A lot of businesses opening up today are focusing on digital media. Whether it’s selling a graphic or a new eBook, these forms of digital downloads are fast, convenient and users never have to wait to receive their product in the mail. Digital downloads are the wave of the future — for both users and ecommerce shop owners alike.
Digital downloads include everything from MP3’s to PDF files to movies and templates. Businesses that offer digital downloads can save themselves the hassle of order fulfillment and users can receive instant gratification from their purchase. If you’re just starting out, you’ll need to learn how to sell digital downloads effectively. With the competition fierce, you can’t risk being behind the game right out of the gates.
Why Digital Downloads?
Everywhere you go digital downloads are there — and there’s a reason for their new found popularity. Digital downloads are in high demand from consumers. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, you can use a digital download to share information about the industry, showcase your own expertise or promote someone/something else.
What’s great about selling digital downloads is that they are reusable. You make one copy — such as typing up and formatting a single eBook — but that single copy is sold multiple times. Essentially it’s a renewable source for income.
If you want to know how to sell digital downloads, you’ll first need to go through the process of creating your concept, creating your digital product and then selling it.
What Can You Sell?
To learn how to sell digital downloads you first need to decide what digital product you’re going to sell. There are a lot of products out there, including:
- Memberships
- Ebooks
- Audio Files
- Video Files
- Online Courses
- Photos
Once you’ve decided the type of digital product you’re going to sell, then it’s time to design your concept. You can sell multiple types of digital downloads. Some websites sell a combination of memberships, eBooks, audio files and videos, while others stick to just one digital product.
Design Your Concept
Will you be selling a product made by you or made by someone else? For example, you might be selling eBooks you’ve written yourself or you might be selling them from multiple authors. You need to decide where the media will come from first. If you’re writing or creating the digital downloads yourself you will need to create the products before you sell them. If you’re selling digital downloads of other people; you’ll need to acquire the products and contracts to sell those products.
Marketing Your Digital Downloads
Digital downloads are easier to promote than typical products, because their biggest selling point is that they’re instant. Marketing for digital downloads isn’t much different than regular products.
You will need an ecommerce website that allows you to sell digital, downloadable products. Which means you’ll need hosting, a shopping cart, a payment gateway and a secure file transfer so customers can receive their products. You should have a dedicated website or ecommerce site for your products. A dedicated shop proves to customers you’re selling legitimate products.
You’ve learned the basics on how to sell digital downloads, but now it is time to implement it. It’s important to use an ecommerce platform that is user-friendly and attractive. Because digital downloads aren’t tangible products, customers must be able to see a graphic image or video and be compelled to purchase the product. Use a professional website template and keep your interface as simple as possible. If customers cannot find their digital downloads they will go to a site where it is easy to navigate and locate what they want to purchase and/or download.
