Looking to sell digital products on Etsy - any tips welcome

Gin_and_Milk

Hi,

In order to boost my income, I am considering the possibility of selling digital products on Etsy ( C.V / resume templates, business card templates, colouring pages etc).  I realise that people can and do download download standard templates from Word, Mac etc, but this is different, and they do appear to sell well.
I'm in the very early stages of research at the moment, and I was wondering if others had experience of selling digital products?  
I really need to brush up on my tech skills - I've only got a canva account which I hardly use, but is there other software out there that would be better?  I work full time, so although there would be no deadlines with regards to uploading any products, deliveries etc, I would need to be able to respond to any enquiries quickly, so most of my work would be evenings and weekends.

Any advice / suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks

thrifty_00

Hiya 

I create and sell embroidery patterns on etsy as pdfs. I would start out with canva and get a few of your designs out there. It's so easy to use and they already have lots of templates that you can make your own.

For my patterns I use adobe illustrator but I'm looking at free software that I can switch over to. I use Pinterest to get traffic to my Etsy shop which is where the bulk of my sales come from. I haven't done anything to my little shop for over two years and it still brings in about £100 a month.

The only thing I have to do now and then is help my customers with downloading the pdf. I have a prewritten email responce that I just add the customers name to and send it to them with all the details, every time they come back to me fast saying they've sussed it out.

It really is hardly any work once you have the pdfs created. 
Writting this is making me think I need to do more! 

Good luck with it. 

MalMonroe

Gin_and_Milk said:

Hi,

In order to boost my income, I am considering the possibility of selling digital products on Etsy ( C.V / resume templates, business card templates, colouring pages etc).  I realise that people can and do download download standard templates from Word, Mac etc, but this is different, and they do appear to sell well.
I'm in the very early stages of research at the moment, and I was wondering if others had experience of selling digital products?  
I really need to brush up on my tech skills - I've only got a canva account which I hardly use, but is there other software out there that would be better?  I work full time, so although there would be no deadlines with regards to uploading any products, deliveries etc, I would need to be able to respond to any enquiries quickly, so most of my work would be evenings and weekends.

Any advice / suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks

Hi, is there any reason you can't just sell the items yourself - that is, set up your very own website, without using Etsy? Doing your own marketing makes it easier for potential customers to find you. And it's good to choose a name for your business that will pop up first when people google things like 'CV/resume template'. If you're hidden away on a site like Etsy, it's not so easy to be found.

I think you should do a bit more research too because I've just downloaded a CV template for myself and it was free.There appears to be a lot of competition out there.

Google something like "set up business selling cv templates".

If you're going to be setting up your own business, don't forget that you may also need to register with HMRC - details in following link - https://www.gov.uk/set-up-business  

Good luck. 

hayley11

MalMonroe said:

Gin_and_Milk said:

Hi,

In order to boost my income, I am considering the possibility of selling digital products on Etsy ( C.V / resume templates, business card templates, colouring pages etc).  I realise that people can and do download download standard templates from Word, Mac etc, but this is different, and they do appear to sell well.
I'm in the very early stages of research at the moment, and I was wondering if others had experience of selling digital products?  
I really need to brush up on my tech skills - I've only got a canva account which I hardly use, but is there other software out there that would be better?  I work full time, so although there would be no deadlines with regards to uploading any products, deliveries etc, I would need to be able to respond to any enquiries quickly, so most of my work would be evenings and weekends.

Any advice / suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks

Hi, is there any reason you can't just sell the items yourself - that is, set up your very own website, without using Etsy? Doing your own marketing makes it easier for potential customers to find you. And it's good to choose a name for your business that will pop up first when people google things like 'CV/resume template'. If you're hidden away on a site like Etsy, it's not so easy to be found.

I think you should do a bit more research too because I've just downloaded a CV template for myself and it was free.There appears to be a lot of competition out there.

Google something like "set up business selling cv templates".

If you're going to be setting up your own business, don't forget that you may also need to register with HMRC - details in following link - https://www.gov.uk/set-up-business  

Good luck. 

I wouldn't really agree with this, as somebody who's had her own website and an Etsy shop. It's much easier to get sales on Etsy because they have a built in audience actively searching for products. To get the same level of traffic to a website would require a lot of SEO knowledge, social media and possibly paid advertising. Not to mention that buyers trust Etsy more than they'd trust a website they'd never heard of before. 

In the long run, when a business is well established and earning money, both are great to have, but in the beginning, Etsy is a great place to start as the set up costs are low and you'll mostly only pay when you sell something. 

hayley11

It's a very saturated market so I think you'd have to come up with something quite unique or with a lot of demand to get many sales. I've tried it myself and didn't get anywhere really (and I have another Etsy shop selling physical products with 5000+ sales so I know what I'm doing on there!)

Learn about Etsy tags and titles, get a good understanding of SEO so you do show up in search results.

It's a long slog though, there's a lot more involved than just creating the product. 

All the best

Gin_and_Milk

Hi all, thanks for your replies

Sadly, I like the talent to design my own patterns - I don't even know how to embroider!  I do have a Canva account, but it's only the free one at the minute, so I'd have to upgrade once I've finished swotting up.
I'm not sure that my own website would work for me.  As has been said, Etsy is tried and trusted, and so much of the work is already done.  Tax is something I have thought about though, and I'll take a look at that link - thanks for sending it.
I've been doing quite a bit of research over the weekend.  Yes, resumes etc are a saturated market, and I'm going to have to be more creative.  I'm considering other options too, but only digital downloads.  I've been reading up on Sales Samurai and EverBee which have been interesting to say the least.
Like I say, the aim is for it to supplement my income.  I'm hoping to retire at 60 (12 years), so anything that can go towards making that happen would be great for me.

kiss_me_now9

I don't sell but I have bought digital downloads before (largely artistic things like Procreate brushes to use in my own sticker business, which I'm trying to get off the ground). There's a good market for them but you need to be clear what use you are allowing people to have and be prepared for a lot of "Where's my item!" style emails. 

If you're good and have a good product, you can earn a lot. The shop that I like the most has over 80k sales, all their items are their own artwork and they sell a bundle of brushes for £2 - £4 depending on the size of the pack. That's roughly £160k before any deductions for relatively passive income - though they do update and upload once or twice a week with a new pack. 

Gin_and_Milk

@kiss_me_now9 - thanks for your reply, and sorry for not getting back earlier.

There's so much stuff to get my head around, and I'm trying to stop my brain flying off in different directions by selling this that and the other. It's pretty difficult to stay focussed!

I've done quite a bit of reading and watched videos, and I think I need to set aside some proper time to start experimenting on Canva. I'm going on holiday in a few weeks, so between now and then I'd like to start designing a few bits. I'll probably aim to put things up for sale around July / August, although that's when people tend to go on holiday, so not sure if that's a good thing or not.

I've seen a seller who has made a similar amount of sales - I think it's different to the one you describe, but can you imagine making that kind of money?! I'm very much looking at this as a second income, so I'd be happy with a fraction of that!

Good luck with your venture :-)

pearl123

Look at your competition. Good photos are important. An app called photoroom is good for changing the backround on photos. Of course, there are other apps.

Etsy tags and titles are crucial. It's a learning curve.

Gin_and_Milk

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80028864#Comment_80028864

Thanks - I know what you mean about photos, and I'll definitely check out that app.

I've been looking at the competition quite a bit - there's a lot of it, in fact if anything it's a saturated market. Shame I missed out on the niche, but I just wasn't there at the right time.

pearl123

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80029478#Comment_80029478

Also, when you're set up look at erank. It give you an idea about your rankings and how you can improve your listings. The free version offers quite a bit.