April 22, 2025 • 21 mins
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Do you have a great idea for a digital product but feel totally overwhelmed when it comes to actually creating it? Or maybe you're like me and love jumping into a project headfirst—only to realize halfway through that you forgot a few key steps (oops!). Either way, this episode is going to save you time, stress, and probably a few headaches.
I’m walking you through the exact checklist I use when creating any kind of digital product, from initial idea to final polish. I’m sharing how I keep everything organized, stay focused, and make sure I’m creating products that are not only helpful, but actually sell. Whether you're building your first product or your fiftieth, this checklist will keep you grounded and on track.
I’ll also share some of the common missteps I see, plus the small tweaks that can make a big difference in your final product. We’ll talk about things like validating your idea before you dive in, making sure your content aligns with what your audience actually needs, and how to avoid burnout mid-project. If you're ready to create with more confidence and less chaos, this conversation is for you!
01:17 - Why the first step in your product creation workflow should be market research (and how to do this!)
03:49 - Important tips for the planning stage of product creation, and must-haves to include in your digital product
07:53 - Advice for designing and making your product, plus my favorite tools to use
10:51 - A non-negotiable in your product creation workflow: quality control!
12:10 - Pricing your product and launch strategy for getting it in front of the right people
17:01 - What to do after launching your product to ensure it continues selling
Links & Resources:
- Web Accessibility Color Contract Checker
- Episode 138, Get More Eyes on Your Products: 13 Strategies That Actually Work to Increase Traffic
- Episode 137, 5 Reasons Your Digital Products Aren’t Selling (And How to Fix Them)
- Follow me on Instagram @kristendoyle.co
- Check out my Everything Page: a one-stop shop for savvy selling!
- The Savvy Seller Collective
- Join my private Facebook community: Savvy Teacher Sellers
- More resources for growing your TPT business
- Rate & review The Savvy Teacher Seller on Apple Podcasts
Show Notes: https://kristendoyle.co/episode144
Tired of constantly hustling to sell your digital products? Check out my free 19-minute training where I show you how to turn all those products you already have into a profitable, automated business.
Get more freedom and less stress ➡️ watch now at kristendoyle.co/training
Check out my Everything Page at https://kristendoyle.co/everything
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Have you ever felt overwhelmedby the whole product creation
process? Maybe you've got agreat idea for a digital
product, but you're not surewhere to start, or like I often
do, you find yourself jumpingstraight into designing and
building the product without aclear plan in place.
If this sounds familiar, thentoday's episode is one you don't
want to miss. I am sharing acomplete digital product
(00:24):
creation checklist that'll helpyou streamline your workflow and
boost your sales, whether you'reselling teaching, resources,
planners, templates or any othertype of digital product. Let's
get into the checklist.
Are you a digital product orcourse creator, selling on
platforms like teachers payteachers, Etsy or your own
website? Ready to grow yourbusiness, but not into the kind
(00:47):
of constant hustle that leadsstraight to burnout? Then you're
in the right place.
Welcome to The Savvy Seller. I'mKristen Doyle, and I'm here to
give you no fluff, tools andstrategies that move the needle
for your business withoutburning you out in the process.
Things like SEO, no stressmarketing, email list building,
(01:08):
automation, and so much more.
Let's get started y'all.
Before you start creatinganything, make sure you do some
market research. You want tocheck what's trending in your
niche across different platformswhere people might be shopping
(01:29):
or across social mediaplatforms. You can also look for
gaps in the market where peopleare asking for a certain
solution but they're not findinganswers.
This is a great way to make surethat you're not wasting your
time creating something thatthere are tons of options
available for, because the lastthing that you want to do is
spend hours and hours creating aproduct that either nobody is
(01:52):
looking for so they're not goingto buy it, or creating something
where there are already 1000s ofsimilar options out there, and
so It's really hard to make yourstand out above everyone else's.
One way you can do marketresearch is to just ask your
audience directly. So if youhave a social media audience or
an email list, which youabsolutely should have, use
(02:14):
those places to get in touchwith people in your audience to
see what kind of products theyare looking for or what they
would like to see in newproducts that you're creating.
This can be as simple asdropping a poll on an Instagram
story or in a Facebook group, orsending out an email and asking
people to hit reply if they'reinterested and let you know what
(02:36):
specific features they wouldlike to see included. Another
thing I really like to do is askpeople to reply with an A, B or
C or A one, two or three,letting you know which of these
they're most interested in.
It's a really easy way to get alot of replies, which makes your
email list look really healthy,and that helps to get your email
deliverability rate up, but italso gives you some really good
(02:59):
information, and because you'rejust asking for a one letter or
one number reply, a lot ofpeople will be willing to
respond, who might not bewilling to reply if they have to
think about typing out ananswer.
Another thing that I wouldrecommend you do is do a little
research on the competitionthat's out there. But you have
to do this very carefully. Youhave to make sure you're doing
this in a way where you're notgoing to copy them or become so
(03:22):
inspired by them that yourproduct looks just like theirs.
What I would recommend doing,instead of looking deep into
their products, is to look atthe reviews of similar products
out there. This will tell youwhat customers are loving and
what they are missing or what'snot working out well for them.
And that's where you'll reallyget good information about what
(03:43):
customers want, more of whatfrustrates them, and what you
can do to make your productbetter.
Once you've done your marketresearch and you're confident
there's a demand for yourproduct idea, then it's time to
move into the planning stage,rather than jumping straight
into the product build. Beforeyou start building, create a
strategy and a plan for yourproduct. I like to start with a
(04:07):
detailed product outline.
This kind of becomes theblueprint for the product, and
it helps keep you focused whileyou're creating. Because I'm
sure, like I have, you'veprobably experienced that time
that you thought you were goingto create a pretty simple
product, but the further you gotinto it, the more things you
added, and it just spun out ofcontrol, and it became this huge
product. And then sometimesthat's great, but sometimes it
(04:30):
also means your product isbigger than the pricing the
market will allow.
So start with and strategic.
Outline a blueprint for what youwant to sell, so that you can
stay focused and stay on trackduring your product creation, so
that you end up with a productthat's perfect for the price
point that you're going to sellit at. When you're doing this,
(04:50):
make sure you are listing outall the different things that
you're going to need, all thosepieces of the product sections
you might need. And the wayyou're going to organize it.
Some must haves that I wouldrecommend you include in every
digital product that you sellare clear instructions or some
sort of user guide or a teacherguide, if it's teaching
(05:13):
resources. Think about thethings that someone would need
to know if they are brand new tousing this type of product,
whatever that is.
Think about the tech that theymay not understand or be
familiar with, if they're justbrand new to downloading digital
products in general. Any stepsthat they will need to take. If
you are designing teachingresources. Think about how a
(05:35):
teacher would need to implementthis. Especially think about
brand new teachers who are justgetting started and may not know
all the things that veteransalready understand. Lay those
things out in a really clearUser Guide for your product.
Another important thing toinclude is easy navigation. A
lot of times this looks like atable of contents that lays out
(05:59):
the pages where everything is,or where to go to find things,
if they're not all in one PDF.
When you do this, if you caninclude clickable links to those
resources, that would reallyhelp people to be able to find
them quickly, and it just makesit so user friendly.
And then think about any extras,those kind of supplementary
(06:19):
materials that make your producteven more valuable. So for
teaching resources, this mightinclude things like answer keys.
I recommend including answerkeys, even if you're listing
suggested or possible answers,because it's just really helpful
for exhausted teachers to haveat least a hint of what they're
looking for in studentresponses.
Think about including thingslike rubrics for things that
(06:42):
don't have a straightforwardanswer key. If you're creating
something like planners, maybeyou include tutorial videos. Or
for templates, you include someexamples of what a finished
product might look like usingthe templates that you've
provided.
Another thing to think about iswhether your product would
benefit from having multipleversions or formats. So maybe
you need different file typesfor different apps that people
(07:05):
might use, or a print and adigital version, black and white
and color options. Think aboutall those different ways that
you could present something tomake it easier for more people
to use that product.
So for example, I have a back toschool flip book in my Teachers
Pay Teachers store, and Iinitially created it as an
(07:25):
editable PDF. And some peoplelove that. It makes it really
easy for them to edit withoutworrying about messing up any of
the design. But I startedgetting feedback that people
wanted more flexibility, andeditable PDFs just aren't quite
as flexible as some otheroptions. So I ended up adding in
a PowerPoint version and theneventually a Google Drive
(07:46):
version as well, so that peoplehad lots of different options
and were able to use it in theway that best works for them.
Alright, once you have thatsolid plan in place, then it's
time to start thinking about thedesign and actually making the
product. And this is where mostof us want to start, because
it's exciting and fun to see ourideas start to take shape and
come to life. But having thatplan in place first really does
(08:08):
make the design process so muchsmoother, and it will help you
end up with a better product inthe long run.
So once you're ready, before youget started, think about what
tool you're going to use. My gotos for creating printable
resources are either Keynote orPowerPoint, because they offer a
lot of flexibility with thelayouts, but it still makes text
(08:30):
editing really easy. See Keynoteand PowerPoint while they're
typically used for widescreenpresentations, you can change
that page size to portrait, andthen you have complete
flexibility for putting thingswherever you need them to go on
the page, but you still have theKeynote or PowerPoint text
editing features, layoutfeatures with outlines and
(08:53):
bullet points and check boxesand all of those things and
spell check all of those thingsare there for you.
I absolutely adore using Canvafor cover images, thumbnails,
previews, social media, anythingI'm using for marketing, but
spell check in Canva just doesnot work. I don't know how many
times I have seen things that Iknow people created in Canva
(09:16):
that have spelling issues thatprobably would have been caught
if they had created in Keynoteor PowerPoint. So anytime I'm
doing something that is reallytext heavy, I like to put it in
Keynote because I'm a Mac user,because that way I can make sure
that that text is laid out well,everything lines up neatly, and
it helps me to make sure that Iam error free.
(09:37):
The key really is to pick thetools that match your skill
level, your comfort level, andwhat your product needs. You
don't need fancy, expensivedesign software or anything like
that to create really greatproducts. You can probably use
things you already have on yourcomputer. And the most important
thing is that you arecomfortable creating in the tool
(09:57):
that you're using.
When you think. About the designitself, make sure you're focused
on user experience. Keep yourbranding and your styling
consistent so you're using thoseconsistent fonts, consistent
colors, consistent styles ofclip art or graphics. Think
about readability, especially ifyou are creating teaching
(10:19):
resources. It's so importantthat all the text on your page
is easy, not just for theteacher to read, but for those
kids to read as they are workingon those activities as well.
Keep in mind, customers buydigital products that look good,
yes, but they are moreinterested in buying products
that are functional and thatsolve their problems. So if your
product is absolutely adorable,but the fonts are hard to read,
(10:44):
they're not going to purchase.
So make sure that you areprioritizing readability and
usability above everything else.
When you finish creating yourproduct, make sure that you do
some quality control. This is anon negotiable. The last thing
you want is to put products outthere that have lots of errors,
typos, missing links, thingslike that that cause a bad user
(11:04):
experience. So one of the firstthings that I recommend you hire
out for is proofreading andediting on your products.
See, it is just really difficultfor us to see our own mistakes.
Once you have spent so much timeworking on a product, when you
go back through to proofread it,your brain will just
(11:25):
automatically, naturally correctthe mistakes that you've made,
because you know what it'ssupposed to say. So I really do
recommend hiring out forproofreading, if that is at all
possible.
Now, if that's not in yourbudget right now, you can use a
tool like Grammarly, or ask afriend. Maybe you have another
entrepreneur friend who alsoneeds proofreading, and the two
(11:45):
of you can swap off thoseproofreading jobs so that you're
editing each other's workinstead of editing your own.
That really is just going tolead to a better product in the
long run, and those typos andmistakes can lead to bad reviews
and refund requests. Soinvesting in proofreading
upfront, or working with someoneelse, trading off with a friend,
can really save you a lot ofheadaches down the road, and can
(12:08):
keep your products from gettingbad reviews.
Alright, once your product isdesigned, it's all proofread, it
is ready to publish. Let's talkabout how to price it and how to
create a little bit of a launchstrategy to get it in front of
the right people. First thingsfirst, you want to make sure
that as you are listing yourproduct, you are optimizing for
(12:29):
SEO across all the differentplatforms where you're listing
your product.
Good SEO helps your product showup higher in searches, whether
that's on a marketplace sitelike TPT or Etsy or on Google
for your own website, but you dohave to optimize differently for
those different places, andthey'll use different keywords.
Now, I really do recommend doingsome keyword research before you
(12:51):
create your product, because itcan help you to determine those
gaps in the market. But if youhaven't done that, definitely do
keyword research before you listyour product, and if you have
access to it, do keywordresearch specifically for each
place where you're going to listthe product.
So TPT keyword research forthat, I recommend the SEO tools
(13:11):
from Your Data Playbook. If youhave something that allows you
to do Etsy keyword research,definitely do that and for your
own website, for things you arelisting on your own website
store, do google keywordresearch with something like
Uber Suggest or kW finder. Youcan also use the search terms
that are showing up assuggestions in the search bars
on any platform as a guide,because those are popular search
(13:34):
terms people are actually usingright now. Once you find your
search terms, make sure youinclude them in titles, in the
description, use them in tags,if that helps on your platform,
and if it makes sense to do so.
Alright, let's talk aboutpricing. A lot of times, people
want to price based on how manypages their product includes or
how long it took you to create,but the better approach to that
(13:58):
is to price based on the valuethat your product provides to
the buyer. You can also do someresearch on similar products,
just to get some pricingbenchmarks, a general idea of
how much people are willing topay for products in this general
niche.
But I would encourage you tomake sure when you're looking at
other products, that you'rereally looking at what they
(14:20):
include in order to determine ifthey are comparable to your
product or not. Think about whenyou're buying a house and the
realtor goes out to get comps.
They are looking for housesaround the same size, in the
same zip code, same number ofbedrooms and bathrooms, same lot
size, those sorts of things inorder to find those comparable
prices for your house/Think about your digital
(14:43):
products the same way. Justbecause something covers the
same topic doesn't mean it'sreally comparable to yours. So
make sure that if you arecomparing prices, you're
comparing things that arecomparable. And the biggest
thing to think about in terms ofpricing is that pricing is not
permanent. You can. In and youshould adjust your prices over
time based on your conversionrates and how well your product
(15:05):
is selling.
Once you start getting more pageviews, then you can start
adapting your product to hitthat just right sweet spot. So
let's talk about launching alittle bit. When it comes to
digital products, a lot ofpeople think that the only type
of product you launch issomething big, like a course or
a membership, but you can launcheven small products. The launch
(15:27):
might look a little different,but you definitely should still
be promoting those new productsand getting them out there to
your audience.
Don't just rely on publishingthe product on the marketplace
or on your website and peoplestarting to find it organically.
So when you launch a product,think about emailing your list.
This is probably the mosteffective way to launch a
(15:47):
product, and I would do this ina couple of emails over maybe a
few days or a week, doing atleast one email that primes your
audience for this product,highlighting the problem that
you're solving, nudging at thatpain point just a little bit so
that they are ready for asolution, and then following it
(16:08):
up with an email that says, Ijust created a product just for
this, and it is just for you ifyou've been struggling with that
problem I talked about in thelast email.
This is a great way to get yourproduct out to people who
already know, like and trust youbecause they're on your email
list. Don't forget to promote iton your social media as well.
And depending on the pricepoint, you might consider
(16:30):
running some ads to your producttoo. Another thing a lot of
people do is offer an early birddiscount for people who
purchase, maybe before a launch,depending on your platform, if
that's something that you cando, or a discount for the first
24 or 48 hours once you'vepublished your product.
A strong launch of a product,getting lots of sales early on,
(16:51):
can help move your product up insearch rankings and help you get
that data you need to set thatjust right price point, and it
really can help give you anindicator of long term success
potential too.
Once you have launched yourproduct and you've started
getting those sales and feedbackin, those first few weeks, are a
great time to start lookingdeeply at the feedback you're
(17:11):
getting and making those quickimprovements based on the
customer feedback that you'vegotten.
If you are selling in a placewhere you can contact your
buyers, somewhere like your ownwebsite, you might even reach
out to those early buyers, thankthem for purchasing, and ask
them for their feedback. Whetherthat looks like asking them for
a review on your platform oryou're just asking them
personally. Is there anything Icould do to make this product
(17:33):
better, that would give you anopportunity to really improve
your product based oninformation from your buyers, so
that down the road, it's evenbetter.
Alright, so there you have it.
That is your complete digitalproduct creation checklist that
covers market research,planning, design and launch
strategy. Now let's talk aboutsome simple action steps that
(17:53):
you can take. If right now youare just starting out with a
product idea, then pump thebrakes. Instead of diving
straight into the product build,which I know is what you want to
do, take a little while to dosome market research.
Carve out just an hour to send aquick poll out to your audience,
or check what people are askingfor in Facebook groups or other
(18:16):
communities where your peopleare hanging out. If you're in
the middle of creating aproduct, pause for a little bit.
Make sure you have a clearoutline, check that you're
including all of those extras,all of those things that make
your product more valuable andeasier for people to use. And
then get back to the creation.
And if you've already created aproduct and you're almost ready
(18:37):
to post it, focus on qualitycontrol. Get someone else to
review your product, and thenplan out a launch strategy with
some dates so you can reallypromote your product as you're
doing that launch. Whateverstage you're at, as you're
working through this, createyourself a simple, detailed
checklist, specifically for yourtype of product and for your
(18:58):
process that you can use andrefine every time you create a
new product.
This will take a lot of themental load off, and it'll make
sure that you're not skippingany important steps the next
time that you create something.
All right, friends, that is awrap on our deep dive into
digital product creationprocesses. I would love to know
what has been most helpful foryou in your own product creation
(19:19):
process! Send me a DM onInstagram @kristendoyle.co and
let me know which part of theprocess you find most
challenging, or share a tip thatworks really well for you, and
then I will be glad to share itout with everyone else.
If you found this episodehelpful, I would be so grateful
if you'd hit that follow buttonon your podcast app and maybe
(19:40):
even take a second to leave arating or a review. It helps
more than you know, and I reallyappreciate it. I'll talk to you
soon!
Have you ever felt overwhelmedby the whole product creation
process? Maybe you've got agreat idea for a digital
product, but you're not surewhere to start, or like I often
do, you find yourself jumpingstraight into designing and
building the product without aclear plan in place.
If this sounds familiar, thentoday's episode is one you don't
want to miss. I am sharing acomplete digital product
(00:24):
creation checklist that'll helpyou streamline your workflow and
boost your sales, whether you'reselling teaching, resources,
planners, templates or any othertype of digital product. Let's
get into the checklist.
Are you a digital product orcourse creator, selling on
platforms like teachers payteachers, Etsy or your own
website? Ready to grow yourbusiness, but not into the kind
(00:47):
of constant hustle that leadsstraight to burnout? Then you're
in the right place.
Welcome to The Savvy Seller. I'mKristen Doyle, and I'm here to
give you no fluff, tools andstrategies that move the needle
for your business withoutburning you out in the process.
Things like SEO, no stressmarketing, email list building,
(01:08):
automation, and so much more.
Let's get started y'all.
Before you start creatinganything, make sure you do some
market research. You want tocheck what's trending in your
niche across different platformswhere people might be shopping
(01:29):
or across social mediaplatforms. You can also look for
gaps in the market where peopleare asking for a certain
solution but they're not findinganswers.
This is a great way to make surethat you're not wasting your
time creating something thatthere are tons of options
available for, because the lastthing that you want to do is
spend hours and hours creating aproduct that either nobody is
(01:52):
looking for so they're not goingto buy it, or creating something
where there are already 1000s ofsimilar options out there, and
so It's really hard to make yourstand out above everyone else's.
One way you can do marketresearch is to just ask your
audience directly. So if youhave a social media audience or
an email list, which youabsolutely should have, use
(02:14):
those places to get in touchwith people in your audience to
see what kind of products theyare looking for or what they
would like to see in newproducts that you're creating.
This can be as simple asdropping a poll on an Instagram
story or in a Facebook group, orsending out an email and asking
people to hit reply if they'reinterested and let you know what
(02:36):
specific features they wouldlike to see included. Another
thing I really like to do is askpeople to reply with an A, B or
C or A one, two or three,letting you know which of these
they're most interested in.
It's a really easy way to get alot of replies, which makes your
email list look really healthy,and that helps to get your email
deliverability rate up, but italso gives you some really good
(02:59):
information, and because you'rejust asking for a one letter or
one number reply, a lot ofpeople will be willing to
respond, who might not bewilling to reply if they have to
think about typing out ananswer.
Another thing that I wouldrecommend you do is do a little
research on the competitionthat's out there. But you have
to do this very carefully. Youhave to make sure you're doing
this in a way where you're notgoing to copy them or become so
(03:22):
inspired by them that yourproduct looks just like theirs.
What I would recommend doing,instead of looking deep into
their products, is to look atthe reviews of similar products
out there. This will tell youwhat customers are loving and
what they are missing or what'snot working out well for them.
And that's where you'll reallyget good information about what
(03:43):
customers want, more of whatfrustrates them, and what you
can do to make your productbetter.
Once you've done your marketresearch and you're confident
there's a demand for yourproduct idea, then it's time to
move into the planning stage,rather than jumping straight
into the product build. Beforeyou start building, create a
strategy and a plan for yourproduct. I like to start with a
(04:07):
detailed product outline.
This kind of becomes theblueprint for the product, and
it helps keep you focused whileyou're creating. Because I'm
sure, like I have, you'veprobably experienced that time
that you thought you were goingto create a pretty simple
product, but the further you gotinto it, the more things you
added, and it just spun out ofcontrol, and it became this huge
product. And then sometimesthat's great, but sometimes it
(04:30):
also means your product isbigger than the pricing the
market will allow.
So start with and strategic.
Outline a blueprint for what youwant to sell, so that you can
stay focused and stay on trackduring your product creation, so
that you end up with a productthat's perfect for the price
point that you're going to sellit at. When you're doing this,
(04:50):
make sure you are listing outall the different things that
you're going to need, all thosepieces of the product sections
you might need. And the wayyou're going to organize it.
Some must haves that I wouldrecommend you include in every
digital product that you sellare clear instructions or some
sort of user guide or a teacherguide, if it's teaching
(05:13):
resources. Think about thethings that someone would need
to know if they are brand new tousing this type of product,
whatever that is.
Think about the tech that theymay not understand or be
familiar with, if they're justbrand new to downloading digital
products in general. Any stepsthat they will need to take. If
you are designing teachingresources. Think about how a
(05:35):
teacher would need to implementthis. Especially think about
brand new teachers who are justgetting started and may not know
all the things that veteransalready understand. Lay those
things out in a really clearUser Guide for your product.
Another important thing toinclude is easy navigation. A
lot of times this looks like atable of contents that lays out
(05:59):
the pages where everything is,or where to go to find things,
if they're not all in one PDF.
When you do this, if you caninclude clickable links to those
resources, that would reallyhelp people to be able to find
them quickly, and it just makesit so user friendly.
And then think about any extras,those kind of supplementary
(06:19):
materials that make your producteven more valuable. So for
teaching resources, this mightinclude things like answer keys.
I recommend including answerkeys, even if you're listing
suggested or possible answers,because it's just really helpful
for exhausted teachers to haveat least a hint of what they're
looking for in studentresponses.
Think about including thingslike rubrics for things that
(06:42):
don't have a straightforwardanswer key. If you're creating
something like planners, maybeyou include tutorial videos. Or
for templates, you include someexamples of what a finished
product might look like usingthe templates that you've
provided.
Another thing to think about iswhether your product would
benefit from having multipleversions or formats. So maybe
you need different file typesfor different apps that people
(07:05):
might use, or a print and adigital version, black and white
and color options. Think aboutall those different ways that
you could present something tomake it easier for more people
to use that product.
So for example, I have a back toschool flip book in my Teachers
Pay Teachers store, and Iinitially created it as an
(07:25):
editable PDF. And some peoplelove that. It makes it really
easy for them to edit withoutworrying about messing up any of
the design. But I startedgetting feedback that people
wanted more flexibility, andeditable PDFs just aren't quite
as flexible as some otheroptions. So I ended up adding in
a PowerPoint version and theneventually a Google Drive
(07:46):
version as well, so that peoplehad lots of different options
and were able to use it in theway that best works for them.
Alright, once you have thatsolid plan in place, then it's
time to start thinking about thedesign and actually making the
product. And this is where mostof us want to start, because
it's exciting and fun to see ourideas start to take shape and
come to life. But having thatplan in place first really does
(08:08):
make the design process so muchsmoother, and it will help you
end up with a better product inthe long run.
So once you're ready, before youget started, think about what
tool you're going to use. My gotos for creating printable
resources are either Keynote orPowerPoint, because they offer a
lot of flexibility with thelayouts, but it still makes text
(08:30):
editing really easy. See Keynoteand PowerPoint while they're
typically used for widescreenpresentations, you can change
that page size to portrait, andthen you have complete
flexibility for putting thingswherever you need them to go on
the page, but you still have theKeynote or PowerPoint text
editing features, layoutfeatures with outlines and
(08:53):
bullet points and check boxesand all of those things and
spell check all of those thingsare there for you.
I absolutely adore using Canvafor cover images, thumbnails,
previews, social media, anythingI'm using for marketing, but
spell check in Canva just doesnot work. I don't know how many
times I have seen things that Iknow people created in Canva
(09:16):
that have spelling issues thatprobably would have been caught
if they had created in Keynoteor PowerPoint. So anytime I'm
doing something that is reallytext heavy, I like to put it in
Keynote because I'm a Mac user,because that way I can make sure
that that text is laid out well,everything lines up neatly, and
it helps me to make sure that Iam error free.
(09:37):
The key really is to pick thetools that match your skill
level, your comfort level, andwhat your product needs. You
don't need fancy, expensivedesign software or anything like
that to create really greatproducts. You can probably use
things you already have on yourcomputer. And the most important
thing is that you arecomfortable creating in the tool
(09:57):
that you're using.
When you think. About the designitself, make sure you're focused
on user experience. Keep yourbranding and your styling
consistent so you're using thoseconsistent fonts, consistent
colors, consistent styles ofclip art or graphics. Think
about readability, especially ifyou are creating teaching
(10:19):
resources. It's so importantthat all the text on your page
is easy, not just for theteacher to read, but for those
kids to read as they are workingon those activities as well.
Keep in mind, customers buydigital products that look good,
yes, but they are moreinterested in buying products
that are functional and thatsolve their problems. So if your
product is absolutely adorable,but the fonts are hard to read,
(10:44):
they're not going to purchase.
So make sure that you areprioritizing readability and
usability above everything else.
When you finish creating yourproduct, make sure that you do
some quality control. This is anon negotiable. The last thing
you want is to put products outthere that have lots of errors,
typos, missing links, thingslike that that cause a bad user
(11:04):
experience. So one of the firstthings that I recommend you hire
out for is proofreading andediting on your products.
See, it is just really difficultfor us to see our own mistakes.
Once you have spent so much timeworking on a product, when you
go back through to proofread it,your brain will just
(11:25):
automatically, naturally correctthe mistakes that you've made,
because you know what it'ssupposed to say. So I really do
recommend hiring out forproofreading, if that is at all
possible.
Now, if that's not in yourbudget right now, you can use a
tool like Grammarly, or ask afriend. Maybe you have another
entrepreneur friend who alsoneeds proofreading, and the two
(11:45):
of you can swap off thoseproofreading jobs so that you're
editing each other's workinstead of editing your own.
That really is just going tolead to a better product in the
long run, and those typos andmistakes can lead to bad reviews
and refund requests. Soinvesting in proofreading
upfront, or working with someoneelse, trading off with a friend,
can really save you a lot ofheadaches down the road, and can
(12:08):
keep your products from gettingbad reviews.
Alright, once your product isdesigned, it's all proofread, it
is ready to publish. Let's talkabout how to price it and how to
create a little bit of a launchstrategy to get it in front of
the right people. First thingsfirst, you want to make sure
that as you are listing yourproduct, you are optimizing for
(12:29):
SEO across all the differentplatforms where you're listing
your product.
Good SEO helps your product showup higher in searches, whether
that's on a marketplace sitelike TPT or Etsy or on Google
for your own website, but you dohave to optimize differently for
those different places, andthey'll use different keywords.
Now, I really do recommend doingsome keyword research before you
(12:51):
create your product, because itcan help you to determine those
gaps in the market. But if youhaven't done that, definitely do
keyword research before you listyour product, and if you have
access to it, do keywordresearch specifically for each
place where you're going to listthe product.
So TPT keyword research forthat, I recommend the SEO tools
(13:11):
from Your Data Playbook. If youhave something that allows you
to do Etsy keyword research,definitely do that and for your
own website, for things you arelisting on your own website
store, do google keywordresearch with something like
Uber Suggest or kW finder. Youcan also use the search terms
that are showing up assuggestions in the search bars
on any platform as a guide,because those are popular search
(13:34):
terms people are actually usingright now. Once you find your
search terms, make sure youinclude them in titles, in the
description, use them in tags,if that helps on your platform,
and if it makes sense to do so.
Alright, let's talk aboutpricing. A lot of times, people
want to price based on how manypages their product includes or
how long it took you to create,but the better approach to that
(13:58):
is to price based on the valuethat your product provides to
the buyer. You can also do someresearch on similar products,
just to get some pricingbenchmarks, a general idea of
how much people are willing topay for products in this general
niche.
But I would encourage you tomake sure when you're looking at
other products, that you'rereally looking at what they
(14:20):
include in order to determine ifthey are comparable to your
product or not. Think about whenyou're buying a house and the
realtor goes out to get comps.
They are looking for housesaround the same size, in the
same zip code, same number ofbedrooms and bathrooms, same lot
size, those sorts of things inorder to find those comparable
prices for your house/Think about your digital
(14:43):
products the same way. Justbecause something covers the
same topic doesn't mean it'sreally comparable to yours. So
make sure that if you arecomparing prices, you're
comparing things that arecomparable. And the biggest
thing to think about in terms ofpricing is that pricing is not
permanent. You can. In and youshould adjust your prices over
time based on your conversionrates and how well your product
(15:05):
is selling.
Once you start getting more pageviews, then you can start
adapting your product to hitthat just right sweet spot. So
let's talk about launching alittle bit. When it comes to
digital products, a lot ofpeople think that the only type
of product you launch issomething big, like a course or
a membership, but you can launcheven small products. The launch
(15:27):
might look a little different,but you definitely should still
be promoting those new productsand getting them out there to
your audience.
Don't just rely on publishingthe product on the marketplace
or on your website and peoplestarting to find it organically.
So when you launch a product,think about emailing your list.
This is probably the mosteffective way to launch a
(15:47):
product, and I would do this ina couple of emails over maybe a
few days or a week, doing atleast one email that primes your
audience for this product,highlighting the problem that
you're solving, nudging at thatpain point just a little bit so
that they are ready for asolution, and then following it
(16:08):
up with an email that says, Ijust created a product just for
this, and it is just for you ifyou've been struggling with that
problem I talked about in thelast email.
This is a great way to get yourproduct out to people who
already know, like and trust youbecause they're on your email
list. Don't forget to promote iton your social media as well.
And depending on the pricepoint, you might consider
(16:30):
running some ads to your producttoo. Another thing a lot of
people do is offer an early birddiscount for people who
purchase, maybe before a launch,depending on your platform, if
that's something that you cando, or a discount for the first
24 or 48 hours once you'vepublished your product.
A strong launch of a product,getting lots of sales early on,
(16:51):
can help move your product up insearch rankings and help you get
that data you need to set thatjust right price point, and it
really can help give you anindicator of long term success
potential too.
Once you have launched yourproduct and you've started
getting those sales and feedbackin, those first few weeks, are a
great time to start lookingdeeply at the feedback you're
(17:11):
getting and making those quickimprovements based on the
customer feedback that you'vegotten.
If you are selling in a placewhere you can contact your
buyers, somewhere like your ownwebsite, you might even reach
out to those early buyers, thankthem for purchasing, and ask
them for their feedback. Whetherthat looks like asking them for
a review on your platform oryou're just asking them
personally. Is there anything Icould do to make this product
(17:33):
better, that would give you anopportunity to really improve
your product based oninformation from your buyers, so
that down the road, it's evenbetter.
Alright, so there you have it.
That is your complete digitalproduct creation checklist that
covers market research,planning, design and launch
strategy. Now let's talk aboutsome simple action steps that
(17:53):
you can take. If right now youare just starting out with a
product idea, then pump thebrakes. Instead of diving
straight into the product build,which I know is what you want to
do, take a little while to dosome market research.
Carve out just an hour to send aquick poll out to your audience,
or check what people are askingfor in Facebook groups or other
(18:16):
communities where your peopleare hanging out. If you're in
the middle of creating aproduct, pause for a little bit.
Make sure you have a clearoutline, check that you're
including all of those extras,all of those things that make
your product more valuable andeasier for people to use. And
then get back to the creation.
And if you've already created aproduct and you're almost ready
(18:37):
to post it, focus on qualitycontrol. Get someone else to
review your product, and thenplan out a launch strategy with
some dates so you can reallypromote your product as you're
doing that launch. Whateverstage you're at, as you're
working through this, createyourself a simple, detailed
checklist, specifically for yourtype of product and for your
(18:58):
process that you can use andrefine every time you create a
new product.
This will take a lot of themental load off, and it'll make
sure that you're not skippingany important steps the next
time that you create something.
All right, friends, that is awrap on our deep dive into
digital product creationprocesses. I would love to know
what has been most helpful foryou in your own product creation
(19:19):
process! Send me a DM onInstagram @kristendoyle.co and
let me know which part of theprocess you find most
challenging, or share a tip thatworks really well for you, and
then I will be glad to share itout with everyone else.
If you found this episodehelpful, I would be so grateful
if you'd hit that follow buttonon your podcast app and maybe
(19:40):
even take a second to leave arating or a review. It helps
more than you know, and I reallyappreciate it. I'll talk to you
soon!
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