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Your Essential Guide to Dropshipping Eco-Friendly Products
The world is changing, and many shoppers want to do their part in saving the environment. Because of this, it is a wonder whether or not dropshipping eco-friendly products is a good idea. If so, how do you do it right?
Today, I will share what I learned about dropshipping organic and holistic products over the past few years. You can expect to have all your questions answered today.
Here are what you will learn:
- Determine if there is a market for eco-friendly dropshipping niche
- Find out what eco-friendly products have huge potential revenue
- Get to know a selection of the best dropshipping suppliers of eco-friendly products
Ready? Let us start!
Key Takeaways
- There is a big market for eco-friendly products
- This niche has its own challenges that are solvable
- Not all eco-friendsly products are sustainable
Are Eco-Friendly Products a Good Dropshipping Niche?
Eco-friendly products, or green technology, are excellent for dropshipping. The global market for this niche will be USD 46.54 billion in 2022 [1]. By 2030, experts agree that this industry will reach a revenue of USD 417.35 billion.
I recommend starting your dropshipping store in this niche as early as now. You want to be one of the first people to dominate the market.
Why is this niche growing? It is growing because there is a strong drive for it. Emissions continue to rise, and we want to reduce our carbon footprint. If we do not do this now, we will pollute our environment.
However, there are challenges and risks in dropshipping green or holistic products, which I will describe in detail in the next section.
What Are the Risks of Dropshipping Eco-Friendly Products?
Before you start dropshipping eco-friendly products, it makes perfect sense to understand what the risks are. I can say from experience that green tech is much harder to sell than brand-new or conventional items.
I am not trying to discourage you—all I am saying is that you will be in for a wild ride. One may think that green tech or eco-friendly products have a market, but then you’d be surprised that it is difficult to convince people to buy your goods.
Here are the three main risks of dropshipping eco-friendly products:
- Cost of Goods
- Negative Associations
- Not Aesthetically Pleasing
Allow me to discuss each one in detail.
1. Cost of Goods
The cost of recycled products is much higher than brand-new ones. Recycling costs money for several reasons. First, you need a special plant or manufacturing process. In addition, there are steps in the recycling process that make the entire ordeal expensive.
For example, the cost start with paying people to gather and sort recyclable materials. Next, you must sanitize the recyclable products several times more than usual or typical manufacturing.
All these lead to bigger capital. When you dropship these items, the product costs more than something similar to the normal manufacturing process.
THE SOLUTION: Appeal to Emotion
The only reason we recycle is to save the planet. That in itself must be your slogan. You want your customers to feel “guilty” about what is happening on earth.
The trick to doing this is in your hero banner on your home page and the product pages. You have to tell the viewer how the product helps the environment.
For example, you can say that “people waste millions of plastic bottles per year. There are tons of plastic wastes in our ocean. Products like this reduce the ocean waste by XXX%,” or something like that
2. Negative Associations
People think that recycled products are not as sturdy or reliable. Many people are not interested in buying green products because they doubt the performance ability of recycled goods.
Given the high cost of eco-friendly dropshipping products, a customer would think that there is no practical reason to spend so much money on something that is not reliable.
THE SOLUTION: Educate the Byer
It is not true that organic or sustainable dropshipping products are less effective than their brand-new counterparts. This notion is nothing more than perception. As such, the only solution is education.
You must tell the buyer that the product on your site is sturdy, effective, and reliable. It would help if you made it a point to describe your product’s dependability.
If you have to, you can say things like “better than brand-new” or “stronger than factory-made products.” I also recommend that you test the products yourself. Create videos demonstrating their effectiveness and reliability.
3. Not Aesthetically Pleasing
The last risk is that many recycled products are not aesthetically pleasing. It is difficult for manufacturers to design these products since their materials are old. The absence of design makes it hard to convince people to buy.
THE SOLUTION: Print-On-Demand Dropshipping
There are companies like Printful and Printify that offer eco-friendly products. Take a look at the screenshot below:
All these are “green” dropshipping products. The good news is that you can design them. As such, design and aesthetics are no longer a problem. The screenshot below shows how a blank white shirt can look pleasing to the eye.
As you can see, there are challenges ahead of you if you dropship eco-friendly products. Do not let these challenges and risks scare you. Take the time to assess each risk, then create an action plan to mitigate them.
Which Eco-Friendly Products Should I Avoid Dropshipping?
Like all niches, there are some products that you must avoid. In the eco-friendly niche, there are “trap products” that you must not sell, which I will explain in detail here.
1. Almond Milk
While this may sound like an excellent alternative to cow milk, it is not a sustainable product. You may have a market for this—lactose-intolerant people. However, its production is damaging the environment.
Producers consume water to grow almonds and squeeze the juices out. The consequence is a drought effect. On average, it takes 15 gallons of water to produce 16 pieces of almonds. The problem is that there is little nutritional value to justify the amount of water to make it.
2. Bamboo Fabrics
Companies are touting that bamboo is the new alternative to fabric. The common materials we use today are harmful to the environment. The proponents of bamboo fabrics say that:
- Bamboo is renewable
- Bamboo does not need pesticides or chemicals to grow
- Bamboo does not require fertilizers
So, what is the problem? The problem is that bamboo requires a lot of energy to process into the fabric. In addition, a producer must use harsh chemicals to break down the cellulose from the bamboo plant and then turn it in t a fabric.
It is also not true that bamboo fabrics are antimicrobial. The chemicals used to break down the cellulose eliminates the bamboo’s property to be antimicrobial. Finally, this chemical makes the bamboo fabric non-biodegradable!
3. Paper Coffee Cups and Lids
Many people think that these recycled products are great. Manufacturers make these papers out of recycled materials, right?
Yes, but then the problem is that these cups need polyethylene coating. Because of this chemical, paper cup is not a viable item to recycle anymore.
Where to Find the Best Dropshipping Suppliers for Eco-Friendly Products
Now, let us discuss the best places to find eco-friendly product suppliers. You must choose the right suppliers to help you grow your business.
The best options are:
- Dropship supplier databases – these are systems like CJDropshipping, Spocket, Dropified, etc. Their main task is to make a marketplace where suppliers and dropshippers meet. It is also common that these companies offer integration processes where you can import products and place orders in a few clicks.
- Dropship product databases – we at Dropship.IO started a product database for dropshippers and retailers. We are moving into providing you with a supplier database. With our system, you can find eco-friendly products and know
- Direct from wholesalers – you can go to websites like Earth Hero. They sell a wide variety of eco-friendly products. However, the items they sell have a brand name—theirs—and you cannot change the brand name.
You do not have to choose one. You can get supplies from all of these suppliers at the same time. However, I recommend starting with only one if it is your first time.
For example, if you decide to use an app like CJDropshipping, it would help if you understand its complexities before you get supplies from wholesalers.
Best Eco-Friendly Products to Sell
What eco-friendly products have a market? Everything. However, I can understand if people want to enter this niche with best-selling items in mind. Since there is no eco-friendly product sales stat repository, the best way to get this information is through the Amazon best-seller list.
What I did was search for “eco-friendly” products. Then, I took a closer look at those with the most reviews.
The best eco-friendly products to sell are:
- Dishcloths
- Bamboo toilet paper
- Reusable dishcloth
- Travel toothpaste tablets
- Hand towels
- Clothes
- Make-up remover pads
- Rice water shampoo
Although I said bamboo products are not a good thing to dropship, it is still up to you. To some degree, you are not exaclty being unethical. It’s just that if you really think about it, bamboo products are not as eco-friendly as they seem to be.
Many of these products have at least 1,000 reviews. If you do the same thing, you will notice that many products come from bamboo production. I advise you to avoid bamboo products if you want to be eco-friendly.
5 Best Eco-Friendly Product Suppliers
1. Syncee
Syncee is a dropship supplier database and application. You can integrate the system with several platforms and work with different suppliers. I recommend Syncee because it offers high-quality, premium products. They also regulate their suppliers, ensuring that you receive appropriate support.
In addition, the platform offers an auto-order sync feature. With it, the system will place orders on your behalf once a customer places them in your store. You do not have to order them manually from the dashboard.
Syncee Features
- Integration – you can integrate Syncee with Shopify, Squarespace, Wix, EKM, and many more. After the integration, you can import the products from Syncee to your store in a few clicks.
- Eco-Friendly – Syncee has a division or category of products made from sustainable processes and materials. They offer eco-friendly products from brands like The Natural Spa, Plantish, and Korissa.
- International Suppliers – it is always easier to dropship if the product comes from the same location as the shipping destination. Syncee has US, Canada, EU, UK, and Australian suppliers.
Syncee Pros
- The app is easy to use
- Integration is possible with many platforms
- You can contact the suppliers directly
- There are no transaction fees
Syncee Cons
- You must upgrade to benefit from the system fully
Use Syncee if you want a system that allows you to sell many products. Syncee’s listing has more than 6 million products. The system also auto-updates, meaning you do not have to update each product manually if there is a change.
2. Printify
Printify is a print-on-demand company. They work with suppliers of blank products from several countries. You would make a design on these blank products and sell them in your online store. I recommend Printify because they allow you to sell unique products.
Printify Features
- Free Design Tool – you can use the free design tool to upload your graphics and “embed” them on the blank products. You do not need another software like Photoshop or GIMP to create the mock-up.
- Eco-Friendly Products – Pritnfiy works with several suppliers. There are over 800 products on the site, several of which are sustainable. For example, you can find items like eco-friendly shirts and bento boxes.
- Integrations – you can integrate the system with Shopify, Woocommerce, and other platforms. The integration means that you can import your Printify products into different stores. The platform also works with Etsy.
Printify Pros
- Printify offers hundreds of products that you can design
- It is possible to transfer the production to another supplier if your current one is out of stock
- You can get a discount if you upgrade; if you do, you can buy the items for 20% less than the usual listed price
Printify Cons
- You need to subscribe to a third-party provider to get more mock-ups
Printify is what you need to sell goods with unique designs. It is not likely that your products would have duplicates unless you used graphic art that is accessible to other people.
3. Printful
Printful is another POD company. The way this system works is the same as Printify. The difference is that with Printful, it is easier to create white-label products.
Printful also offers several types of printing techniques. They have direct-to-garment, all-over printing, and embroidery. However, the embroidery option is only available to paying subscribers.
Printful Features
- Warehouse Service – if you buy in bulk, you can ask Printful to store your goods in their warehouse. If a customer orders, they will take care of the fulfillment or shipping. The warehouse service is not free. The cost depends on the size and number of your products.
- Auto-Import – after designing your products, you can easily move them to your online store. You can create one product and then import that to different stores, too.
- Integrations – you can integrate Printful with over a dozen platforms. You can also use Printful to sell merch on social media channels like TikTok and YouTube.
Printful Pros
- Lots of products to choose from
- Multiple integration possibilities
- They offer warehouse and fulfillment services
Printful Cons
- The custom packing and branding services are only available to upgraded accounts
Use Printful if you want to start a huge dropshipping business. They have several eco-friendly dropshipping products like hoodies for kids, and adults, tote bags, and sweatshirts. Printful is excellent if you want to order in bulk.
4. AppScenic
AppScenic is a trusty dropshipping supplier database for eco-friendly products. I recommend this application because they have a dedicated list of suppliers for the niche we want to target. They offer free trial, plus they have global suppliers.
AppScenic Features
- Verified Suppliers – companies cannot just register for an account here. AppScenic puts them through the test, and the suppliers must maintain a reasonable rating. The suppliers here have close to zero rate of return, and all of them offer fast shipping.
- Integrations – you can integrate AppScenic with Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, and eBay.
- Academy – they recently released ana academy where you can learn about the best tis to succeed in dropshipping. There are over 80 lessons and 12 hours of video content on this learning platform.
AppScenic Pros
- All suppliers on the platform are reliable
- The system integrates with major e-commerce platforms
- You can automate the entire dropshipping process
AppScenic Cons
- You have to pay to use the system; the free account only allows you to browse
AppScenic is what I recommend if you use Shopify and WooCommerce. Although it does not integrate with a lot of stores, the system works perfectly well for these two platforms.
5. CJDropshipping
The last on our list is CJDropshipping, a Chinese dropshipping supplier database. Although their main office is in China, they have warehouses globally. I recommend CJDropshipping because there are hundreds of thousands of products here, including eco-friendly ones.
CJDropshipping Features
- Warehouses – the company now has warehouses in Germany, the US, Canada, Italy, Poland, and other countries. It means that you can dropship eco-friendly products from many shipping locations.
- Integrations – you can integrate CJDropshipping with platforms like Lazada, Shopify, eBay, Etsy, Wix, and TikTok.
- Print-on-Demand – the company works with a third-party POD provider. You can use this company as a source for eco-friendly POD products.
CJDropshipping Pros
- Lots of products to choose from
- Easy integration with several platforms
- The system is completely free to use
CJDropshipping Cons
- Most suppliers are from China, so shipping can take a while
Use CJDropshipping if you want to dropship to the Asian market. Although CJ has warehouses in Europe and North America, the system does not tell where the products are. As such, it can be a good international dropshipping supplier, but you do not know where the products sit.
Successful Eco-Friendly Product Dropshipping Store Examples
If you want inspiration, I looked for some of the best and most successful dropshipping stores in the eco-friendly niche. These two are Taylor Stitch and Notebook Therapy.
Taylor Stitch
One of the biggest sellers of eco-friendly clothing is Taylor Stitch. They sell men’s clothing. While they are not dropshipper in a traditional sense, they still source their products from third-party providers. I can say from their website that they are a private-label company.
Here are the items they sell:
- Sweaters
- Denim
- Footwear
- Flannels
- Bottoms
Taylor Stitch sells around $400,000 per week. On slow days, they sell 13 items in a day. On fast days, they sell as many as 572 units in a day!
As a dropshipper, competing against a giant like this is not easy. However, you can always use the route to print-on-demand (POD)and look for eco-friendly products. The two most effective POD suppliers I can recommend are Printify and Printful.
Notebook Therapy
Notebook Therapy sells East Asian stationery. Its top-selling products are the Tsuki Pop-Up Pencil and the Tote Bag. If you want to sell tote bags, I can say that you can find eco-friendly versions of these in Printify.
Today, this company has more than one million followers on social media. Their following is the key to their success. As a dropshipper, it would also help if you amassed a huge following. If people follow you, they will buy from you eventually.
Notebook Therapy has a massive presence on Instagram. They sell around $64,000 worth of goods in a week!
Right now, these two are the biggest and most successful. As you can see, the eco-friendly trend is not competitive. It is why today is the best time to do it!
Eco-Friendly Product Dropshipping Globally
There are no issues when shipping eco-friendly products on a global scale. The only thing I advise you not to sell is food or anything related to food, medication, and food supplements.
We discussed these countries in another blog post, particularly this one: does it make sense to dropshipping kitchen products?
However, you must know that some countries are not particularly environmentally friendly. These are:
- Liberia
- Myanmar
- Afghanistan
- Sierra Leone
- Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
- Guinea
- Madagascar
- The Solomon Islands
- Chad
- Haiti
One can say that most of these countries are financially struggling. Knowing that eco-friendly products are expensive, I advise you not to target countries that are still “developing.” Most people there do not have the financial capacity to pay for something expensive when they could easily get the same thing for a lower price.
Dropshipping Eco-Friendly Products FAQ
Is Dropshipping Environmentally friendly?
Yes and no. Anything that requires fuel to ship is not environmentally friendly. If you dropship, a person who orders only pays for one item, which takes a delivery person to spend power, energy, etc. It is not eco-friendly because it is better if someone just went to a mall and bought many things.
What products are most successful in dropship?
There is no magic list of products that will make you successful in dropshipping. There are dropshipping products that are trending, which you can sell. However, the success of dropshipping relies on your knowledge of marketing.
What eco-friendly products to sell?
There are many eco-friendly products that you can sell, such as recycled shoes, clothing, reusable eyepatches, beeswax wrap, natural cleaning products, etc.
How do I find eco-friendly suppliers?
For starters, use our list in this article. After checking their sites, you can visit Dropship.IO to look for products. You can find eco-friendly products and their respective suppliers in our database.
Summary
The next thing I suggest you do now is to checki the suppliers I recommend. Go to their respective websites by clicking on the links I provided. Search for products, then decide if you want to use that supplier.
Alternatively, you can also use our product database, Dropship.IO, for free for seven days. Search our product database, learn about your competition, and track their sales performance!
Happy dropshipping!
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How to Connect Your WordPress Site to the Fediverse – WordPress.com News
You created your website for a reason. Whether it’s showing off your art, passing on family recipes, or selling boutique high-performance yo-yos. (That may or may not be Doc Pop’s example.) You created your website to reach an audience and to communicate directly with that audience.
Wouldn’t it be great if there was an easier way for you to connect with them and make it easier for them to follow you and engage with your content online? In this final episode of the Fediverse Files, Doc Pop walks you through how to connect your WordPress site to the Fediverse using ActivityPub.
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14 Tools for Creating and Selling Digital Products (Expert Pick)
Creating and selling digital products is a great way to earn passive income and share your expertise with a global audience. But you’ll need the right tools to make it happen. Otherwise, you might waste time and money on complicated systems that don’t deliver results.
At WPBeginner, we’ve been creating digital products for over a decade, and we’ve had a lot of success using Easy Digital Downloads to sell our plugins and software. That being said, we know that other businesses might have different needs for their own online stores.
Since a lot of you have asked about what the best tools are, we’ve come up with this guide to help you choose.
We’ll share our top picks for making and selling everything from eBooks to online courses. These are tools we’ve tested ourselves, and we even use some of them in our own business.
3 Must-Have Tools for Creating and Selling Digital Products
No time to read? Here are our top 3 picks of the best platforms to make and sell digital products online:
🥇1st Place
Best for: Creating lead magnets
Pricing: Free to $99/mo
Key features: Drag-and-drop editor, templates, blog content import
🥈2nd Place
Best for: Selling digital downloads
Pricing: Free to $349.65/yr
Key features: Unlimited downloads, licensing, discounts
🥉 3rd Place
Best for: Membership sites and courses
Pricing: $179.50 to $399.50/yr
Key features: Content protection, drip content, courses
How We Tested the Best Tools to Sell Digital Products
We take our recommendations seriously, and our testing process reflects that.
Firstly, some of the tools we’ve recommended are ones we use every day in our own business.
For example, we’ve been using Easy Digital Downloads for years to sell our WordPress plugins. This hands-on experience gives us confidence in recommending this tool, as we know its strengths and limitations firsthand.
You also might notice that we’ve featured some of these tools in our other product review articles. That’s because we’ve found them consistently reliable and effective.
For other tools, our experience comes from using them for specific tutorials or projects. Through this process, we’ve discovered their strengths for particular purposes.
We’ve also tested popular options to see if they live up to their claims. Our process involved checking the tool’s features, testing it to see if it actually works as promised, and evaluating its value for money. We’ve also assessed how easy the tool is to use, especially for beginners.
Finally, we’ve paid close attention to customer reviews, like the ones from WPBeginner Solution Center. We know that sometimes we might miss certain contexts or use cases, so these reviews help complement our perspective. They’ve given us insights into how the tools perform in real life.
With that in mind, let’s check out our list of tools to create and sell digital products. We’ve divided this article into two sections, and you can skip to your preferred section using the quick links below:
Why Trust WPBeginner?
We’ve been helping people with WordPress and online businesses for over 16 years. Our team doesn’t just read about these tools – we use them every day. Our goal is to help you find the best solution for your needs, not just promote products. That’s why we test each product thoroughly on our own websites to understand what truly works.
Want to know more? Check out our detailed editorial process.
Best Tools to Create Digital Products
Whether you’re looking to generate passive income or explore new digital products to sell online, these tools can help you create various kinds of digital products efficiently and professionally.
We’ve selected a range of digital content creation tools, including some free options, to help you grow your digital product business.
1. Beacon (Lead Magnets)
Beacon is a freemium lead magnet tool that we use ourselves to create various types of content for email marketing campaigns. With its easy drag-and-drop interface, you can create digital products like eBooks, workbooks, checklists, and even video lookbooks.
What we like about Beacon is its simplicity. After signing up for a free account, you’ll go through a straightforward onboarding wizard. By answering a few questions about your goals, you can quickly select a template and start customizing it in the drag-and-drop editor.
Beacon is designed to be as easy to use as possible, making it accessible even if you’re new to creating lead magnets. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or just starting out, you’ll find the process intuitive and straightforward.
However, it’s worth noting that some users might find the templates a bit basic and not as stylish as they’d like.
Additionally, during our testing, we occasionally encountered issues when trying to delete certain pre-existing elements in templates. Keep this in mind when customizing your lead magnets.
Pros of Beacon:
- Easy setup and use for quick lead magnet creation
- Ability to import blog content directly into lead magnets
- Dozens of templates from various industry categories and seasons
- Multiple embedding options like inline forms, horizontal bars, and content upgrades
Cons of Beacon:
- Templates may appear basic or less stylish compared to some alternatives
- Some difficulty in deleting pre-existing elements in templates
Pricing: Beacon offers a free plan that includes 1 lead magnet per month, 100 leads, 1 user account, 1,000 monthly pageviews, and 500MB file storage. Paid plans range from $19 to $99 per month, with higher tiers allowing for more lead magnets and additional features.
Why we chose Beacon: We picked Beacon because it’s really easy to use for making lead magnets, which has helped us with our own email marketing. It’s simple, flexible, and has a free option, making it great for all kinds of businesses, even if you can’t customize designs too much.
2. Canva (Beginner-Friendly Graphic Design)
Canva is a popular freemium tool for graphic design that works well as a digital products maker. We’ve found Canva particularly useful for creating eye-catching social media posts and professional-looking eBooks. Many other people have also used Canva to create custom templates and sell them to fellow users.
Compared to Beacon, Canva’s designs are generally more stylish and varied. It offers a wide range of design options, including social media posts, presentations, documents, resumes, print products, websites, and videos.
Besides a drag-and-drop editor, the platform provides pre-made color palettes, font sets, design elements, and more. You can also draw on your own designs.
That being said, Canva can sometimes be slow to use, especially when working with more complex designs. And if you use Canva on mobile or tablet, you might have to be even more patient with its performance.
Pros of Canva:
- Easy to use while still producing professional designs
- Huge design library with over 1 million templates, 1000 design types, and 3 million stock photos
- Powerful premium features like AI tools and team collaboration features
- Video editing feature is also available for creating video products like online courses
Cons of Canva:
- Can be slow to use at times, especially with more complex designs
- We noticed the mobile app can be a bit laggy compared to the desktop version
Pricing: Canva offers a free plan with 5GB of cloud storage. Paid plans range from $15 to $30 per month, offering more storage, premium stock photos/videos, AI tools, and team management features. A 30-day free trial is available for paid plans.
Why we chose Canva: Canva’s ease of use and professional-quality designs make it perfect for creating a wide variety of digital products to sell. For many businesses, it’s become an irreplaceable tool for quick, high-quality graphic design.
3. Google Workspace (Digital Resources)
Google Workspace may not be the most design-friendly tool compared to specialized platforms. That said, its widespread use makes it highly accessible. We use it across our businesses to improve efficiency and communication, but the Workspace suite can also be used to create digital products.
Many people already use these products in their daily lives or work, but they might not know how to maximize their potential. This is where you can step in and offer ready-to-use templates that enhance their Google Workspace experience.
Plus, with the recent integration of Gemini, Google’s AI assistant, using the platform for digital product creation has become even easier. We’re a big fan of it ourselves here at WPBeginner to speed up our workflow and communication.
We’ve seen numerous success stories with this approach. For instance, Luke Scarpino on TikTok shared a Google Sheets template for efficient travel packing. His video went viral, and he now sells a pro packing template, showcasing the potential for monetizing these digital resources.
Pros of Google Workspace:
- Free to get started
- Gemini integration helps with AI content creation
- Accessible and familiar to a wide audience who already use these products
- Easy collaboration features for team projects
Cons of Google Workspace:
- May not be the most flexible for complex designs
- Limited customization options compared to specialized design tools
Pricing: Google Workspace is free for basic use. For additional features like custom domains, advanced security, and more storage, prices range from $3.60 to $ 18 per user per month.
Why we chose Google Workspace: Its massive user base provides a ready market for your digital products. With the Gemini AI integration, it’s an ideal platform for creators to sell templates and resources despite some design limitations.
4. Adobe Illustrator (Logos/Digital Illustrations)
If you’re looking to create and sell licensed digital art, Adobe Illustrator is a powerful tool to consider.
We have used it in the past to create featured images and other graphics for our blog posts. It’s a popular vector graphics software used by professionals to create digital illustrations.
While Adobe products are known for their higher price point, they’re often seen as a worthwhile investment, and we feel the same way. There is a learning curve, but once mastered, Illustrator offers great perks.
For one, designs made with Illustrator are highly scalable. This is great for creating logos, custom fonts, and other digital illustrations with income potential. Additionally, the designs you create in Illustrator are suitable for professional printing, which opens up more monetization opportunities.
Pros of Adobe Illustrator:
- Creates scalable designs, perfect for logos and illustrations
- Industry-standard, lending professional credibility to your work
- Versatile for various projects: web graphics, mobile apps, infographics, prints, logos
- Integrates well with other Adobe products for professional work
Cons of Adobe Illustrator:
- Can be overwhelming for beginners
- Costly subscription model
- Requires a powerful computer for optimal performance
Pricing: Adobe Illustrator costs $22.99 per month. Alternatively, you can get the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, which includes 20+ Adobe apps, for $59.99 per month. A 7-day free trial is available.
Why we chose Adobe Illustrator: Adobe Illustrator’s versatility makes it an excellent choice for artists looking to create and sell high-quality digital art, despite its steeper learning curve and cost.
5. MPL-Publisher (WordPress eBook/Audiobook Creator)
MPL-Publisher is a WordPress plugin that helps you turn multiple blog posts into an eBook or audiobook you can sell. It makes creating and selling digital content from your WordPress website easier.
We downloaded and thoroughly tested this plugin to check out all its features. And our favorite thing about the plugin is how well MPL-Publisher works with WordPress.
Once installed, you can easily add your book details, make a cover, adjust the design, and choose which posts to include.
The process is pretty straightforward, which is why we talked about it in our guide on making eBooks in WordPress. We also liked being able to edit the content to make it fit better in an eBook format and save the book as a MOBI, PDF, or audiobook file.
However, MPL-Publisher’s templates aren’t as fancy as those in Beacon or Canva. If you want to make big changes to how your eBook looks, you might need to know some custom CSS.
Pros of MPL-Publisher:
- Works well with WordPress and easily imports posts
- Offers multiple eBook download formats like ePub, audiobook, and PDF
- Lets you edit post content in the plugin for better eBooks
Cons of MPL-Publisher:
- Offers fewer template options than some other tools and may require CSS knowledge for advanced customization
- Book cover editor only available in the paid version
Pricing: MPL-Publisher has a free version with 50 chapters per book and 2 book designs. The premium version costs $49 per site and includes no ads, unlimited books, and a book cover maker.
Why we chose MPL-Publisher: This plugin is great for turning WordPress blog posts into sellable eBooks or audiobooks. It’s user-friendly and offers various export options, making it a good choice for WordPress users who want to sell digital content.
6. Audacity (Music and Audio Products)
Do you have a knack for sound and enjoy working with audio? If so, you can use Audacity as a digital products maker, turning your talent into money by creating various audio goods.
Audacity is a free audio editing and recording app that works on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers. While music production is an obvious choice, you don’t need to be musically gifted to benefit from this tool.
You can also make audiobooks, record guided meditations, capture nature sounds for relaxing tracks, create podcast intros, or even design sound effects for games or videos.
That said, we have to admit that using Audacity wasn’t always easy because its layout looks a bit old-fashioned. However, since the software is open-source, we discovered lots of helpful YouTube tutorials and a big community of users ready to assist.
Pros of Audacity:
- Free and open-source
- Has a helpful community of users
- Comes with built-in effects and works with audio.com resources
- Works on different types of computers
Cons of Audacity:
- The interface looks outdated
- Not the best for multitrack music recording and editing
Pricing: Audacity is completely free to use, with no need to buy a license.
Why we chose Audacity: Even though it looks a bit old, Audacity is a powerful, free tool for making many kinds of audio products. Its open-source nature, supportive community, and flexibility make it a great choice for beginners in digital audio creation.
7. Adobe Photoshop (Photo Editing)
Unlike Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop focuses more on editing photos and making graphics that don’t need to be as easily resized. We have used it extensively across our business to create and edit attractive and professional-looking images.
With Photoshop, you can edit photos to sell as stock images, create mockups for various products, design custom brushes or photo presets, and even make digital planners or bullet journals. The software’s flexibility makes it great for creating many different digital products.
We know that Photoshop can be hard to learn, especially compared to simpler tools like Canva. But once you get used to it, you can do so much more. It’s expensive, but it can be worth it if you’re serious about making professional-quality digital products.
Pros of Adobe Photoshop:
- Good for creating many types of visual digital products
- Works with many file types like JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, and PDF
- Lots of tutorials and courses are available to help you learn Adobe Photoshop
- Many brushes and filters online you can download to boost creativity
Cons of Adobe Photoshop:
- It is expensive, and some extra tools like brushes/filters cost more
- Takes time to learn how to use it well
- Needs a powerful computer to run smoothly
Pricing: Adobe Photoshop costs $22.99 per month. Or, you can get the Adobe Creative Cloud package, which includes over 20 Adobe apps, for $59.99 per month.
Why we chose Adobe Photoshop: Even though it’s not easy to learn, Photoshop is incredibly versatile and powerful for high-quality digital product creation. Its wide range of features and how well it works with other Adobe products make it a great choice for serious digital creators.
8. Create Block Theme (WordPress Block Themes)
WordPress block themes are becoming more popular, but there aren’t as many of them as classic themes or themes made with page builders. This means you have a chance to create and sell your own block themes.
The good news is you can use the free Create Block Theme plugin to make your themes. We’ve used it to change our block themes and make custom designs. It’s also great for making child block themes.
From our experience, it’s an easier way to create block themes, even if you’ve never done it before. You can design your theme right in WordPress, which makes it less scary if you’re new to custom theme development.
However, keep in mind that this plugin only works for block themes. Right now, not as many people use block themes, so your market might be small. But as more people start using the full site editor in WordPress, block themes will likely become more popular.
Pros of Create Block Theme:
- Works well with the full site editor
- Easy to use and helps you design themes visually
- Lets you make new themes based on themes you’re already using
Cons of Create Block Theme:
- You can only use it to make block themes, not other types
Pricing: Create Block Theme is free to use.
Why we chose Create Block Theme: This plugin makes it possible for more people to create themes, even if they don’t know how to code. As block themes become more common, Create Block Theme is a great way for WordPress users to start selling their own themes.
9. Divi (WordPress Themes Made With Divi)
If you’ve been using WordPress for a while, you probably know about Divi. It’s a popular tool for building pages and themes, and we rank it third in our theme builder review.
But did you know you can also make and sell Divi child themes and layouts on their creative marketplace?
Divi is widely used, which means there are lots of people who might want to buy your themes or layouts. We’ve also found the platform to be really easy for beginners to use, thanks to its drag-and-drop design, customizable parts, and dynamic content features.
Look at DiviFlash as an example. It’s a Divi plugin that’s been featured on HubSpot.
You could create something like this, too!
One thing to keep in mind is that everything you submit to the Divi marketplace is checked by the Elegant Themes team. This helps ensure quality but can also slow down how quickly your products or updates are available to buy.
Pros of Divi:
- Easy to learn, so you can make layouts or child themes quickly
- You get 70% of each sale you make on the Divi Marketplace
- Lots of potential customers because Divi is so popular
Cons of Divi:
- The review process can slow down your product releases and updates
- You need to keep updating your products to work with the latest version of Divi
Pricing: Yearly plans cost from $89 to $277 per year, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can also pay once for lifetime access, which costs $249 to $297.
Why we chose Divi: Divi gives you a great chance to sell to lots of WordPress users who want custom themes and layouts. It’s easy to use and has a big marketplace, making it a great place for creators to design and sell digital products that could become very popular.
10. Camtasia (Video Digital Products)
If you’re comfortable being on camera, you might be good at creating video digital products like online courses. Camtasia is a great tool for this kind of work. It ranks second in our list of video editing software.
We recommend Camtasia over other tools because it has a built-in screen recording feature. This means you can easily capture what’s happening on your computer screen while you’re teaching. It even records audio and mouse movements, which is really helpful for step-by-step tutorials.
Camtasia isn’t just for recording. You can also edit your videos using its many features like filters, transitions, on-screen text, animations, sound effects, and even royalty-free video clips. So, even if you don’t want to be on camera, you can still use Camtasia to create videos made from other clips.
Overall, Camtasia has worked well for us so far. However, some users have reported that it doesn’t always run smoothly on Mac computers.
Pros of Camtasia:
- All-in-one solution: screen recording, audio recording, and mouse recording
- Lots of editing resources: 30 filters, 150 transitions, unlimited royalty-free music
- AI detection for filler words like ‘um’ and ‘uh’
- Easier to use compared to other platforms like Adobe Premiere Pro
Cons of Camtasia:
- Some users report performance issues on Mac
Pricing: Camtasia costs between $134.91 and $375.25 per year. You can try it for free for 7 days.
Why we chose Camtasia: Its combination of easy-to-use screen recording and comprehensive editing tools makes it ideal for producing and selling high-quality videos, even for those new to video creation.
Best Platforms to Sell Digital Products
Now that you’ve created your digital products, the next step is finding the right place to sell and market your digital products. The platforms we’re about to discuss can help you grow your business and optimize your sales process.
You may notice we don’t include digital product marketplaces on our list. That’s because of some long-term problems with using them, which is explained very well in this expert quote:
Third-party marketplaces do make sign-up easy and have a low initial cost. However, you’ll end up paying high transaction fees of up to 30% for every product you sell. You also don’t own your own data; you just rent it.
Your product listings, customer information, and purchase data are all stored on someone else’s server. Migrating to a different platform later can be extremely difficult, if not impossible.
Chris Klosowski, Easy Digital Downloads founder
1. Easy Digital Downloads (Digital Products Only)
Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is the tool we use to sell our premium WordPress plugins and digital downloads. Over the years, it’s proven to be a reliable solution that has helped grow our business and thousands of others.
For more details, see our complete Easy Digital Downloads review.
For instance, EscapeRoomGeeks uses EDD to sell printable Escape Room Kits, while SetSailStudios sells downloadable fonts through this platform.
We love EDD because it makes it so simple to set up an online store for digital products. The onboarding wizard guides you through the setup process step by step, so it’s hard to get lost.
Another great feature is its automation capabilities. These streamline our workflows by collecting recurring subscription payments, offering content upgrades, and managing renewals. This saves us a lot of time and effort in managing our digital products.
The only downside we can think of is that EDD doesn’t allow physical products. However, this focus on digital products means its features are optimized for selling downloads.
Pros of Easy Digital Downloads:
- Easy setup with guided onboarding
- Automatically creates eCommerce pages like checkout and receipt
- Unlimited file downloads with no bandwidth charges
- Powerful software licensing support
- Flexible discount options
- You can add a free trial to your products
Cons of Easy Digital Downloads:
- Limited to digital products only, which is not ideal if you plan to expand into physical products
Pricing: There’s a free version available with basic features like Stripe, PayPal, Apple/Google Pay integration, shopping cart, and basic eCommerce reporting.
Paid plans range from $89.55 to $349.65 per year for more advanced features, payment options, and unlimited products. To get the best deal out of your purchase, you can use our Easy Digital Downloads coupon code and claim a 50% discount.
Why we chose Easy Digital Downloads: As longtime users, we can vouch for EDD’s reliability and effectiveness in selling digital products. Its user-friendly setup and powerful features make it an excellent choice for anyone looking to start their digital download business.
We also recommend using SiteGround’s EDD Hosting to make sure your website is online at all times.
2. MemberPress (Memberships/Online Courses)
MemberPress stands out as a top choice for creating subscription-based content or online courses. We’ve personally used this plugin for our WPBeginner video membership site, which has significantly helped us grow our email list.
For more information, see our MemberPress review.
MemberPress makes setting up a membership site straightforward. It automatically creates essential pages for pricing, login, account, and a thank you message for your users. This saves you time and ensures a professional setup from the start.
What we love about MemberPress the most is its membership-specific features. It offers drip content, a client portal, group memberships, and add-ons for specific types of services like online coaching. This way, you don’t need to install another plugin to build your membership business.
With MemberPress, you can easily restrict access to specific content based on membership tiers, individual members, or a combination of both. This means you can create tailored experiences for different membership levels, ensuring your premium content stays exclusive.
One critique we have for MemberPress is it doesn’t have any free version. That being said, it’s a worthy investment, especially considering everything you’re getting in just one platform.
Pros of MemberPress:
- Flexible content protection rules for various scenarios
- Optimized for memberships with features like drip content (releasing lessons over time) and subscription billing
- Easy setup process with automatic page creation for a membership website
- Supports unlimited membership levels
- Compatible with major payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.net
Cons of MemberPress:
- No free version available
Pricing: MemberPress offers annual plans starting from $179.50 and going up to $399.50 per year. The basic plan allows usage on one website and includes unlimited members, unlimited courses, and no transaction fees. A 14-day money-back guarantee is available.
Also, feel free to use our MemberPress coupon code to save up to 50% off of your plan.
Why we chose MemberPress: It’s an excellent all-in-one solution for anyone serious about creating a membership or online course platform. Our experience with the plugin has shown us that it can handle even complex membership structures with ease.
Alternative: Not a fan of MemberPress for online courses? Check out Thrive Apprentice, another powerful platform.
3. WooCommerce (Physical + Digital Products)
WooCommerce is the most popular WordPress eCommerce plugin and is used by millions of online stores. We’ve used it ourselves and can see why it’s so widely loved.
First off, WooCommerce is free. You can start selling immediately without spending a dime, using payment options like bank transfer, cash on delivery, and PayPal.
We also like how it creates important store pages for you, such as checkout and product pages, which saves you hours of work.
Another great thing about WooCommerce is how flexible it is. There are tons of WooCommerce extensions you can add to make your store do more. This means you only pay for extra features you actually need.
Our personal favorite is FunnelKit, which is a plugin that helps boost sales by optimizing your checkout, adding order bumps, and more.
One downside is that there are so many WooCommerce extensions that it can feel a bit overwhelming at first. Plus, there is no direct support. That being said, the WooCommerce community is very large, so it’s easy to find resources to help with your issues.
Pros of WooCommerce:
- Free and easy to set up
- Works for both digital and physical products (great if you sell ebooks and printed books, for example)
- Lots of free and paid extensions to improve your store and sales
- Built-in analytics to track how your store is doing
Cons of WooCommerce:
- The huge number of extensions can be confusing
- No official support team (but the community is very helpful)
Pricing: WooCommerce itself is free, but plugins can cost anywhere from $1 to $299 per year.
Why we chose WooCommerce: We love how WooCommerce can handle both digital and physical products and that you can customize it with plugins to fit exactly what you need. It’s free to start with, and there’s a big community to help you out.
If you’re interested in using WoCoomerce, we recommend using the Bluehost WooCommerce hosting to get your online store up and running.
You can find out more about the platform in our WooCommerce review.
4. WP Simple Pay (Single-Product Online Store)
WP Simple Pay is an excellent choice for those looking to sell a single product or service without the complexity of a full eCommerce platform. We’ve found it to be one of the most straightforward Stripe payment plugins, making it perfect for small businesses just starting out.
For more details, see our WP Simple Pay review.
In our experience, Stripe’s ease of use for both merchants and customers is unparalleled. The setup for businesses is not as lengthy as other platforms, so long as your entity is legitimate. Plus, your customers can make payments directly on your site without needing their own Stripe account.
We’ve tested numerous Stripe plugins, and this one stands out for its simplicity. You only need to connect your website to Stripe and create a payment form, and that’s it. The 70+ form templates covering various business types save you time and ensure your payment form looks professional.
The drag-and-drop form builder also lets you customize the payment form using its built-in field options. This way, the form can be tailored to perfectly match your payment form needs.
Unfortunately, Stripe is not available in all countries. So, if you need an alternative, you might need to look at another payment form like WPForms.
Pros of WP Simple Pay:
- Free version available
- No transaction fees, which keeps more money in your pocket
- Easy setup and customization with form templates and drag-and-drop builder
- Accepts 14+ payment methods, including Apple Pay and Google Pay
- Automatic tax calculation setup for accurate pricing
Cons of WP Simple Pay:
- Some countries may not be able to use Stripe
Pricing: WP Simple Pay offers a free version for basic needs. Paid plans start from $49.50 and go up to $299.50 per year. The most affordable plan allows usage on one site, with unlimited payment forms/transactions and no transaction or monthly fees.
You can also use our WP Simple Pay coupon code to get 50% off of your first purchase.
Why we chose WP Simple Pay: We picked WP Simple Pay because it makes it incredibly easy to set up Stripe payments on WordPress. It’s simple to use, highly customizable, and has smart features like automatic tax calculation.
What Are the Best Platforms for Creating and Selling Digital Products?
In this list, we’ve reviewed a lot of different platforms for digital product creation, but the best one depends on your needs.
If you want to make free guides or eBooks to get more email subscribers, Beacon is our top pick. We use it ourselves and really like how easy it is.
You can quickly make eBooks, workbooks, and checklists without any design skills. It’s great for beginners and pros alike, with a free plan and cheap paid options if you need more features.
Next, we recommend Easy Digital Downloads for anyone starting to sell digital products. We’ve used it for years to sell our WordPress plugins, and it works really well.
EDD makes it simple to set up your store, automate sales, and offer discounts. Just remember, it’s only for digital items, not physical ones.
If you want to create a membership website or sell online courses, go with MemberPress. We used it for our WPBeginner video lessons, and it helped us get more email subscribers. It has everything you need, like drip content and ways to manage different membership levels.
Creating and Selling Digital Products FAQs
Now that we’ve gone through our list of the best tools for creating and selling digital products online, let’s answer some frequently asked questions:
Which is the easiest digital product to create and sell?
eBooks, printables, and templates are popular types of digital products that beginners can create and sell quickly. These digital product ideas require minimal technical skills and can be made using tools like Beacon, Canva, or Google Docs.
Just make sure to create these products based on your existing knowledge or skills. For more inspiration, check out our list of the most popular digital products you can sell online.
How and where do I create digital products as a beginner?
As a beginner, you can start creating digital products using free or low-cost tools like Beacon, Canva, or Google Docs. Choose a product type that aligns with your skills, and use platforms like Easy Digital Downloads to start selling digital products online.
Can you really make money selling digital products?
Yes, you can definitely make money selling digital products. In fact, our founder, Syed Balkhi, is a great example of this, as he’s been successfully selling digital products like freemium WordPress plugins for years.
The key is to create high-quality products that solve real problems for your audience. For more insights, check out this article on key lessons learned by Chris Klosowski (Easy Digital Downloads founder) after selling digital downloads for over a decade.
More Expert Tips to Start a Digital Product Business
If you’re looking for more tips about starting a digital product business, you may also be interested in these articles:
We hope this article has helped you discover the best tools for creating and selling digital products. You may also want to check out our expert picks of the best WordPress jQuery plugins and our list of excellent WordPress website examples you should check out.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
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