Thanks to the internet, there are so many ways to earn money from your creativity. One of the more flexible ways is to make money selling printables. You may have seen printables before on your favorite websites that sell digital products and resources, or maybe you’ve even purchased them yourself. Not sure what a printable is? No worries, we’ve got you covered.
A printable is a graphic or text that is downloaded and printed for use. The most common types of printables are worksheets, planners, and graphics.
What’s great about selling your printables online is that they’re easy to design, and your expenses are limited since there’s no shipping or inventory for a physical product required (making this a potential opportunity for passive income once it’s created).
If you’ve ever thought about making money from home selling printables online, here’s a step-by-step guide to get started.
1. An Idea or Niche
Start by determining what type of printable download you’d like to sell. I recommend choosing a niche that you’re passionate about. Odds are, if you’re interested in something, other people will be too.
For example, if you like to travel, you can create travel bucket list printables. If you teach, you can create printable worksheets and lesson plans for other teachers to use. Consider creating downloadable planners and weekly meal organizers if that’s something you’re interested in.
Here’s an example of some profitable printable ideas if you’re looking to turn this into a successful online business:
- Custom calendars
- Coloring sheets
- Themed wall art
- Digital planners
- Scavenger hunts
- Invitations for birthdays, parties, weddings, and themed events
- Greeting cards
- Printable games for kids, events, or groups
- Decor and games for bachelorette parties
- Educational materials and educational resources (guides, ebooks, checklists, etc.)
- SVG files
If you see someone else selling printables in your desired niche, this may be a good sign. It’s essential to choose a niche that is in demand but isn’t too broad or too narrow. You want your printables to stand out while also being a product that people need and are searching for.
2. Design Tool or Software
Once you’ve narrowed down your niche and know what you want to create, the next step is to choose how you’ll design your printable download. The good news is that you don’t need expensive software or graphic design skills to create your printables, making it perfect for beginners.
You can always upgrade the program you’re using later down the line once you start making sales. Here are some of the best tools to choose from when designing your printable downloads.
Canva has a free basic version where you can create beautiful digital designs using their drag-and-drop feature. You don’t have to be a design expert since Canva has tons of templates to choose from, and they can be easily customized to create high-quality printables. Canva also makes it easy to properly space and line up elements of your design as well as the margins, so it looks flawless and professional. You can upgrade to Canva Pro for an added fee if you want extra features, but the basic features may be plenty for you to utilize.
PicMonkey is another platform that helps you edit photos and create digital graphics. PicMonkey has more than 1,000 different templates and fonts to choose from. You can sign up for a free, 7-day trial, and then membership rates start at $7.99.
Pixlr is a free photo editing site. They also have premium features like text overlays, icons, and different fonts. Pricing starts at $3.99 per month to use the premium editing and design features.
Adobe software, such as Photoshop, InDesign, or Illustrator, is an option to consider when designing your printable downloads. Adobe may provide the most design capabilities out of all the options, but there is a learning curve when it comes to understanding all the features. Adobe products start around $22.99 per month for individual programs, or you can get them all for $69.99 per month. Most of the programs can be downloaded to your iPad as well.
Just be sure to download or export your worksheets as PDFs, so when you list the printables to sell, they’re easy for customers to buy and use.
3. E-commerce Platform
To sell your printables online, you need to set up an online shop so you can display products and safely collect payments. Here are some options to consider:
Shopify
Shopify is one of the best platforms to use to sell your printables online.
Shopify has been around since 2004, and they power more than 500,000 e-commerce sites around the world. Sarah Titus is a mom and online entrepreneur who’s made more than $1 million by selling printables online. It’s easy to set up your store on Shopify. Use their drag-and-drop store-builder feature, and your website will automatically be designed for mobile, which will help you appeal to more customers.
Another thing I like about Shopify is that you can accept multiple forms of payment, including credit card payments without a third-party supplier. Shopify’s Basic plan is just $29 per month, and you get an online storefront along with tools to sell in person. To take payment by card, the fee is 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.
However, Shopify isn’t your only option.
Etsy
Many sellers decide to create an Etsy shop to sell printables since it’s easy and straightforward. Etsy is also a huge e-commerce site that brings an average of 450 million visitors per month. When you sign up, you’ll be able to create a custom online storefront and list your products. Etsy makes it easy to add keywords to your listing and optimize your store so it can be seen by more potential customers.
You may be charged a one-time shop fee to set up your store. Then, you can list your first item for a small $0.20 fee. Etsy has a 6.5% transaction fee and a payment processing fee of 3% + $0.25. A newer feature is Offsite Ads, where Etsy pays to advertise your store’s products across the internet. If their advertising leads to you making a sale, you’ll just pay a 15% offsite ads fee.
This feature can be great for any Etsy shop owner who wants to advertise or increase their marketing efforts but doesn’t really want to manage and maintain the process. Since you only pay this fee if the ads lead to one of your items selling, there isn’t much risk on your end.
ThriveCart
ThriveCart is great for online products, physical products, courses, and subscriptions. You can accept 100+ global payment systems, and it allows you to accept flexible payment options like split pay, buy now pay later, and subscription billing if you plan to sell new updated printables each month to loyal customers at a discount, for example.
You can also integrate with other websites and tools, which is helpful if you have a blog or email list, since this platform makes it easy to apply ‘tags’ to customers or subscribers and add them to email automations and funnels if you want to market your printables with more intention. Another unique feature is that you can also start an affiliate program if you want to partner with other bloggers and creators to promote your printables.
ThriveCart is a little pricier, though. The Standard plan is $47 per month, or they offer a one-time lifetime fee of $495, which can be found under the tiered pricing.
Podia
Podia is another popular e-commerce platform to consider since it allows you to run an entire website and online store in one. With Podia, you get a custom domain, can list unlimited products, and have access to email marketing tools.
Podia also provides features for your online store like coupons, waitlists, upsells, and integrates with Stripe so you can accept credit card payments. There’s a 30-day free trial, and the basic plan starts at $33 per month with a 5% transaction fee on your store sales.
Each platform has its pros and cons, so dig around and do some research to find the best e-commerce platform for your printable business.
Just be mindful of fees since each platform is different. Some may charge you a flat rate per month to host your online store, while others may charge a small fee per sale or a combination of both.
4. Digital Storage
The more quality printables you design, the more you may need to store them digitally. Consider investing in a hard drive for your computer or using digital cloud storage like Dropbox or Amazon’s Simple Storage service.
Be sure to give customers instructions on how to download the digital file when they purchase it from you.
5. Start Marketing Your Printables Like a Pro
So you’ve narrowed down your niche, created some quality printables, and set up a professional online shop. The next important step is marketing your printables and establishing a system so you can promote your products regularly to keep generating sales.
There are several ways to market your printables to customers, and here are some proven methods:
- Pinterest: Pinterest is one of the best platforms for promoting printables because it works similarly to a search engine. Millions of people use Pinterest each month to find different things they need, and it’s a very visual platform which is perfect for selling eye-catching printable products. You can design pins on Canva, optimize them for SEO, and schedule them out to promote your products.
- Social Media: This is another popular and free way to market your printables. You can post about them in groups on Facebook, or make Instagram or TikTok videos of you and others using them. You can also create content that speaks to your expertise and talks about how your printables can help solve a common problem (i.e., getting organized, enhancing a party, helping busy families meal plan, etc.). Social media is also great for giveaways and contests.
- Email Marketing: This is a long-term strategy, but you should consider getting an email list so you can build trust with your potential customers and add value in addition to your products. You may want to offer a free printable to those who sign up. You can also use your email list to update customers on sales and limited-time offers in your store.
- SEO: SEO stands for search engine optimization, and it involves adding certain specific keywords and phrases to your product names and descriptions to help users find it more easily when they’re searching on sites like Google or Etsy. Etsy makes it easy to add keywords to your product listings, so be sure to take advantage of this as a long-term way to market and promote your printables to the right audience.
Tips to Make Money From Home Selling Printables Online
Prioritize presentation: Your printables should stand out and be fully functional. Be sure to test them out on your own by creating samples that you try from a user’s perspective. When designing your shop page, be sure to use clear images to display a preview of what your printables look like. Also, consider taking a few extra minutes to design a cover page.
Write detailed descriptions: Be specific when describing what your printable is and how it can be used. Describe the different ways that customers can use it, whether that means sticking the document on their fridge, putting it in a frame, or creating a binder with the printables. You may even want to conduct some keyword research to see which keywords people are searching for that relate to your product so you can include this in the description.
Create several products: You’ll want to create several different printables, so you have a diversity of products to sell online. Create different variations of your product even if it’s as simple as changing the color option. Realize that printables will often sell for less than physical products, so if you want to grow your income, you’ll need to diversify what you offer. You can also bundle different printable products together to offer convenient ‘packages’ to customers.
Get reviews: Consider offering your printables for free or at a discounted rate to a few people initially in exchange for an honest review. Reviews and testimonials will help enhance your sales page and also provide social proof that your products are helpful.
Get expert training: If you’re still a little on the fence in terms of how you’ll start or set up your store, consider getting training or advice from experts who have been in your shoes. That way, you can implement their strategies, avoid common mistakes, and reach success faster. Julie Berninger and Cody Berman have a comprehensive program called E-Printables Side Hustle Course, where they teach people how to make money from home selling digital printables online. They offer templates, video tutorials, and lessons to help you launch your own store.
How Much Can You Earn Selling Printables Online?
How much you can earn will depend on many factors, including your niche, design level, popularity, how many products you have for sale, how much time you invest into your business, and the price of each printable.
Sarah Titus, who was interviewed here on The Work at Home Woman, has earned millions. She’s also been in business since 2013, and has thousands of printables for sale on her blog.
Cody Berman, who was also interviewed on this site, was able to earn $700 in a week using Etsy.
According to Insight Agent, most established Etsy sellers earn $200 to $2,000 per month, with top sellers earning $3,000 to $10,000 per month. So whatever your goal is, it is achievable with the right plan.
Conclusion: Make Money Selling Printables Online
If you’re looking to work flexibly from home but don’t know where to start, consider designing printables to sell online. There are several tools to help you get started on a budget, and all you need to do is brainstorm a good idea that people will want to buy and download. Test out different approaches to see what sells best, and offer a variety of printable products so you can see which ones customers respond to best.
You can also check out Holly’s career printables here.
