I’m sure you already know that creating digital and information based products is the most profitable way of making money on the internet. Thousands of bloggers, freelancers and skilled professionals make sustained passive income by selling digital products on their blogs, or different digital marketplaces.
My question, however, is that why haven’t you tried creating your own digital product yet?
I know why.
Because you think it takes a lot of time and effort to create a sellable product, right?
Well, I have news for you.
Creating digital products that sell crazy is not as hard as you think. Get out of your perfectionist syndrome and start working on your first product. You don’t need to create the best product ever created in your niche. You just need to make it worth the money of your buyers.
Still confused? Here are 3 product types that you can create in less than 48 hours.
Note: I’m assuming you’re a regular blogger with a sizeable mailing list. Without at least 500-1000 subscribers these products will be hard to sell. Here’s a great post on email list building to help you.
1- Paid Video Tutorials
YouTube and other video sharing websites have made celebrities out of common people. Young boys and girls have become YouTube icons sitting at their homes. The power of video content is immense and you need to take advantage.
If you have a skill, even a small one, there will be someone out there who wants to learn it from you. Don’t underestimate yourself. Pick up your video camera or even your smartphone, create a video tutorial about your skill and put it up for sale on your blog.
Identify one problem in your niche, explain how your skill can help resolve that problem and then train people in that skill.
That’s it!
For example, if you’re a web designer you can create a short beginner level course for people interested in learning logo designing. Or you can create a course focused on a certain tool like Photoshop.
To avoid any problems, list down your discussion points on a piece of paper. Create notes for your viewers and offer them in a bundle as a PDF file along with the video file. Create a few homework exercises for buyers and offer a special one on one coaching session for anyone who purchases your video course.
Here are a few examples of how people are making money by selling video tutorials.
The possibilities are just endless.
How To Sell Video Tutorials
There are a number of ways you can sell your video tutorials. You can sell them as normal downloadable files, or upload them on YouTube as private videos which only your buyers can access. Or you can use a video selling service like Selz. The advantage with Selz is that you can manage everything from video hosting and streaming to selling and payment collection in one window.
You can embed the Selz video selling widget in your WordPress website from where your buyers will have the option to either download the full tutorial or stream it directly from your website. Selz also has a complete payment system attached with it that allows you to collect buyer payments with Master Card, Visa and PayPal.
Another great tool for video selling is Gumroad. It’s a widely used tool among freelancers and bloggers for selling digital products. Quite similar to how Selz works, Gumroad also allows you to create video selling widgets and embed them to your WordPress website.
You can host multiple videos on your Gumroad account and use it to collect payments as well.
Another tool with very similar features and flexibility for selling video tutorials is Sellfy. Just like Selz and Gumroad, Sellfy also lets you upload video files and sell them directly to your blog audience.
2- One-on-One Coaching Sessions
When you need additional cash for the holiday season, a family trip or house renovation, there’s nothing faster and more convenient than holding one-on-one coaching sessions with your blog subscribers.
You must be thinking, why would someone pay for a coaching session with you, right?
Just send out an email to your mailing list announcing 5-10 slots of exclusive 1 hour one-on-one coaching sessions. You’ll be surprised by the response – I know I was, the first time I tried it.
You can offer two types of sessions.
– Ask Whatever You Want: Allow your subscribers to ask you anything about your business model and your blog monetization strategy.
– Focused On One Topic: Announce the topic of your consultancy session, for example, email list building and keep the session focused on it.
Offer these sessions on Skype and record all of them. Once you have the recorded sessions with you, pick out the best and most useful sessions, bundle them in one file and offer them at a discounted price to those who did not avail the one-on-one sessions.
This way you can make money multiple times with the same content.
You can use tools like MP3 Skype Recorder or VODBurner to record your Skype sessions.
3- A Targeted eBook
Who buys eBooks anymore, right?
Newsflash! eBooks are selling at a more rapid pace than ever before. Thanks to smartphones, tablets, kindle etc. text content consumption is at a record high.
But the secret to creating a sellable eBook in 48 hours is focus. Don’t create a 100 page eBook that touches a million issues from the surface.
Instead, pick one problem and go deep.
Be as action oriented as possible. With every step, list the best tools (with your affiliate links of course) that your readers can use to achieve their objective.
Create a short, sweet and highly action oriented eBook.
People buy eBooks to find solutions, make sure you give them what they want. On top of it, you can add direct email or chat consultancy sessions for the buyers.
To create attractive images for your eBook and an eye catching book cover, you can either hire a freelancer from oDesk, Freelancer or Elance, or you can use free tools like Canva (my personal favorite). Apart from creating images for your blog posts and eBooks, Canva can also be used for creating unique and eye catching images for your social media pages.
For selling the eBook, you can use services like E-Junkie and Easy Digital Downloads.
Conclusion
Digital product selling is by far the most profitable way of generating a sustainable passive income. The three types of products I discussed in this post can all be created with 48 hours of focused effort. In my personal experience, the most important thing is to get your first product out there. Don’t wait for the right time or inspiration to create your first product. The right time is now!