What are digital merchandise? The very best instruments to promote them

What are digital merchandise?

You probably have the itch to enter enterprise for your self, however don’t have a selected product already in thoughts, you is perhaps questioning how one can be a part of the ranks of profitable on-line enterprise house owners. 

One possibility is to promote digital merchandise.

They provide the chance to construct a whole enterprise with out the necessity to consider stock, warehouse area, and transport prices.

Digital merchandise supply a stable, passive revenue alternative as a result of you may, relying on the product, create one thing as soon as and promote it again and again with out producing further stock, dealing with order achievement, or persevering with to spend on product updates and upkeep. It’s a perfect enterprise if you’d like an efficient technique to generate a web-based revenue with as few factors of friction as doable.

Sound like a terrific alternative? 

When you construct on an ecommerce platform like WooCommerce, you’ll profit from built-in digital product gross sales performance. You’ll additionally get limitless customizability and full possession over your on-line presence. That’s why hundreds of thousands of shops around the globe belief Woo. 

Right this moment, we’ll stroll you thru the various kinds of digital merchandise you may promote, how to decide on those that finest align together with your creativity and enterprise targets, and how you can create and promote your digital merchandise on-line.

A digital product is an intangible good accessed through an digital system — issues like ebooks, on-line programs, songs, video games, paintings, and software program. 

After a buyer purchases a digital merchandise, a enterprise delivers the digital product in a downloadable format through e-mail or one other technique. For instance, a online game add-on would possibly seem inside the sport. Or the password to a digital membership library would possibly seem on the post-purchase “thanks” web page. 

New enterprise house owners can resolve to promote digital items alone, or ultimately combine in bodily merchandise to enhance their digital belongings. And present bodily companies can possible discover a manner so as to add just a few worthwhile digital merchandise to their lineup to extend their attain and income potential. 

Now we’ll look into the varied varieties of digital merchandise you may promote on-line and the most effective methods to current and monetize them. You’ll be able to supply one-off digital downloads, give your clients the choice to buy bundled digital merchandise at a reduction, promote digital memberships and month-to-month or yearly subscription choices for recurring income, and extra.

On-line programs

Bear in mind when sitting in a bodily classroom was your solely possibility? Right this moment, lifelong pursuits and new expertise are discovered wherever you’ve an web connection. 

You’ll be able to create programs and generate income from sharing your ardour, and also you don’t must be a world-renowned scholar, school professor, or perhaps a licensed instructor — all you want is recognizable expertise and a want to share it. 

So, what distinctive talent do you’ve? What’s one thing you’re deeply captivated with that you simply’d like to share with others? Flip your expertise right into a digital enterprise and host weekly or month-to-month stay lessons or webinars.

Don’t really feel comfy on digital camera or just don’t wish to current stay? Contemplate providing a pre-made on-line course the place you may share your data by means of downloadable texts and pre-recorded movies.

Construct your web site with WordPress and WooCommerce and use the Sensei Professional extension to create and handle your individual on-line course.

You’ll be capable of promote paid programs as a product straight by means of your website and even create memberships and subscriptions for recurring income. You’ll additionally profit from video course templates, quizzes to check and grade scholar progress, stipulations for college students to entry superior content material, flashcard picture hotspot performance, and extra. 

Need to study extra about promoting on-line programs? See how you can arrange Sensei LMS in our information: Learn how to Promote On-line Programs.

Podcasts and ebooks

Like on-line programs, podcasts and ebooks may also help you monetize your data. Greater than 76 million folks in the US listened to podcasts in 2024 — a determine that’s elevated by over 27 million since 2020 and will attain almost 114 million by 2029.

And it’s the identical story for ebooks — with digital readership income extending previous $50 billion yearly.  

Authors can use the built-in digital merchandise providing for WooCommerce to promote their books on-line. Podcasters may also use WooCommerce with integrations like Audio Participant for WooCommerce and WooCommerce Memberships. These let creators promote particular person, premium media recordsdata or supply memberships for unique podcast content material.

Memberships and subscriptions

Top-of-the-line issues about on-line programs, podcasts, ebooks, and plenty of different digital merchandise, is the power for enterprise house owners to promote them on a recurring foundation. This gives extra regular, predictable revenue and may really permit for a really hands-off strategy to enterprise administration. 

Your clients can join membership or subscription for so long as they wish to hold entry and your main job (beside advertising and marketing) is to create the content material within the first place or proceed to drip out new content material every week or month to maintain folks subscribed so long as doable. 

Digital merchandise for real-world memberships

Digital merchandise will also be tremendous helpful for managing golf equipment which have in-person occasions and conferences. The Kansas Metropolis Parrot Head Membership, for instance, hosts charitable and social occasions every month for its roughly 200 members. Annual memberships, and renewals, together with tickets for particular occasions are managed by means of their website. 

WooCommerce as soon as once more shines on this space with two key extensions: WooCommerce memberships and Woo subscriptions. Collectively, they work to create a membership possibility with recurring billing capabilities. 

WooCommerce Memberships means that you can present managed entry to gated areas in your website with libraries of unique content material, entry to unique communication channels, and reductions for different merchandise accessible in your website. 

Woo Subscriptions means that you can cost recurring funds for auto-shipped merchandise at common intervals — nevertheless it additionally unlocks the recurring billing possibility for memberships so you may cost clients a set price every month (or different acceptable interval). It additionally permits for members to handle their subscription and pause or cancel on their very own. 

The very best Patreon various 

When you like the thought of offering a membership choice to followers or making a neighborhood of supporters who get rewarded for supporting your artistic work, you might have thought of Patreon or YouTube channel memberships. 

The issue with these platforms is that you simply’re restricted in design and product choices (having to evolve to their setups for delivering and publishing content material) and are beholden to their phrases of service. 

As a substitute, take a look at WooCommerce because the finest Patreon various. You’ll be able to present memberships with recurring billing and gated content material, however have full possession of the platform you construct and may customise it in any manner. 

Digital paintings and printable downloads

Artists have a beautiful alternative to create digital merchandise. And their on-line provides don’t must battle with their bodily work. 

You’ll be able to promote graphic designs to inventory photograph websites for different creators and entrepreneurs to make use of of their work. You’ll be able to promote artwork designed to be laptop or telephone backgrounds. You’ll be able to promote digital recordsdata of paintings for purchasers to print on canvas, copy for college worksheets, or use in nearly any manner conceivable. 

Flip watercolor artwork into telephone wallpaper. Supply printable downloads of your digital artwork as greeting playing cards. Create posters that your clients can print themselves and body nonetheless they’d like. The choices are actually solely restricted by buyers’ imaginations.

For instance, let’s say that you simply promote an illustration of a school soccer stadium. When you can definitely supply it in prints that you simply bodily ship to clients, you could possibly additionally supply it as a printable, digital obtain. 

Soccer followers may print it from their residence laptop, and even add it to a service like Shutterfly to professionally print it on the whole lot from mugs and wine glasses to notebooks, laptop computer sleeves, and magnets.

You need to use WooCommerce to show and promote all of this stuff and even supply one thing extra distinctive like non-fungible tokens (NFTs), full with a Certificates of Authenticity, by including the Verisart extension. 

Licensed digital belongings

Creators typically like to increase or modify one other artist’s concept. It gives inspiration — a leaping off level — to create one thing new. And graphic designers working for artistic businesses, advertisers, or different organizations discover it advantageous to make use of premade belongings the place doable to work extra effectively as an alternative of making the whole lot from scratch. 

Contemplate offering digital belongings for different creators to license and use in their very own works. Until you solely supply unique licenses, your one-time creation might be licensed again and again for years — resulting in constant income lengthy after you really did any work. 

Listed here are some examples of licensable digital merchandise:

When you can license these belongings from your individual WooCommerce website with an extension like License Supervisor for WooCommerce, you also needs to think about providing them by means of a market that has a built-in visitors supply of individuals trying to buy licenses. These sorts of marketplaces embody: 

• Canva
• iStock 
• Adobe Inventory
• Unsplash
• Getty 
• Envato Parts
• Shutterstock

These platforms supply publicity, however cost a fee for every sale in trade. Many inventory picture websites, like Unsplash and Pexels, supply a mixture of choices for customers, together with royalty-free pictures or premium photographs. Customers can obtain and use royalty-free photographs with no price (some attribution necessities and utilization restrictions apply), whereas premium photographs have variable pricing relying on how the picture might be used.

Commissioned works as licensed digital merchandise

You’re not restricted to licensing pre-created works. You probably have inventive expertise with a monitor document of efficiency, you may promote commissioned tasks in nearly any kind conceivable. Document a voiceover, write and document customized music, create a graphic design based mostly on a written request. These sorts of artistic companies are offered on a regular basis on platforms like Upwork and Fiverr. 

Music, video, and audio

When you’re knowledgeable singer or musician, even for those who identical to writing and recording music in your spare time, you may promote full songs for obtain or supply snippets for purchasers to make use of as ringtones. With Audio Participant for WooCommerce, clients can hearken to your songs or ringtone snippets earlier than they purchase.

Paid newsletters

in case you have expertise, data, and expertise — in nearly any area of interest conceivable — you’ve experience to share with an viewers. You might share this on a weblog to generate natural visitors, and that’s nice. However you also needs to think about offering unique entry to premium content material. You are able to do this by means of a membership providing, however one other widespread possibility is to create a paid publication. 

When you’ve demonstrated your experience and constructed a following, you may write a publication at constant intervals (like weekly) and cost for entry. And this doesn’t must be instructional — anybody with a following (for any purpose) can drip content material to followers in trade for a price. 

Study extra about how you can create a paid publication by means of an internet site and platform that you simply totally personal and management. 

Software program licensing

Don’t neglect that software program is a digital product! Construct out your app concept, create a plugin for WordPress, or develop a SaaS program. These sorts of issues are often a reasonably large endeavor, however they’re nonetheless digital merchandise with a number of potential to generate income. 

WooCommerce is the perfect platform for doing enterprise on-line. A serious a part of that? The library of extensions accessible for on-line retailer house owners to shortly add performance to their website. Certified builders can contribute their extension to {the marketplace}. Study extra right here.

Digital present playing cards

Digital present playing cards are an effective way so as to add a handy product choice to your retailer. So even for those who do promote bodily merchandise, add a web-based present card possibility for an additional income alternative with out having to cope with further stock, SKUs, and achievement complications. 

In case your retailer runs on WooCommerce, you’ve entry to a nice extension that may make this entire course of a snap.  

Digital companies

Do you supply consulting or different companies? You’ll be able to ship these just about and let clients schedule their session or appointment with WooCommerce Bookings. 

Now that we’ve reviewed some varieties of digital merchandise, let’s check out some actual shops which might be promoting digitally on-line, all with WooCommerce.

French Right this moment

French at the moment provides all kinds of tutorial materials to assist folks learn to converse French the way in which it’s actually utilized in each day life. They provide audiobooks based mostly on a wide range of expertise ranges and area of interest topics (like verb drills), a month-to-month audio journal subscription, personalised Skype French classes, and even studying apps.

CLS by BARBRI

This on-line retailer provides on-line training for people looking for a profession within the authorized area. College students can select from a wide range of programs and seek for the precise match based mostly on the college they’re attending, their location, their subject of focus, and extra. Additionally they have a bookstore the place guests should buy the digital textbooks wanted for his or her programs. 

Every course is obtainable fully on-line, and college students can work by means of the themes on their very own time. Along with extra conventional cost strategies, CLS by BARBRI permits clients to pay month-to-month (or in a set variety of installments) to make issues simpler. 

Cosmos Journal 

Cosmos is a print science journal that’s delivered quarterly to devoted subscribers. Their purpose is to make science accessible to everybody, no matter their expertise and data degree. They usually do that by means of high-quality pictures, top-knotch writing, and clear explanations. 

Along with their print journal, in addition they have a web-based digital version that’s up to date every day, together with digital variations of all of their again points. Lastly, they’ve a membership accessible that features entry to the digital model of the journal, together with unique options. This is a superb instance of how print and digital can exist facet by facet.

FilterGrade

FilterGrade is a web-based market that gives an enormous library of digital belongings for creators — Lightroom presets, photograph overlays, Photoshop actions, and extra. Every product is on the market in just a few completely different license varieties, with completely different pricing for every.  

TipoType

TipoType provides a catalog stuffed with high-quality fonts that clients can use for his or her digital and print creations. Every font is on the market in a wide range of kinds and has a number of license varieties relying on the shopper’s use case. 

Additionally they supply customized companies, similar to customized font licensing, distinctive font variations, and prolonged language protection.

HousingWire

HousingWire is a digital library of knowledge particularly for the actual property business. There are particular person and group licenses accessible, and clients can select between a month-to-month or yearly subscription. There are additionally enterprise plans for bigger companies.

A HousingWire membership gives entry to actual property information, market knowledge, housing analysis, unique in-person occasions, and a publication only for subscribers.

The Candy Setup

The Candy Setup has greater than 60,000 digital subscribers to their web site, which provides paid programs, evaluations, and articles round productiveness. Obtainable programs cowl the whole lot from time administration and productiveness to benefiting from particular software program.

The Focus Membership Membership provides entry to all the instruments and programs accessible on their website, together with a digital neighborhood and month-to-month workplace hours.

There are a selection of locations you may promote digital merchandise on-line. Let’s discover just a few choices, beginning with the one that gives essentially the most freedom, management, and adaptability.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a strong ecommerce instrument constructed particularly for WordPress. It provides completely the whole lot it’s worthwhile to promote digital merchandise, together with product listings, checkout and cart performance, cost gateways, and digital obtain help — all at no cost! 

When you do need further performance, you may select from an enormous library of extensions that present instruments for software program licenses, subscriptions, memberships, and extra.

Listed here are only a few of the explanations that WooCommerce stands out from the opposite choices on this listing:

• It harnesses the ability of WordPress. WordPress is the most well-liked web site platform accessible, and WooCommerce is a plugin constructed by Automattic, the group behind WordPress.com. Whenever you use WooCommerce, you profit from all the nice options of WordPress, just like the drag-and-drop block editor, highly effective content material creation instruments, and unbelievable flexibility. 
• You may have full management and possession. With WooCommerce, you’ve full management over the appear and feel of your website and merchandise. You’re not beholden to any design or measurement restrictions, and nobody can take your merchandise down. This isn’t the case with different platforms.
• There are not any exclusivity agreements. Some third-party platforms will let you promote your digital merchandise on their website — and solely their website. This isn’t true with WooCommerce. Promote merchandise by yourself retailer and on different platforms, for those who’d like.
• You retain extra of your hard-earned cash. WooCommerce doesn’t cost any itemizing charges or take a proportion of your gross sales.
• It’s endlessly versatile. You’ll be able to promote something you need, design your on-line retailer nonetheless you need, and use extensions to create just about any sort of performance. 
• You’ll be able to promote a wide range of product varieties facet by facet. Promote digital downloads subsequent to on-line programs. Supply digital consultations alongside software program licenses and even bodily merchandise. The sky’s the restrict.
• There’s highly effective help and a neighborhood of like-minded entrepreneurs. WordPress and WooCommerce are surrounded by a passionate neighborhood made up of different retailer house owners identical to you. Join with them by means of on-line boards, Slack channels, Fb teams, and in-person meetups.

WooCommerce is, by far, the easiest way to promote your digital merchandise on-line. Need to study extra? See the way it compares to different choices like Etsy and Patreon.

Inventory websites

When you create digital belongings like inventory pictures, illustrations, or movies, there are some good choices for promoting on third-party marketplaces. These embody:

There are some advantages to these kind of marketplaces. For instance, you achieve entry to a bigger, built-in viewers that’s trying to find what it’s important to supply. 

However take the time to completely perceive what’s concerned with every platform. Some have exclusivity agreements, whereas others don’t. Some have larger charges than others. Some will let you set your individual costs, whereas others set them for you. And take into account that rivals’ merchandise might be proven proper alongside your individual.

If you wish to profit from the built-in viewers of third-party marketplaces whereas nonetheless constructing your individual retailer, you definitely can with WooCommerce. So long as the marketplaces don’t have exclusivity agreements, you may listing your digital belongings there, together with your individual retailer. 

Etsy

Etsy is a good platform for small on-line enterprise house owners, particularly creatives, who may gain advantage from a built-in viewers of consumers. Sellers can listing each bodily and digital merchandise of their store. Nonetheless, as with something, there are each positives and negatives. 

Listed here are a number of the advantages of Etsy:

• A inbuilt viewers. Your work is exhibited to a built-in viewers that already has lots of belief within the platform.
• Constructed-in promotional alternatives. Your merchandise are advisable to others who bought comparable gadgets.
• Promoting instruments. You’ll be able to harness highly effective promoting instruments to achieve a brand new viewers.

Listed here are a number of the draw back of Etsy:

• Etsy fees in your listings and/or store. When you can host as many merchandise as you need, Etsy fees a $0.20 price for every itemizing. When you improve your account from Primary to Etsy Plus, you may listing as much as 15 merchandise with out the itemizing price. Nonetheless, Etsy retains 6.5% of every sale, which may actually eat into your earnings.
• Product varieties are quite simple. You gained’t have a lot flexibility relating to the varieties of merchandise you promote. For instance, it’s not doable to promote on-line programs.
• You don’t personal your storefront. On the finish of the day, your merchandise and enterprise are on the mercy of a bigger market.

And keep in mind, you can even promote on Etsy alongside your WooCommerce retailer. The Etsy Integration for WooCommerce extension syncs itemizing data between each shops, so the whole lot is at all times updated.

Patreon

Patreon is a website for creatives, influencers, and others to supply subscription-style perks to followers and followers, or Patrons. The positioning permits you to arrange membership tiers with assorted entry. You’ll be able to even create a free tier with content material that’s accessible to anybody signed up in your updates.

Patreon was as soon as the go-to place — particularly for creatives simply beginning to construct a reputation for themselves — that married artistic people with individuals who wish to help artistic endeavors. 

However in the previous few years, creators have misplaced what made Patreon so nice at first: management over what they will and may’t submit. The lack of management and Patreon’s seemingly exorbitant charges have made this once-great creator platform simply one other channel that doesn’t have creator pursuits at coronary heart.

WooCommerce is the finest Patreon various, and extra creators are turning to it daily. 

Execs of Patreon:

• There are pre-built profile templates. When you don’t have a novel imaginative and prescient for presenting your self as a creator, it is a bonus of Patreon as you may merely fill out the knowledge and launch a web page about as shortly as filling out a brand new web page profile for a platform like Fb or LinkedIn. 
• Familiarity with potential followers. Your followers have in all probability heard of Patreon and should really feel extra comfy becoming a member of by means of this type of pre-built platform. That stated, most influencers have constructed sufficient belief with their followers that this might be a non-issue.
• Cheap to get began. You’ll be able to stand up and working shortly and with very minimal prices. 

Cons of Patreon:

• There are pre-built profile templates. Patreon owns and hosts all of their very own code, so that you’re not ready so as to add customized performance and design components you might have considered trying as a creator. Your pages will, kind of, like everybody else’s.
• Excessive charges. You’re going to be giving a excessive proportion of your revenue to Patreon as a “thanks” for his or her service. These charges will comply with you endlessly. 
• You’re beholden to another person. Be sure you learn and abide by Patreon’s phrases and circumstances very fastidiously. A incorrect transfer — and even the notion of or false report of a incorrect transfer — and also you’re revenue stream could possibly be down for some time (or endlessly).

So that you’ve determined to construct your digital basis utilizing WordPress and WooCommerce, proper? Good selection!

WooCommerce provides seemingly limitless extensions that may provide help to construct a worthwhile enterprise, like:

• Sensei Professional for creating and managing a web-based studying program.
• Memberships for subscriber-based websites and companies.
• Subscriptions for recurring cost capabilities to entry premium content material (which you’ll be able to mix with memberships to exchange your Patreon account!).
• Digital downloads for promoting any commonplace digital file as a product (native WooCommerce performance).
• Digital present playing cards so as to add a digital product to any present bodily or digital group. 
• WooCommerce Bookings to promote digital buyer classes and appointments.
• Mailchimp for easy e-mail and SMS campaigns and superior automation and segmentation instruments as you develop.

And each enterprise proprietor additionally must be fascinated about advertising and marketing. Fortunately, WooCommerce has that greater than totally coated with a plethora of advertising and marketing extensions. A few of the prime choices embody: 

Irrespective of the place you might be in your on-line digital merchandise enterprise, producing ongoing gross sales is at all times vital. Listed here are just a few ideas to bear in mind:

Supply nice digital merchandise

This one nearly goes with out saying, however the important thing to any profitable enterprise is providing clients bodily and digital services that enrich and add worth.

Your on-line digital merchandise ought to someway make your clients’ lives higher. 

You’ll at all times compete with different creators and with content material that’s freely accessible on the net, so create one thing that folks have by no means seen and gained’t discover elsewhere.

Tease a purchase order by giving one thing at no cost

It doesn’t matter how a lot your on-line digital product sells for — making a free model is often a powerful technique to show worth and finally make a sale. Watermark paintings and permit downloads so folks can attempt them out within the utility they want. Present a restricted model of your paid publication so folks can grasp the potential worth of the paid model. 

No matter it’s — one of many largest boundaries to gross sales of digital belongings is demonstrating worth. Make it simple for potential clients to get a digital style and your checking account will thanks. 

Construct an internet online affiliate marketing program round your on-line digital merchandise

Associates, influencers, model ambassadors — completely different variations with the identical finish outcome: these people get your identify and digital gadgets in entrance of individuals you won’t in any other case attain. 

And far more importantly than merely increasing your attain, these influencers can converse to a highly-targeted viewers with a private suggestion the viewers trusts. In different phrases, the worth potential right here is sky excessive.

What’s the most effective platform to promote digital merchandise?

WooCommerce is the most effective platform for promoting digital merchandise. Open-source and constructed on WordPress, enterprise house owners have full possession of their creation with freedom to increase, customise, and construct with out limits. 

Plus, a powerful neighborhood of contributors means a library of pre-built customizations and performance enhancements that may be added on with only a few clicks. You can too customized code something wanted.

WooCommerce is essentially the most widely-used ecommerce platform on the planet for a purpose, and it’s the only option to promote digital merchandise. 

What digital merchandise promote the most effective on-line?

A few of the top-selling on-line digital merchandise are:

1. On-line studying programs
2. eBooks
3. Music, graphics, and artwork
4. Inventory pictures, video, and graphics
5. Memberships
6. Digital apps, productiveness instruments, and different software program 
7. Providers {and professional} consultations

How can I promote digital merchandise on-line?

All you want is WordPress and WooCommerce! The mixture gives all of the performance essential to design a phenomenal web site, listing your digital merchandise, entice and market to clients, and watch your gross sales develop. Try our WooCommerce Buyer Tales to see how different companies (even celebrities!) use WooCommerce to promote their digital merchandise on-line.

What are the advantages of promoting digital merchandise on-line?

Digital merchandise supply the chance to construct a whole enterprise with out the everyday issues like stock, warehouse area, and transport prices. Plus, even digital merchandise that require updates, like software program packages and on-line programs, can nonetheless function a stable residual revenue supply.

Vanessa has spent her profession writing useful issues for folks throughout the tech area. Outdoors of labor, she enjoys coaching for triathlon, rotating by means of hobbies, and exploring new locations each city and pure. She has two fluffy cats, maintains just a few succulents, and has far too many books on her TBR shelf.