Have you ever wondered how bloggers and influencers make money while they’re on vacation? There are several easy sources of passive income to make money online even when you’re not working.
If you want to make something happen for yourself, then I’d highly recommend testing different passive income strategies. Since there are dozens of options out there, most people get overwhelmed when they come across multiple options at once.
You got to stick to one at a time and give it a proper time before you move on to the next one. Plus, always opt for the option that makes sense to you.
Sure, you won’t make money on a whim, but over time, you might be able to figure out the strategies and tactics to apply, and eventually, you’d also start earning money.
I have three passive income sources:
- Affiliate marketing
- YouTube Monetization
- Self-Publishing
I sure want to add more passive income sources to my money-making machine so that I don’t rely on just three sources.
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Anyway, I don’t want to leave you high and dry. Therefore, I’ll be sharing the ten best passive income ideas for you to try out.
10 Easy Sources of Passive Income
Here we go:
1. Sell Photography
I can tell you right off the bat that you can sell photography on the internet to earn a passive income. Do you need a good-quality DSLR camera and an expensive lens to get started with selling photography? The answer is no. If camera gear was stopping you from earning a part-time income from photography, then you need to pay attention to what I’m about to tell you.
Start phone photography; I’ve sold my first photo on the internet, and you can do this too. I also shared a list of the best stock photography websites that you can join to sell photography. I don’t think you’d have to spend a dime for selling photography.
2. Write Ebooks
If you’re a book reader or an aspiring writer, then perhaps it’s time to take charge. Since you don’t have enough money to spare, writing and publishing ebooks would be a great opportunity up for grabs.
Writing ebooks might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you think you have a lot to say on specific topics, then it’s worth it. There is a thing called “self-publishing.” You can publish ebooks on several online book stores without spending a dollar. What else do you need?
3. Publish Articles on Medium or Vocal
Medium and Vocal are popular publishing platforms, meaning you can put out your articles and make money on these platforms. If you have published a few articles on either one of these platforms, and you didn’t see much traction, then you might think it won’t work.
I have seen people making a few hundred dollars off of Medium.com, and I’m not going to write off this money-making strategy. The reason I haven’t started focusing on Medium and Vocal is that they use Stripe for monetization payout, and Stripe doesn’t accept users from Pakistan. That’s the only hurdle that’s stopping me from making money on Medium and Vocal.
4. Make Video Courses
Making videos often freak people out, especially if they’re camera shy. I know this because I have been there, but now I have multiple YouTube channels. Check out StartedBlogging’s YouTube too. Anyway, the point is that you can create a series of videos once and make money off it for as long as you want.
I might get into video courses in 2023 and get off the mark by creating a course on Udemy. I’ve known the Udemy platform for a long time, and they have fantastic promotional strategies to help teachers earn a living from their video courses.
5. Create Digital Goods
If you want to get your business off the ground without spending a dollar, then creating digital goods and selling on the internet is one of the passive income methods you can try out. You can create a wide range of digital products such as website templates, landing pages, website scripts, WordPress plugins, audio files, video clips, photos, graphics items, and more.
You can start off your journey through Envato Market. It’s one of the most popular marketplaces for buying and selling digital goods.
6. Build a Niche Site
You can build a niche site to earn a passive income. A niche site is a website or blog that is built around a specific subject or topic.
All you need is to be passionate or knowledgeable about the niche site topic, and you’ll be fine. Once your niche site starts to get some traction, you can run ads on the site and promote affiliate offers in your content.
Niche websites are a major source of bloggers’ and digital marketers’ passive income. If you do have some expertise, skill, or knowledge, use that to educate people through a niche site. You never know what happens after two years. Check out this free course on building a niche site.
7. Facebook Page Monetization
Facebook pages can be monetized and you can certainly make money from videos. However, you must pass and remain compliant with Facebook’s Partner Monetisation Policies. There are some requirements to be able to start monetizing your video content: you must have at least 10,000 followers, live in a country eligible for in-stream ads, and must be, at least, 18 years of age.
I haven’t dug deep into Facebook page monetization yet, which is why I can’t discuss it further. You’re welcome to check it out and hop on if it suits you.
8. YouTube Partner Program
YouTube Partner Program is quite popular among all on the list. A lot of creators start YouTube channels just to make money from videos. However, the majority of them end up frustrated as they only chase money instead of passion, but that’s not the point.
We’re discussing passive income ideas so YouTube could be a source of your passive income if you create videos that people want to watch. You can monetize your videos and make money off of YouTube.
The eligibility criteria require you to be from the country YouTube offers its partner program in as well as you must have 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in a year. Once you cross this milestone and your country is on the accepted countries list of YouTube Partner Program, then you’re all set to make money on YouTube.
9. File Sharing Websites
If you think file-sharing websites were only popular back from 2012 to 2014, then you’re wrong. They’re still popular; maybe, the majority of us stopped paying attention to them. I have first-hand experience of earning a passive income from one of the file-sharing websites that don’t exist today.
Well, it’s more difficult to earn money from file-sharing websites as compared to 10 years ago. The point is that you can pull this off if you play it smartly. I wrote a blog post about the websites that pay for downloads. Check that out and come up with original content to distribute through file sharing. The biggest mistake starters make who start working on file-sharing websites is that they use copyrighted content, which infringes the copyright laws.
What they should do instead is create something that people want and they also own the rights to distribute, which means you must own the product. It could be a web theme, excel template, software, plugin, ebook, or worksheet. It has to be something that a segment of the population needs and you can offer them for free. If you’d be able to come up with a useful product to download; the audience will find out about it and download it like crazy.
10. Quora Space Monetization
Quora Space is a newly introduced feature on the platform. They replaced the blog feature with space. What it does is that it allows you to post status or Quora questions/answers with the space community. Consider it as a Quora’s version of the Facebook group feature.
It’s exciting that Quora has made Quora Space feature monetizable. All you need to do is go to your “earning” section in the Quora space and get enrolled in the program.
You’d find out whether or not you’re eligible to participate in the program as it’s available in a select number of countries just yet.
As far as a passive income is concerned, you can earn a passive income with your Quora space if you’re quite active on the platform.
What’s the Easiest Passive Income Source for You?
I don’t think there is an easy or difficult way to earn passive income. If something starts to work out for you, it may look easier to you. However, the same thing might be a nightmare to figure out for beginners.
I’ve already told you that I’m using YouTube, self-publishing, and affiliate marketing — affiliate marketing seems to be the most difficult and easiest at the same time.
The reason is that if you could crack the code and hit the bullseye with your blogging, you could crush it with affiliate marketing. Otherwise, it would take forever to start earning from affiliate marketing.
No passive income source is easier than the other unless you sort things out. The key to success with your passive income strategy is that choose what comes naturally to you.
For instance, if you love making videos, go for YouTube and Facebook videos. Make video content at scale. You could also sell a video course down the road to help educate video beginners on how to succeed on YouTube.
Feel free to share your most difficult and easiest passive income source with us on our social media channels.