15 Profitable Digital Product Ideas You Can Sell Online In 2023

If you’re thinking about getting into the ecommerce game, you can’t go wrong with selling digital products. From podcasts to ebooks, online courses to video games, we increasingly spend our time and money on intangible items and services.

Entire business models are being built around digital products. This is largely because they lack the production stresses of physical goods and the barrier to entry is lower, making it easier to launch, distribute and sell them online.

But how do you know what digital products to sell? In this guide, we’ll cover profitable digital product ideas and show how to successfully come up with and create your own products.

What are digital products?

The definition of digital products online is pretty fluid. But there are a few distinctions to make. In general, and for the sake of this article, a digital product does not include: digital subscriptions, software as a service (SaaS) or physical products sold online.

Put simply, a digital product is an intangible item that is sold and shared online, without the need for traditional manufacturing or inventory. These products are consumed via electronic devices and most often come in the form of digital files or streamable content.

“We all use digital products every day. Buying an album on iTunes, a theme for your WordPress website, a piece of art that you can download and print at home. Digital products are part of our daily lives, just as much, if not more so, then physical ones.”

Why sell digital products over physical ones?

Digital products offer a few unique advantages over their physical counterparts:

• Low startup costs: In comparison to creating physical products the costs are low, with no need to pay for inventory or manufacturing or shipping. The largest cost when starting out is committing time and effort to the project.
• More room for profit: Lower costs mean the money you earn goes straight from your customers pocket into your bank account. Plus, for entrepreneurs, creating digital products is often an individual endeavour, so there isn’t a large workforce to look after.
• Added flexibility: Changes to physical products are complex. With digital products you can make quick changes or additions yourself, whether that’s fixing a spelling error in an ebook, an imperfection in an audio recording or pushing an update to a piece of software.
• Passive income: You make digital products once and sell them repeatedly without having to restock a warehouse or pay for more manufacturing. With automation tools like Zapier you can cut down on busywork too, and run your digital product business around your life.
• Global reach: Selling physical products limits you to a certain area. With digital products the world is your oyster. From Australia to Argentina; the United Kingdom to the United States; you can sell to any market—as long as they’ve got an internet connection.

8 profitable digital product ideas to inspire you

The digital products you create largely depend on your skillset and area of interest. Marketers aren’t exactly going to make a video game to explain the market research processes they use (as cool as that would be).

But it’s important to know what’s popular so you can align your expertise with what customers are looking for. With that in mind, here are some of the most profitable digital products to sell online in 2023.

Online publications and ebooks

Digital publishing is a rapidly growing industry. According to Statista, revenue in “epublishing” (which includes ebooks, digital magazines and newspapers) is projected to reach over $30 billion before 2027. So much for the doomsayers who believed people don’t read anymore.

The beauty is that you can write about any topic you wish. Want to self-publish a romance novel? A short story? A collection of poems? What about a digital cookbook or the ultimate guide on how to be an affiliate marketer?

With online publishing no niche is too small and no topic is too grand. If you’ve got the talent or the expertise—or want to gain further credibility in your field—writing is a great way to go. Plus, it’s dirt cheap to get started.

Where to publish? For a long time the only option was Amazon, but that’s no longer the case. You can sell PDFs straight from your own ecommerce website or use an existing marketplace. In the last year or so creating your own membership site through a tool like Substack has also become a popular, viable option.

Video and stock footage

Tik Tok. YouTube. Instagram. Vimeo. There’s a huge market for online video and, just like with written content, there’s an abundance of topics for you to cover—from selling stock footage to starting your own YouTube channel, or building an online course in Udemy.

You don’t need complex software or expensive overheads to get started either. Smartphones have gotten to the point where they can capture high quality video without any hassle and there is a range of affordable video editing software like Descript, Magisto and even Adobe Premiere Pro’s monthly subscription.

When you think of video content your mind may instantly go to YouTube. However, a particularly profitable way to make money selling video is through stock footage. Businesses and individual creators will pay a pretty penny for it, and it’s ubiquitous across every field.

Music, podcasts and audiobooks

Whether it’s Lo-Fi beats playing in the background while working, a jazz record spinning after dinner or listening to a podcast on an afternoon walk, music, podcasts and audiobooks are a huge part of most people’s lives.

“At Paperform we take turns exchanging playlists as a way of maintaining a vibrant workplace culture in a remote team. It’s something personal and fun that allows us to connect with each other, something music has always been used for.”‌‌

Of course, if you’re a musician the chances are you’ve looked at outlets to monetise your work. It’s not about just building your own website, you’ve got to build an audience and explore ways to release material that appeals to their needs. Upload your songs to a service like Spotify, and offer direct digital downloads on your website.

Recording a podcast is much simpler. It can be based around a specific topic or just your mates chatting about movies you’ve watched. Monetisation here is a bit more tricky—but one avenue is to release “bundles” of downloadable podcasts all at once on your website.

(Image Source: Absolutely Mental)

Podcaster Sam Harris recently had success with this strategy. He released a podcast series with comedian Ricky Gervais on his website for a one-time fee of $15. You probably won’t have as large an audience as these two, but it’s certainly an idea that can be adopted.

Art and photography

Social media has allowed artists to reach people who appreciate their work (and are willing to buy it) on a whole new scale. Digital art is an attractive prospect for artists because it can be adapted across different mediums. Unlike a canvas painting, for example, a digital creation can be sold over and over again.

Digital prints that customers can download and print are the most popular way to sell art online. You can also get creative and expand your store to include things like colouring pages, guided sketch patterns and phone wallpapers.

Australian artist Mitch Revs’ store is a great example of combining art and commerce. He offers print-on-demand artwork and templates customers can download to get creative at home, along with physical products like puzzles, drinkware and clothing.

(Image Source: Mitch Revs)

If you’re a photographer, both artistic prints and stock photography can be good avenues to pursue. You could even sell digital assets for Photoshop too. More of a craft-oriented person? Patterns for knitting, sewing and other templates for crafting at home can be fairly easy to create and simple to sell.

Digital products can also be a great option for the graphic designers out there. People want their stuff to look great, but don’t always have the time (or graphic design skills) to do it. There’s a sizeable market for  social media posts, printables, resumes and logos.

Video games

Creating and selling video games is one of the more difficult things on the list. But, it can really pay off. There is a huge market for indie games and it’s not unheard of for the one-person dev teams to build games that are played by millions.

The most famous example of solo development is Eric Barone, who created the phenomenon that is Stardew Valley, completely by himself. It took Barone four and a half years to complete, and has since sold over 10 million copies.

(Image Source: Stardew Valley)

‌‌Of course, video games require a wide array of skills—from coding and level design to writing a script, creating sprites and making an awesome soundtrack. While it’s possible to do this all by yourself, it’s not for the faint of heart. Use sites like Game Dev Market to find high quality game assets without breaking the bank, or team up with another creative who plugs the gaps in your skillset.

One of the best things about video game development is that you don’t need a perfect product to start selling your game and building an audience. Indie games are often uploaded to digital marketplaces like Steam in “Alpha” or “Beta” states, so players can offer feedback and enjoy it while you continue to make additions to the core build.

Mobile apps and computer software

From apps that remind us to drink water to ones that track our library or keep our passwords safe, we all use apps and software on a daily basis. But have you ever thought about building one of your own? If you’re a developer, creating software, mobile or web apps has the potential to be a profitable enterprise.

But let’s face it. There is already a lot of competition in just about every category. The key is to identify problems with existing products and come up with a solution that addresses those pain points. In other words, what can you offer that others can’t?

This is what happened when Dean and Diony first came up with the idea for Paperform. Though the form building space was crowded, they saw an opportunity for a better way to build forms that were both functional and beautiful.

“You don’t need the full pie, just a slice–or maybe less. It’s a big world out there and lots of customers. So if you can make something that’s differentiated and useful, chances are you’ll find somebody who’ll pay money for it.” — Dean McPherson, co-founder and director of Paperform‌‌

Existing app and web development tools make the job much easier than it would’ve been as little as a few years ago. With the rise of no-code/low code apps like Bubble, DronaHQ and Adalo, and movements like #BuildinPublic, there’s never been a better time to start creating.

Online courses and e-learning materials

Learning is great. You know what’s even better? Learning without having to leave the house or put on pants. E-learning has been growing in popularity for years—it's now projected to reach US $374 billion by 2026.

The key takeaway? Now is the time to start building online courses. Like any other endeavour it is a matter of combining your expertise with the kind of information your potential customers are after. From there you can create videos, learning materials and tutorials to put together a course that you can sell online.

There are two strategies you can follow: a one-off fee or a subscription model. Which one you choose is up to you. A one-off course can take a lot of work to set up but pay-off well into the future, while a subscription is more flexible and you can continue to offer value over time.

How to sell digital products online

Once you’ve settled on a digital product type, there’s a lot more work to do to get it to market. No matter what you sell, the process is the same: ideating, researching, creating and selling.

1. Come up with a digital product idea

This is the big question: what are you going to sell? Hopefully you got an idea from the list of digital products above, but you may still be considering the specifics. When deciding on your digital product, ask yourself:

• What am I passionate about?
• What skills do I have?
• Are they any existing problems I can solve?
• How can I use my skills to bring value to potential customers?

Maybe you’ve already got an idea, or your digital product is an extension of an existing passion (this is common if you’re a writer or artist). However, if this isn’t the case for you, it’s important to avoid one thing: purely chasing a payday.

You’re going to spend a considerable amount of time creating, marketing and selling this fancy new product, whatever it may be. If you’re only in it to jump on a trend or make a quick buck, it may be enough for a while, but it will not sustain you in the long run.

That’s why it’s so critical to find a balance between your skills and passion. Any great product, from the hit indie ebook of the summer to the latest mobile app, is driven by these principles — particularly when you’re a sole creator.

2. Research your ideal market

Market research can sound like a big, scary topic. It doesn’t have to be. All it’s about is taking the time to understand the products that already exist in your field, who your customers will be and what they will expect from your offering.

The goal? To plug gaps in the field and align your digital product with customer needs (or find what needs aren’t being met). For example, if you’re an author this means finding out what readers expect, both in terms of the content of your book, the way it's presented and the price you charge. The same goes for any product.

Plug your idea into your search engine of choice. Look at blog posts and existing products, as well as keyword data, Google Trends, forums and social media sites. Reddit, Twitter, and Facebook Groups in particular can be excellent channels to get your finger on the pulse of a specific niche.

The chances are there will be something similar to what you want to sell. Don’t be disheartened! Almost every idea is about execution—you just need to find your point of difference.

3. Create your amazing digital product

Creating your product is the most important step. It’s also—in general—the most difficult one. For some, a digital product will be an expansion of existing work (for example, an ebook made up of a collection of blog posts) and will be relatively fast to create. For others, it will be a longer creative process.

This is the case for web developers and artists in particular. It’s rare that someone can build an app or piece of art worth buying in a couple of months, let alone weeks or days. Instead of getting discouraged, try to stick to a concrete routine and set yourself a roadmap for completion.

Building anything worthwhile takes time. If you’re working on your digital product in your spare time while holding a full-time job, consider setting aside dedicated project time each day. This is what our co-founder Dean did while building Paperform’s MVP.

“When we started Paperform, we were both [Dean and Diony] working full time. I got up an hour early every day for three months to work on it. You don’t get anywhere if you don’t sit down and start. An hour is what? A bit of TV? A lie-in? That extra time became the Paperform MVP that changed everything.”

One last thing—keep a sense of scale when just starting out. It can be tempting to shell out for all the latest fancy equipment. Don’t do this. Stick to the absolute smallest number of tools that you’ll allow you to build your digital product.

4. Select your online store

Where you sell your digital goods depends on what they are. For example, if you’re coding a video game, Steam may be the way to go, while selling access to a digital marketing webinar could be done as a content upgrade on your own website.

Ecommerce platforms like Etsy, Amazon, Shopify and Gumroad are popular. Keep in mind, they take a percentage of your sales on top of any membership fees. This adds up over time, cutting down on your profit margins. On the other hand, it opens you up to potential customers and helps you better manage your business.

If you're looking for a simple way to sell your digital products online (that doesn’t skim any money off the top) Paperform is a great option. With Paperform, you can create a stunning, feature-rich ecommerce store, without a writing a line of code.

Paperform makes it easy to upload products, accept payments with all your favorite payment gateways, automatically generate tax and receipts, or manage subscriptions and inventory, all from the intuitive doc-style editor.

Need a bit of inspiration? There are over 650 fully customisable, unique templates to choose from, all of which give you access to Paperform's advanced features, like built-in analytics, a brand new image editor, and the ability to integrate with over 3,000 of your favorite apps.

The best part? 100% of the profits you make on your Paperform store are yours to keep.

Start creating today

Selling digital products is a great way to get into the ecommerce space. There's relatively little start-up costs, and loads and tools and products out there to help you on your way.

With some hard work and creativity, you can get started selling digital products in no time. And whether you're looking to make sleek and functional surveys gauge interest, or find a place to host your online store, Paperform's digital suite of tools is here to help. Give it a go today with our 14 day free trial, no cc required.