How nice would it be waking up to a notification on your phone that says – “You’ve just earned $3,000”?
That’s exactly what passive income is: making money while you sleep.
Please keep in mind that in order to build passive income, you’ll need to set the foundation. This means you’ll have to put in some work in the beginning; then you sit back while the money flows in!
Is there a perfect time to start?
Right now!
As cheesy as this sounds- Life really is too short, and we need to spend the rest of it to the fullest.
How can we do that if we’re sitting behind the desk for the majority of the day?
Before we get into ways to make passive income, I do need to let you know that all of these are possible if you are willing to put the work into it.
Unfortunately, it’s not a get rich quick scheme. It will take time for your passive income to take off.
Your state of mind is very important when you first start your journey to making passive income!
Some of these ideas will work great for you; some will not, and that’s okay!
Now, let’s get started!
Passive Income
The two main ways to make passive income are:
- Online
- Investing
There are so many ways to build passive income streams, especially with having the internet available at your fingertips!
This post will go over how to make passive income online.
The internet has made it possible to put in a few hours of work and earn money!
Online
This is my favorite way to make a passive income. Why?
It takes minimal investment! Minimal.
These are the only investments I made:
- Bluehost – Domain/hosting
- Canva – Design platform
- Teachable – Course platform
- Tailwind – Scheduler to help market
The nice thing is that once you’ve done the initial work, and it takes off- you can sit back and do very minimal work.
Say goodbye to that 9-5 grind!
1. Start A Blog
Okay- if you already have a blog then you can skip this. If you don’t- I would suggest this be the first step you take if you want to make passive online.
It will take some time to build your blog traffic, but that’s why I use Tailwind.
Pinterest is currently bringing in over 90% of my traffic! As much as I would love to manually pin- I just don’t have the time with a six-month-old.
If you can relate, you will love Tailwind. It allows you to schedule pins as far out as you like.
Of course, there are strategies you must take if you want to not be seen as a scammer.
In my Pinterest course, I go over the strategies I used to get 3,000 blog viewers as a new blogger!
If you would like to start a money-making blog and just don’t know where to start, check out my step-by-step tutorial: Why You NEED To Start A Blog Now If You Want To Live Your Dream Life
It’s very important to note- the only way you will be successful with monetizing your blog is by providing good content to your readers.
Remind yourself- THIS IS YOUR BUSINESS! Treat it that way, and make your blog posts look professional.
I get it, we all make mistakes! I can read my blog posts three times, before publishing, and I can still find a grammatical error that needs to be fixed.
I’d like to add- ever since I signed up with Grammarly, I have noticed a dramatic decrease in the time I used to spend proofreading my posts!
I love how Grammarly suggests changes that need to be made while typing! This has been a huge game-changer for me!
2. Affiliate Marketing
If you’ve done a little research, you’re probably aware that affiliate marketing is the most popular way to monetize your blog.
It sounds simple- join an affiliate program, copy an affiliate link to your blog post and earn money. Easy peasy, right?
Every blogger wishes it were that easy, but unfortunately, it takes work to make money blogging!
First, what does it take to be accepted to an Affiliate program?
1. The biggest tip I can give you would be to have a self-hosted blog with your own domain name.
Unfortunately, it just doesn’t look professional when you have a URL that reads- www.yourblog.blogspot.com.
You will be trusted by the program when you have ownership of your domain which would read- www.yourblog.com.
Check out Bluehost if you haven’t purchased your domain name.
2. Make sure you have an SSL certificate for your website! This is what protects your website from those sneaky hackers; you will notice a lock to the right side of your domain name.
Affiliates will trust your website and you’ll have a greater chance at getting accepted to their program. Bluehost provides this certificate for free when you purchase their hosting services.
3. You NEED to disclose the fact that you’re adding affiliate links on EVERY blog post. You can decide how you word it, but make sure you include your disclosure page to this link.
Mine reads- This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience; if you click on ‘affiliate links,’ it will direct you to my disclosure page.
Unless you want to be served with a letter stating you’re being sued, DON’T skip this step!
4. Just because you apply to an affiliate program doesn’t necessarily mean you will be accepted.
Unfortunately, there are quite a few programs that require a certain amount of monthly page views/followers.
Don’t get discouraged! There are plenty of other programs you will be accepted to.
Although I mentioned it is possible to monetize your blog from the beginning, I do recommend you have a least 5 solid blog posts before applying.
This will allow the reviewer to see you’re consistent and are providing valuable information to your readers.
5. You’ll want to provide a game plan in your application. There’s usually an option to include more information; let the reviewer know how you plan on promoting their product/service to increase your chance of getting accepted.
Now that you know what it takes to get accepted, let’s go over a few high-paying affiliates I’ve come across.
- Bluehost (all niches)
- Share A Sale (one of my favorite high-paying programs)
- Amazon (all niches)
- Teachable– (one of my FAVORITES- all niches)
- Shop Style Collective (beauty & fashion niches)
- Convertkit (email list builder)
- Swagbucks (money-saving niches)
- Ebates (money-saving niches)
- Flexoffers (one of the higher paying programs)
- Tailwind (all niches using Pinterest/IG)
How do you actually get the clicks and increase your chances of a sale?
Now that you’ve signed up for a few programs, and hopefully been accepting- how do you get those clicks?
**Make sure you’re always disclosing there are affiliate links in your posts! You really want to avoid any legal issues!
- One of the biggest pieces of advice I can give on this is- let it come naturally. I am not going to click on a link if it sounds really pushy like the person is just trying to make a sale. This means you’ll actually have to use the produce/service you’re promoting so you can give honest reviews.
- I don’t just use my blog to make money with affiliates! Not many people know that you can use Pinterest to promote your affiliate links. For my strategy on using Pinterest check out this course.
- Include affiliate links in your newsletter out to your e-mail list also including your disclosure.
- Use social media! There are plenty of ways to promote a product using your IG or FB! There are plenty of FB groups that allow you to promote. You’ll just need to review the group rules; some groups don’t allow promotions.
- Avoid banners as much as possible. I’ve tested out both banners and links to promote an affiliate; I have found that I got way more clicks/sales on a link. Banners tend to look more like ads, and a lot of readers aren’t fans of ads.
Blog posts you can write to incorporate affiliate links:
- Product reviews
- Monthly favorites
- Gift guides
- Favorite ____ items
Bottom line– find creative ways to promote your affiliates without coming off as spammy!
Be natural, share your knowledge on a product/ service and put yourself in your readers’ shoes.
What would make YOU want to click on that link?
3. Create An Online Course
The most common misconception is that you need to create courses about blogging; this is FAR from the truth!
I recently attended a live web seminar, hosted on Teachable’s website, which included over 25 speakers from across the world who make passive income!
Each speaker shared their own experience with creating a successful course; the majority of them were not even teaching about blogging!
Your options are limitless! Seriously, there are courses on how to deal with goat calcium deficiency!
I currently have a course on Teachable titled StuPINdous where I teach students who enroll how to increase their blog traffic + sales.
Whether you’re a beginner or not- this course is great!
Why did I decide to create this course?
I found a way to get 3,000 page views to my blog during my two months of blogging, and I HAD to share my strategies with others! Click HERE if you’d like to look into my course.
Have something you’re good at? Create a course and get paid to teach others!
4. Printables
This is one of my favorite ways to make passive income because it’s so fun!
All you need to do is design a printable and market; that’s it!
I use Canva to design all of my printables; their platform makes it so easy to do what you want!
A few examples of printables are:
- Family Binder Printables (Household info including meal planning)
- Budget Printables
- Cleaning Checklist Printables
- Work out trackers
My favorite way to make passive income is by designing printables and selling on Etsy.
The nice thing about selling your printables is that you are able to use the holidays to your advantage.
For instance, my Etsy shop currently has Christmas printables which I can switch up when the holiday comes.
5. eBook
Another great option! This could take as little as a week to design or as much as a few months.
It really depends on what you’re writing the book on, but this is very similar to creating an online course.
Some great eBook ideas are:
- Recipe eBook
- Workout Plan eBook
- Health & Fitness
- How to Survive being a First-time mom
This list of eBook ideas is endless!
You can also use Canva to design your eBook; I use the “Annual Report” template (this is great for downloading as a PDF).
I wish you the best of luck on your journey to make passive income!
Remember that it is not an overnight success, but when it does take off you won’t regret starting!
Related: Have The Freedom To Work From Home And Make Money Online!