$100 a day digital products (what does it ACTUALLY take?)

What does it actually take to earn $100 per day selling digital products. We'll break that down in this blog post and video.

Amy Hardie

5/22/20249 min read

There are a lot of videos out there with ideas of how you can make 100 a day selling digital products. While it's possible, there is a lot of nuance and variation within that claim. In this blog post, I'm going to take a specific example of workbooks and ebooks. And look at what it actually takes to make 100 a day and how that breaks down.

I actually enjoy watching these kind of YouTube videos. But I do often wonder why a lot of the titles mention making $100 a day. But then there's no mention of numbers within the actual video. If you like this blog and would like me to make more along these lines. Be sure to let me know in the comments and I'll make more, on other kinds of digital products.

Digital Product Example One

This first digital product is for children. It's an Easter Busy Book.

Selling Price: $1.78
Sales needed per day: 56
Views needed per day: Between 1866 and 5600

Thoughts on this product

It's a general product targeted at children for Easter. It's going to be hard to find in search because it's quite general. So the seller is competing against a lot of other people. There's nothing for them to stand out against other people. Other than the design.

It's also seasonal so they're only going to sell it around Easter. So this is an example of a digital product where it would be very tough to make that hundred dollars a day.

Digital Product Example Two

Next up we have a preschool busy book. So this is even more general targeting. Targeting at kids who are at preschool.

Selling Price: $0.99
Sales needed per day: 100
Views needed per day: Between 3333 and 10,000

Thoughts on this product

This is an Etsy bestseller, but they're still going to struggle to hit that hundred dollars a day.

I would guess that they've been on Etsy for a good while. Or they're driving traffic from elsewhere to get those sales. Because there are a lot more people on Etsy offering this kind of product. Sellers who are not making it onto the first few pages of search results. So people aren't seeing their listings.

It's going to be quite tricky to reach that 100 a day with a product like this now because it's quite saturated.

Digital Product Example Three

So, next up we've got another workbook that's aimed at kids. This one is a Life Skills for Kids workbook.

Selling Price: $12.68
Sales needed per day: 8
Views needed per day: Between 266 and 800

Thoughts on this product

This product is from a counsellor. They've got a specific training or skill that makes their product more valuable.

The sales figures are a lot more doable than the other ones. So let's take a look at the listing. You can see this is by a counsellor. It says so on the thumbnail. And you can see, um, all the things that are in the workbook. Helping kids cope with anger and to grow their mind. How to cope, gratitude, helping them sleep, and helping them in relationships.

So this is a high value product, which means they can charge more for it.

Digital Product Example Four

So next up we have Nurse in the Making. I've seen her featured on YouTube before. In fact she has her own YouTube channel. So she is driving a lot of traffic to Etsy and her own website from YouTube. She has this product for people training to be nurses. She helps with study materials for people training to be nurses.

She has a digital version of all her study notes compiled into one product. So she has them as separate products in her shop. But you can buy all the notes together in digital file.

Selling Price: $85
Sales needed per day: 2
Views needed per day: Between 67 and 200

Thoughts on this product

If we have a look at the listing. two people have bought this in the last 24 hours so she is making $100 a day on this product. The listing images show you how everything is available. You can see the contents page here so she's got everything included. It is a big meaty product for that $85.

What if you don't have a qualification?

So for the last couple of examples I've shown you are products that involve a skill or training in a specific area. Which not everybody has. So what if you don't have a skill or training in an area like this? There are other things you can do.

Being specific always helps with this. So I'm going to take a look at a couple of products and the differences between them on the same sort of topic here.

They're about decluttering. A lot of people are great at organising their house. I'm not one of them. But following are two examples. One on Etsy and one on someone's own website. One is a YouTuber who sends people to their website. The other person is on Etsy and relying on search.

Digital Product Example Five

The first example is 'Rage Quit your Clutter'.

Selling Price: $9.75
Sales needed per day: 11
Views needed per day: Between 366 and 1100

Thoughts on this product

It's an e book with tips on decluttering. It's more specific than a general product and I love the name 'Rage Quit your Clutter'. It has a bit of personality about it with that title.

Thoughts about selling digital products on Etsy

I always feel like it's much harder to sell something at a high price on Etsy. Unless you're driving your own traffic and you've already built up a bit of a brand for yourself. Because you're competing against so many other people.

When other people start dropping their prices. You have to drop your price to compete, and it's kind of a race to the bottom.

If you can, I'm much more a fan of having things on your own website. Particularly if you're making content somewhere to drive people to your products. You may be driving people to other people's products that are cheaper if you put your stuff on Etsy. But that's a whole other blog post.

Digital Product Example Six

Next up is the other decluttering product which is 'declutter your home in 15 minutes a day workbook'.

Selling Price: $20
Sales needed per day: 5
Views needed per day: Between 166 and 500

Thoughts on this product

This product is very specific. It's got a time guideline on it. Who doesn't want to manage to keep their home decluttered in 15 minutes a day? So I love the specificity of the title. And this is the person who has a YouTube channel. So she can drive people to her digital product from her YouTube channel.

She's selling it on her own website. Which means she's not competing with all the lower priced products on Etsy.

Digital Product Example Seven

I love this next one as an example.

This person is on Etsy and has their own website. The product is a character development workbook for aspiring authors.

Selling Price: $17
Sales needed per day: 6
Views needed per day: Between 200 and 600

Thoughts on this product

I actually think they could charge more for this. Because it's specific and niche, and they could get away with charging a bit more.

It looks exactly the same on their website as it does on Etsy, using the same graphics. It's around the same price on their website.

One extra thing I would say about products that are so niche. You tend to need less views to make sales because there is less competition.

People who are looking for that thing are already in buyer mode because it's so specific. The more specific something is, the more likely someone is to buy it who's looking for that thing. So if they're finding you on search in particular. They're much more likely to buy if there are only a few options.

Okay, now we're moving off Etsy. This is where products tend to be a bit higher priced.

Digital Product Example Eight

So the first one is from, it's Modern Millie, who is a YouTuber. She has a media kit guide to help people get brand sponsorships and similar.

Selling Price: $37
Sales needed per day: 3
Views needed per day: Between 100 and 300

Thoughts on this product

She shows her media kit, explains what's in it. Because she's a YouTuber with a big audience, people are going to be more inclined to buy. Because they already watch her videos and they know, like, and trust her. She can charge a bit more because they know, like, and trust her. But also because she's selling on her own website and not trying to compete on Etsy.

Digital Product Example Nine

I actually found this one straight from Google. So they're doing well in SEO. It's a personal brand strategy workbook.

Selling Price: $99
Sales needed per day: 2
Views needed per day: Between 66 and 200

Thoughts on this product

It's almost like a course but in workbook format. It's going to be worth that for people who want to learn about personal branding.

Digital Product Example Ten

This last example is a user interface e-book.

Selling Price: $99 or $149 (there are 2 options)
Sales needed per day: 1-2
Views needed per day: Between 33 and 200

Thoughts on this product

This is sold on their own website. It looks very high tech. It's going for software designers to help them with user interface. That's why they can get away with charging a higher price.

What can we learn from these 10 digital product examples?

Why is there such a huge variation in price in these examples? How can this inform any decisions that we make in the future.

Where you sell

The first thing we need to think about is where you sell and if you have your own audience. Selling on Etsy is going to mean that you generally have to charge lower prices. Unless you're driving people to Etsy yourself,. But then you still run the risk of lower prices because other people can see your product and copy it. On Etsy, products are all seen together. So there's more ability for people to compare and go with the cheapest price.

So think about where you sell and if you're willing to build your own audience so you can charge higher prices.

Who you target

Selling to software developers a very specific e-book on user interface. Means you can get away with charging a lot more than you can if you are creating a workbook for preschool kids.

Specifics sell

Remembering that product for writers which was about character development. That product is very specific. The seller has lots of digital products. For different aspects of writing novels or creative writing.

Being specific gives people a reason to buy. Rather than creating a big course calledCreative Writing for Aspiring Novelists. They have separated this topic into small digital products. So that people can pick the ones that they need at the time they need it. Or they can buy them all if they choose.

You can watch one of my YouTube videos that shares more about making products that are specific.

Qualifications or Experience

If you have professional qualifications, use them and let people know about them. Whenever I stumble across a digital product by someone with a professional qualification. They are always selling so well.

But that doesn't mean that you have to have a professional qualification. If you use the other learnings from these examples.

Positioning

Positioning means what you do, for who and how it's different. Positioning can be the difference between charging $2 for a digital product or $99.

If you have no idea how to work this out, I have a couple of tools that can help you. The first one is a low priced digital product called Brainstorm your Brilliance.

The other one is to help with market research and it's called "8 places to do market research online'. That's a freebie

I'd love to know if this has opened your eyes about how much even a simple workbook or ebook can vary in price. And how many different topics can be made into a workbook or ebook.

Let me know what you think in the comments. Would you like me to make more content like this? Let me know that too. And if you'd like to know a bit more about positioning, then I recommend that you read this next.