15 Best-Selling Digital Product Ideas for 2021 (With Zero Money)

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Earning big and living a lavish lifestyle has always been everyone’s desire. And it seems pretty impossible when the only source of income you have is your 9 to 5 job. On the other hand, running a business requires a lot of resources and financial capital to keep things going. A decade ago, the idea of having a business was more about managing your financial assets and selling them to make profits. However, with modern technology and innovation, the world has gone more digital, and so has the exchange of products. Selling tangible products or services is not the only way now. There’s much more, in the form of a digital product.

Whether it is a trickle or torrent of ideas that you have in your mind to start your business, it is all about the strategy and planning involved, defining your success. Knowing your product is the first step in making a difference in the market. The same goes for digital products. The product you choose and the value they hold in the market have a lot to do with the potential revenue you can generate.

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Therefore, search about the digital trends and products flaring the sales and profits for different businesses. You can research and learn about digital products and look at their revenue or sales statistics in e-commerce. However, before chalking out our list of the products that you should sell, here is what you need to know.

What are digital products?

The name digital does not refer to any gadget only. It entails any virtual product that you can see online, pay for and download instantly. You probably had the online shopping concept associated with digital products, but it involves software, applications, streaming movies, or TV show services. We all have subscribed to different apps; even your cloud storage is a virtual product you have paid for and storing your documents and other stuff for long-term availability. These products are intangible because we cannot touch or feel them, but it does not mean that they do not have any worth or value. If we look up the net worth of digital products, you will be amazed to know that they were worth $199 billion in 2020. Shocking statistics, right? The projected statistics for the year 2021 states the following:

  • Digital media revenue in the US will reach $292,042 million this year.
  • Video games will be the largest market segment generating around $154,630 million market volume.
  • The revenue generated in the US will be around $85,581 million accounting for the highest revenue in global comparison.

What Makes Digital Product Selling Unique

One might wonder why digital media? Why not the usual mainstream business like the ones that we have seen over the years. The advent of technology and digitization has made many things easier, including learning and running a business. All it takes is a stable internet connection and some video tutorials. You can shorten your learning curve by visiting sites that can help you learn digital products and digital marketing.

Creating and selling virtual products and promoting them may seem overwhelming, especially if you are not tech-savvy. If you do not know where to start and what first step you should take, begin by jotting down the things you know and the ones you need to learn.

Once you explore your niche in the digital market, you will find many benefits of creating or selling virtual products. Here are some of the reasons highlighting why you should choose virtual products.

  • High returns with low investments

Online marketplaces and e-commerce tools are inexpensive compared to the usual brick-and-mortar businesses where you have to rent or buy things to set up your business. Creating your products requires time, energy, and effort. You might not have to spend a penny nut you can earn a lot by selling them in the digital market.

  • A digital product can yield more profit than the physical good

These products tend to sell at higher margins than physical goods. Search Netflix subscribers throughout the world, and you will see astonishing numbers of subscribers paying every month. The selling margin of these product increase over time as it does not require any money to produce more units.

  • Rent, inventory, and shipping free

One of the best benefits of creating or selling these products is that you do not have to spend your money to cover the production, storing, and shipping of these products like the one required for physical goods. It does not need any building rent or inventory. Selling products on online platforms is radically simple as it saves you the hustle of renting things that may consume time in the case of physical goods.

  • Best passive income

If your job keeps you busy and you cannot quit it, you do not have to worry about the earning coming through your digital product. These products have automated delivery, and it keeps your money influx intact even if you are too busy to give time to it.

Here are the 15 best-selling products that we have listed for you. The focus is on the best products/ideas, how much money you can make, and what makes them unique or best-selling.

  1. eBooks

One of the most popular digital product for creator and customers are eBooks. They continue to be at the top when listing digital products because of their demands and popularity. They are simple and easy to create. They require a person’s creativity to deliver a story or a self-help genre with fewer supporting images. You do not have to worry about its distribution either. You will find many large marketplaces or self-created online stores dealing in eBooks. The passion for reading is never getting old. The form of reading may have changed, but people prefer books that they can carry on their phones, tablets, or even computers making it more consumed.

eBooks offer an excellent selling margin to its sellers. We see many people buying books from amazon. Amazon has more than 300 million users, which is a great indicator of how big a marketplace it is.  Initially, you will be making $500 a month or $6000 a year. The purpose of virtual products is to snowball your income by investing what you are currently earning through them. If you invest $500 in the next ten years, you will be making $80,000 from one eBook, depending on how good you are in your niche.

The beauty of eBooks is that it allows its creator to explore different dimensions of creativity, deliver the knowledge they have, or write about the subject they love. As a result, you will find great diversity in every writer’s work, and they never bore you.

  1. Software

We all know a fair amount of software that people sell online, and we have subscribed or bought some ourselves. The software industry is enormously increasing and ripe with many opportunities. Anyone knowing how to write codes can produce new products, each unique to its own. One can create exciting products by experimenting with coding. Be its desktop software, a web template, videogames, mobile applications, and many other products resulting from coding. Those who know how to write code can develop numerous products to sell online and turn their coding skills into cash.

Software entails unique coding that you cannot replicate. If you want to incorporate a simple fragment of one into another, you will have to develop a new code. The coding makes every software unique. Think about your favorite videogame and the version you are using now. Your first game version is different than the latest one because of its coding.

Anyone working with codes and create products like web templates, videogames, plugins, and other software-related products can earn good money. Top performers can even make up to $400,000 a year by selling enterprise software.

  1. Audio/Music-Selling

Another new trend in online products is audio. People are using this powerful tool of communication to inform, entertain, or share information. We all have different music channels or podcast subscriptions, and we enjoy listening to the music or learning from the people sharing valuable information about their lives. Creating audio products is easy if you are aware of the copyrights. Your audio products can include the following:

  • Audiobooks
  • Recorded lectures
  • Musical samples
  • Beats
  • Foreign language lessons
  • Relaxing background music
  • Reusable sound effects
  • Lyrical or instrumental tracks.

Identify different ways that you can utilize to make your customer download sound. You can also entice your audience by offering a free audio sample on platforms allowing global streaming. Audiobooks are currently in trend, and people are shifting to listening to books. At the same time, they drive than reading it on their tablet or any other device.

If you wonder how much money you can make by selling audio products, then look at how much a musician makes by just selling their original beat. It takes time, but you will soon get the hang of it if you stay original and avoid violating copyrights. Audiobook narrators can earn up to $100 – $500 per hour. Their sellers make more than the narrator with every download that people make.

Audio is another best-selling digital product in the online market because everyone has different skills. You can explore a great variety in audiobook narration and accents. If you are good at some foreign language or hold valuable knowledge and love teaching, you can record your lectures. The best thing about audio is it will always end up in someone looking for exactly what you are offering.

  1. Online Courses

Whenever we are stuck finding a piece of information that we need, our first instinct is to Google and read the text, but we switch to videos if we want more clear understanding. Online courses have been a hit among people who do not have time for traditional learning. The E-learning industry has seen rich innovation and has grown enormously. Many traditional educational institutions are exploring ways to make their content available for new learners with its growth. People creating or selling these courses offer different options to their consumers, like one-off downloadable courses or web-based services involving membership/subscriptions. Many online courses are autonomous, allowing users to access the information whenever they want with full access to study resources. In contrast, others bind the access with subscription charges.

The amount you can earn by selling courses varies widely, but you can anywhere between $10k and $50k per month.

Online courses are lucrative outlets for anyone possessing expertise and knowledge in one particular niche. The unique element of this product is that it is accessible around the globe, and neither you nor your user has to travel anywhere for it.

  1. Photography

Another best-selling and trendy product in the digital realm is photography. The biggest consumers of high-quality premium photographs are bloggers and website owners. Truly spectacular images worth a lot, and one can turn their passion for photography into a passive income source. Having a solid portfolio with your website will make you appear authentic for your customers. Showcasing your best pieces on your site will attract customers.

The amount of money a photographer can make varies, but you can earn $100 per image on average, depending on its quality and the website.

Photography is a creative and appealing hobby and a profession. Your skills make it unique depending on what you capture. From nature to wildlife, we see many viral shots making rounds because of their beauty.

  1. Digital Art and Graphics

If you are a graphic designer or a digital artist, you can utilize this skill as an online product by designing cards, logos, patterns, brushes, backgrounds, and many more. Digital artist can sell their finished pieces at a higher price than selling graphic design pieces. If you are good at producing digital artwork and have the license for it, you are all set to earn through your digital are and graphic designing skills.

You can earn up to $57,520 as a digital artist working for some firm, and if you are a freelancer, you have the liberty to set your prices.

Art demands creativity and every artist has something exceptional to offer based on their niche. Therefore, you will find people looking for various art pieces, and if you fit their niche, you will only snowball your income.

  1. Video Making

Videos are an effective and highly reliable source for delivering information. You can sell educational, entertaining, or informational content online. Videos are comparatively more engaging than text, attracting more users to stream videos and subscribing to different channels. For example, if you are good at public speaking, you can record your talks, and with a bit of editing, you can turn your passion for speaking into a source of income. You can earn up to $5k a month if you offer information through your videos tailored to your audience’s liking.

Every person speaking in a video has a different impact. Some people can connect with the words that you speak, while others may look for an alternative. Your skills and content are what make your video unique, and you will find millions of people streaming your videos once you have managed to gain their attention.

  1. Educational Documents

We refer to the documents existing in informational pieces like industry reports, user guides, manuals, or templates like resumes or portfolios. Suppose you have written study notes with all the information a student may need. In that case, you can trade these documents with different educational websites looking for them. If you have written a blog post related to some industry niche covering all the necessary research and information, pack it as a manuscript and put it out for sale.  You can decide the sale price depending on the richness of the content that you are offering. If the information you have enclosed in your document is not openly available, you can sell it for a higher price.

You can sell your documents to sites like WordPress, where people can download the copy they need. Your area of expertise and writing style makes your document unique. In this modern era, people are looking for quick information instead of writing themselves. Selling document as a digital product stands out because you are the one with the skills and can help you grow your market value.

  1. Professional Services

If you are not looking for a full-time job but have skills you can offer as professional services, you just created an online product. Although services are not similar to products, they are sold as digital products. You can offer your professional services at a fixed price to get the set price or case-by-case services where the charges may vary. People offering online professional services are web-designing, graphic designing, coaching, training, translation, copywriting, and legal services.

Your area of expertise can make you stand out and the years of experience related to the service you are offering. You can either set your prices or leave room for negotiation. With this niche, you can make as much money as you want.

  1. Nutritional Diet Plans

The hype about health and fitness never grows old. Our lifestyle has made the gym a part of our lives, and we are more cautious about what we eat. You can find hundreds of weight loss transformation stories, including different diet plans and meal preparation methods. If you love fitness, have nutrition knowledge, and have helped many of your friends stay fit, you can turn this into an online product. You can market your products by using videos, social media, or other platforms.

Online dieticians and nutritionists are making good money by defining their product goal length and their consultation. As a result, many professionals charge $60 to $80 per week for their meal plans and other services.

Finding a nutritionist online is easy but find the right is the catch. With increasing numbers of gym memberships and people wanting to stay fit, you can coach them towards a better lifestyle by helping them with their diet and meal preps.

  1. Mentoring/Coaching

If you are impressively knowledgeable and possess some great skills, you might find people asking you to teach them. You can turn your skills into cash by customizing your coaching to one-on-one lessons or teaching a group at a time. In addition, you can teach various topics online like painting, dancing, writing, health and wellness, financial consultations, or counseling. You will need a strong profile as a coach and mentor, and you can keep the revenue coming in by lending your time and knowledge to people looking for it.

You can earn up to $100 a day, depending on your service as a mentor or coach. It is a unique idea because it allows comfort to both the seller and the consumer regarding time, place, and duration.

  1. Audits

No, we are not referring to the regular audits that we see, but we are talking about website, marketing, and UX audits. Many business owners often overlook the fact of updating their website and apps related to it. You can offer your personalized auditing services to a company based on their business needs. You can generate client-specific reports and guide them about their steps to improve their business growth.

You can earn up to $5k to $25k, depending on the size of the company and the content on its website.

  1. Plugins and applications

The internet has evolved over the years. It is constantly evolving as many people are offering solutions to make things more simplified. You can create a product by providing a plugin or application for e-commerce, tool integration, entertainment, and language support. Many web designers are often looking for plugin updates that they struggle to find or expensive. Offering these services can help you generate better revenue, and you can grow your income further. Depending on the purpose of your plugin or application, you can earn great money through it.

  1. Membership Programs

These programs are a private selection of one’s website where members have to pay monthly or can avail of yearly plans like our usual movie or TV streaming sites. Suppose you are good in health, business, or technology. In that case, you can offer a membership program through your site to get into business. Charging a membership fee is more of a recurring revenue than one-off payments. We now have more than one movie or TV streaming service with different membership packages. You can start your program in the technology niche, catering to all the technical requirements that a person struggles with daily. You can offer simple learning steps like linking email to an account to complex things like fixing SQL.

These programs can make you earn money regularly once you have your loyal members’ base and keep growing.

  1. Advertising Space

We all see different ads pop up on our website while we are surfing through other pages. These ad pop-ups are the spaces that the website has sold to various brands to publish on their site. Selling advertising space is an easy way to generate revenue even if you do not want to charge for your product or service. Look for the new brands looking to publish their ads on different sites and offer them your space. You can charge them weekly or monthly, depending on the space they need on your site.

Conclusion

The year 2020 was more about digital transformation. It paved the way for many e-commerce businesses despite its challenges. As a result, people are utilizing additional services to facilitate their lives. Moreover, product sellers earn good money by showcasing the services or skills they offer in exchange for their time. Creating online products is easy if you know what you are offering and your target audience. Technology and digital platforms are everlasting, and they will evolve further as the need increases. From a business person to a layman, everyone looks for different applications or software to fulfill their needs.