Here’s What They Don’t Want to Tell You About Starting a Digital Product Business
If you have any interest in starting a business creating digital products, you’re probably seeing all kinds of information online about how you should go about doing it.
You’re probably hearing a lot of talk about how easy it (supposedly) is, and how MUCH money you can make with your digital business, and a lot of what you’re reading is probably valid.
But like anything else online, some of the information that you’re getting isn’t necessarily INCORRECT, but it isn’t all true either.
I’ve been in digital business since before it became so popular. As a single mom, I’ve had to be creative about how I make money at home (don’t we all?). Starting a digital business was a no-brainer for me because (of course) it allowed me to work from anywhere, AND I could work whether the kids were at school OR at home.
But it hasn’t all been sunshine and roses. I’ve made a lot of mistakes and spent a LOT of money in the learning process.
You’re probably thinking that once you start creating digital products, all you have to do is create a few social media posts, and VOILA! SALES!
It doesn’t work that way…AT ALL.
Let me say here that I’ve been doing this long enough to have been around when that last statement was actually true. It was entirely possible to create a digital product, then a few social media posts for or about it, and BAM! Traffic and sales!
I once created digital products, and decided to sell them on an Etsy-like marketplace (can’t remember the name). I made my first sale WHILE I WAS ADDING MY LISTINGS!
I thought it was a mistake! But NOPE! It was legit!
That’s how I got started with digital product creation. That first sale (whether or not it was a total fluke, I’ll never know) gave me the push that I needed to keep creating and thus, keep selling.
But that was probably 7 or 8 years ago.
Good times.
Now…starting a digital business, especially selling digital products like eBooks, is a whole different ballgame.
Now, once you’ve created your eBook, or whatever your digital product is, not only do you have to create social media posts about that product for your chosen platform (whether that platform is Facebook, TikTok, Instagram or Pinterest is entirely up to you), but you have to now spend MONEY to reach your potential customers!
Yeah. That’s what I said. You now (more often than not) have to spend money on ads to reach those who’d be interested in purchasing your products.
Now…that said, there are ways to sidestep buying ads on your chosen social media platform, but not spending money doesn’t always guarantee sales. But spending that money ALSO doesn’t guarantee sales (trust me, I’ve tried it).
Not many will tell you that there’s a secret to getting sales for your digital products via online ads. The platform you use generally plays a big role in whether or not you see success, but so does the amount that you spend.
You see, I’m sure that you’ve heard that you can “spend as little as $5 a day on ads” on some platforms, but let me tell you from experience, you’ll get the same number of sales if you just flush that five bucks down the toilet. Five dollars spent on ads gets you LITERALLY NOTHING in terms of views AND sales, I don’t care WHAT you’re selling.
I know it sounds crass, but here’s the real; there are SO many people online selling products (digital and otherwise), who are also spending literal buckets of cash for ads, that your five bucks won’t do a damn thing. (Sorry, but true is true.)
The other thing that no one wants to tell you about starting a digital product business, is that most people don’t create their products from scratch (shocker, I know). You might be surprised to hear/read that many products can be created a few ways; using templates, or by using products that can be purchased and resold, sometimes without any kind of real editing. These are called “PLR” products, and there are many places that you can find them online, including Etsy (though Etsy wouldn’t be the first place I’d look). I’ll tell you where is a great place to get almost any kind of re-sellable product in a second.
What I’ve learned about running an online business is this; There’s a ton of information out there, but much of it is skewed in some way; it’s either completely bogus, or it’s incomplete, meaning that much of the ‘meat’ is there, but a large part of the information you need to make your venture actually WORK, is missing. You have to figure that part out yourself through trial and error. And it sucks.
But once you find the missing pieces, you’re golden!
But that’s part of the reason that this site exists. To shorten the learning curve to starting and running your successful digital product business.
Now, I said earlier that I’d let you in on an awesome place to get ready made digital products that you can sell. You’ll find the it HERE. I have to say that you shouldn’t visit this site unless you’ve got TIME, because the first time I visited it, I spent HOURS there. There’s just SO MUCH to absorb! They have everything! From printables of any and every kind (literally), to KDP products, to Canva templates, it’s all here! I promise that you won’t regret using this site 🙂
So what’re you waiting for?! Get TO it!
Peace.
