Selling digital products on Etsy is a good way to make money, but what kind of digital downloads can you make if you can’t create stuff like art prints, graphics of fonts? Sure, you could use Canva and use their graphics for your products, but a lot of people are doing that already and you want to create something unique.
It’s easy to get stuck wondering what you should learn so you could make money online or perhaps if you should start making crafts to sell. There are tons of people on YouTube promising you can make boatloads of money by selling print-on-demand products with AI graphics (eww), but the reality is, the market has already been saturated by that garbage that nobody wants to buy and the only people making money with that at this point are the people making the videos and promising you “quick money”.
When you don’t know what to do to create your own digital products, it’s pretty hard to move forward. The good news is, you can use what you already know and make money with educational digital products.
In this post, I’m going to tell you what educational digital products actually are and I’ll give you three ways to make money with digital products without having to be artistic. By the time you’ve read all the way through, you should have a good idea how to make some extra money on Etsy.
What are educational digital products?
Educational digital products are anything that help you with a specific skill or subject. They can teach you something new or they can help you remember, improve or organise something you already know. Products like printable wall art or colouring pages are not educational products even though they’re digital products.
What this means is that you already have the skill or knowledge you need to start making money online – by selling digital products on Etsy that help other people with what you know.
The added benefit is that you don’t have to learn how to do digital art or how to crochet baby socks after all, unless you want to. You don’t necessarily even have to learn to use new software either.
Here are some examples of educational digital products:
- How to start your own herb garden ebook
- Printable checklist for keeping your plants alive
- Notion template for tracking your gardening tasks
- Learn how to grow bigger tomatoes video workshop
As you can see, all these examples are from the same niche, and there are so many subject ideas AND product types you could brainstorm and explore. In this post, you can find more educational digital product ideas for different niches.
So now that you understand what we’re talking about, let’s talk about three ways you can sell what you know without needing any artistic skills.
Who would buy educational digital products when there’s free content out there?
One of the bestsellers in my Etsy shop is the From Vibes To Plot workbook. Guess where almost all the buyers are coming from? From my blog post that explains how to turn your vibes into a plot. In other words, they’ve already learned my process of doing something, and still many of them opt for purchasing the workbook that make the process more convenient.
Yes, you can google how to do something. When you find a blog post that explains what you need, you can bookmark it so you can come back to it, but you might lose the link anyway or perhaps the website disappears completely in the meantime. You could, in theory, take screenshots of the page or copy the text to somewhere for safekeeping, but in all honestly, you might not do that even if you think about it.
When you buy an ebook, the information is yours and you don’t have ten different ads covering more than half the page when you’re trying to read. It’s nice to have that convenience, and having someone spell out what to do can save you so much time. How many blog posts are you willing to read when you want to learn something now?
Yes, there’s a lot of free information on the internet, but your time costs something too. Don’t forget this – give people the opportunity to pay you to teach them something in a quick, easy and convenient way.
Digital product idea #1: Create simple ebooks
Although my primary work is writing novels, I also make money by creating simple ebooks that are just a few pages long. (Actually the longest ebook I sell is 120 pages, but I took all that content from my online course so I didn’t completely write it from scratch.)
Although formatting books can feel daunting, creating an ebook that is easy to read isn’t rocket science. Just make sure your font size, margins and line height are big enough and you’re good to go. If you were using Google Docs, for example, the font size might be the only thing you’d have to adjust yourself. Readability is the most important thing.
What software do you need for creating ebooks?
I already mentioned Google Docs and it’s my go-to software for creating ebooks these days. I do have Affinity Publisher as well, but to be honest, it’s more complex than what I typically need.
Here’s an example of a two-page freebie I sent my email subscribers:
If you’ve ever used a word processor of any kind, you probably already know how to do all this. The simple options for changing your font size or turning something into a heading are right there on the toolbar. The easiest way to add headers and footers is just to double-click the top or the bottom of the page and you’ll be able to edit that space – it’ll add the header/footer to every page without you needing to do that again.
If you have any other word processor on your computer that you like using, just use that and then export your file as a PDF.
For a more professional look, you might want to check out Reedsy book editor. You can use it to make attractive and professional looking ebooks withut having to do any of the formatting like adding page numbers yourself – it’s perfect for making longer guides and other types of text-heavy ebooks.
If your ebook is going to be more visual, then I’d recommend using Canva. It’s not difficult to use at all because you can just drag and drop everything to where you want them, unlike in word processors where everything falls apart when you move an image half a millimetre. Canva is a perfect choice if your ebook needs a lot of pictures but it’s not so great with more wordy ebooks.
What file should your ebook be?
PDF. That’s it. Okay, you could also export your ebook as an EPUB file that is easier to read on ebook readers, but Kindles and such can also read PDF files and more than likely your customer will be reading the file on their computer or phone.
So, just export your file as a PDF and you’re solid.
Finally, what should your ebook be about?
Many people wanting to create ebooks get stuck on thinking they should write dozens if not hundreds of pages and cover multiple topics. That’s well and good for traditionally published books, but when it comes to educational digital products, people are looking for quick answers.
Pick ONE THING to help people with and then explain how to do it step by step. If you need pictures, your mobile phone can likely take good enough photos, just make sure they’re bright enough and not crowded with unrelated clutter. If you can take professional-level photos, great, but clarity is always most important.
You don’t need to be an expert of something, although it does help. All you need is knowing how to do something that other people need help with. That’s it. Everyone is good at something, so please don’t discount your unique abilities. Again, check out this list of digital product ideas for different niches.
Here are some topic ideas for ebooks:
- How to create a no-waste system for your pantry and fridge
- Ten ways to use fabric scraps
- Tricks to teach your cat that bring peace to your home
- Five easy hairstyles for sporty girls
- How to make the most of your airfryer
- How to many any recipe gluten-free
- Ways to create a more bird-friendly yard
- Activities for kids who hate drawing
- How to buy and use power tools when you can’t ask your dad
- Asian recipes on a budget
- Blog post ideas for real estate agents
As you can see, there’s no topic that you can’t write something about. You can create a simple digital product about something you already know without needing any artistic skill at all and without paying for any software.
Digital product idea #2: Create a simple video tutorial
I know what you’re thinking: you don’t have the skills for making and editing videos. This blog post was for non-artistic people, remember??
Don’t worry, all you need to remember is one magic word: clarity. Most phones these days have decent enough cameras that when you film in a bright location, your videos turn out good enough for sharing. If you can’t show off your skill one-handedly, you might need a tripod or ask someone else to film the video for you.
Alternatively, if you can screen-record your tutorial, like maybe you’re showing how to use Google Sheets to track your budget or something, you can use Loom to record and store your video. There are other options out there too, of course, but Loom is the one I personally use and I can recommend it competely. It’s free up to a certain point but I quite happily pay for the subscription myself.
As for sound quality, it’s important that your voice can be understood on the video if the tutorial needs you to be speaking, but unless you’re recording somewhere windy, you can usually get away with the phone’s own microphone or use your headphone microphone. I’ve got a separate mic for the phone that plugs into the charging port and a USB mic for my laptop, but they’re not 100% necessary to get started with.
This isn’t a paid tutorial because it actually shows you how to use one of my free Canva templates for digital product creators, but I wanted to share it anyway as an example of a screenrecorded tutorial:
How to sell videos on Etsy
Here’s the thing: you can’t actually sell video files directly on Etsy. You need to upload them somewhere else live Loom or Vimeo, or upload an unlisted video on YouTube, and then provide your buyers a PDF with a link to the video.
For a tutorial with multiple steps, you can create a PDF file with links to each separate video with an explanation of what you’re going to learn in that step. You can even include screenshots of the videos to make it easier to navigate.
Why someone would pay for video tutorials when there’s YouTube?
It’s true, you can learn almost anything on YouTube, but that platform can sometimes be difficult to navigate simply because the search kind of sucks, and then you’re going to be subjected to ads and million other videos you might not even care about. If someone is looking for a solution to a problem on Etsy or perhaps Pinterest, you’ve already got their attention and you might as well offer them something.
Make sure your video tutorials are 100% valuable and that they get straight to the point. That’s how you differentiate yourself from people making content. You can also bundle other products, like a checklist, with your tutorials to help your customers even further. Making the videos downloadable helps too because then people can watch them without internet connection.
What should your video tutorial be about?
A video is ideal when you need to show someone how to do something and pictures simply aren’t enough. Also, some people learn better from watching and listening rather than reading, so there’s no saying you can’t have an ebook and a video tutorial about the same subject – they might be bought by different people interested in the same thing.
Think of what people in your life often ask you to show them how to do or a skill you think is important to teach your children. If someone asked you to teach a hands-on class to a small group of people, what could you teach them? What have you paid to learn yourself? Don’t dismiss any of these things, they’re important.
Here are some ideas and examples:
- How to fix common issues when knitting socks
- How to re-pot flowers without damaging them
- Excel tips and tricks for beginner budgeters
- Ponytail techniques for thin hair
- Why your calligraphy sucks and how to fix it (okay technically this is an artistic endeavour, but it’s just an example, okay?)
- How to create automations in MailerLite
- An easy way to get started with [literally any software or app]
Hopefully this has given you some ideas for how to use your own skills to create video tutorials that people want to pay for. Doesn’t matter how niche or specific your idea is, someone out there might need your help with it.
Digital product idea #3: Create a checklist or a cheat sheet
A checklist is a list of tasks or items you can check off as you progress, and a cheat sheet is a resource that reminds you of important information you already know about, kind of like a summary of key points or important terminology.
I can fully admit that creating a checklist or a cheat sheet that looks nice does require some visual skill. If they look awful, people aren’t as likely to want to purchase them to print them out. Fortunately, you can use pre-made templates or you could use someone else’s checklist as inspiration. (Not like “I’m going to copy every single thing from this checklist” but like “it looks nice if I leave more space in the left”, you know.)
The problem with a checklist or a cheat sheet is that you probably can’t charge much for one, especially if it’s just one page, so you might want to offer multiple checklists in one listing or combine one with something else, like an ebook or a video tutorial. Adding value to your existing products is a great way to make more money without having to re-invent the wheel. In my Etsy shop Writer Lifestyle, you can find this novel editing quick guide that comes with a cheat sheet AND a checklist.
A good checklist or a cheat sheet is detailed and it doesn’t leave out any steps. For someone to want to pay real money for it, it needs to be an invaluable resource. People need to feel like they really need this thing to achieve what they want and to finish specific tasks, and your product needs to be the perfect companion for that. Don’t be stingy with information, but at the same time, keep each step brief and to-the-point.
What software do you need to create a checklist?
Canva is my go-to once again for making checklists, cheat sheets and worksheets. I prefer to use the browser version instead of the app for something like this because moving around text is far too fiddly on the phone screen and you do need to make sure everything lines up.
When you’re creating a printable of any kind, remember to make it visually pleasing the same way you do with your ebooks. It doesn’t mean you need to include pictures necessarily, just that it isn’t crowded and that it’s easy to read. Leave big enough margins and make sure different steps are easy to distinguish from each other – pretty simple, right?
You can also create checklists with Google Sheets, which is great because then people don’t need to print anything and adding a checkbox to your sheet is extremely easy.
Digital product ideas for checklists and cheat sheets
You could create these products to accompany any of the other ideas I’ve already given you, but here are some extra ideas:
- Gardening checklists for every season
- Vegan baking substitutions cheat sheet
- Decluttering checklists for every countryhouse room
- Travelling with your labrador checklist
- Shopping list for a Disney-themed anniversary party
- Trans-Atlantic move checklist for digital nomads
There are many things that people need help remembering, so don’t be afraid to use what you know to offer people valuable cheat sheets, checklists and reference guides.
Okay, you’ve given me enough digital product ideas, now how do I start a successful Etsy business?
I’m glad you asked!
When it comes to educational digital products, I’m not afraid of competition. First of all, most people aren’t in the same niche with me, but also, not everyone has what it takes to create a shop that can compete with others. That’s why I’m more than happy to share my “secrets” with you – seeing you succeed doesn’t take anything away from me. It only makes me glad.
If you’d like to get all the steps to starting your Etsy shop that sells educational digital products, just fill out the form below and I’ll send you the whole framework completely for free. I can’t wait to find out what you’ll be selling.