I’m no stranger to finding ways to make an income online. I’ve tried almost all of the common methods from affiliate marketing to print-on-demand t-shirts.

While I enjoyed many of the methods available, nothing seemed to stick like selling my own digital product.

In comparison to other ways to earn an income online, digital products are some of the least complicated products to create and sell.

I’ll explain how I created a passive income selling a $7 ebook and how you can too.

Why Sell an Ebook?

When you sell an ebook, you are selling information that may help solve a specific problem or teach a specific skill.

An ebook can be a simple PDF file. You don’t need any fancy tools to create a PDF. You can write your ebook using Google Docs and exporting it as a PDF.

The best part about selling an ebook is that you create it once and you can sell it over and over. There isn’t a need to create variations of it the way you would with physical products.

Another plus is there is never anything to ship. Your customers receive their digital product instantly which leads to higher customer satisfaction.

I also encounter far less customer service issues the way I did when I sold print-on-demand t-shirts.

The most common issue is a customer being unable to download or open the files for some reason. I simply attach the files to an email and resend.

How to Make Passive Income with a $7 Digital Product

Choosing a Topic for Your Ebook

It starts with choosing a topic for your ebook. This is the fun part. The goal is to solve a specific problem or teach a specific skill.

The benefit of this is that you’re creating an information product around one topic. Your ebook does not have to be long.

If you can help your audience in 20 pages, great! If it takes 100 pages, that’s fine too. As long as you’re helping your target audience, you’re on the right path.

Let’s consider some examples of topics that solve a problem or teach a skill:

• Budget-friendly meal planning: solve the problem of overspending on groceries for meal plans.
• Freelance pitch template bundle: plug-and-play email templates to help freelancers land clients faster.
• Productivity reset: a mini-guide to help busy entrepreneurs get more focus and get more done.

These are just some ideas. The best topic will be one in which you have some experience.

Have you accomplished something that your friends and family always ask you for advice about?

You don’t need to be an “expert” at anything. If you know something, no matter how simple, that a lot of people could use help with, that is a good topic.

Pricing Your Ebook

Why the $7 price tag? Pricing your digital product at $7 is a simple buying decision for most people.

It is the price of a coffee, a sandwich, or a popcorn at the movie theater. It is a price point where you may not think twice about it.

If the digital product is piquing curiosity, spending $7 is an easy choice.

Besides that, the low price point also lowers the rate of refunds. Of course, your ebook should provide a ton of value for your readers and that reduces refunds as well.

Most of all, the $7 price makes it easy for customers to not only buy but put their trust in you.

Once you’ve earned their trust, it won’t be as difficult to recommend other products in the future whether they are affiliate offers or your own products at a higher price point.

Selling Your Ebook

There are many good platforms that you can use to sell your ebook. I like using a sales funnel because it makes it simple to sell and build my email list at the same time.

Other good options (that I’ve used in the past) to sell ebooks include PayHip and E-Junkie. There are dozens more and a quick web search will provide you with some good options.

It is a matter of uploading your ebook to the platform of your choice, connecting your payment processor, and setting your price.

Traffic — Your Target Audience

After you have everything set up to sell your digital product, it is time to share it with your target audience.

You can do this using both organic and paid traffic. Organic traffic can come from your social media profiles. Think Instagram, TikTok, etc.

Paid traffic can come from running ads online. This is a faster way to get traffic but can also get really expensive in a short amount of time.

I always recommend learning organic traffic first as all it requires is your time.

In Closing

If you’re looking for a low-cost and low-maintenance way to make an income online, digital products is a great option.

Looking to get started right away? Grab a free copy of my Micro-Product Kickstart Guide here.