Knowledge is power! And these days it’s easier than ever to package up that knowledge and compile it into a digital product. All you need is a skill you want to share or teach. Create a printable, put together an eBook, make a planner, design templates – the opportunities are endless.

Passive Income isn’t just some scammy catchphrase anymore. If you want to earn extra cash in your sleep, follow the steps in this post!

Related Post: 10 Profitable Digital Products to Sell

My Digital Product Journey

My online journey started in 2018 while working in the corporate Marketing world. After launching my side hustle offering Online Marketing Services, I quickly noticed that many of my clients struggled with the same problem – finding the time and resources to create and market their products and services effectively.

That’s when I got the idea to offer Canva templates and digital product kits to help busy service providers design beautiful and strategic graphics to wow their clients and customers.

So I launched my Template Shop in May 2020 🎨 and started selling digital products. I always enjoyed designing and creating and with Canva on the rise there was finally a way to easily share those designs with others.

As mentioned, I targeted Service Providers at first but quickly expanded into other niches and products as well slowly but surely adding more and more products.

2021 was my first entirely digital product-based income year (no 1:1 services)!

The beauty of digital products is that you only have to make them once and can sell them as many times as you’d like! So let’s dive into creating your own digital product business.

Take the Shortcut! Learn how to create and sell Canva Templates:

1. Choose your Digital Product Type

It all starts with an idea. What could you sell and to whom?

Here are some ideas to get you started. Use or combine some of these products for your own unique digital product idea:

2. Validate your Product Idea

You can use some or all of these methods to validate your product idea and find out what content and solution your ideal customer might want.

• Send a survey to your email list to find out what their problems and pain points are.
• Conduct a Market Research Call (15-20 min) with your ideal client and ask them directly about their problems and pain points
• Use Instagram – Research hashtags, follow competitors, use polls, or surveys
• Use Pinterest Trends and Google Trends to find out what’s trending and successfully selling for others
• Join Facebook groups (pick some where your ideal customers hang out) and see what kind of questions they’re asking or what problems and issues they’re sharing.
• Use Quora, AskThePublic or Reddit to find topics your audience is most interested in learning about.

3. Outline your Digital Product Content

Before you can create your product you need to set up your framework. How can your digital product get your customer from A (where they are now) to B (their desired end result)? How will you structure your content to get them there?

Outline each of your key concepts and describe them in more detail.

Your Product Suite

In order to fill up your shop, you want to have multiple digital products for your customers to choose from. Create a product suite of related products that compliment each other and guide your customer to the next step.

Keep your shop up to date and add new products frequently. That way you add credibility and trust to your shop and offer your customers a chance to buy from you again and again.

4. Create your Digital Product

There is a variety of tools you can use to create your digital products – Photoshop, Google Drive, InDesign, Keynote, Canva and so many others.

Canva is an easy-to-use design tool that will make anyone look like a design pro. You can create pretty much any digital product you can think of with Canva! Graphics, templates, course presentations, brochures, eBooks, workbooks, websites, prints, etc.

While the free version of Canva has tons of features, design elements and templates you can really step up your design game with the paid Canva Pro Version.

Their paid subscription offers amazing additional features such as access to premium photos and elements, a one-click background remover, the resizing and Brand Kit features or the ability to organize your designs by creating unlimited folders.

5. Design your Product Listing Images

Create your product listing images to grab your buyer’s attention. Highlight any relevant information and product features. Your product images are super important. In fact, you should put (almost) as much effort into your listing images as in the product itself. Some things to keep in mind:

• Get the image sizing right – every platform has unique requirements
• Include relevant product info and text on the image (you can use the same text from your product description)
• Keep your image background clutter-free
• Use Mockups to showcase your products and help your customer visualize how they can be used. They will make your listing look more professional and three dimensional

6. Deliver your Digital Product

If you’re creating a non-editable end product such as a Printable, Guide or eBook, you will have to save your product as a PDF and upload this PDF to your delivery software. Once your customer purchases the product, they will receive access to this PDF and can download it.

If you’re selling a fillable digital product such as a workbook, you’ll save your product as a PDF and make it fillable with tools such as PDF Escape. After downloading the PDF your customers can fill it out right on their computer without having to print it.

Sharing Editable Template Products

If you want to share an editable template that you’ve created in Canva, you can give customers access to your design by sharing your template link.

1. Select  Share from the menu bar above the editor.
2. Choose the “Template Link” optopn (with this link anyone can use your design as a template).
3. Select Copy to copy the link.

This is the link you’ll need to share with your customers so they can make a copy of your template design.

7. Sell your Digital Products

Once you finish creating your digital product you will need to choose a platform to host and deliver it. There are a few different options to sell your products:

• Your own shop or website (e.g. WooCommerce, SendOwl, Shopify)
• Marketplaces (e.g. Etsy, Creative Market)
• Third Party Software (e.g. MemberVault, Thinkific)

WooCommerce

Use this free plugin to run your digital product shop if you have a WordPress website. Set up your store information and payment gateways and WooCommerce automatically creates all other pages for you (Shop, Cart, Checkout, and My Account). Just add your products and start selling!

SendOwl

Easy to set up in just a few minutes – just upload the download file of your digital product and they will generate a check-out and sales page link for you to share. They are super affordable starting at $9/month with no hidden fees. You can sign up for a free 30 trial of SendOwl here.

MemberVault

You can offer pretty much anything through MemberVault – free products, courses, paid products, coaching programs, etc. I currently use it to host my subscriber hub, my membership, my template bundles and more.

Related Post: How to Grow your Business with MemberVault

8. Market your Digital Products

There are so many different ways to drive traffic to your shop and share your products with the world. Here are some of my favorites:

• Create Pins to promote your products and content related to your products on Pinterest.
• Add related products, upsells, and cross sells to your WooCommerce product pages to increase sales
• Create a lead magnet or freebie to grow your email list and get potential customers into your funnel
• Consider tripwire offers
• Sell on well-established marketplaces such as Etsy while you’re growing your own audience. Marketplaces are trustworthy and well-established with a pre-existing audience to buy your products. They also handle all the transactions and payments for you.

So what are you waiting for? Let’s create your digital product already 🙂

If you want to launch your very own profitable Canva Template Business or add an additional income stream to your business, check out the Canva Template Shop Success Kit! 5 Modules to walk you through everything you need step-by-step:

• Find and validate your product ideas + where to sell
• Design Tips and Guidelines for profitable + user-friendly Templates
• Set up your Shop (Etsy, WooCommerce, SendOwl)
• Optimize payment, delivery, listing images, description, etc.
• Proven Strategies to Market, Launch and Scale your Shop
• Turn Buyers into loyal and engaged Repeat Customers​
• Canva Templates you can resell to kickstart your new Shop

Pop your deets in below and get access to my free Subscriber Resource Hub. It offers tons of free resources including a Digital Product Planner to help you get started!