The Digital Product Success Plan: Building Passive Income on Etsy (and Beyond!)

By Rebecca Wilson

Get your step-by-step guide to building and growing your own digital product business on Etsy with The Digital Product Success Plan!

 

Designers, artists, and creative types all have specialized skills that are valuable. But how can you grow your business without sacrificing more time for client projects? By creating digital products, of course!

 

In this actionable guide, you'll learn the tried-and-true techniques of running this specialized type of store from the owner of three digital product shops on Etsy. Includes an appendix with many different product examples and suggestions for different niches!

 

You'll learn all about:

• How to research current design trends and apply them to your products
• The right number of products to have ready at launch (and how to make this easy)
• How do to keyword research and use keywords accurately in your listing
• What to include in your product descriptions
• How to organize your design files to keep your deliverables easy to access
• How to create awesome product images for digital products
• Pricing strategies and tiers for different product offerings

…and so much more!

 

Whether you're an Etsy newbie or an experienced store owner looking to pivot, The Digital Product Success Plan will put you on the path to running a flourishing digital product business in no time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lucky Sprout Press
• Release date: Dec 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201504496

Book preview

The Digital Product Success Plan

Building Passive Design Income on Etsy (and Beyond)

By Rebecca Wilson

Copyright © Rebecca Wilson, 2021.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication pay be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.

The information provided heron is stated to be truthful and consistent, in that any liability, in terms of inattention or otherwise, by any usage or abuse of any policies, processes, or directions contained within is the solitary and utter responsibility of the recipient reader. Under no circumstances will any legal responsibility or blame be held against the publisher for any reparation, damages, or monetary loss due to the information herein, either directly or indirectly.

The information herein is offered for informational purposes solely, and is universal as so. The presentation of the information is without contract or any type of guarantee assurance.

All trademarks and brands within this book are for clarifying purposes only and are owned by the owners themselves, not affiliated with this document.

Published by Lucky Sprout Press

www.luckysproutpress.com

Contact: [e-mail]

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

YOU ALREADY KNOW about Etsy. I say this not only because you picked up this book, but because pretty much everyone who’s online knows about this understatedly massive company. Etsy is the internet’s main hub for handmade products, both physical and digital, and is growing rapidly every year in terms of number of creators using the platform, and number of customers shopping there.

In doing my research for this book and exploring what other Etsy-themed books have to say, I found the introductions filled with the history and facts about this company that, frankly, I’m not interested in, and I suspect you aren’t either. A quick Google search can fill you in, if that sort of info sparks your interest.

What I am interested in – and I think this is something you and I have in common – is digital products. Etsy is just one of a thousand ways that you can tap into this type of economy online, but it’s a great one to start with.

What makes it so great? Organic traffic, for one. There are millions of people actively searching and purchasing from Etsy every day. They have a pretty solid keyword algorithm, which means if you can label your product correctly, and tap into something you know people are searching for, you’re going to get traffic. And traffic is the first step to securing a sale.

Here are some stats from Etsy itself: in 2020, over 61 million new and reactivated shoppers joined Etsy. That’s a lot of buying power. Shoppers spent 3.3 billion USD from October to December alone, which is a 118% increase over the same period the previous year. These numbers were obviously propelled by the online shopping boom caused by the pandemic, but these types of consumer behaviours are definitely here to stay.

Etsy is a great beginner digital product platform because the fees to get started are so low. I won’t quote you exactly how much it’ll cost because every country’s numbers are different, but generally the fees are around $0.25 at the time of listing, plus 3-4.5% once the item has sold. Given that a store gains traction around 25 listings (that’s a spoiler for something I’m going to discuss in Chapter Three), you’re looking at an initial upfront investment of around $5 plus your time and labour.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve wasted a lot more money and a lot more time on projects or side hustles that haven’t resulted in much.

But digital products have really worked for me. I own three different Etsy stores selling them, each with a different niche. I think this is partly because, as a designer, I have the ability to create things that are in demand in a timely fashion, and also because there is an art to building a digital product store that I have refined over the years. In this book, I’m laying out my step-by-step game plan for creating a profitable digital product side hustle (or business; scaling it that much will depend on the success of your niche plus the time you have to commit to growing it).

My stores are in three specific niches: wall art, templates for writers, and templates for a specific type of software. Since I’ve found profitable sub-niches within these areas for my store, I won’t disclose more than that, but at the end of this book you’ll find lists of potential niches and topics that I’ve researched for you to consider.

Niches and targeted products are very important in the digital asset space because of how competitive it can be. It’s a world filled with copycats, so it’s important to clearly define your brand and what makes your store special. I have one product that brings in over 50% of my revenue on one platform and I see knockoffs of it all the time. Luckily, none of them have eclipsed my original success, but someday they might. That product’s niche is becoming more and more saturated all the time.

But market saturation isn’t a reason to be encouraged – quite the opposite, in fact! This is an indicator that there is an overwhelming demand for these types of products. Millions of dollars a day are spent on digital products and assets, and people who purchase them are likely to be repeat buyers. There is plenty of opportunity, as long as you go about building your store mindfully.

How did I get involved in the world of Etsy and eCommerce? I was a university researcher who changed careers to become an entrepreneur, writer, and designer. I now own both physical and digital businesses, and I love digging into the data and exploring trends to find out how to tap into the next big

Reviews for The Digital Product Success Plan

[DocuFactory · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An Informative and interesting read. Best value for your time