How to create a digital product: Everything you need to know

What will we see in this post

Do you have a desirable skill or know a lot about a subject and want to share that knowledge with the world? Well, then, creating a digital product is an excellent way to do that and still earn an income.

In the last few years, the digital market has grown exponentially, and many people have found an opportunity to start an online business or teach online. Every day, entrepreneurs launch new e-books, online courses, podcasts, and mentorships.

If you want to get into this industry but don’t know how to create a digital product from scratch, you’ve come to the right place.

To help you with this task, we have put together in this post everything you need to do to plan, produce, promote, and sell your first digital product.

Let’s get started?

What is a digital product?

Before giving you a step-by-step guide, let’s recall what a digital product is.

A digital product is content or material in digital format sold over the Internet. It can be a file that the customer downloads on his smartphone or computer or content you use a login and password to access on an online platform.

Examples of digital products are:

ebook;
infographics;
spreadsheets;
video classes;
webinars;
podcasts;
online courses.

A digital product can cover a wide range of topics, such as cooking, personal development, business and career, digital marketing, entrepreneurship, among others.

What do you need to know to create a digital product?

One of the biggest myths of the digital market is that creating a digital product guarantees you’ll earn money quickly and effortlessly. However, in reality, it’s not quite that simple.

Creating a successful digital product takes planning, a lot of studying, and dedication. But this does not mean it’s impossible to achieve it.

Below, you can find some important steps that can help you create a great digital product you sell over the Internet.

1. Choose the topic you wish to talk about

First of all, in order to create a digital product, you need to define the subject you want to talk about.

We recommend that it be about something that you have great knowledge about, more than the average person does. This way, you can create and deliver something relevant to your audience.

If it’s a subject that you’re not very familiar with, you might need partners to develop the digital product. On one hand, this might reduce the workload; on the other, it might increase creation costs.

So, think carefully about what you want and are able to talk about.

2. Define the best format for your product

With your subject defined, let’s say for example, health and well-being, it’s time to determine the content’s format.

Nowadays, there’s an enormous variety of possible formats, including ebooks, video classes, and podcasts.

However, the most appropriate format will depend on three factors:

The resources available (microphone, editing system, camera, cash, etc.),
The interest of the target audience, and
The subject’s capacity to adapt.

In the latter case, think about teaching a cake recipe on a podcast. It might work, but the quality won’t be the same. After all, you wouldn’t be able to show the step-by-step process. Thus, video classes might suit this subject best.

3. Analyse your competitors’ products

Now you have the concept of your digital product in mind, but who’s already selling something similar? At what price? With what quality standards?

The third step is getting to know your competitors’ products. And the idea here is to perform some type of benchmarking.

You need to select two or three competitors to learn from them, adapting interesting points to your digital product. But, here’s a warning: Never simply copy them!

4. Create a buyer persona

Still during the initial steps, before you put everything into practice, you need to know your target audience better.

Who will buy your product?
What do they expect?
How much are they willing to pay?

To do so, you could segment your target audience, i.e., define its most common characteristics (age, gender, social and marital status, etc.).

However, the most interesting thing is creating a buyer persona.

In general, buyer persona is a fictitious person, an ideal representative of buyers. It has a name, age, gender, a story, and a lot more information.

The idea is to create a character that represents who will buy your product.

5. Roll up your sleeves and get to work

By following the previous steps, you’ll have a good idea of the digital product you want to develop and if it will be successful among customers. However, having a plan isn’t enough; you need to put it all into practice.

For a good execution, create a small action plan.

You can ask the following questions:

Can the creation of my digital product be divided into sub-steps?
Can these sub-steps be divided into other smaller steps?

In the end, you have several necessary steps in order to conclude the creation of your digital product. This will make your work more organized and avoid waste of time, energy and money.

6. Choose your sales channel

There’s a long path between the creation and the first sale of the digital product. However, from the beginning, it’s an interesting idea to keep in mind the channels through which you’ll be selling your product.

For obvious reasons, it’s necessary to rely on a trustworthy channel that is well-known on the market.

In addition, it’s appropriate that it be a free and complete platform to host and sell digital products, so that you can worry only about your course’ content.

Top niches for digital products

One question that every digital producer needs to ask is: What are the main niches for creating a product?

This is because certain markets have customers who are more eager and willing to spend, in addition to being less competitive.

Some of the most interesting market segments are:

Weddings;
Health and well-being;
Pop culture;
Entrepreneurship;
Cooking;
Language courses;
Leadership and career;
Economy and politics;
Sports.

It’s hard to define which area is more or less profitable, because they all have passionate customers.

In addition, with a good digital product, it will be possible to attract your audience’s attention and have good sales performance.

It’s worth mentioning that, within each niche, there are even smaller and more restricted markets. In them, competition is also smaller.

In cooking, for example, there is vegan cooking, which might be a good bet.

What is really important is realizing where your product can stand out and help your audience, in addition to creating complete and high-quality content. This is the main factor in order to be successful with digital products.

7. Learn more about digital content formats

In the same way that there are many segments, there are different formats for the production of content. They range from ebooks to video classes, including infographics and podcasts.

The most used are:

Ebooks — Digital books, usually broader and with better layout;
Infographics — Presentation of objective information and in charts;
Video classes — Well planned-out classes recorded on video;
Case studies — Thorough analysis of events, usually in text format;
Podcasts — Presentations in audio format;
Video courses — Complete materials dedicated to building certain skills.

What you should evaluate before you create a digital product

You need to remember that each format requires a specific set of resources and knowledge.

Sometimes, you’ll need a partner to create your layout or edit the product, or even someone to record the classes and develop the content. Thus, in the end, your digital product will have more quality.

As you can see, there are a few issues that you need to know before you create a digital product, among them, knowing your customers, competitors, main formats and sales platforms, for example.

But, after you’ve defined everything, you’ll need to get to work and put your idea into practice. Only by doing so, will you be able to see if your idea is really something that can be profitable.

This is the moment to eliminate toxic habits, such as procrastination, in order to stay focused and create something out of the ordinary.

Now that you’re familiar with the subject, how about taking a look at a checklist that will direct you from the creation to the sale of your digital product?