The Digital Age continues to open up opportunities for everyone, once you understand the climate we are in. Making money today is much much easier than you think but one of the best ways to get started making money in the Digital Age…is well…digital products. There are many reasons why everyone should be thinking about what digital products they can build but I want to give you the top 5 reasons to build digital products.
If you have no idea how to go about building your digital products or what would be considered a digital product, allow me to give you a few examples of what they are. However, if you want to learn how to go about building them, that will definitely be something I will be aiming to help you do in 2020.
A few examples of digital products would be e-books, stock footage (Photos/Videos), stock graphics, online courses, music, software, documents (legal templates, resume templates, white papers), professional services (think taking bookings online), tickets, webinars, live stream events.
The digital product economy has also expanded significantly. Today, you can create Canva and Notion templates, AI prompt libraries, spreadsheets and calculators, research reports, digital toolkits, automation templates, paid communities and memberships, AI workflows and agents, and specialized databases. The point is…your knowledge, skills, systems and resources can be packaged digitally into something useful that people are willing to pay for.
There are so many more digital products or services that can be sold online that fall into the category of digital products. Everybody has a digital product in them. The real key to selling a digital product though is building your brand and niching down.
Now that we have an idea of what digital products are, here are the top 5 reasons (in no particular order) as to why you should be thinking about building digital products.
- Low barrier to entry
- Scalability
- Great margins
- Passive Income
- Access to Global Market
Low Barrier To Entry
There is really nothing that will get in your day when creating a digital product besides yourself. You simply need to give yourself permission to actually create it and then you have a million ways to go about getting customers.
Want to create an ebook? Jump in Canva, create your book and then figure out where you want to distribute your product.
Want to create fonts, graphics, audio or even WordPress Themes? Create it and then figure out which online market place you want to register to and sell your work there.
There is nothing stopping you from selling your product or service online. Social media is free and gives you access to billions of people around the world that you can connect with and sell your product and render your service to.
As long as you have Wifi or data…you are good to go!
Scalability
When you have made a digital product, you can reproduce it an infinite amount of times and never have to worry about stock. You also have access to the entire global network in order to sell your product.
You can deliver your product to anyone, anywhere, at any time. There are no limitations with digital products.
Right now…I wish I was a great Chef who specialized in Caribbean Cuisine. Since our Carnival’s are continuously breaking new ground and entering into markets all over the world, I would be spending time connecting with the bands and promoters who are getting into these new markets and working with them to get a digital ebook on a few Caribbean dishes into the hands of their patrons.
Understand that people want our culture, our vibes, our music and our FOOD! They are getting exposed to our music through the bands, why not figure out how to get a copy of your top 5 recipes of Caribbean food into their hands as well? (If anybody acts upon this…just give me a shoutout, I am fine with that lol).
Great Margins
The cost of building many of the digital products pales in comparison to trying to build out physical products. It cost next to nothing to create those e-books, creating an online course is a small fee to many of the LMS platforms and the more you build your brand, is the greater you can extend those margins.
The beauty of having these great margins is that when you consider how you can scale the product, you can truly make some good money when you figure out a good price point and get great at finding out where your ideal clients are hanging out.
Passive Income
This has to be my personal favourite reason why digital products are close to my heart. You build it, market it and then in the wee hours of the morning when you wake up to take a tinkle, you may just decide to check your phone and there is no greater feeling than seeing “New Order” in your inbox…without having to TALK to ANYBODY!!!
Hallelujah!!!
Digital products can be sold at any time, the internet doesn’t sleep, your website doesn’t take a break and when it is midnight for you, it is lunchtime for somebody else in the world and is ready to do some shopping for your product/service.
With digital products, you can get away from trading your time for money and focus on anything else of your choice.
Access to Global Market
To wrap this up…has to be the most important point. The internet has turned that massive world into a connected village. You have access to anybody and everybody in the world because of it.
If you begin creating digital products for people in your Country, chances are there are people in another part of the world that may have the same or similar problems that you are facing. They will be hunting the internet to find answers and may look to your products to help them or may even contact you directly to help them craft a solution with them.
Point is…geography is no longer a limiting factor when trying to build a business. If you are building physical products, you have a lot of logistics to work out. When building a digital product or service, you really don’t have about much, other than how can you get eyeballs on your product.
How Can You Sell Digital Products?
Now that you understand why you should be building digital products, the next question is…how do you actually sell them? The good news is that you do not need to build an entire e-commerce website before you can get started. There are three main routes you can take, depending on your product, your audience and how much control you want over the business.
1. Use a Digital Product Selling Platform
These platforms give you the tools to upload your product, create a sales page or checkout, accept payments and deliver the purchase. You can share your product link through social media, email, WhatsApp or your website. For somebody starting with an ebook, template or toolkit, this can be a straightforward way to get that first product into the hands of a customer.
Here are five platforms you can explore:
DPD (GetDPD): DPD focuses on selling and delivering digital downloads such as ebooks, PDFs and other files. You upload the product, connect a supported payment processor and use purchase links or buttons on your website, blog or social channels. DPD handles delivery after the sale.
Stan Store: Stan gives creators a storefront they can link to from their social profiles. You can sell digital downloads, courses, memberships and coaching through one place. It is an option to explore if you already create content and want to give your audience a clear next step to buy from you.
Payhip: Payhip lets you sell digital downloads, online courses and memberships through a customizable store. You can also connect your own domain or add its checkout to an existing website, giving you room to bring several types of products together under your brand.
Gumroad: Gumroad lets you create a storefront and sell products such as ebooks, templates and other digital resources. It supports one-time purchases and recurring memberships, making it an option for testing a product idea and expanding your offers as you learn what your audience wants.
Lemon Squeezy: Lemon Squeezy supports digital downloads, subscriptions and software licences, with checkout links you can share or add to your website. Its tools for recurring billing and licence keys make it particularly relevant if your digital product is software.
Think of these platforms as the tools that help you make the sale and deliver the product. You still need to give people a reason to buy. Build your brand, explain the problem your product solves and get that link in front of the right people.
2. Sell Through Your Own Website
If you want your products to sit alongside your blog, services and the rest of your business, you can sell directly through a website under your own brand.
WordPress + WooCommerce: WooCommerce adds an online store to a WordPress website and supports downloadable products. You can list your ebooks, templates or other files, take payment through a connected gateway and give customers access to their downloads after purchase.
Shopify: Shopify lets you build a branded online store and sell digital products using an app to deliver the files or access links. This can also be useful if you want physical and digital products available through the same store.
The strategic advantage here is control. Your own website gives you more room to shape your branding, content, customer experience and how your products connect to your wider business. A WordPress site and a hosted Shopify store give you different levels of technical control, but both let you build a destination around your brand. You will still need to attract visitors and manage the store.
3. Sell Through an Online Marketplace
Etsy is a marketplace option for original digital designs such as printables, planners, templates, patterns and digital art. It supports digital listings, including instant downloads, so customers can purchase a product and receive the files without you manually sending each order.
The difference is discovery. On a marketplace, people may already be searching for the type of product you sell, even if they have never heard of you. That can help you reach new customers, but you are also competing with other sellers and operating within the marketplace’s rules and layout. Your own website gives you more control over the brand experience; a marketplace gives you another opportunity to be found. Neither guarantees sales.
These routes can work together too. You could use a dedicated platform to handle checkout from your website, or sell suitable products on Etsy while continuing to build your own audience. Choose the setup that fits the product you are starting with and the customers you want to reach.
The barriers to getting started are even lower today. You do not need a catalogue of 50 products before you make a move. Start with one useful product that solves a real problem, put it in front of the right people and learn from their feedback. Improve it, build your audience and expand from there.
Before You Start Selling…How Are You Getting Paid?
Regardless of which platform you choose, there is one part of the business you need to figure out early…how is the money actually getting to you?
You can have a great product, a beautiful storefront and people ready to buy. But before you spend time setting everything up, the first thing you should investigate on every platform is how it handles payments and pays its sellers.
Some platforms require you to connect a payment processor such as PayPal. Others collect the customer’s payment themselves and send your earnings to a supported bank account or payout service. Depending on the platform, Payoneer may also be an option for receiving your earnings.
You do not necessarily need every service. You need a combination that works with your selling platform, your country and the way you want to access your money.
Find Out How the Money Reaches You
Before choosing a platform, get clear on these questions:
- Can someone living in your country register and receive payouts?
- Do you need to connect your own payment processor, or does the platform handle customer payments?
- Can you receive your earnings through PayPal, Payoneer or a direct bank deposit?
- What are the payout schedule, fees and minimum withdrawal requirements?
- Will you receive USD, or will the money be converted into your local currency?
PayPal can help you accept customer payments through supported websites and selling platforms. However, receiving money into PayPal and withdrawing it are separate steps. I explain the setup, payment options and Caribbean withdrawal considerations in my Getting Paid With PayPal in the Caribbean: The Complete Guide.
Payoneer (Guide coming soon) is another option to explore for receiving international business payments and payouts from supported platforms. Check whether your chosen platform supports Payoneer or accepts its receiving-account details for your particular payout.
Do not assume that because a service gives you US account details, every selling platform will accept them. Confirm the connection before building your business around it.
For Caribbean Sellers: Think About What Happens to Your USD
For us in the Caribbean, the next question is what happens after we get paid.
You may want to keep your earnings in USD, pay for software, run advertising, purchase equipment or spend internationally. Having the right financial accounts can give you more flexibility over when you convert your money and how you use it.
These are some of the options I would explore:
- Sendana: Provides eligible users with USD receiving details for supported ACH and wire payments, alongside card-spending options. Its wallet uses USDC digital dollars, so understand that structure when deciding how to hold your earnings. Read my Sendana guide.
- Charles Schwab: An option for eligible Caribbean residents looking to hold USD, invest and access funds through available debit-card features. Schwab One International is a brokerage account, so confirm that your intended deposits and account use fit its requirements. Read my Charles Schwab guide.
- Wam — for readers in Trinidad & Tobago: Wam gives you bank account details that you can connect to PayPal or receive direct payments from platforms. You will be able to accept funds in USD, Euro and GBP. Check out the setup guide here. Wam guide.
- Wise — if you have access to the required features: Wise can help eligible users receive, hold and manage USD, with card spending where available. Account details, balances and cards have different availability rules, so check Wise’s eligibility information for your country of residence.
The goal is to understand the full journey: your customer pays → your earnings reach a supported account → you can hold, move or spend the money.
Get that working early, and you can focus on creating useful products and finding the people who need them.
So let me know…are you trying to build a digital product or looking at ways to take your services online?
Getting paid online and doing it from the comfort of your home does wonders for your mental health.
You can then focus on more important matters…like which coffee shop can you visit today and pretend to do some work with your laptop…knowing damn well you are only in Starbucks to bump into people and look busy lol…I secretly go for the Hibiscus Tea Lemonade…Venti Please :).