From the desk of David Utke
Subj: Idiots guide to selling online (affiliate marketing and/or your own products)
After making tens of thousands of dollars from selling digital products online, there are a few key essentials you need to have in place to make it work.
First off, some proof:
The following essentials are exactly that, essentials. You need to have them in place, or none of this will work and you won’t sell anything.
1. A Traffic Source
You absolutely need a traffic source to sell digital products. This can be either organic earned traffic or paid advertising. Without traffic, none of these platforms will work for you – it’s that simple.
The type of traffic source you choose will also depend on your product’s price point. If you’re selling something low-ticket like a $27 course, template or access to a community, you can typically make sales by linking directly to your offer – no funnel needed.
For example, that Evan Marc Katz affiliate program was an offer for a $47 dating ebook I promoted on an old dating site I ran back in the day. My site ranked well for the keyword “how to tell if a guy likes you” and sales came in with only organic traffic.
However, if you’re selling something more expensive like a $497, $597, or $997 course, you’ll need some type of sales funnel leveraging email marketing.
2. A Sales Funnel (For Higher-Priced Products)
A typical sales funnel might look like this 👇
“Watch my masterclass,” “Get my cheat sheet,” “Here’s an ebook,” or “Sign up for my branded email newsletter.” You want to use some type of lead magnet to get people on your email list first.
Once they’re on your email list, you can send them through a sales process. This could be as simple as a one-time offer page then a series of emails promoting something.
So, email opt in >>> one time offer page >>> sales funnel for both low- and high-ticket products.
When someone signs up for your free cheat sheet or course, they’re taken to a one-time offer page where you present them with a special deal.
What should your one-time offer (OTO) be?
That depends on your audience, and you’ll need to test to find out what works. Sometimes it’s effective to give a substantial coupon code to your main offer.
Maybe you’re selling a $597 product and you offer a 50% off coupon code and use something like Deadline Funnel. Other times, you might create a completely separate product that’s only available on your one-time offer page for $7, $27, or whatever price point makes sense.
3. A High-Converting Sales Page For The Right Niche Specific Offer
You need to create a sales page that converts visitors into customers. Here’s the structure I recommend:
- Problem identification: Quickly establish what problem your product solves.
- Unique solution: Present your specific solution to that problem.
- Proof of concept: Explain why and how your solution works for your target audience.
- Social proof: Include examples and testimonials showing your solution works.
- Bonuses: Highlight additional value like bonus ebooks, guides, cheat sheets, or courses.
- FAQ section: Keep it short and sweet – about 5 frequently asked questions that address genuine concerns.
- Final call to action: A clear, compelling CTA right above your footer.
If you craft the right offer your audience want’s, then a highly effective sales page makes selling much easier. Don’t forget to focus on the outcome the user gets from your product.
No one wants to buy a course; they want the result they get from said course 👇
I just want to emphasis that the right offer is essential. I made 5K in a month from Unstoppable Domains because I had target traffic and the right offer.
You could have the most perfect sales page, but if you’re selling something people just don’t want you’ll find out quick through having minimal to no sales.
The reverse is also true, a mediocre sales page with product that solves a niche specific problem will sell, though sub-optimally.
4. A High-Converting Checkout Page
After users click “buy” or “add to cart” on your sales page, they should be taken to a checkout page that converts. A good checkout page includes:
- Clear product title and image
- Bullet points summarizing what they’ll get
- Simple form to fill out
- Consider incorporating bump offers and upsells
The strategy here depends on your product price. For example, if you’re selling a $7 ebook, how do you increase cart value? You might add a $27 course as a bump offer; something users can add with one click without being redirected to another page with an additional upsell.
Including an order bump alone takes your cart value from $7 to $34.
After they purchase, you can present a final upsell, perhaps a $47 product that complements what they just bought. The key is ensuring your upsell feels like a valuable add on, not like something they need to get the full value from their original purchase (your customer will feel ripped off).
5. Product Delivery
Finally, you need to determine how customers will access your product. Typically, you have two options:
- They get a user account on your platform
- They receive a download link via email
Your choice depends on what you’re selling – whether it’s simple downloadable product like an eBook or templates, comprehensive video courses or community offer.
Product platforms I like
I have a whole dedicated guide on platforms to sell digital products, but here is the TLDR on the platforms I like and their use cases:
Teachable – Great for building out a high ticket, bundle offer of multiple courses. You get an affiliate program, abandon cart recovery and a beautifully designed website. You can sell courses individually, but the bundle offer is where it’s at with this platform. You also get a community aspect built in.
Thrive Cart – Excellent checkout pages with order bumps and you can host digital downloads. The do have a “learn” function built in for video courses, but you’ll need to source your own video hosting. However, Thrive Cart is a one-time fee.
Sam Cart – Hosted solution for video courses and digital downloads. Very similar to Thrive Cart except that they cost a monthly fee. With that monthly fee you get product updates, video hosting and sales pages.
For the entire list:
9 Best Platforms to Sell Digital Products (Ranked & Reviewed)
Conclusion
A traffic source, some type of sales process to convert traffic as well as both a high converting sales page and product page for a quality offer your audience wants.
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