I was going to make this sound simpler than it is and say something like, “Just choose one of these 5, get started and start making money!”
But you and I both know that any substantial passive income stream is going to take some time and a good deal of effort to build.
Still, what is better than making money while you sleep, and then being able to leverage that system to produce more and more income as you like?
Here then are my top 5 picks for passive income streams for new marketers and seasoned marketers alike. I will say that choosing just one of these to start is a good idea, since it will allow you to focus and build much faster than if you scatter your attention over 2 or more of these.
That said, once one of these is bringing in a decent income for you, then you might want to branch out to a second one and get it up and running as well.
And please keep in mind that while passive income means earning when you’re not working, it does not mean you’ll get paid for doing nothing. It’s sort of like real estate. You have to purchase and maintain the real estate in order to receive the passive income of rent.
Alright then, let’s get started:
1: Affiliate Marketing
The easy part of affiliate marketing is selling other people’s products. You don’t have to create products or provide customer service for products when you’re selling someone else’s stuff. You simply get an affiliate link and send traffic to the offer.
And that is the hard part of affiliate marketing – building an audience or getting traffic to an offer.
You can either build a following via social media, email marketing, YouTube, podcasting and so forth, and offer those followers products…
Or you can experiment with paid advertising until you create a funnel that is self-liquidating, meaning you are making as much or more money as you are spending for the advertising.
Once your offer is self-liquidating, you can ramp it up to as much advertising as you can get (that converts) and build yourself a following while simultaneously selling products.
2: Creating Your Own Info Products
Just like affiliate marketing, you need either your own audience or the ability to generate traffic to make this work. But in this case you are the product creator and you are handling customer service on your own products as well.
You might wonder why you should go to the trouble of creating your own products when you can simply be an affiliate for other people’s stuff. That’s a fair question because being a product creator is definitely more work, but you also enjoy some benefits that affiliates don’t get.
First, you can get affiliates to promote your products. This way you are getting a percentage of all of their sales in addition to 100% of your own sales.
Next, you are building a reputation and a following of customers. Your most loyal customers will come back time and time again to purchase your products and they might even become your customer advocates and affiliates.
Finally, you are able to do joint ventures with other product creators to put on extremely profitable events and sales.
There are other benefits, too, but these are my favorites. If you’re just starting out, I recommend working on building your audience and monetizing with affiliate products until you’re able to start creating your own products, too.
3: Blogging
Yes, blogging is still extremely relevant and a great way to build an audience and a reputation.
Your content can be long form or short form or a combination of the two. Keeping your readers apprised of the latest news and developments while also creating evergreen content is best.
Monetize your blogging by offering affiliate products, your own products, sponsorships and by becoming a paid influencer in your niche. Once you have a loyal following, marketers will seek you out to promote your products.
And you can turn your posts into reports that you give away to build your email list as well as into books that you sell on Amazon, too.
4: Podcasting
Do you love to talk about things and ask people questions? Then put that skill to work with podcasting. Share your knowledge, ideas and insights with your audience.
Comment on the news, offer your own opinions and get your audience to weigh in on topics.
Interview experts on relevant topics in your niche. Collaborate with others to create interesting conversations and even do “person in the street” interviews cleverly edited together to provide entertainment value to your listeners.
You can monetize your podcast by offering affiliate products, your own products, sponsorships and advertising.
5: YouTube Channel
This is a great way to make passive income because of the sheer potential of it. And no, you never have to appear in front of the camera, either.
Once you qualify for YouTube’s partner program (1000 subscribers and 4000 hours of watch time) you can upload a video once and continue to get paid for it for a long time to come.
Think of one video going viral and getting a million or more views and what that could mean for your bottom line.
You can make videos on which you appear in front of the camera, talking about your niche, teaching how to do things or whatever is relevant that people want to see.
Or you can make videos such as Top 10 lists where you never show yourself. You can even get a professional to voice over the videos if you want, allowing you to be you completely anonymous if that’s what you prefer.
You’ll want to get to know your audience to see what they like and it will help to become proficient at video editing (or hire someone to do the editing for you.)
You can also recommend products in your videos, do product reviews, teach how to do things and give them links for the tools they’ll need.
In closing, I know I haven’t disclosed anything here that you weren’t at least partially aware of. But what you might not realize is that most internet fortunes aren’t made with the newest, latest, greatest fad but rather with the tried and true that has already worked for so many.
Every single one of these five methods has created untold numbers of financially free lifestyles for people who now work a few hours a week and get paid 24/7 for their efforts.
And you can be the next person who takes one of these methods and turns it into a 5, 6 or 7 figure passive income in the coming months and years.