Profitable Digital Product Ideas by Niche
Written by Casey Botticello
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning that at no additional cost to you, I will receive a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Read our full affiliate disclosure here.
Digital products are easy to create, simple to promote, and there’s a global market for them. From eBooks, templates, and stock photography to detailed guides, apps, and themes, today, almost anyone can design and sell digital products.
Over $54 billion is spent annually on digital goods, with that number expected to hit $75 billion by 2025. But with so many creators looking to generate revenue for selling their digital products online and countless tools and platforms to use for doing so, how do we choose which digital products to focus on?
We look to our niches for inspiration and opportunity.
With increasing competition and more niche choices, picking a digital product that works for you and finding the right place to sell it can be a challenge – especially if you’re just getting started.
Creators looking to succeed online must target markets that align with their interests, knowledge, and capabilities. It can be very difficult to get started without knowing whom you’re creating digital products for and what they’re interested in buying.
Designing and selling digital products for carefully selected niches is an effective method of ensuring that you’re working with a purpose, developing digital products customized to suit the needs of a clearly defined market.
This article explores and lists some of the most profitable digital product ideas by niche. Whether you’re a blogger looking to expand your business into the digital product eCommerce game, or an online entrepreneur with plans to grow your offerings into highly lucrative niches, there has never been a better time to get in on the digital products action.
What are Digital Products?
Digital products are downloadable electronic products. These products include intangible items like files, programs, e-documents, and apps that can be sold online. Unlike physical products, which must be manufactured, shipped, and delivered, digital products are different.
They can be designed once, replicated as often as needed, and delivered instantly. Some digital products do not expire, and they can be sold on many different digital product platforms, in online marketplaces, or directly from your blog or website.
Why Are Digital Products so Popular?
The digital product industry is booming, changing how brands interact with consumers – and creators are also enjoying the advantages of working in this new, evolving market. Here are some benefits of selling digital products over traditional physical options.
None of the issues faced by physical products
Digital products are free of many of the expensive limitations and challenges traditional physical products face. Digital products don’t need to be stored in warehouses or manufactured in advance to meet anticipated demand either.
Shipping at the click of a button
Digital products don’t need to be shipped by road, rail, sea, or air, and they won’t spoil or get damaged on the way. Delivery is instantaneous, saving time and money in the process.
They’re safer
Digital products often don’t face too many quality control issues. Returns are less complicated, and any necessary changes can be rolled out quickly and without having to recall anything.
Growing demand
There is increasing demand globally for digital products, and the variety of affordable, accessible platforms on which to sell digital products makes this commercial option an attractive one.
Higher margins
Digital products are also generally cheap to create, and most sellers get to pick their own prices. This provides a valuable opportunity to generate high profit margins for selling digital products online.
Passive income potential
Digital products are also known for their potential as a passive revenue source. Many eBook authors, designers, and other creators enjoy income from continuous sales of their digital products long after they initially listed them.
Digital Product Categories
If it’s digital and can be sold, it’s a digital product. There are many different types of profitable digital product ideas by niche out there. From simple templates, photos, and animations to more detailed eBooks, video tutorials, and themes to complex software, apps, and even entire operating systems, digital products come in various styles, designs, and mediums.
Here is a general overview of the product categories containing those best digital products to sell by niche.
Digital content
This includes digital files and downloads in the form of eBooks, online courses, pdf guides, infographics, written tutorials, and most text-based content.
Templates & themes
Anything that can be used as a base design to be edited and customized is a template. Themes can be applied to websites, design work, and many other elements while allowing you to add your own design touches.
Digital Media
Files, tracks, and content containing music, video, photography, audiobooks, screencasts, podcasts, and more can be considered digital media products.
Web-based applications
Small, in-browser programs and tools like calculators, meters, and basic programs that people can use are another popular digital product category.
Software
Programs that can be downloaded and run on PC, mobile devices, or anything electronic fall into the digital software product category. While software was once traditionally sold via physical storage devices like CDs, today’s software can be downloaded.
Memberships and subscriptions
This category of digital products is one of the fastest-growing and most lucrative. Numerous digital product platforms and services now allow people to subscribe and take out memberships in return for periodical content.
Digital Products and Your Niche
As more and more people enter the digital product niche market, competition is increasing. Already, big players with endless resources have monopolized some sectors, but as the diversity of digital offerings expands, whom you’re creating your digital products for matters.
Bloggers and content creators who understand niches and how to validate and access them hold an advantage over the competition because they know exactly who they’re creating for and what their audience wants. Niches are vital to an effective targeting strategy, so ensuring your digital products are designed with your chosen niche in mind is critical to success.
For more information on the most profitable niches out there, click here and follow this link if you want to learn more about how to choose the right niche for you.
Profitable Digital Product Ideas by Niche
We’ve selected the most profitable digital product ideas by niche and listed the selections we think are ideally suited for each one. Some of these ideas can be used for multiple niches, and some digital products will take longer to create than others.
1. Travel
Guides | Audiobooks | Checklists
The travel niche is one of the most popular niches around, with creators and travel bloggers everywhere appealing to our collective sense of wanderlust by designing digital products we can use while exploring the world.
- Digital guides to cities – Pick a city and create a guide for travelers covering transport, entertainment, food, accommodation, sights, and more.
- Audiobooks to listen to while traveling – Recording audiobooks is easy, both to make and sell. Transcribe across multiple languages and look out for books that haven’t been converted yet.
- Packing checklists – Any traveler would be grateful for a downloadable packing checklist covering everything they’d need on the road. Create a spreadsheet, leave checkboxes for every item you can think of, and you’re done!
2. Food
eBooks | PDFs | Videos
The food niche is enormous, and people are flocking to the sector in their droves. From cooking tips to restaurant reviews, you’re spoiled for choice in the digital products you can create here.
- Digital recipes – Transform your cooking knowledge into downloadable recipes.
- Video guides for difficult dishes – Educate and inform people with quality video tutorials for exotic or tricky dishes.
- E-Cookbooks – Curate your recipes, favorite ingredients, and ideas into a beautiful digital cookbook eBook using a design tool like Canva.
3. Personal Finance
Web-based apps | Software | Digital tools
As more and more people wise up to the value of investing rather than just saving, millions are looking for tips, advice, and information on how to do it. The personal finance niche is an incredibly attractive one, especially if you know what you’re talking about.
- Revenue or costing calculators – Easy to build and offer to people, costing calculators are in high demand.
- Downloadable accounting software – Provide an alternative to extremely expensive branded software for small to medium businesses.
- Web-based apps for website plugins – Help people enhance their finance websites or blogs with useful plugins for them to use.
4. Blogging
Themes | Templates | Subscriptions for Premium Content
Bloggers and content creators with troves of experience and knowledge on how to monetize content are netting high incomes by listing some of the best digital products to sell, designed to help people start making money online. Tap into a digital product niche full of creators looking for valuable digital products they can actually use.
- Blog and website templates – Providing pre-designed blog and website templates for new bloggers and online entrepreneurs is a lucrative digital product idea.
- Monetized newsletters – People are willing to pay good money for access to your expertise, opinions, and ideas presented in engaging newsletter content. Convertkit is a powerful tool for creating and selling paid newsletters.
- Premier content subscriptions – Taking the crème de la crème of your content and transforming it into a digital subscription product is a surefire way to attract healthy revenues for your work.
5. Education & E-Learning
Digital Courses | Webinars | Curated Digital Collections
With the rise in online learning and increasing demand for people to grow their skill sets, digital courses are massively popular. With so many online course tools, digital product platforms, and marketplaces to share knowledge, the education and e-learning niche is a fantastic digital product opportunity.
- Online training courses on a unique topic – Taking your original skills and knowledge and offering them as an online course is both a passive income opportunity and a rewarding digital product idea.
- Teaching webinars – You can live-stream seminars and training sessions or offer your enthusiastic followers pre-recorded webinars to use.
- Summarized educational materials – Teachers and educators are always looking for curated collections of high-quality teaching materials, neatly packaged and ready for download.
6. Graphic Design
Pre-sets | Stock Content | Tutorials
This niche is very busy, with artists, graphic designers, and marketers always searching for creative tools and the best digital products to sell that will help improve their graphic design efforts. Whether it’s animation, photography, or video, creating digital products that will help people to get creative is guaranteed to deliver good returns.
- ‘How-to’ tutorials – Offer Canva, Adobe Photoshop, or Inkscape tutorials and training content that is easy to understand and engaging.
- Image editing pre-sets – Got a pre-set that works for everything? Share it by offering your favorite pre-sets as a choice digital product.
- Curated photo and video stock collections – Photographers and videographers with extensive personal collections can categorize and list exclusive media libraries for purchase.
7. Moms and Parenting
Digital media | Manuals | Digital print designs
New parents and working moms appreciate the value digital products bring into the home, which can make their parenting easier. From tips and advice to hacks and creative ideas, parents will thank (and pay) you for giving them digital products they can use. This niche provides a fantastic opportunity to branch out into various sub-niches later.
- Music for babies – While YouTube offers a wide choice of tunes for infants to fall asleep to, many parents will appreciate a selection of your own lullabies and soothing music recordings.
- Parenting podcasts – If you have a passion for raising children or have the experience to help others, why not create a podcast to discuss your experiences or interview baby experts and offer these snippets of wisdom as digital product niche offerings?
- Downloadable prints for baby clothes – Print-on-demand services make selling your creative baby clothing and linen designs a breeze. No worrying about printing or shipping. Just design, list, and earn!
8. Pets
Apps | Guides | Print-on-demand designs
Take advantage of the growing pet niche by giving pet owners digital products they will appreciate for their furbabies. From pet care to monetizing your pooch’s influencer potential, the pets niche is fun and engaging – not to mention the potential for affiliate marketing opportunities.
- Camera platforms to watch your pets – While you may need a little app-building know-how, simple camera streaming pet monitoring platforms are growing in popularity.
- Pet health guides in eBook or PDF format – Many people need information on their pets but don’t know where to find it. A comprehensive pet health guide, complete with input from veterinarians, is a one of the top profitable digital product ideas by niche options for you.
- Print-on-demand designs for customized pet accessories – Like baby clothes, custom-designed pet accessories are a hit in this booming niche.
9. Fashion
In-browser tools | PDF guides | Memberships
Some people were born to look good. For the rest of us, getting dressed is a constant battle between picking the right matching clothing items, shoes, and accessories and failing at being stylish. Tools and resources that people can interact with always make for the best digital products to sell. The fashion niche is always in flux, opening the door for innovative digital product sellers.
- Virtual dressing rooms to check out outfit combos – A simple digital tool that people can use to mix and match their clothing combinations is likely to snag many different fashionistas.
- Style guides helping pick the right clothing – If you possess that eye for fashion, why not monetize it in a comprehensive style guide that speaks to your unique sense of fashion?
- Periodic newsletters discussing the latest trends in fashion – Another digital membership opportunity that people will flock to if you can demonstrate your exclusive taste in fashion.
10. Sports
Collections | Member platforms | Guides
While the sports digital product niche isn’t as massive as some of the others, the audiences who participate in them are passionate and ideal for selling digital products. If you’ve got the low-down on a top team or share your market’s passion for a sport, this niche is a top contender.
- Stats almanacs per sport – A simple online search will turn up endless archives, lists, and databases of sporting facts and data. Gather this freely available information into an easy-to-use eBook almanac or online guide that can be periodically revised and refreshed.
- Sports prediction games – There are many sports prediction games around, but there’s always room for more. This is an especially exciting digital product option for creators looking to start something they can scale.
- Fantasy guides offering insight on player choices – Fantasy leagues are hugely popular. Offer a subscription-based digital product that helps people to make the right picks.
11. Home & DIY
Videos | Photography | Checklists
The home and DIY niche is known for how well-suited it is for affiliate marketing. However, creators are designing some of the digital products to sell on innovative platforms that are an attractive option for many people looking for tools, tips, and high-value insights.
- Video tutorials on the basics of DIY projects – From a quickfire, hands-on video series on the DIY basics to more advanced content covering skilled home improvement jobs, people are always willing to splurge for high-quality, informative video tutorials.
- Infographics for one-stop info on gardening plants – Design highly detailed infographics that illustrate the correct processes and tips for DIY projects. You can eventually craft entire series and collections of visually engaging infographics to sell.
- Lists of top products and area suppliers – Working in partnership with affiliate partners, you can compile local area supplier listings for all things DIY for people to download and use when needed.
Where to Sell Digital Products
Once you’ve chosen your niche and the digital products you’ll create, you’ll need a place to sell them. You can market your digital products anywhere – on your blog, blog posts, and even your website.
But eCommerce platforms are perfect for listing your digital products. Most of the top options cover your marketing, licensing, and transaction needs, and you’ll gain instant access to larger markets and audiences.
Here are some of the more popular eCommerce platforms for listing and selling your digital products. Some are exclusively dedicated to all things digital, while others blend physical products with their digital counterparts, though there are many more options available than the ones here.
- For any digital product you can think of: Gumroad
- For digital content: Canva, Amazon KDP (eBooks), Payhip
- For online courses: Podia, Thinkific, Coursera
- For templates & themes: Template Monster, Envato Market (Theme Forest), Divi
- For digital media products: iStockPhoto, Shutterstock, Alamy
- For print-on-demand designs: Redbubble, Etsy
- For web-based apps & software: Sellfy, Shopify
- For memberships & subscriptions: Patreon, Substack, Revue
These digital product platforms and marketplaces provide access to a wide audience, take care of your promotions and security, and usually take a small percentage of your revenue in return.
You can, of course, choose to create the best digital products to sell and do it yourself. However, many creators opt to use the innovative eCommerce options at their disposal.
For a comprehensive list of the best digital products to sell as a blogger, check out this article.
Conclusion
Creating digital products has become so easy, almost anyone can do it. There are countless tools, platforms, and software options that are designed to make creating innovative digital products simple. You don’t need coding experience or an advanced understanding of how your digital products work necessarily. All you need is an idea, some innovation, and the right tools.
There are many digital product platforms and marketplaces where you can sell digital products. Some were created exclusively for selling them, while others include traditional eCommerce giants who have shifted their offerings to digital product categories as well.
Finding the most profitable digital products by niche is an effective tactic for maximizing your return while remaining focused on creating targeted digital products for your audience – products you can design to appeal to and provide value to the people who are the most likely to buy them.
