Selling digital products online can be a profitable business venture. It has many advantages, like low-cost inventory, but it still can make business owners stumble on occasion; plus it can be a tough market to crack.
Thanks to the plethora of free digital download products, deciding to sell products at all is a big step. Once you’ve made that decision, it can be challenging to know how to sell your products. Do you want to sell as an affiliate, or do you want to sell digital products with Woocommerce or sell with Wix?
One method may be better, depending on your work and what you’re selling. For that reason, it’s crucial to choose which selling style is right for you.
Today, we’ll investigate selling digital products as an affiliate. By the end of this article, you’ll know the ins and outs of this business model.
Before e-commerce, an affiliate was a company that was part-owned by a more prominent firm. In online retail, an affiliate is an entity that sells products on behalf of another company for a fee.
Affiliate marketing is an attractive alternative to a traditional business because it requires almost no capital. Companies pay affiliates commissions to sell their products, while affiliates build their businesses with low start-up costs. It’s a win-win.
Understanding the basics is essential before entering the world of entrepreneurship. Without this solid foundation, you are far more open to risk.
Let's start by defining a digital product. Digital products can range from digital images to software. In short, digital products are products sold online that do not have a physical form at the point of sale. Examples include e-books, audio and video courses, software, and more. Anything downloadable is a digital product.
Product creators and software developers are masters of digital product creation.
From custom digital images to video game content, digital products cater to audiences far and wide. The fluid dynamics of the digital product market allow savvy sellers to stay on top of the competition.
Selling digital products as an affiliate can be a large- or small-scale venture. The most obvious example of a large-scale affiliate is Amazon. Amazon does not make many of the products that it sells. They simply sell them on the manufacturer’s behalf.
As an affiliate who wants to sell digital products, you don’t need to be a behemoth of a business like Amazon. Instead, you just need a website or way to connect with potential customers and convert them from leads into sales.
You could sell as an affiliate through social media platforms like Instagram and have an online store selling products from many separate entities. You can even juggle a mixture of all these elements.
Nowadays, Pinterest affiliate marketing is also very popular. Due to Pinterest's format and algorithm, people often use Pins (Pinterest posts) as examples of something they want.
They frequently look for nail and hairstyle inspirations on this platform, as well as motivational quotes and financial tips. They already trust what they find on this platform before they actually see it. Such authority of the platform creates a perfect environment for online affiliate sales.
It is crucial to market your digital products appropriately. Attracting customers comes down to you and what you are selling. Are you selling digital software on behalf of other digital software companies? If so, what should your online presence exude?
Or are you selling custom art that customers can download and print at home? If that's the case, your online presence and branding must differ from those of software specialists. Even the copy and images you use will need to have a different tone to market what you are selling.
Think about the best ways to use persuasion and a sense of urgency in your branding and marketing. These details will increase conversion rates on your website or any other platform where you sell affiliate products.
Social media isn't the only way to sell digital products online as an affiliate. Many platforms offer space to digital creators and affiliate marketers.
The advantage of using niche platforms is that your target audience has an easier time finding you. Your job is to stand out from the crowd. You do that by optimizing your listings.
A well-optimized description makes your product easily findable. For example, you should ensure the product description includes relevant keywords on the Shopify store. You can also add all the relevant tags and include the product in the right category.
However, not all platforms are as general as Shopify. Some are tailored to affiliates in very specific niches. For example, YUPLAY is one platform for affiliate marketers selling gaming digital products.
Epic Games' Fortnite, a popular battle royale game, has grabbed the gaming world by storm. One of the primary elements of Fortnite's popularity is its widespread usage of digital items. These items include character skins like "Fortnite Spiderman" and other popular culture icons like Catwoman, and emotes.
These digital products are decorative and do not offer in-game benefits, but they allow gamers to express themselves and stand out from the crowd. Epic Games often introduces new skins and goodies to keep users interested and excited.
As an affiliate, you can promote these digital products to your gaming audience. Platforms like YUPLAY make it easy for you to earn commissions on Fortnite items. When your referred users make a purchase, you receive a percentage of the sale.
Teachable is also a very niche-specific platform allowing affiliates and creators to sell educational and knowledge-related digital products.
Although niche-specific platforms have fewer visitors than giants such as Shopify, Etsy, and Amazon, their visitors are usually well aware of what they are looking for and ready to purchase if the right opportunity presents itself.
Before choosing a platform to sell digital products, you must analyze your target audience, their interests, and the probability of interacting with them on each platform.
Becoming an affiliate to sell digital products online can be a fantastic business decision. The barriers to entry are few, and the venture's startup costs are low.
For example, think about the investment needed if you were a brick-and-mortar shop selling furniture on behalf of furniture makers. Then compare this cost to that of an online shop selling ebooks. A furniture store has far higher overheads.
Perhaps most importantly, you need to think about your fees. Consider how much you need (or want) to earn from your business. Then, determine what you would need to charge per sale to your customers to make that living. You can build up a picture of your commission structure from there.
Choosing the right selling platform can enhance your efforts and attract potential customers. Effectively establishing yourself on an online selling platform can also help you with company branding.
The more powerful your company's brand appears, the more you can earn. If this venture sounds profitable to you, you can take steps to become an affiliate selling digital products today.
Sofiko is a content writer specializing in SEO and digital marketing. She enjoys conducting in-depth research on topics she writes about and shares her authentic experiences with readers. Originally from beautiful Georgia, she currently resides in its capital, Tbilisi. In her free time, you can find her exploring new cafes in the city or having a picnic with friends in a park.