If you make videos people learn from or love to watch, you can sell them online as downloads. Buyers keep a copy they can watch offline on any device, and you set the price and keep the customer relationship. Here’s how to sell your videos online, from choosing what to sell to getting your first buyers.
1. Decide What Kind of Video You’re Selling
Some videos sell better as downloads than others. These are a good place to start:
- Courses and tutorials, like a photo editing class, a guitar lesson series or a coding walkthrough
- Workout and yoga programs people follow along with at home
- Short films, documentaries and concert recordings
- Stock footage, motion backgrounds and video templates for other creators
- Recordings of workshops, talks and live events
The more specific the audience, the easier the video is to sell. “Beginner watercolor landscapes in 10 lessons” is easier to sell than “art videos.”
2. Choose Your File Formats
MP4 with H.264 video plays on almost every phone, tablet, computer and TV, so it’s the safe default. Export at 1080p for most buyers, and offer 4K as well if your footage holds up.
If you sell stock footage or templates to editors, they’ll want higher quality files, like ProRes in a MOV. Put subtitles in a separate SRT file, and add a PDF of notes or worksheets to a course. Buyers like having them, and they make the download feel complete.
Tip: Big files are normal for video. Zip a whole course into one download, or split it into one file per lesson so buyers can grab the part they want.
3. Sell Your Videos with DPD
You can sell your videos with DPD from your own website, your social profiles or a DPD hosted product page. DPD has no file size limits and doesn’t charge for bandwidth, so delivering your course costs the same whether 10 people buy it or 10,000. Plans are priced by how much file space your products take up, so check pricing if you have a big catalog.
A few DPD features that suit video:
- Put several files in one product: every lesson, the subtitles and the PDF notes.
- Make a bundle of a whole series, priced below the single videos.
- Give a product more than one price, like 1080p and 4K, or a personal and a commercial license for stock footage.
- When you fix an episode or add a bonus lesson, send everyone who already bought it a new download link.
To sell from your own site, paste a DPD buy button or our embed components onto your sales page. Buyers pay on DPD’s secure checkout and get their download links right away.
4. Set Your Price
Think about what the video does for the buyer before you think about its length. A two-hour course that saves someone a week of trial and error is worth more than a two-hour film. Look at what similar creators charge, then pick a launch price you can raise later.
Price tiers work well for video. Sell one lesson on its own, the full course at a better price per lesson, and the course plus extras (project files, a Q&A recording) as the top option.
Tip: Use a coupon code for a launch week or for your email list, so early buyers have a reason to act now.
5. Show People What They’re Buying
Nobody wants to pay for a video they can’t preview. Put a short trailer or a free first lesson on YouTube or Vimeo and embed it on your sales page. List what’s included: the number of lessons, the total running time, the file formats and any extras.
A free sample also builds your email list. Offer the first lesson in exchange for an email address, then follow up when the full course is ready.
6. Market Your Videos
Short clips are made for social media. Cut 15 to 60 second highlights from your videos for Instagram Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts, and link to your sales page from your profile.
Your sales page can bring in search traffic too. Use the words your buyers type into Google in the page title and description, like “beginner watercolor course” or “4K drone footage of the Smoky Mountains,” and write a few paragraphs about what the video teaches or shows. Then email your list when you launch, and again each time you release something new.