Selling digital products online is one of the most appealing business ideas out there. You can package your knowledge, create something once, and sell it to people all over the world without dealing with inventory, shipping, or a big upfront investment.
It sounds straightforward on paper, but once you move from the idea stage to actually trying to build something, the questions start piling up.
What kind of product should you make?
How do you know if anyone will actually buy it?
What tools do you need to sell, deliver, and market it?
And how do you find customers without spending all your time posting, promoting, or paying an arm and a leg for ads?
It’s easy to feel like you’re missing a secret step, especially when so many “success stories” skip straight from idea to income.
The good news is that you don’t need a complicated setup or a massive following to start selling digital products. You just need a simple system that connects the right product to the right people.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to:
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Find and understand the audience you want to serve
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Build digital products that solve real problems
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Launch your product to a warm audience to get your first sales
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Set up a system that brings in customers on autopilot
By the end, you’ll have a clear path to making a digital product that your audience can’t wait to buy, and a system you can build on long into the future.
Why so many digital product businesses struggle
Most digital product businesses don’t struggle because the creator isn’t talented or knowledgeable. They struggle because the product was created without a clear understanding of who it’s for.
A lot of people start with the question, “What should I sell?” instead of “Who am I trying to help?” It’s easy to fall in love with an idea, spend weeks or months building it, and only then try to find people to sell it to. Without real audience input, even a well-made product can miss the mark because it isn’t solving a specific problem for a specific person.
Another issue is focusing on the product before building trust. People rarely buy from someone they’ve just discovered. If there’s no audience, no relationship, and no context for why the product matters, selling becomes an uphill battle that relies on constant promotion instead of genuine interest.
On top of that, many guides make selling digital products far more complicated than it needs to be. You’re told you need one tool for your website, another for email, another for courses, another for checkout, and yet another for automation. The result is an expensive, fragile setup that’s hard to maintain and even harder to grow.
The creators who succeed long-term tend to follow a simpler path: build an audience and listen closely to what they need help with, create products that solve real problems, launch to people who already care about your work, and connect everything with a simple funnel that brings in new customers over time.
We’ll cover how to do all four things in this guide, step by step.
Step 1: Start building an email list with your target audience
Your target audience is the group of people who will eventually buy your digital product, and I encourage you to start connecting with them before you have something to sell.
When you understand who they are, what they’re struggling with, and what they actually want help with, you dramatically increase your chances of creating a product people are excited to buy.
Research your target audience and their pain points
You never want to make digital products based solely on what you think people want.
I made this mistake myself a few years back. I thought I had a great idea for a course, I spent months building it (and pouring my heart into it), but then on launch day, I only got a few bites.
A few conversations with my ideal audience members would have told me that I was missing some key topics, but I was so sure that I knew what people wanted, I charged ahead on my own.
It’s a tough situation that we see all too often, but it’s also so preventable. All you need to do is talk to your audience and listen to what they’re telling you their problems are. And I’m not talking about expensive formal research reports or spy tactics here.
You can get a lot of information about what your people want just by keeping an eye on what they’re doing and saying online.
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Look at where they already spend time online, like Reddit threads, Facebook groups, YouTube comments, or niche forums.
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Pay attention to the questions people are asking repeatedly in these spaces and the problems they’re trying to solve.
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Notice what content gets engagement and what falls flat.
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On your own accounts, review any comments, replies, and DMs you’ve gotten to look for patterns.
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Talk to people in real life who fit your target audience and ask what they’re working on or stuck with.
Basically, talk to people. Ask them what they need help with. Listen to what they say, and what goals they’re trying to reach.
This research helps you get crystal clear about what to make and spot patterns and language you can later use in your product, sales pages, and emails.
At the same time, you can start inviting these people to join your email list.
Start building your email list early
Your email list is a list of email addresses of people who are interested in your work. Think of them as your most enthusiastic audience members, your ride-or-die fans.
You can set up a simple email list using Podia, and anyone who wants to learn more about your business can type in their name and email address to be added to your list. From there, you can send regular newsletters with tips, insights, and practical advice related to the topic you plan to teach.
You can and should do this even before you have a product to sell. Do it today, even.
By sending emails before you have something to sell, you’re building trust with your audience.
When someone consistently gets helpful advice from you for free, you’re no longer a stranger. You’re the person they think of when they’re working toward their goals. And when the time comes to introduce a paid product, it feels like a natural next step, not a cold pitch.
These early subscribers are also incredibly valuable during your testing phase because they can give feedback and help shape your product before it launches.
The most profitable digital products are ones that are made with a specific audience in mind, and when you invest in helping and understanding your audience up front, you’re building a strong foundation for everything that comes next.
Including creating a product people actually want to buy.
Step 2: Create a product that addresses real audience pain points
Once you’ve started connecting with your audience and understanding what they actually need help with, it’s time to turn those insights into a digital product. Instead of guessing what might sell, you’re creating something directly tied to real problems, questions, and goals your audience has already shared with you.
There are many different types of digital products you can create, and the right choice depends on your audience, your skills, and how hands-on you want your product to be.
(If this is your first product, it’s often best to start simple with something like an ebook or digital download so you can get experience before spending months on a bigger offer.)
Below, we’ll break down the most common types of digital products, how they work, and when each one makes sense, so you can choose a format that fits both your audience and your goals.
What kinds of digital products can you make?
Below are the most common digital product formats creators use, along with examples of how they work in practice.
Digital downloads
Digital downloads include PDFs, ebooks, audio files, video files, templates, worksheets, and printables. Really any kind of file that you can save on your computer. These products are often affordably priced and quicker to create, which makes them a great starting point if this is your first digital product.
You can create digital downloads using tools like Canva, Google Docs, Google Sheets, or Word, then export the final file as a PDF or downloadable asset.
For instance, Mark Moeykens from Big Mountain Studio sells ebooks about SwiftUI for developers. His ebooks are available one by one, as well as in bundled collections for people who want everything in one purchase.
Online courses
Courses work well when you’re teaching a more complex topic or when the information is best delivered step by step. Courses typically include structured lessons grouped into modules, and each lesson can contain video, audio, text, images, quizzes, downloads, or a combination of all those elements.
Artist and Podia creator Emily Mills uses courses to help students build a consistent drawing practice and improve their sketching skills. She uses Podia to run a 30-day drawing course that delivers a creative prompt each day for a month, and students can join any time for instant access.
Coaching
Coaching is a more personalized digital product where you work with people one-on-one, usually through live calls using tools like Zoom or Google Meet. Coaching can be a single session or an ongoing relationship, depending on your offer. Many coaches start with simple “ask me anything” or strategy sessions before expanding into longer-term coaching packages.
Money and mindset coach Felicia Reed, for example, offers private coaching sessions, one-time calls for quick breakthroughs, and a signature 12-week coaching option for people ready to take the next step.
Webinars and live workshops
Webinars are live group sessions where you teach a specific topic in real time. They work especially well for tutorials, trainings, or interactive workshops where live participation adds value. In Podia, you can sell access to live webinars and sell the replay afterward as a standalone product.
Leslie and Matt from LMNTL do this as part of their community and coaching programs. They host regular live workshops, events, and webinars, and give community members free access while also offering one-off tickets for nonmembers.
Community memberships
Community memberships give people access to an ongoing space where they can learn, ask questions, and connect with others around a shared topic. This works especially well for subjects that evolve over time or benefit from peer feedback and discussion.
Communities can include posts, discussions, live sessions, and content libraries that grow as you add new material. You can also create different tiers with additional content, spaces, and perks.
Elaine Kieft uses the community product type to run her Qi Gong membership. Members get access to live Zoom classes, an extensive replay library with hundreds of hours of recordings, and opportunities to connect with other members.
All of these product types can be created in Podia, and you can charge a one-time fee, create payment plans, or set up a recurring subscription pricing model. You can also add waitlists, upsells, future start dates, and limited enrollment to match how and when you want to sell.
How to sell a digital product behind the scenes
Once you’ve decided what you’re going to make, the next step is setting up the behind-the-scenes system that actually lets people buy it.
With Podia, you can sell all of the digital product types we covered above from one place, without stitching together a bunch of separate tools.
Setting up a product in Podia is simple:
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Click the Products tab in the left sidebar
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Click New product and choose what type of product you’d like to make
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Upload your files or add your course, coaching, or event content
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Give it a title, feature image, and product description
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Set your pricing, access options, and availability
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Publish your product
From there, Podia automatically generates a (fully customizable) sales page for your offer and a checkout page where customers can enter their payment details and get instant access.
Payments, file delivery, and access permissions are all handled for you, so you don’t need to manually send files, chase invoices, or manage logins.
If you want step-by-step instructions for specific product types, these help center guides walk through the setup process:
Customizing your sales page
Once your product is published, your sales page is where people can go to learn more about it and decide whether or not they want to buy. It’s the bridge between “this sounds interesting” and “I’m ready to purchase.”
In Podia, a sales page is created for you automatically using the information you added to your product. It looks clean and professional right out of the gate, but you can also customize it to better communicate the value of your offer and increase conversions.
Here’s a simple structure you can follow when customizing your digital product sales page:
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At the top of the page, clearly explain the transformation or outcome your buyer will get after using your product.
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Clearly explain who the product is for (and who it’s not for), so visitors know they’re in the right place.
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Throughout the page, include customer reviews or testimonials to build trust. If you’re just starting out, you can give early access to a few target audience members in exchange for honest feedback and quotes.
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Add an FAQ section to answer common questions, like refund policies, access length, or what’s included.
Once your sales page looks the way you want, you can publish it and start sharing the link anywhere you already have an audience. Common places to share are social media posts, YouTube video descriptions, blog posts, your link in bio, and your email signature.
If someone decides to buy, they can click the “Buy now” button on the page to go to checkout. This is already set up for you, so you don’t need to link multiple pages together. From there, your customers can enter their payment details and start enjoying their product.
You can track sales, revenue, and customer activity for each product inside the Sales tab of your Podia dashboard, giving you a clear view of what’s working as you continue to refine your offer.
Step 3: Launching your product to your audience
Remember the audience you started building in Step 1? This is where that work pays off.
When your digital product is ready, your first goal is to let your ideal buyers know that your product exists and invite them to check it out.
Start by emailing your list with an announcement that the product is live, and include:
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What the product is and who it’s for
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The problem it helps solve
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A link to your sales page
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An optional thank-you incentive, like a coupon code for subscribers
Your email subscribers are often your warmest audience, so don’t overthink this. They’ve already raised their hand to hear from you when they signed up for your email list, and you’ve designed this product with their needs in mind.
Next, promote your product everywhere you already have an audience. Places like social media posts and stories, blog posts, and YouTube video descriptions are a great place to start.
For example, Em Connors spent months sharing in-depth tutorials on Instagram before her first five-figure course launch. Leading up to launch, she hosted free workshops, built a waitlist, shared behind-the-scenes content about making her program, and offered a discount to early signups.
Her advice is to start providing value long before your launch day. “Focus on becoming an expert in your niche without expecting anything in return,” she says. “When I finally did have something to offer, my audience was all ears because I had consistently provided value.”
You can also share links to your product in any communities or groups where you regularly participate.
This strategy worked really well for Rob Williams who built his membership by spending time in entrepreneurial forums where his ideal audience already hung out. He asked questions, shared ideas, and gathered feedback while building the product. When he launched, many of those same people became early customers because they helped shape the idea.
“I was in a few product design communities at the time. It so happened that a lot of the people I was sharing my new idea with were also potential customers,” Rob explains.
“It’s not something I planned for, but it certainly helped that I designed a product for people in my community that I was spending time around. It turned out to be a good place to find early customers. The people giving me feedback and helping me improve my idea also enrolled and paid for it.”
And of course, don’t forget word of mouth. If you know someone who would be interested in your product, a personal 1:1 invitation can go a long way.
Leslie Anne Eades sells workshops and events through word of mouth and personal invitations. She reaches out one-on-one to people who would genuinely enjoy the experience and collaborates with other creators to co-host events and share audiences.
To incentivize collaboration, Leslie uses affiliate marketing. She says, “Podia’s affiliate feature is set up in a way that allows us to not only build our community of people who are attending the event but also makes it easy for our community members and co-creators to invite people into the space and be rewarded.”
All of these approaches work because they’re rooted in trust and consistency. And you can build on that connection by following up with your buyers a few days after they sign up to see how it’s going.
Use this early feedback to help you improve the product and source testimonials you can add to your sales page to increase future conversions.
That said, a strong launch is just the beginning. If you want to keep selling your digital product long after launch week, you need a system that brings new people into your business over time.
That’s where funnels come in.
Step 4: Connect your audience with your paid product using a simple sales funnel
By now, you’ve done the two hardest parts: you’ve built an audience and created a digital product that solves a real problem. The last step is connecting those two in a way that keeps working even when you’re not actively promoting.
That’s where a simple sales funnel can save the day.
A funnel gives new people a clear path into your business. Instead of sending everyone straight to a sales page, you invite them to start with something free, get value right away, and then learn about your paid product over time.
The first piece of this funnel is a free lead magnet. This should be a small but meaningful preview of your paid product — something that helps people make progress and shows how you teach.
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If you sell a full course, your lead magnet might be a short video lesson.
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If you sell an ebook, your lead magnet could be a checklist or an excerpt.
The goal isn’t to give everything away, but to help someone think, “If this helped, the full product will help even more.”
Once someone signs up for your free resource, they should be automatically added to a short welcome email series. This is where you continue the conversation.
Over several days, you can welcome them, share helpful tips related to the problem they’re trying to solve, and introduce your paid product naturally over a few emails. Some people will buy right away. Others won’t, and that’s okay.
They’re still on your email list, which means you can stay in touch, continue providing value, and invite them to buy when the timing is right.
To keep this system working long term, you’ll want to consistently send new people to the top of the funnel. That means sharing your free lead magnet anywhere your audience already exists, like on your website, in blog posts, on social media, in YouTube descriptions, or wherever you show up online.
The more people who experience your free content and see your teaching style, the more people you’ll have in your email list for this product and all future offers you make.
You can build this entire setup — lead magnets, email automation, sales pages, and checkout — inside Podia, which keeps everything connected and easy to manage as your business grows.
This is what turns selling digital products from a one-time launch into a system that can bring in sales consistently, long after your initial promotion ends.
How to sell digital products online (and keep selling them long into the future)
Selling digital products online doesn’t need to be complicated. It’s about creating something useful for your target audience and making it easy for them to find your work, learn how you can help them, and purchase the solutions you’ve crafted just for them.
When you break it down, the process flows like this:
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You start by building an audience and understanding what they actually need
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You create a digital product that solves a real problem
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You launch it to people who already care about your work, and get feedback to make the product even better
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And you keep your momentum going by connecting everything with a funnel that brings in new customers over time
That’s how you move from one-off sales to a digital product business that grows steadily and sustainably.
With Podia, you can build your website, grow your email list, create and sell digital products, and set up automated funnels in one place. No complicated integrations, no duct-taped tech stack, just a clear system that supports the way you actually work.
If you’re ready to start selling digital products or want to simplify the way you already do it, you can try Podia free for 30 days and build your entire digital product business in one place.
