Tired of trading time for money in your business? Still dreaming about that time freedom you thought you’d have as an entrepreneur? The easiest way to double your revenue without taking on more clients, raising your prices, or cutting costs is to create and sell a digital product. 

Inside this blog post I’m sharing everything you need to know about deciding on a profitable digital product that strategically aligns with your business goals, creating a digital product your ideal client will love, where to sell your product, and how to sell it on autopilot without diluting your current marketing messaging.

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Why digital products?

Digital products aren’t a trend, they are the future of scaling small businesses.

Before we dive into the how-tos, let’s talk about why digital products are the game-changers for scaling small businesses. They offer scalable passive income potential (meaning you can sell to thousands without creating more work for yourself) with minimal cost to create (typically 12-20 hours of work).  Which means no more trading time for money in your business. Digital products are the perfect opportunity to double your revenue without needing to hire a team of employees or convert into an agency. 

It’s time to create a digital product that can work for you on autopilot. We’ll do that with these four steps:

1. Research & determine a problem your audience has that you can solve
2. Create a digital product that taps into your expertise and solves that problem
3. Build your funnel 
4. Create content to promote it – bonus points if its long-form highly searchable content that works for you on autopilot.

1. How to identify the topic for your digital product

The first step in creating your digital product is identifying a topic that will resonate with your audience. This is where most entrepreneurs get stuck – the idea phase. Typically it manifests in one of two ways: you have tons of ideas but no clarity on which offer is the “best” and therefore get stuck in indecision or you feel like you have no ideas and don’t even know where to start. Regardless of which of those two categories you find yourself in, that ends today.

Consider your branding and existing service suite, and think about the problems your ideal clients face. Conduct keyword research to find high-demand topics that align with your expertise. Validate your ideas by analyzing competitors and ensuring there’s a market for your product.

Types of products

There are two things that every human on this planet wants more of: time and money. So, if your digital product can give them a way to save (or make more) time or money – you’re on the right path to creating a profitable product. The most common ways to help someone save time or money are to teach them a new skill (education) or reduce the amount of time it takes them to complete a project (tool). 

You’ll also want to consider your own strengths, does writing or speaking come more naturally to you? If writing is more natural, you may want to consider a written product like an ebook, planner, or script. If speaking is your preferred way of connecting with others, consider a masterclass or course. With all of that in mind here are a few examples of digital product formats for you to consider:

Education: Ebook, Email Course, Online Course, Masterclass, Cheat sheets/Set Up Guides

Tools: Templates (social media, project management, CRM, copywriting, resume), Calendar, Presets, Stock Images, Meal Plans, Journals, Sales/Mindset Scripts, Budget Planners, Semi Custom Design Work (logo, brand kits, business cards, etc), Travel/Relocation Guides

Brainstorm & Consider your Service Suite

This is one of the most common ways I see business owners miss the mark with digital products — by choosing to create and sell a product that is unrelated to their existing service suite. The perfect passive offer is one that solves a micro problem of the overall solution your business offers – which makes it natural to market frequently alongside your existing offers. 

You want your digital product to be a baby step towards working with you in a higher capacity. When done correctly, the sale of your digital product becomes a hack for profiting from your lead generation.  By offering a valuable low ticket digital product that is a baby step to your core offer, you’re priming your customers for a larger sale down the road. 

Your digital product should be the appetizer you offer before the main entree (core offer) you sell in your business. Consider your branding and existing service suite, and think about the problems your ideal clients face and how you solve those problems. What are the pillars of your framework? Can you create an offer that focuses on just one of those pillars? What do you already offer that could be modified/condensed into a low ticket offer? 
For example, let’s say you’re a photographer who offers coaching to other photographers and getting them set up with the right tools is consistently one of the first things you discuss with all of your clients on? Creating an ebook that outlines everything you typically cover with a new client regarding tools to start your photography business would be a great low ticket digital product offer.

Keyword Research

Keyword research is something simple that often gets overcomplicated. A keyword is simply a word or phrase that helps customers who are searching for a solution to their problem find you online. This phase of creation is so important to ensure that you create a product based on research and data instead of just guessing on what they need.

Begin with the main topic that you want to address in your product (ex. Non Toxic Living) and look for more specific search terms that people are using in relation to that broad topic (ex. How to get started with non toxic living). 

Ideally you want to select a topic that you love and that gets over 20,000 searches per month.

Here are a few of my favorite keyword research tools:

Google Keyword Planner

Answer the Public

Wordstream

Google Trends

Pinterest auto suggest

Validate the idea with competitor analysis

Now that you’ve narrowed down your topic, let’s evaluate your competition. A competitor doesn’t mean they have created the same exact product as you, it simply means they’ve created something that your ideal client might consider investing in instead of your product.

So, what exactly are they offering that your ideal client might consider spending money on? What strategies are they using for marketing, pricing, and product development and what are their strengths and weaknesses? What gaps do their products have that you can fill? 

This step will help you clarify your unique selling point, stand out from the competition, and build confidence within you to market your new product.

2. How to create your product

Now comes the exciting part—creating your digital product. You’ll do this in three separate stages: writing the copy, creating the design, and then naming it. One of the biggest bottlenecks I see with entrepreneurs who are creating their first digital product is getting hung up on finding the “perfect name” which is why I recommend saving this step for last. Get the value on paper and worry about naming it later.

Copy

Start by pouring your thoughts onto paper and brain dump everything you know about the topic you’ve chosen. From there, create an outline and structure your product into lessons or modules. Don’t worry about perfection at this stage, just let your passion and knowledge shine through – write it all down, you can cut the fluff later.

Design

When it comes to design, Canva is your best friend for any type of pdf file. If you’re creating a course I recommend either Podia or Kajabi, depending on your budget and the level of customization you’d like. If you’re creating a script or anything that you want your customers to be able to edit after purchase, I recommend using GSuite (Docs, Sheets, etc).  

Regardless of what delivery format you choose, be sure to create visually appealing graphics that complement your content and align with your branding (colors, fonts, etc). Your digital product is a part of your client experience and we want to keep it all cohesive.

Naming it

The most important element of naming your digital product is to ensure that it is specific, clear, and concise – something that your ideal customer will immediately understand. Clarity trumps creativity in this phase of creation.

If you’re really having trouble coming up with names, give ChatGPT a spin with this prompt: “I am creating a digital product for [describe your ideal customer & the problem they have] that will help them [insert the transformation your product provides]. I need to come up with a name that is specific, clear, and concise, can you provide me with 50 name ideas.”

3. Build your funnel

To effectively sell your digital product, you need a well-crafted funnel. Begin with a compelling freebie, which could be an excerpt or a sneak peek of your full product, to get them on your email list. Use an email marketing platform for your opt-in forms and freebie delivery. Then, nurture your audience with an automated email sequence in Flodesk. Finally, drive them to your sales page and checkout process, all within Flodesk.

Offer a Freebie 

One of the easiest and most effective freebies is to offer an excerpt/sneak peek of the digital product OR step 1 of the solution you present in your digital product (ex. Unlock module one, offer a free download of one of the worksheets within your ebook, etc). 

For example: one of my clients offers A Parent’s Guide to Understanding MTHFR as a digital product that gives parents that suspect their children have an MTHFR mutation everything they need to confirm diagnosis, understand MTHFR, and help their children thrive. Her freebie is a quick start guide to understanding the signs and symptoms of MTHFR.  Once you’ve decided on your freebie, create an opt-in form within your email marketing system (my favorite is Flodesk – try it for 50% off your first year by clicking here) to gather their name and email address, and create a workflow to deliver the freebie as soon as someone opts in.

Build a Nurture Sequence 

Again, I use Flodesk for this to introduce myself and my business to my new subscriber, build a connection and show them the value they’ll receive by purchasing my digital product. For each nurture sequence I create for my clients, I follow this formula:

Email 1: Introduce the business & make a connection

Email 2: Create problem awareness around the problem that the product solves

Email 3: Show them myths they are believing/share insights on why the methods they’ve tried before this product hasn’t worked & how the product is different

Email 4: Paint a picture of the transformation they’ll experience after purchasing the product

Sales Page/ Checkout

Next you’ll need a sales page and a payment processor – I use Flodesk Checkout for both of these (and I always recommend my clients do as well). There are a lot of options out there on where and how to sell your digital products, like Stan Store, Etsy, Shopify, Creative Market, the list goes on. But, if you’re looking to make true passive income from your products, the best way to do that is through a full sales page optimized with conversion copy and full control over your payment processing – Flodesk Checkout offers both. 

With Flodesk Checkout you can use their drag and drop builder to customize optimized templates, accept payments online with minimal fees (only the Stripe processing fee), and deliver your digital product instantly in a way that aligns with your brand.  It’s extremely simple to set up yet highly customizable.Try Flodesk Checkout for 50% off your first year by clicking here.

4. Selling your product

The biggest thing to remember about digital products (and the part that most business owners forget) is passive income does not equal zero work, you still have to promote & sell it consistently – the difference is you only have to do the work ONCE. 

When it comes to selling your new digital product you’ll need at least one platform for visibility (Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok) and one platform for conversion (your email list). Remember, the goal is to move people away from social media and onto your sales page, where conversions happen.

Utilize tools like Canva and Later (or Tailwind) to create and schedule a mix of problem aware, agitation, and solution content across social media and Pinterest to nurture your audience. Then leverage email marketing within Flodesk to close the sale. To maximize your profitability, I always recommend basing your content strategy around long form evergreen content (like blogs) and repurposing it on social media. 
Shameless plug: if you aren’t sure how to create a content marketing strategy or need help refining yours, that is exactly what I help my VIP Day Clients do. Or if you know how to create your low maintenance content strategy but need help creating top shelf blogs that actually move the needle on your sales goals in half the time – I create The Blogging Essentials Playbook just for you.

Maximizing your profit 

One of the best ways to maximize the profit of your digital product is to look for affiliate opportunities that you can layer into your new low ticket offer. What products, tools, systems, or resources do you recommend that will help them with the solution you’re offering and how can you partner with the companies that you recommend as an affiliate to increase your ROI? 

For example, let’s say you’ve decided to sell a meal planner. You can create an Amazon affiliate account with a shopping list that contains all the kitchen utensils and ingredients that you frequently use. So, not only are you receiving revenue from their purchase of your meal planner, you’re also getting a deposit from Amazon when your customer purchases the recommended products.

Potential Roadblocks to Success

Now that you know exactly what to do to create a profitable digital product and passive income for your business, there really are only four things that could hold you back from success.

• A lack of time. In other words you’re spread too thin, overwhelmed with the day to day operations, and don’t have the upfront time investment that creating a top shelf digital product requires. The solution: Book a VIP Day and hire Momentum to bring your vision to life for you.
• Imposter syndrome. You believe someone else is doing it better than you can so you don’t take action towards your dreams. The solution: work with a mindset coach to overcome those blocks.
• Procrastination. Execution isn’t your zone of genius, you’re a visionary and while you know exactly what you want, organizing the details, creating the to-do lists, and blocking out time to bring your vision to life creates so much resistance. The solution: delegate – either to Momentum or a member of your team.
• Lack of Tenacity.  This one trips up a lot of entrepreneurs – giving up too soon. Building a profitable passive offer takes time. Don’t give up even if progress takes longer than you hoped/expected. The solution: Discipline and grit.

Your Action Items

Now, it’s time to take action. Your journey to passive income and true time freedom begins today! Here is your to do list to begin creating your digital product today:

• Finalize your product idea
• Create your product
• Create your Flodesk Checkout Account
• Write/Design your sales page copy
• Create your delivery workflows
• Launch your funnel
• Test & Optimize

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In case we haven’t met yet, I’m Michaela – content writer, behind the scenes expert, and chaos coordinator (aka the virgo energy to your creative spirit). And I’m completely obsessed with helping you turn your journal full of ideas into profit driving offers with research backed strategy, magnetic content, and streamlined systems.

If you liked this post and are craving more, here’s how I can help:

Don’t have time for all of this? Let me create your digital product for you! Book a VIP Day and I’ll take care of everything from start to finish.

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