The Internet is a popular resource for ecommerce businesses. From selling clothes to furniture to handmade crafts, ecommerce allows individuals to open shop anywhere in the world and without a lot of startup funds. Today ecommerce is more than just selling physical goods; it’s also the place to sell digital products online.
What Are Digital Products?
Digital products is a broad category that includes items like audio files, themes, movies, videos, graphics and other digital, downloadable items. The digital industry is booming and there are millions of active users online looking to purchase digital items for sale. These products are high-sellers online too and now is the time to enter the industry.
But, before you sell digital products online, you need to understand what products sell and how to sell them right.
Types of Sellable Digital Products
There are hundreds of different digital products you can sell online, but not all digital products sell. Those that are more likely to sell than others include:
- Smartphone, tablet and computer apps
- eBooks
- Software programs
- Graphics
- Photos
- Domains
- Themes and plugins for popular blogging sites (like Blogger or WordPress)
- Audio
- Tutorials
- Recipes
- Fonts
There are also digital services that can be sold online. These aren’t products, but services that sell like products to customers. These can include things like promotions, web design, freelance writing etc.
Use a Downloadable Format
No matter what you’re selling, if you want to make killer sales you need to use a compatible format. Not every computer user has the latest programs or software updates. Therefore, you need a universal format or multiple formats that are compatible with all users. Some standard file formats to consider include:
- Using PDF for eBooks
- Using MP3 for audio files
- Using JPG for images
Files you upload to sell should be zipped. Zipped files have a reduced size so they’re faster to upload and download from your website.
Use a Good Shopping Cart Software
Not all shopping cart programs are designed for digital products. If you want to sell digital products online, you’ll need a shopping cart designed for digital products. Look for a cart that offers robust features and full FTP access for users.
You should also look for a website that lets you restrict how many days a user can download their purchased file. This will prevent them from sharing or linking the file and allowing multiple users to download it from your site.
Use Serial Numbers
Digital downloads need protection. Software, for example, should have a serial number or key that the user must enter in order to access the software. This secondary protection prevents the user from sharing the software download with multiple users.
Site Security
Site security is important not only with digital downloads, but ecommerce in general. Choose a shopping cart provider that offers an SSL certificate and that is PCI compliant so you can accept credit card payments for your digital products.
It takes a lot more work to actually start making profits, but often the profits are worth that extra time invested. By having the basics you can increase your effectiveness at selling your digital items. Pair your knowledge with the right marketing tools and shopping cart and you can successfully sell your digital items. Remember that sometimes it takes a few months for a digital product to gain momentum and for search engines to index and recommend your site. Take that time to set up a great ecommerce website and implement the steps above for more successful selling.