How to Effortlessly Start Selling Digital Printables Online!

The truth is that the simplest way to begin making passive income is by learning how to start selling digital printables online.  Printables are digital downloads that solve many reader issues and are an easy way to increase your income.

What exactly are digital printables?

Printables are items that can be downloaded, printed and used. They are popular among parents, professionals and teachers because they are inexpensive and easy to use. A printable can be as simple as a coloring page or as complicated as an entire activity book or planner. Best of all, it’s an opportunity to make passive income for people who create them.

They can be all sorts of products, including:

• Planners
• Checklists
• Calendars
• Children’s activities
• Trackers
• Templates
• Social media posts
• Wall art
• Books & Workbooks
• Invitations
• Teaching activities
• ……and so much more!

Truly, the only limit is your imagination. You can find several done for you templates of printables in my shop — fall gratitude planner and a social media planner with social media templates. These printables were created to get you started quickly. Simply add your branding and customize with fonts and/or colors using Canvas drag and drop elements. Upload to your shop and start selling.

Just remember, successful printables fulfill a need for your customers. Once you know the need that is how to start selling digital printables online.

Is a digital printable business profitable?

Honestly …. it depends.

There are some sellers who make as little as $10 a week and others who make thousands every single month selling their printables. Some people even make five and six figure incomes from selling digital printables.

There are many factors and reasons for the variety of profits. It depends on not only what you sell but where and how you sell it. Another factor is the time of the year. For example, if you create printables for teachers, you may see an increase in income in September and October. Or, if your product is a summer activities checklist, you will sell those in June, July and even August (and not in December).

Instead, the goal is to create evergreen products, these are products that are helpful year round. If you do decide to offer seasonal items, make sure you have multiple products available to keep a continuous income stream flowing.

How do you create digital printables to sell?

Printable income is the newest side hustle. Why? Firstly, because it’s easy to do and doesn’t require a lot of money to get started. Secondly, you only need to make a printable once, upload it to your shop and make sales for a long time.

There are many ways to sell printables online. Some people create their own printable items and sell them on their own website or blog. Others have a website or store that sells a variety of different types of printable items for many different purposes, like scrapbooking, planners or children’s activities.

You can use free and low cost apps and programs to create your printables. The most common are:

• Canva (free version or Pro)
• Google docs, slides and even sheets
• Microsoft powerpoint, word and excel
• Apple keynote, pages & numbers
• Photoshop
• Indesign
• Affinity designer

You can even use apps that you download on your smartphone or tablet. Basically, use what you have available to get started.

I designed my very first printable using Canva, on free version and I have since profited over $200 from selling that printable. Can you imagine making something for free and then every time you sell it’s all profit?

Many people make a lot of money from selling these types of products. It’s not just a hobby anymore. It can be a full-time business.

Find Your Niche – What Type of Printables Do You Sell?

Finding a niche can also help you with determining what type of products to sell. Start by thinking about your ideal customer. What is a common problem that they may have? Or something that they need to streamline or make better.

For example, I work with teachers. Many of them are looking for ideas for fun activities and worksheets for their classrooms. At the beginning of the school year, they like to do activities that help students and teacher get to know each other. A good digital printable to sell to them is something that solves one of those problems. For example:

1. A bingo activity that gets students up and meeting each other
2. An “All About Me” template that has prompts to get students to describe themselves
3. An organizer for the teacher that they can write student names, birthdays and parent information on to see it at a glance

Who is your customer? What is a common problem? Write your ideas down and then start thinking of what you can create to help them.

6 Tips to Jump-Start Your Digital Printable Design

No one wants a printable that looks unprofessional. However, you don’t have to be a professional graphic designer to make them. All you need to do is use our friends Google, Pinterest and even Etsy to find trends.

When designing a printable, keep the following in mind:

1. Double check for typos (nobody likes to pay for something with errors)
2. Be original (don’t copy someone else’s idea)
3. Save as a PDF format
4. It solves a problem for the reader
5. Make sure it downloads easily
6. Stand out by using eye-catching designs, colors and font pairings

You may also want to get new fonts or elements to add to your product. Always make sure that the font or element is available for commercial usage, meaning you can sell a product that uses it. Where do you find fonts or elements you can use? There are a few options available:

• Da Font
• Creative Market
• The Hungry JPEG
• Google Fonts
• Canva Free and Pro (Pro gives you more fonts and elements)
• Check out my curated list of resources

Your printable needs to deliver on its promises, or your customers will be left with a sour taste in their mouths.

Get organized to sell digital printables online

Now that you know the basics you can start selling digital printables online quickly and easily!

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