How to Find a Digital Product Idea You’ll Love (and Your Customers Will Buy)

I’m so excited!

Girl, you’re really doing this! This is where the fun (and the work) begins. By the end of this chapter, you’ll be ready to choose your very own digital product idea, and in just 30 days, you’ll launch it into the world. Don’t worry if it still sounds a bit overwhelming, I’ll guide you through every step of the way.

Let’s go.

Looking For A Digital Product Idea – What To Look For

So, what are we actually looking for here? To make the process easier, first try to find a general area you could focus on. We’ll think of the specific problem or niche later. For now, think broad.

a) Knowledge

Ideally, you want something you already know a lot about. Why? Because that means you can jump right in, organize your thoughts, and start creating. No extensive research needed.

Of course, you can choose a topic you’re not super familiar with and do the research first, but that’s extra work, and extra work means more time, and more time means more motivation, and the motivation… well, sometimes it’s just gone as quickly as it came. You know what I mean.

b) Interest

Second, pick something you are actually interested in. Because you will have to spend a good couple of weeks working with that topic. Even though we are aiming for the set-it-and-forget-it type of project. Believe me, if the topic bores you to death, you won’t finish it.

It doesn’t matter if you have 30 years of experience in accounting—if you hate it, you’re going to dread every second of creating your product and never get past a blank Word document. You’ll start, you’ll procrastinate, and then you’ll convince yourself it was a bad idea in the first place. I’ve been there. You’ve been there. We’ve all been there. So don’t set yourself up for a month of torture. Choose a topic you enjoy.

So let’s find a topic where you either have some experience or at least a genuine interest.

Looking For A Digital Product Idea – Where To Look

If no area jumps out at you right away, don’t stress. We’ll take a more structured approach. Go through the list below step by step and try to write down a few topics for each one. Don’t overthink it—just note whatever comes to mind.

And if your mind went completely blank and you can’t think of anything at all, that’s totally fine too. Step away, go about your day, and let your brain do the job in the background. You’d be surprised how ideas pop up when you’re not actively searching for them.

a) Your passion and hobbies

I think this one’s pretty obvious. And before you panic and assume you don’t have any passions and you’re the least interesting person on the planet, here are some questions to get you on the right track:

What are the things you do after work or on the weekend?
What are the things you love learning about?
If there was a magazine you could buy on any topic in the world, what would it be?
If you went on a date and someone asked you what are your interests, what would you say?

That’s exactly how I came up with the idea for this blog. I love building small businesses. I love finding and testing new ways to build passive income. It’s not just about making money for me—I genuinely enjoy it. I spend a ton of my free time learning about it, and because of that, sharing what I know feels effortless.

You know how it is—ask someone about their job, and their face drops. Ask them about their passion, and suddenly, they’re glowing and could talk about it for hours. That’s the energy you want for your digital product.

b) Your career-related skills

If you don’t totally hate your job, that’s another goldmine for digital product ideas. Think about it:

What skills do you use every single day at work?
When a new hire joins your company, what’s the first thing they need to learn?
What are you better at than your coworkers? What’s that one task your boss always asks you (and not anyone else) to handle?
If a teenager asked you what skills they’d need to join your field, what would you tell them?

Your job might feel routine to you, but trust me—there’s someone out there who’d love to learn what you know. Nothing is too obvious.

I used to work in big corporations. And you know what skill was the most important for advancing your career there? Navigating office politics. Yep, not Excel, not PowerPoint, not public speaking, not even leadership—just the ability to read the room, manage egos, and build the right alliances.

It might seem like a blurry concept, and it’s definitely not something they teach you in business school. But there are so many tricks and best practices you only learn with years of experience.

For example, before delivering a big presentation to the board, it’s a great habit to reach out to each participant in advance. Let them know the structure of your presentation and ask if there’s anything they’d like to see included. This simple move makes them 200% more engaged and more likely to give you positive feedback afterward—because they had the chance to contribute their thoughts.

I saw so many careers go downhill because people lacked this skill. If I could go to every university in the world and teach just one class, it would be this.

Now, think about your career. What’s the insider skill that you’ve learned over the years that’s helped you succeed? The one thing that sets you apart from others in your field? It doesn’t have to be something flashy. It’s often the small things that make all the difference.

c) Your unique experiences

Next up, let’s dive into the events and experiences that life has thrown your way. Whether they were moments of pure joy or times of stress and tragedy, they’ve all shaped you and given you knowledge. And guess what? That knowledge is valuable—very valuable—especially for people who are going through similar situations. It’s the kind of wisdom you can’t just find by Googling or reading Wikipedia. These are your personal insights, the kind of thing that makes your story stand out and can genuinely help others.

So, think about it:

What were the most significant events in your life?
What were your biggest adventures or achievements?
What were the biggest changes you’ve made in your life?
What events brought you the most happiness?
What were the hardest times in your life, the ones that pushed you to your limits but somehow, you made it through?
What were the moments that completely surprised you, the things you never saw coming that turned your life upside-down?

Maybe you moved abroad at some point. Think back to how stressed you were before taking that leap—how everything felt overwhelming. You had a million questions: How to find an apartment? Do I need a bank account? What about health insurance?

Finding a book with all the answers in one place could have saved you so much stress. If you have that experience, why not use it to help someone else who’s about to face the same challenges?

Or maybe you’ve had a more challenging experience. If you’re a cancer survivor—and it’s not too painful to revisit those times—consider sharing your journey. What was it like being diagnosed? What did you need most during those hard moments that doctors didn’t have time to explain or give you? What exactly happens after one receives the daunting news?

A guide or a support e-book offering tips, insights, and emotional reassurance could be such a gift to someone who’s just been diagnosed. Knowledge is a powerful comfort in these moments, and you’d be providing a kind of care that’s often missing in medical settings. Your words can be a lifeline for others who are facing similar struggles, and that could be the start of something truly impactful.

Just please make sure you’re comfortable with what you’re sharing. If opening up about that journey still feels too raw, it’s okay to wait or not share it at all. There’s plenty of other ideas. Your well-being comes first.

d) Products you wished existed

Another category to dive into is the gaps in the market that you yourself experienced as a consumer. These are the golden ideas waiting to be uncovered. Think about:

What were some products or courses you were looking for but couldn’t find?
When was the last time you’ve asked your friends for recommendations, because you couldn’t find a good solution to a problem yourself?
What was something you really wanted to buy, but all the options were either too expensive or of a bad quality?
What was that frustrating moment when you thought, “Why hasn’t someone made this yet?”
What was a big purchase you made recently, but that took forever to research about?

Now, I know this one is a bit tricky to come up with off the top of your head. I’ve learned to always write down these ideas.

What might help is to take a look at your browser history. Have you been looking for something specific over and over again, only to find nothing that fits? That’s a major clue. Another idea is to ask your friends—do they remember a time when you were complaining about not being able to find a product?

Remember that it’s not necessarily about creating a brand-new product—it can also be about organizing and presenting information in a way that actually helps people.

Maybe your daughter was applying to college and you wanted to help but have been completely lost in the process? Maybe you were selling your house and moving to the next one and figuring out every step of the way was a headache?

If you’ve ever struggled to find clear, reliable answers on a topic, chances are other people have, too. That’s an opportunity.

My personal moment of frustration

Here’s how I stumbled into my very first online business. Funny thing is, it wasn’t even supposed to be a business at first.

I had just landed a job in a new country within the corporation I was working for. I wanted to learn the local language because not everyone at work was comfortable speaking English. Plus, my company even paid for language classes.

The problem was, the classes were frustrating. They were focused on general language. But I didn’t need to learn the names of all animals or how to order ice cream. I needed to know how to start a meeting, give feedback, and actually communicate at work. But no course like that existed.

So, I made my own. I wrote down hundreds of sentences I used daily and asked my colleagues to help me translate them. It ended up being a pretty solid course, and it was an immense help for me. And then I thought—I can’t be the only person who needs this.

So I googled how to publish an e-book (back then I thought you needed an actual publisher, imagine that). Turns out, it was super easy. From there, I expanded. With the money from e-book sales, I hired professional voice actors, turned the course into an audio program, and even launched a mobile app.

That’s the power of spotting a gap in the market. One moment of frustration turned into a full-blown business.

I hope you find yours!

e) Things you’ve always wanted to try

Alright, time for the last category. If none of the previous ones sparked any ideas, and your list of potential ideas is still looking a little empty, I’ve got one more trick for you. Why not dive into something you’ve always been curious about but never actually tried? Think of:

What is on your bucket list?
What is something you always wanted to try but didn’t have time or didn’t dare to?
What is the skill you admire in others and wish you had?
What is something you would like to change about your life?
What is the one challenge you would like to complete at least once in your life?

Just because you’re not an expert yet doesn’t mean you can’t create something valuable. You can document your learning journey, create beginner-friendly resources, or even build something specifically for newbies—because who understands beginners better than another beginner?

Just keep in mind—going this route will take some extra time since you’ll need to actually go through the experience and do some research first. 30 days probably won’t be enough. But if you are okay with an extended timeline, why not?

Besides, how cool would it be to build your business and cross something off your bucket list or pick up a new skill at the same time. Talk about a productivity!

I’ve seen tons of fitness experts and self-improvement gurus swear by cold showers. And honestly, the science behind it seems pretty solid. So let’s say it sparks your interest—why not turn it into a 30-day challenge and write a little book about it?

You could mix in research and the actual science, so it’s informative and entertaining. Plus, you’d get to share the real struggle—like how brutally hard that first shower is (I don’t know about you, but I take my showers boiling hot), the little tricks you use to force yourself to stick with it, and the changes you start noticing after a week.

If you actually do it, let me know—I’ll be your first reader. I’ve been trying to find the courage to do this challenge myself.

Looking For A Digital Product Idea – Creating Product Proposals

1. Name your products

Alright, girl, you’ve got a few general ideas. Now it’s time to turn them into actual products. The easiest way? Try to give them a name. It doesn’t have to be perfect yet—just something that clearly describes what your product is and what kind of format it’s in (remember, it doesn’t have to be an e-book).

Say you wrote down photography as your area. Possible product ideas:

Photography for Beginners – From choosing your camera to capturing the perfect shot
Photography Creativity Workbook – Practical exercises to unlock your artistic eye

If you had parenting, you could create:

The Ultimate Newborn Checklist – Everything you actually need (and what’s a waste of money)
Toddler Milestone Tracker – A planner for tracking your little one’s developmental stages and activities

Or maybe you want to focus on your career, for example nursing:

The Nursing Survival Guide – Everything they don’t teach you in school but should
Burnout-Proof Nursing – How to care for yourself while caring for others

If your lovely husky made it on the list, here are a few ideas:

The Ultimate Husky Care Guide – Everything you need to know about grooming, feeding and training your husky
Husky-Themed Designs– The ultimate husky design bundle – from greeting cards and wall calendars to puzzle

See how this works? Take your broad area and, with a bit of brainstorming, turn it into a clear product idea.

And if you struggle – see what’s already on the market! Google it, check what’s on Amazon, search for it on Etsy, etc. You’ll get plenty of inspiration.

Also, a little pro-tip from me, especially if you’re looking for e-book ideas:

If you are not sure who to target, target beginners

Why? Because absolute beginners are the ones most likely to look for a book on a topic. Think about it—when something is completely new, you’re overwhelmed, and you just want a solid, comprehensive guide to help you out.

As you become more advanced, you usually have specific questions, and you can just Google them. But as a beginner? You don’t even know what you don’t know. So a book is a great starting point.

Plus, for beginners, your personal experiences are a big added bonus. They make your e-book even more relatable and comforting, especially when they see someone else has been through the same struggle.

I used the very same logic when writing this post.

You’re reading it because you’re just starting out, and you need something that walks you through it step by step. But once you publish your first book, or whatever your first product is, you’ll have a better idea of the process and you’ll be able to figure things out on your own. That’s why beginners are always the biggest target group. Makes sense?

2. Check for suitability

Remember the previous post? We discussed how some digital products are not a great fit for creating passive income. Now go ahead and check each idea you’ve written down against these criteria.

Is it evergreen?
Is it scalable?
Is it searchable?
Does it work without constant customer service?
Is it suitable for sale on marketplaces?
Do you have enough knowledge or interest in the topic to make it useful and high-quality?

Does your idea meet all the points? If not, cross it out.

3. Check the market & find a niche

Alright, girl, we are almost there. You’ve got some solid ideas down. Now let’s do some market research. In this step, your goal is to figure out if there’s enough demand for your product—and more importantly—if it’s a saturated market with way too much competition.

Keyword research – what I don’t recommend

There are some ways to research the product that I don’t recommend. But I still want to mention them and tell you exactly why, so you can get the whole picture. And, of course, you can choose to disagree with me.

Google Trends

When people talk about checking the market for a product, one tool they often recommend is Google Trends. It’s a free tool that shows the popularity of a particular search term in Google over time. It shows whether interest in a topic is growing or declining.

It’s very easy to use. Go to trends.google.com, type in a word or phrase you want to check for, choose the time frame and location, and that’s it. You will see the popularity of the phrase on a timeline.

But be careful! I’ve seen even marketing pros mess this up. The graph in Google Trends doesn’t show you the actual number of searches, so don’t get confused. It’s showing popularity, meaning 100% on the graph just means that search term is as popular as it’s ever been, and 0% means it’s at its lowest point. It doesn’t tell you how many people are actually searching for it—it just tells you how interest has changed over time.

The problem with it? A low popularity doesn’t necessarily mean there are no searches at all. I’ve got a couple of products with keywords where the graphs almost always show 0%, yet they still sell almost every day. So, in our case, Google Trends isn’t always helpful. Low popularity doesn’t mean no one’s interested, it can simply mean the topic used to be more popular before.

Google Keyword Planner

Another tool that’s pretty popular is Google Keyword Planner. It’s also free, but a bit more advanced than Google Trends.

To use it, you’ll need to create a Google Ads account (you can create one for free). Once you’re logged in to Ads, you can click On Tools, then Keyword Planner, and then – Get search volume.

Then you simply need to write your word or phrase in and click on search. As a result, you will see Average monthly searches. It will be a number, for example “100-1K”. As opposite to Google Trends, this tool shows you the actual number of times that someone searched for something on Google.

This number can be a clear indication of whether there is any potential interest in your product. If you are targeting a keyword that has absolutely 0 searches, maybe that’s not a great idea (remember our Spanish-Estonian wedding invitations?).

Still, I wouldn’t recommend using the Keyword Planner as your main market research tool. Why? Because it focuses on keyword popularity on Google. But here’s the thing—you’re not selling your product on Google (at least not primarily). The demand for your product on platforms like Amazon, Etsy, or Udemy could be very different, and Google’s search data might not give you an accurate picture of what’s happening on those platforms.

I have products that are extremely popular on Amazon but that no one ever finds on Spotify. Each platform is unique and has a different set of users.

So while GKP is a good tool, it’s not the ultimate answer for checking if there’s a market for your product.

Market research – what I recommend

So you’re probably thinking—alright then, we should just use the keyword planner for Amazon instead. Well, the problem is: there isn’t one. The big platforms aren’t handing over that data. You can’t check how many people searched for a specific phrase on Amazon each month.

But that’s okay. I have another strategy for you to use – it’s called common sense.

What I personally do when launching a new product is search for my key phrase on Amazon (or a platform that will be my main marketplace). Then, I check two things: First, how many competitor products are out there. Second, I look at whether those products have reviews.

If there are too many competitors – narrow down

Take a moment to really analyze the market. Sure, Amazon will always try to show you hundreds of products, but not all of them are relevant to your search. Focus on the first 20 results—do they actually match your phrase? Are people who search for that keyword going to find what they’re looking for in those products? More often than not, the answer is no.

If you find around 1-10 matching products, you’re in a great place. It means the competition is manageable and there’s potential for sales. But if you find more than 10, that’s a sign the market is saturated. In that case, try to narrow your idea down. What more specific group or niche can you target? Experiment with a few variations until you land on the best option. The goal is to find that sweet spot where demand is high, but the competition isn’t overwhelming.

If there are no reviews – broaden up

Now, for the products that do seem relevant to your keyword—do they have reviews? No reviews could mean that there’s little to no demand, or simply that no one is buying. If your search results bring up only a handful of products (0-2) with no reviews, it might be time to go broader. Try to adjust your product idea to target a bigger customer base, and test it again.

Just a quick heads up from me regarding reviews: Not every customer leaves one on Amazon. In fact, reviews are quite rare. So, if you see a product with only 50 reviews, that doesn’t necessarily mean that only 50 people bought it. It’s more likely that many more customers purchased the product without leaving feedback, so don’t let the number of reviews discourage you too much.

In fact, it’s quite impossible to predict how well a product sells based on the number of reviews. I have one Amazon e-book which I sold exactly 1,023 times so far, and which only has 24 reviews (so only 2% of customers left a review). But I also have another e-book, on a completely different topic, which I published recently. This one already has 8 reviews, although I only sold it 22 times so far (so a 36% comment rate!). A crazy difference.

What I’m trying to say is – don’t get too obsessed with the numbers. Use them as a general guideline, but not more than that. Trust yourself. Focus on finding a niche where you feel there’s potential.

Looking For A Digital Product Idea – Making The Final Decision

Just do it

I hope you’re not too exhausted by now—because guess what? You’ve just created multiple viable and scalable digital product ideas with a proven sale potential!

Take a moment to pat yourself on the back, girl.

So what’s next? Simple. Just choose one.

Seriously, there’s no special strategy here. If you’re planning to write an e-book, maybe go with the one that seems the easiest to write, or the one where you feel most comfortable. If you’re creating a design-type product, maybe pick the one you’re most excited about. Or maybe just go eeny, meeny, miny, moe and pick at random.

Honestly, it doesn’t really matter which one you pick. They’re ALL good ideas!

It’s only your first

Remember, you’re only choosing your FIRST product idea. And trust me, once you go through this process and see how easy it is, you’ll be cranking out more products in no time.

Keep that list of ideas handy—you’re not giving up on them. Right now, you’re just picking the one with the highest priority. Remember, we’re on a mission to publish this product in 30 days, and that means you could easily create as much as 12 products a year. So please don’t waste time overthinking this.

Stick to it

Once you’ve chosen your idea, there’s no going back (at least not for the next 30 days). Don’t change your mind!

I know it sounds obvious, but I want to make sure it really hits home. You’ll be working on your product for a couple of weeks, and trust me, the motivation can dip. When that happens, every other idea will start looking shinier than the one you’re working on right now. But I need you to commit to this one—until you publish your product, the other ideas are off the table. Are you with me?

Alright, girl. So which one will it be?

Love,

The Business B.