4 digital product ideas for Etsy sellers that you can easily charge $27+ for (seriously)

May 26

Hey everyone and welcome to another episode of the Simplify Your Sales podcast!

Now a few episodes back– episode 14–I talked about some business pivots I was making for myself, and part of those pivots include talking MORE about the behind-the-scenes of creating + selling digital products. I’ve had A LOT of experience selling digital products– from my first photography “how-to” guide back in 2012 (yep, this coming from someone who HATES photography), to digital nursery art print bundles to my signature Mastermind Your Marketing program and also my 2 week SEO blitz program– Simplify Your SEO…as well as a bunch of little digital products in between for various bundles and promotions.

Basically I’ve been doing the digital thing for a long time and I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon.

Now I’ve heard from A LOT of you that you’re interested in pursuing the digital product route and ready to make that slight pivot– whether it’s to create an entirely new shop full of digital products or to add a complimentary digital product line to your existing shop….

..but you’re stuck.

You don’t know where to start.

You KNOW that adding a digital product or product line and creating that product ONCE and selling it over and over again is just about dang near the SMARTEST thing you can do to grow your revenue….

…but beyond “printables,” you’re not sure what digital product YOU could offer.

And that’s what today’s episode is all about– showing you some different ideas and price points of digital products BEYOND THE BASIC PRINTABLE that you can create and add to your shop, and, ultimately your bottom line.

SO WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH DIGITAL PRODUCTS?

You may be wondering why SO many people are interested in selling digital products and the reasons why are EXTENSIVE. Besides the whole “no inventory, no postal runs” concept which in and of itself was reason enough for ME to go digital, you also are able to create PASSIVE income in your Etsy shop.

You may have heard that term floating around the internet and wondered what it even means. Well, “passive income” is essentially an income stream coming from products you create ONCE and sell over and over again with no additional order fulfillment needed.

Basically your typical digital product 🙂

There are a ton of very obvious benefits to pursuing passive income– which we’ll talk more about in upcoming podcast episodes of this podcast– but one of my FAVORITES is that it frees up your time IMMENSELY.

If you’ve ever felt like you had to stay glued to your sewing machine morning, noon, and night; or locked away in your studio for days at a time, then you understand just how time-consuming running a handmade physical product business can be.

And while I’d NEVER want to take you away from the craft you love and find fulfilling– be it calligraphy or soap making or pottery– creating a digital product and/or line is simply a way to DO IT SMARTER– to do it in a way that DOESN’T involve frantic midnight holiday work sessions or daily post office runs.

Basically, the idea here is that we’re taking your skill or craft and creating a digital product around it that showcases your expertise and LET’S YOU SHINE like the creative superstar that you are.

WE’RE TALKING ABOUT DIGITAL EDUCATION PRODUCTS.

Now a “digital education product” is a digital product that you create that EDUCATES your buyer on a specific skill set that you have. This isn’t the ONLY type of digital product you can create, but it’s one that we’re going to focus on in this episode because I feel like it’s one SO many people don’t even consider and they should!

And for a little “tough love” which I am NOT known for, but I feel needs to be said: don’t feed me the “I don’t have any skills someone would or even should pay for” because that is simply NOT true, so I’m calling B.S. on that RIGHT NOW.

Let’s address that excuse:

#1 – First off, You DO HAVE SKILLS. You are a creative. You are talented. I know this because I spend SO much time chatting with Etsy sellers and I am always BLOWN AWAY but the amount of creativity sitting *just* in their little pinky. It’s humbling to say the least because I am NOT a creative person by nature. I have the best of intentions and hundreds of dollars worth of crafting supplies in my basement that would suggest otherwise, but at the end of the day, there’s a reason those materials are still sitting in my basement. So yes, you DO have skills that other people wish they had.

And then #2 thing we need address– the concept that people shouldn’t pay you for your skills.

This is a MAJOR mindset shift that needs to happen– because people will ABSOLUTELY pay for your skills.

CHARGING FOR EDUCATION IS 100% NORMAL!

Think about it– people go to university and expect to pay to learn and educate themselves (even if they only take one class and don’t earn a degree– it still costs HUNDREDS of dollars!). Local community courses you can take at the local colleges also charge per class for that type of education. In fact, when I was first married, I paid $80 for a 4 week bookbinding class. Fun fact about me that I don’t share with many people– I can hand-bind leather books. Okay, I share that with you because I need you to understand that it is VERY normal to charge for your experience.

If you’re teaching someone a faster/easier way to do things than to spend months googling the answers, you are actually SERVING them and people are more than happy to pay for the time you’ll save them (I am one of those people!). Now, some people value money more and will spend the weeks and months researching how to make the perfect sourdough bread loaf, for example.And then others– like me– will just go buy an e-book on sourdough basics 101 so I can have all the information in one place and hit the ground running.

And that is EXACTLY what we’re talking about here– compiling all the information, resources, education into ONE place so that you can save people TIME and EFFORT. You are making their lives EASIER. You are SERVING THEM.

And now that I’m off my digital education soap box, let’s dive into 4 ideas of higher-priced digital products that are a natural fit for Etsy sellers to add to their shops. Because you KNOW I’m all about the flagship product line and having a shop that is niched and focused. These digital products will allow you to still maintain that focus but ALSO build up your revenue in an incredible fast + passive way.

Now before we dive into them, however, know that these are not the ONLY options out there. There are –literally- TONS of different digital product ideas out there that you could pursue. These are just the top ones that I’ve found to be extremely effective + a natural fit for Etsy sellers that add up QUICKLY.

Also– if you are ready to hit the ground RUNNING with a digital product or product line, make sure you grab your FREE download– the Passive Income Planning Workbook. This workbook will walk you through start to finish planning out your first (or next!) digital product step-by-step. You’re going to love it.

Alright, so let’s dive in to these digital products that are ideal fits for Etsy sellers!

Idea #1 – Ebook

This is a digital product that I LOVE as an “intro” digital product for Etsy sellers– because it’s easy to create and easy to sell– and at a MUCH higher price point than your basic $3 digital printable. You’re looking at a $27 – $47 price point, depending on the content included inside. Think how many $3 printables you’d have to sell to make up just ONE sale of your ebook!

Now first things first, when I say “ebook” I’m not talking about some self-published book on Amazon or a fantasy novel that you’re writing on the side during nano-wrimo (which please tell me you know what that means so I don’t sound like a complete nerd who took one-too-many creative writing classes in college for fun).

No, with an “ebook,” I’m talking about a compiled collection of information, resources, and/or tutorials that you can condense into one easy digital package for delivery.

And this doesn’t have to be a super-fancy delivery, either. Obviously go as professional as you want, but I’ve purchased MANY an ebook as a simple Google doc exported as a PDF and been perfectly pleased with my purchase. Again, my sourdough bread e-book comes to mind.

But maybe you don’t know how to make sourdough bread and you’re wondering “What the heck can *I* put into an ebook?!”

Let’s take a look at some examples of what an ebook might look like for various niches:

Let’s say you sell cross stitch or crochet kits– your digital ebook could be:

a compilation of 20+ patterns of your best selling items.
Or a beginners guide to cross-stitching 101.
Or a “create your own cross-stitch patterns” ebook.

Or maybe you sell wire-wrapped jewelry. Your ebook could be written on:

“How to get started with wire-wrapping jewelry.”
Or an ebook compilation of 10+ wire-wrapped jewelry patterns.

Or maybe you sell pillows and inserts.

You could create a “home style guide” ebook if that’s your passion,
or create an ebook on mixing + matching textiles in your home.
Or again, even an ebook of pillow patterns.

And it doesn’t have to *just* be based on what you currently sell in your shop– you can go a completely different direction and start up a new shop! Maybe you’re fantastic at home organization (and if you are, please let me know if you’re available for hire!). Or maybe you’re REALLY skilled at creating weekly menus for your family. Or maybe you’re just really skilled at woodworking even though you currently sell greeting cards in your Etsy shop. Know that you are NOT pigeon-holed in by what you currently sell in your Etsy shop– because seriously– the sky’s the limit for your potential!

And in the end, basically your e-book should be a combination of something you’re PASSIONATE about as well as something you’re EXPERIENCED in.

Idea #2 Pre-recorded workshop

Do you ever have people reach out to you wanting to know how to make your products? Yes, they’re annoying requests to get, but what if you created a pre-recorded 1-2 hour workshop that you could send them to AND make money off of them?

Pre-recorded workshops are simply video workshops of you teaching a specific skill or training and can be priced anywhere from $47 – $197 in price for a 1-2 hour video training. This is a video that you shoot IN ADVANCE so that it is pre-recorded and is essentially available “on demand” when someone purchases.

Some examples of this might be if your skill is knit, you could create a video masterclass on mastering certain advanced stitches or techniques or teaching a beginner knitting lab.

If you sell pottery and ceramics, you could create a video masterclass on getting started with pottery– showing them techniques and tips. Or a video tutorial on how to create a piece start to finish including shaping and glazing.

The idea here is to create a training that has a specific outcome that your viewers will leave with– they’ll learn an advanced skill technique they may not have known or gain a foundation for a new skill altogether.

Idea #3 Timed challenge

I LOVE this idea because it gets people to take action and get moving– create a 5 day or 14 day or 30 day challenge that encourages your audience to accomplish a certain skill in a certain time frame.

Essentially for the challenge, you’ll want to pick an end goal and then break it down into a task list of things that need to happen in order to achieve that end goal. However many days it reasonably takes to complete those tasks? That’s how long your challenge should be.

Your challenge can be delivered in any number of ways– emails, PDFs, daily videos– however you think it best to teach your audience during the challenge.

So if you’ve always got people wanting you to show them how to do custom calligraphy, create a 14-day paid calligraphy challenge and teach them how to go from 0 → calligraphy in 2 weeks.

Or maybe you sew and want to share that love with others. Create a 30 day sew-a-day challenge and have 30 simple patterns for items that your challenge participants can create each day for 30 days.

I’ve seen challenges for $27 up to $97+ depending on the level of intensity and if they have any type of additional support provided (like a Facebook group community or bonus coaching call or something).

Idea #4 – Online course

Now this one is a personal favorite– and one that I use in my own business model for my signature Mastermind Your Marketing course. I LOVE digital courses because they’re a fantastic kind of “compilation” of all the digital product ideas we shared today and packaged in a way that is EXTREMELY high-value– so you can charge more for them. They’re definitely the most “robust” version of digital education products.

Now with that in mind, creating an online course is definitely the most challenging of the different types of digital products we’ve mentioned in this episode today in terms of both time and know-how, but absolutely and totally doable, especially if you start small with something like a $97 course. You don’t have to create a $997 course out of the gates. In fact, I’ve been selling digital courses for 3 years now and I STILL don’t have a $997 course. Beginner digital courses start anywhere from $97 – $297.

Fun fact: My first digital course was priced right in there– for $247. And since then, I’ve had some priced lower and some priced higher.

Now even though you can charge more for a digital course than say, an ebook, it’s a bit more intimidating of a challenge to take on. So when should the information you teach be shared as an ebook vs something more robust like a digital course?

Well, a digital course is a GREAT option for a digital product if the skill or information you want to teach and share with your audience is best explained in a wide variety of ways. Maybe you want to have some text instruction and some screenshots but also video trainings and maybe a workbook to go with it. And if you want to connect with and support your students even further for an extended period of time? A digital course lends itself to creating a community as well of people who are in it to win it, so to speak.

So maybe you watercolor and wanted to create a course on watercolors 101. You could have modules on the types of paints and materials to select, basic watercolor techniques, color mixing, composition, and a million other things I know NOTHING about because I am not a painter.

Or maybe you sell party supplies and want to create a course on planning parties. You could include lessons on prepping your party with printable checklists, how to source party supplies or DIY supplies on a budget, how to estimate food needed, budgeting for parties, and so much more.

Basically, if you want to teach more than just a very niched skill or technique, a course is a great option because it allows you a variety of mediums and to give your students the “big picture” instead of just one snippet or skill.

Alright, and there you have it– 4 digital product ideas BEYOND the printable that you can start charging $27 or more for. And if you’re ready to learn how to create these actual ideas, make sure you subscribe to the Simplify Your Sales podcast over on iTunes or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts at because I’ll be walking you through each of these ideas more in-depth in the upcoming weeks.

Also– make sure you grab your FREE download– the Passive Income Planning Workbook it’s yours for free so you can get started planning out your first (or next!) digital product step-by-step.

That’s it for this week– thanks for joining me + I’ll see you next!

Morgan Nield