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How Selling Digital Products is a Game Changer for Veteran Bloggers

• Jenny Melrose: Business Strategist • Episode 465

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Ready to stop trading hours for dollars and start building assets that work while you sleep? We sit down with Kathy, a veteran blogger of nearly two decades, to unpack how she moved beyond volatile ad revenue and turned her highest-value posts into profitable digital products—starting with simple printables and growing into the Safe Harbor Emergency Binder System. This isn’t about shiny tools or complicated funnels; it’s about solving real problems your audience already has and delivering a clear path to results.

Kathy shares the early days of blogging for a frugal homesteading audience, why ads once made sense, and what changed as search engines answered queries directly and social algorithms got noisier. We dig into her first wins on Etsy by packaging top goat-care posts into affordable PDFs, then explore how a single high-traffic article evolved into a complete emergency binder that families can grab in a crisis. From tornado prep and wildfire evacuations to everyday needs like policy numbers, titles, passwords, and DMV checklists, the binder’s value is peace of mind and time saved—benefits that resonate far beyond her original niche.

We also get tactical: how to choose your first product by mining analytics, structure it around a job-to-be-done, and use email marketing—not social—to educate, nurture, and sell without feeling pushy. You’ll learn why a simple “Life Happens” opt-in accelerates trust, how to design a customer journey with natural next steps, and the mindset shift from “I shouldn’t ask for money” to “I prescribe solutions that help.” If you’re a creator or blogger feeling squeezed by RPMs and algorithms, this conversation shows a practical, values-aligned path to sustainable revenue.

Subscribe for more creator business strategies, share this episode with a friend who needs a nudge to launch their first product, and leave a quick review with your biggest takeaway so we can keep bringing you actionable stories.

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Jenny:

Tired of trading hours for the dollar by blogging? Here's why digital products are going to be a game changer for you. One of my favorite things to be able to do is to be able to interview clients that have seen tremendous success in ways that are a little bit outside of the box. And for a veteran blogger of 20 years, selling digital products was a leap for her. But as you're gonna see in this interview, it is a game changer and one that you need to be doing. Let's dive into this interview. Hi, Kathy. Welcome to the podcast. How are you?

Kathy:

Hi, Jenny. I'm doing well today. How are you?

Jenny:

I am excited about this conversation about how selling digital projects is a game changer for veteran bloggers. But before we jump into that, will you actually introduce yourself and your business to my listeners?

Kathy:

Okay. I actually started blogging. Do you remember GeoCities? I mean, that's how long ago it was. That was way before, way before anybody really started blogging. It was like a precursor of Google. I started with that. And later on I moved to one that was called my diary, mydiary.com. That one was uh oh, not very robust, but it was this it was more of a blogging kind of platform rather than the other one had been. And then I moved to actually having an old-fashioned blog, which was, you know, very modern at the time. And uh my domain name is almost 20 years old. I think it'll be 20 years old next year. Uh just I'm a I'm a dinosaur. It's kind of crazy. Um, that is Oakhillhomestead.com. And recently I have started a podcast as well, which is Homegrown, Your Backyard Garden Podcast, and a second website, which is KathyRogers.com.

Jenny:

Love it. I absolutely your journey is always one of my favorites because we talk about oh, you gotta be on WordPress, you gotta have all these plugins, and you've been on Blogger for how many years would you say now that least?

Kathy:

Yes, almost 20 years.

Jenny:

And you've made it work for you and you continue to do that. So now when you first started, how were you looking to monetize your site?

Kathy:

Well, when I first started, actually, you didn't make money from blogging. It was just, it was just sharing information. And then ads came along, and I thought, oh, this is wonderful. I can actually backing up just a just a smidge there, homesteading has all has always been, or it started out to be, a very frugal mindset. You could you could support yourself without spending money on anything. So I realized kind of early on that that was a um an audience that wasn't really going to spend a whole lot of money. That wasn't the point of why they were there. So ads were wonderful because I didn't have to ask anybody to spend money. Uh I got paid just by the people that were coming. I was trying to be as helpful as I could and reached a lot of people and did quite well with ads. And then things changed as they always do. I mean, every year something in blogging changes. And people started getting products, making products, creating products, classes, courses, um, videos, and so on and so forth. And I have moved along with that. And then, of course, ad income kind of tanked there last year, including mine. And even though I had been thinking about uh doing digital products and had done a few, it then became more necessary to do it in order to sustain myself.

Jenny:

So that was so how did you get started with selling digital products? Was there a first product that you started with?

Kathy:

There was a first product, and you'll laugh. My audience had consisted of gardeners and goat owners, new new goat owners. And that made up almost 50% of my audience was the goat, the goat people. So what I did was I took several of my um best, best ranking, most popular goat posts and turned them into printables, PDFs, uh mini ebook booklet kind of a thing, you know, just maybe 10 pages. And I sold them at an Etsy shop. And I started out with at just a dollar a piece because they were practically, it was almost the same information that was available for free on my website. And I felt bad asking people to spend money on it. Uh now, of course, Etsy's fees have gone up and they have forced my prices to go up as well. I do still sell those. I sell them as a bundle instead of individually, which is better both for my customers and for me.

Jenny:

Yes. And I think one of the things we've learned over time, right, is that yes, it feels funny asking them for something that is out there for free, but we always say that if it's all in one place, that is the value to that, right? And that's why a digital product which you created just makes a ton of sense. I think a lot of people struggle with, well, what do I get started with? And I think going to your most popular content and finding a way to reuse it in some way, whether it is the ebook of the information, whether it's a PDF that they can fill out worksheets, whatever it might be, that is one of the best ways to get started with a digital product because you know people are searching for that. And then it's easy to interlink your store within that content because you're already talking about it within there, and people are finding it, coming to it, and looking for that information. Right now, how do you decide what type of digital product to create? You have a new product, it's not it's I I say new because it's newer to you. You've had it out for six months now at least, right?

Kathy:

Uh, six to eight, somewhere around there, yes.

Jenny:

Yes. And this new product, tell everyone about the new product that you've created because it's one of my favorites. I'm actually a customer and absolutely love it. Please tell them about it.

Kathy:

Okay. This one is called the Safe Harbor Emergency Binder System. And it came into being because I had another very popular post that was all about how to put together an emergency binder. And one of the people in our mastermind said, Why aren't you selling that? And it took me a while to get around to it, but I did finally get it done and it is now live and doing reasonably well. Uh, it is about putting all of your family's information into a binder, a three-wing binder, or something else if that works for you. It does not include the binder, it is just a suggestion, but that's because I want it to fit into your lifestyle. I need it to be portable. We have had, we live in Tornado Alley. I want to be able to pick that up and take it into our storm shelter with us. I want to be able to put it in the truck when we have to evacuate because of a wildfire, which we have done. Uh, we have moved, honestly, I married a military man. We have moved over 30 times since we got married. I stopped counting at 30 times. I really can't tell you exactly how many it's been now. I know it's I know it's more than 30, but I don't know how many. Uh I it always made me cringe when I would watch our filing cabinet be put on the moving truck because it was out of my control. I'm a bit of a control freak. But it was out of my control. And I was worried that something would happen to that information. And that that's your life. You know, that's that's everything. That's your identity. That's it, can't it can't be replaced. Anybody that's had their identity stolen can attest to that. It's just, it's horrible. That's one thing I haven't had happen yet. And I probably won't because I'm very careful. Uh I actually we moved once and we did not get something back that was ours. They lost something. We moved another time and ended up with something that did not belong to us. So these things happen, and that was what worried me. So I developed this system that I had everything in a binder. It had our birth certificates, it had our personal information, it had our insurance policies, it had everything in it. And I could keep that in the car with me when we moved. So that was the beginning. It has morphed into something much bigger, but that was how it started out.

Jenny:

Yes. And for me, because I'm I don't live where there's I am going to have to evacuate or any sort of like emergencies aren't really going to happen from where I live just outside Charlotte. So for me, though, it was I'm at an age now where my daughters are starting to drive. There's more complications in all of the paperwork and all of the information. And if something were to happen to me, I know my husband wouldn't have the foggiest idea as to where to start with things, even simple as passwords and paying bills. Right. So your binder to me was a godsend because I instead of losing sleep over the thought of he's not gonna know where anything is, I was able to install in one place, you organized it, you told me where to put in there. Um, and recently he actually had messaged me about needing a policy number. And what would have taken me probably two hours to find, I turned around, grabbed it on my binder, took a quick screenshot of, and sent it to him within three minutes. And that's not something I ever could have done in the past. So I think that as someone that was part of obviously hosting the running that mastermind, listening to the way that you had to set it up, for me as someone that isn't necessarily your target audience, because I don't live somewhere where I need to evacuate or anything like that. For me, it was it was just that peace of mind. And I'm on the outskirts of your target audience, which I think is important for people to understand that just because you go into it with like a very targeted audience, which you should go into it with a targeted audience, you're going to end up with these outliers that realize, oh, wait a second, this will work for me. I need that.

Kathy:

Yeah.

Jenny:

So I just love the way that your binder came together. Now, with the selling of the digital product, how important has email marketing been in the success of it?

Kathy:

Oh, it is so important. That is the main way that I reach people, I believe, other than the blog post. But you know, the the search isn't the what isn't what it used to be, and the and AI just to gives you answers instead of sending them to your your website. So I don't do a lot of social media. It has always been an uphill struggle for me because I just homesteading is a is a crowded space these days. And to get into that algorithm so that people see your posts, it's just almost impossible. So I don't do a lot of it. I spend time on email marketing instead. Once I get them on my list, I can talk to them about whatever. You know, I can I can uh tell them the benefits, I can teach them a little bit about it, I can show them why it's important. And it it is that is the heart of my business.

unknown:

Yeah.

Jenny:

And your email marketing, your subscribers are coming to you from your podcast, your anchor content, right? So your podcast has to repurpose into a blog post that then has an opt-in for them to come onto your list so that you can continue to grow it. Because as we often talk about, the email list is the one thing that you own. Whereas when it comes to social media, it's not yours. Those algorithms are going to impact it every single day, and you never know how it's going to change or go away for that matter.

Kathy:

Right.

Jenny:

So I love that. What's the biggest mindset shift that entrepreneurs need to make to successfully sell digital products?

Kathy:

Oh, let's see. Well, as I said, I liked I liked using ads because I didn't have to ask people to pay to spend money. You have to get over that. That that's the only way in in this particular day and age that that you're going to manage. And that was a big shift. Also um moving from printables, which is where I started, very inexpensive ones, that had no place for people to go. That was that was all I had. And you have point you've pointed that out many times too, that you have to have a customer journey. You have to have something for them to go from and to. And that's what I'm working on now. I I did develop a um a set of goat record sheets that let in from those little printables that were started out at a dollar a piece so that they had something else to purchase. Uh, I they really don't have anywhere else to go from that. But then again, I don't have goats anymore. It's still a big part of my audience. I still talk to those people, I still know a lot about goats. I that they don't take that away from you. But uh I I don't write about them anymore. So it's it's just moving on with the times, with how the market has changed, how the online space has changed, knowing that you are going to have to ask people for money, which is a little bit difficult. Um, but that's the big mindset change that you have to make, is just moving on.

Jenny:

When you say asking people for money, what do you find that you have a tendency to do in order to get them to purchase? Are you buy, buy, buy, buy? Or is it more show them that you have the solution and make an offer, right? And it doesn't have to be that salesy push. And I think that's the struggle that a lot of entrepreneurs, especially women, have with selling products. They feel like I'm a used car salesman, I'm pushing something. Um, but like I said, even when I was talking about your binder for myself, for me, the binder is that peace of mind. I would have paid probably double what you charged for it because it is that peace of mind for me. I wouldn't, I didn't know how to start. I had 85 different things and 17 different filing cabinets and folders all over the place. But you gave me a clear step-by-step what needs to be put into it, how to put it together to make it useful for me. That to me is worth it. You didn't even have to sell it. It was just, okay, that's the solution. I need that. And I think that that's right, like that's what we need to get past is it doesn't need to be a hard sell. It just needs to be, you need to give them that peace of mind. You need to show them that you're gonna save them money. You need to show them that you're providing them with a solution that they really truly desire. And I think a lot of people, when you do that, it's a natural heck yes, I need this.

Kathy:

Yes. Yes. I'm sure we've all been there. My grandmother once sent me a good sized check and we needed it. And my husband was at work, and I put it in a safe place so that I could show it to him to him when he got home. And of course, what happened? I forgot where that safe place was in the space of about two hours. We tore, we both of us tore the house apart, just tore it apart looking for this. Where would I have put this? It was on a bulletin board and on the wall, you know. But we didn't think of looking there because I we didn't have a system in place. We didn't know where to look, we didn't have a place to put things. Even now, I mean, I've started I started this binder system years ago, as I've said, and it's it's developed and moved on. But we still get things in the mail or or do something and think, ah, we need to put this in the binder. Why did why isn't this in the binder? We're we're still, you know, coming up with things that, oh, that needs to go in there. So it's kind of a living document, we'll say. You just add things and you have you do have to update it every so often too, and take out the old expired stuff and put in the new the new copies and that sort of thing. But it is so helpful. And I have gotten to be so passionate about this because it has it, oh, it has saved our marriage, I'm sure. I need the car title. Uh, I think I gave that to you when you got it. No, you didn't. Yes, I did. Yeah, now we know where it is. Uh, so it has been very helpful in all areas of our lives. And now that I have, you know, being passionate about it and having a product that you know is going to help people, that takes away that fear of selling.

Jenny:

A hundred percent. Oh my goodness, yes. And you think about adding things to it. I'm at my uh oldest daughter, is of the age where she was able to get her permit, and I had to go back to DMV, which is always a nightmare, but I had to go back like two or three times because I kept coming with the wrong paperwork. And if I had the binder and had checked off my list, which now everything for her license is in the binder when she's able to take her test because now I know exactly what she needs and I'm going to make sure have it so I don't have to do the DMV three times and waste hours of my life.

unknown:

Right.

Kathy:

Yes, real ID was another thing where we we had to have all of those papers that explained everything. Every time you changed your name, and the guys have it easy, they never change their names, but we have that problem. So if you have had a divorce or whatever and you got remarried again, you have to have all of those papers. And a lot of women say, I'm not keeping that paper. I don't want that paper, I don't want that reminder of that. And they had to go and get it anyway. Uh, just hide it, put it in the back, don't look at it. But yeah, you need to have it.

Jenny:

Yes. Oh my goodness, yes. So tell me about your life happens printable that you are offering for our audience.

Kathy:

Okay. The Life Happens opt-in is a two-page printable that can that you fill out with your family's most important information. It's just, it's it is not in the binder because, but all of this information that will be on the sheet does go in your binder. It has uh your name, your address, your spouse's name, uh, your household information, where to find your spare keys to your house, because we all have them and who knows where we put them. I have a drawer full of keys right now that I don't know what they go to, and we have changed some doors, some locks, and I really need to go through them and make sure that the ones that are there are the important ones. And actually, two years ago, we went out of town on vacation and we I gave the key to a friend of mine who was going to come and take care of our cat and water the garden and so on and so forth. And the first day she texted me and she said, I can't get in the house. And I said, Why not? She says, Because you locked the storm door and I don't have a key for it. So you have to think of these things. Now I have a list. You know, if I'm ever going to leave keys with somebody, I either have to make sure that I did not lock the storm door or that they have the key to it. So these things still can still come up, they still happen, and you learn from each one, but it's you're never going to make that mistake again. So this it also have it has a spot for uh a gate code if you have a uh gate that you need to get to get through to get into your apartment or your house or whatever. Uh it is it is free, and all you have to do is sign up and you will be able to print it, fill it out, keep it in a safe place, maybe put it up, tape it to the inside of a kitchen cupboard cupboard door because it's there's some things on there that maybe you don't want everybody to be able to see. If somebody just randomly walks in your house, a repairman or whatever, you don't want that on your refrigerator where everybody puts their important information and people probably know to go look there. You don't want it there, but you want it to where you know where it is, everybody else in your family knows where it is, and uh maybe your adult children as well, so that you know everybody knows where this stuff is.

Jenny:

Yes. And I I that and I would say for me, getting to an age where she's going to be driving and she's going to be able to help with certain things, that would be important where all of this kind of stuff is because it is. We're at that stage where it's like she's gonna take on a little bit more responsibility, knowing we're all right. I love it. So we're gonna link to that in the blog post as well as in the show notes so that people can make sure that they get that. Kathy, I really appreciate you coming on and sharing your story. I just knowing that you've been doing this for 20 years and have gone through the ups and downs, and you hear so many bloggers that will get frustrated over the changes of AI and over algorithms and the way that ads now work. And I think the biggest takeaway that I want people to be able to have from this episode is that your mindset has to be, I am a business owner. I need to know how I'm going to monetize and with that come up with a plan to have the content that is going to then sell the products and services instead of going after what's viral, what's trending, and it's not anywhere because we all did that, right? We went after those crazy page views and we put up that crazy content that sort of was our niche, it was a trend, but now it's dead and it's gone and it doesn't serve us anymore. So I think it's really important when you start thinking like a business owner, have your own products or services, have these digital products so that you can continually make money and have the content that's going to easily connect with it and it's going to be ever great. So I appreciate you.

Kathy:

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Jenny:

Of course.

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