selling digital downloads? Here are five steps on how to get started.

1. Think About What You Want to Sell

The first step is to figure out what you want to sell. “There are many different types[s] of digital downloads to consider creating and selling,” said Olivia Dreizen Howell, certified business coach and CEO of Fresh Starts Registry. “And yes, you can make money selling digital downloads, but you have to make sure you’re creating content that people use and need, and [that] it’s worth it for them to make the investment in your download!”

If you’re not sure what to sell, think about your current skills and interests and go from there.

“The most basic type of digital download is an e-book. You can easily create an e-book from your previous blog posts [and] journal entries, or even create a workbook,” Howell said. “Another popular type of digital download is creating courses and selling them. It’s a great way to educate a lot of people while only having to create content once! It’s a great way to get involved the video content, too.

“You can teach people a skill, teach them a methodology or teach them a bunch of information,” Howell added. “People charge anywhere from $30 to hundreds of dollars for courses, so you can do a lot of courses at different price points. Once the course is complete, all you have to do is market it to your target audience. “

2. Choose a Platform

Next, determine where you want to sell your digital products. For things like digital art, music or written content, you can use Fiverr. Etsy is great for selling digital recipes, artwork, photos, calendars or planners. For eBooks, you can use a site like Gumroad or Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. It is important to research which platform will help you reach your target audience most efficiently.

Many of these platforms require you to create an account and online store before you can list and sell your digital content. They may also take a small fee from your profits.

3. Create a Listing

Showcase your digital downloads in the best possible way by using high-resolution images and writing compelling descriptions. If you’re selling something like a sewing pattern or artwork, you can also display the final products so customers know what they’re getting.

Make it clear in the product description that you are only selling digital. Otherwise, customers may think they are getting a physical item and be disappointed.

4. Determine the Price

When it comes to pricing, it’s easy to undervalue or overvalue your digital downloads. If you price your product too low, customers may think it’s not worth buying. If you price it too high, you might deter people from buying. Do some competitor research to see what others in your niche are pricing their products for.

“The most important aspect of selling digital downloads is that you have digital downloads at different price points and that you’re selling to the target audience for each download,” Howell said. .

5. Expand Your Offerings

If you have a large online presence on sites like YouTube, LinkedIn or Instagram, you can sell your products more easily. Even if you can’t, you can always expand through networking, marketing and creating more content.

_{Freelancer rates are accurate as of July 10, 2023 and are subject to change.}