Alright, girl, now you know why a digital product is the best way to start your first passive income. But what does that even mean? What exactly is a digital product, and how do you create one that actually sells? That’s exactly what we’re diving into next.
What Do I Mean By Digital Product
By the standard definition, a digital product is anything you can sell online that exists purely in electronic form—something that can only be consumed on a phone, laptop, or other digital device. However, in our case, this definition is a bit too narrow.
That’s because there are ways to create and sell products electronically, but that are eventually consumed in a physical format. For example, when you publish an e-book on Amazon, customers can still order a physical paper copy. Amazon handles all the printing, shipping, and logistics for you. This is called Print on Demand.
From your perspective as the creator, it doesn’t matter whether the customer buys the digital or physical version—it’s still a digital product for you because you created and sold it electronically, without ever touching a physical product.
So, for the purposes of our discussion, I’d define a digital product as something you can create and sell online, without ever needing to manage the physical product yourself.
According to our definition, selling digital products doesn’t involve buying materials, storing, packaging or even shipping anything. Customers can buy your digital product just like they would buy anything else online – they find it in your shop or a marketplace and pay for it. If they bought it using a Print on Demand service, their product will simply be sent to them. And if they bought it in a digital form, instead of waiting for a package to arrive, they get instant access—ready to download and use right away on their laptop or phone. It’s as simple as that.
Okay, enough theory. Now let’s look at some practical examples.
Low-Tech, Low-Cost Digital Product Examples
This list isn’t by any means exhaustive. There are literally countless of possibilities for digital product creation. But here are the main categories to get us started:
- Courses, guides, tutorials (in form of e-books, online courses, YouTube channels, even podcasts) on a variety of topics:
- skills (language, gardening, photography, parenting, dog training, cooking recipes, playing an instrument)
- specific events or actions (buying your first … guide, traveling itinerary, planning a wedding, job interview preparation, exam preparation, home organization, creating personal style)
- knowledge (history, politics, economy)
- personal-development (building self-confidence, improving communication)
- inspiration (motivational quotes, success stories)
- Printable workbooks (self-improvement, goal-setting, language-learning)
- Printable planners & calendars (goal tracking, daily planners, journals)
- Printable plans (exercise plan, weight-loss plan, meal plan, homeschooling lesson plan)
- Templates (wedding invitations, social media post templates, resume templates, contract templates)
- Printable designs (wall art, t-shirt prints, pillow case prints)
- Design ideas (interior design plans, room layout catalogues, logo design portfolio)
Which Type Of Digital Product Is The Best?
All these ideas work for creating successful products, and there is no better or worse. They all have their ups and downs that you need to consider when choosing yours.
Personally, I’m all about e-books because they’re very easy to publish and they’re super versatile. Yes, they take time. But that’s about it. And once I’ve got an e-book written—let’s say “20 Best Time Management Tactics”—I can turn it into an audiobook, a podcast, and even YouTube videos. Plus, I can post each chapter on my blog, creating marketing content without doing any extra work. That makes e-book also quite easy to market.
But don’t discard the idea of selling design ideas either. They might go for a lower price than an e-book, but while you’d be writing that single e-book, you could potentially create 50 unique design ideas. In the end, the sales could end up being pretty much the same.
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution here, so it’s all about what works best for you. What are you most comfortable with? What are your strengths? Maybe writing a single page of text scares you, but you have lots of fun playing around with colors and patterns?
Your product will only sell after it’s published. So there’s no point in choosing a product type that you’ll struggle to even get to that point, right?
Great. Now, there’s a couple more things that you need to consider before you get down to work:
How To Create A Digital Product That Brings Passive Income
So, we know that digital products are the key to building passive income. BUT. Not every digital product is cut out for that.
To make sure you’re building something that works for you long-term, you want a product that you create once and can resell over and over again without any extra costs. The goal is to publish it, forget about it, and let it keep generating income, whether you sell it once or a thousand times.
So, when you’re creating your digital product, there are some important rules to keep in mind. Just because something is digital doesn’t automatically mean it’s going to work as a passive income.
Your Digital Product Should Be Evergreen
By evergreen I mean – always up-to-date. Like a product without an expiration date.
You want a product that stays relevant and valuable over time, without the need for constant updates or changes (or at least not major ones). Because it’s not passive income if you need to keep working on it, right?
A good example of evergreen content is an e-book about time management. Sure, new tactics or tools might pop up now and then, but the core principles of time management remain the same. The same goes for language courses or anything that teaches a timeless skill. Once created, you can sell it for years without needing to update it once.
On the other hand, non-evergreen content would be something like a planner for a specific year. To keep selling, you’d need to create a new one every year. While it’s not ideal, it’s also not the worst thing. Because once the design is ready, updating it each year doesn’t take much time or effort. So, it can still work as a passive income for about 364 days a year.
Now, imagine you write an e-book about how to handle your fortune and star alignment for the year of the Horse. After the year’s over, your book is completely irrelevant, and you’ll have to create a new one for the next zodiac year. And that’s like creating your whole product from scratch. Not exactly passive, is it?
The key takeaway here is: make sure your content has longevity so it can keep working for you long after it’s been created.
Your Digital Product Should Be Scalable
This is probably the toughest part of creating a successful digital product: figuring out how specific or broad to go.
Let’s start with a broad product, like templates for wedding invitations. It has a huge target group, right? Tons of people getting married, tons of potential customers. But there’s a downside: you’re competing with every other wedding invitation template out there. And guess what? The market is flooded with them. If you don’t stand out somehow, you’ll never get found.
So, what’s the solution? Get a bit more specific. By narrowing your focus, you’ll cut down your competition and attract more people who are specifically looking for your product. For example, you could specialize in bilingual wedding invitations. Many cross-cultural couples are getting married every year, so the target group is still big, especially for big languages, like English and Spanish. So far so good.
But what if you took that idea even further? Maybe English and Spanish are too common, and you want to have zero competition. How about Spanish-Estonian wedding invitations? Jackpot! You won’t find a single competitor. But here’s the catch—you might not find a single client either.
So here’s the takeaway: going too niche might make you stand out, but it could also limit your customer base to nearly nothing. You want to find a sweet spot where your product is specific enough to stand out, but not so niche that you’re only talking about a handful of potential customers.
Think big enough to be found, but small enough to be unique.
Later on, I will give you some strategies on how to check whether the niche is big enough for your product to sell.
The key takeaway here is: make sure your content is specialized, but still appeals to a big audience.
Your Digital Product Should Be Searchable
The whole point of selling a digital product on a marketplace is to take advantage of the search function. You don’t want your product to be found just by chance while someone is scrolling. You want people who need your product to be able to search for it and find it—easily.
That’s why your product needs to be built around keywords. Think of what people are actually typing into search bars. For example, this post could be found under searches like digital product ideas, passive income for beginners, or how to make passive income with no budget, passive income for women. Your product should work the same way.
Now, let’s say you’ve had a wild career path—you’ve been an accountant, then a paramedic saving lives, then you moved to Iceland and worked in a tiny café in the middle of nowhere. You want to turn that journey into a book: “Which Job I Loved the Most and Why.”
A career is a topic relevant to most adults, and everyone loves a good story. So the target group is probably huge. I’d love to read it myself!
So theoretically, you have a great, scalable product idea. But here’s the problem—nobody is searching for that. Unless you’re already famous, no one is typing Margaret’s Favorite Job into Amazon.
But what are people searching for when they’re struggling with career choices? Things like:
✅ How to choose the right career
✅ Best careers for me
✅ What if I hate my job
✅ Career advice
Now imagine you take the same idea, but instead of only describing your personal experiences, you also pack it full of actionable career advice:
“How to Choose the Right Career—I Tried 20, So You Don’t Have To.
Your Ultimate Guide To Choosing The Best Job.“
And that is a searchable product.
See the difference? If your product doesn’t match what people are already looking for, it doesn’t matter how great it is—they won’t find it.
The key takeaway here is: make sure your product is built around keywords that people actually search for.
Your Digital Product Shouldn’t Require Customer Service
Of course, a customer email every now and then is unavoidable. And that’s totally fine! In fact, it’s welcome. You should encourage customers to reach out for feedback or if something isn’t clear. Customer service is important, and you should always be there for your customers.
I always include a request for reviews and feedback in my books and other products. And I’m always thrilled when someone reaches out to share their thoughts or ask questions.
Here’s the thing—passive income isn’t 100% hands-off. It’s still a business, not a miracle. Even if you’re renting out apartments, you’ll still need to find new tenants or fix the washing machine every once in a while. That doesn’t mean renting apartments isn’t passive income; it just means there’s occasional maintenance needed.
The same goes for your digital product. Some contact with customers is great. But your product should not rely on constant customer service.
For example, let’s say you’re a teacher who’s made a great move to create passive income by launching an online course. Way to go, girl! But if you’re still assigning homework that requires manual grading, you’re basically sabotaging your own ability to earn while you sleep. Why not use multiple-choice questions and provide your students with an answer key? The more you can automate, the more passive your income becomes.
The key takeaway here is: make sure your product can be used without your assistance.
Your Digital Product Should Be Suitable for Sale on Marketplaces
Selling through a marketplace is the best strategy for your digital product, I think we agreed on that. But keep in mind, not every product is suitable for marketplaces.
Let’s say you have an idea for a spicy product—like a dedicated stretching plan for certain intimate activities. Maybe it has a huge target group. Maybe it fills a big niche. Maybe it could sell like crazy. But maybe it won’t even make it through approval.
Many marketplaces have strict guidelines on what is or isn’t acceptable. And some things, like adult content, might not only be hard to publish—they may be flat-out illegal on certain sites.
Remember, you want your product to sell easily, and getting rejected from a marketplace could be a big setback. So make sure your digital product aligns with what’s allowed and accepted in your chosen marketplace. It’s not about censorship, it’s about knowing what will work and where. Don’t make it harder than it has to be, girl.
The key takeaway here is: before you create your product, make sure it’s not against the marketplace rules.
Your Digital Product Should Be High Quality
This one may seem obvious, but seeing the amount of horrible products on the market, I thought I’d mention it anyway.
Believe me, the market will verify your product real quick. You might have the best idea, killer keywords, and a niche with huge potential. But if your product is low quality? A few bad reviews and you can say goodbye to your passive income.
So take your time to check everything. If you’re writing a book, make sure the font sizes are consistent. Use an online tool like Grammarly to check your spelling. If you’re making a video course, make sure the audio quality is up to standard. Put some effort into structuring your content in a coherent and useful way.
You’re not looking for perfection here. We are only humans, and a single typo will not be the end of the world, especially if you’re not a native speaker. Just put some love into your project and create a product that you are proud of. You get the idea.
And for the love of passive income—be honest. Share real, actionable advice. Don’t make up numbers. If you’re writing about parenting and your kid took 18 months to walk, don’t say it was 10.
There’s enough BS out there already. Plus, don’t you want the satisfaction of actually helping people? Believe me, it feels great.
Here are some questions I always ask myself before I publish anything: Would I let my parents, friends and coworkers read it? Would I be embarrassed if they did? Or worse, would they think I’m a liar?
Quality sells.
The key takeaway here is: don’t cut corners when it comes to the quality of your product.
Okay, ladies, I think we’ve covered it all. Digital products should be no mystery to you anymore. So… are you ready to create your own? 🚀
Love,
The Business B.
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