You’ve probably heard about the concept of “passive income” before. If so, you may think the idea of making money while you sleep, watch movies, or go on adventures is intriguing.
If you’re looking to supplement your revenue stream without working longer hours, a passive income website might be the way to go. But how can you earn a passive income using your WordPress.com website?
What is passive income?
Passive income does not mean earning money by doing nothing. It means generating revenue without having to exchange time for it (beyond the initial time invested in creating a passive income stream).
Passive income websites can supplement regular incomes and even evolve into a replacement for a traditional day job.
Passive income generators
There are multiple ways to earn passive income, especially with a website. Passive income sites tend to earn revenue in the following ways:
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Digital downloads like e-books, templates, and printable PDFs: if you’re an expert in your niche, you can write an e-book or create other resources as ways to earn income or generating leads.
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Online courses and challenges: these can be delivered in various forms, such as a video course with a quiz component or a group challenge on a social media platform.
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Affiliate marketing: you can earn a modest commission for selling other companies’ products by becoming an affiliate.
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Physical products: though eCommerce stores aren’t typically passive, you can earn a passive income by selling physical products through drop shipping.
Remember, your website doesn’t need to rely on only one of these methods. You can sell an eBook or an online course through your blog, feature affiliate links on your service website, or mix and match.
You have to invest before you can earn
It’s important to note that creating a passive income site requires an upfront investment.
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Time: no matter what passive income stream you choose, you’ll need to create products, plan marketing campaigns, and automate checkout processes.
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Audience: you need to build an audience to acquire customers, and your audience includes web visitors, an email list, and a social media following.
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Financial resources: your monetary investment will depend on your skills and abilities. For example, if you’re not a web designer, you may need to hire someone to build your website. You also might need to invest in equipment or budget for ads.
Do it with a WordPress.com website
The best thing about generating passive income is that you can do it all within a WordPress.com website. It provides tools to help you monetize your website, no matter what income-generating path you choose.
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Use WooCommerce to set up a storefront to sell physical products or digital downloads. The free plugin is easy to use and lets you sell pretty much anything and accept common forms of payment such as PayPal.
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Integrate simple one-time or recurring payment buttons for users to pay to play games or use online tools. Our Payments features are available any paid plan on WordPress.com. Recurring payments allow users to set a payment schedule — monthly or yearly — to pay for a subscription to your products or services.
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Add Amazon.com affiliate links to your site, allowing your blog readers to buy products that you recommend. You’ll need an Amazon Associated account to get started, and adding links is as simple as copy and paste.
No free lunch
Passive income, like any other income stream, does require upfront investments. However, the goal of a passive income website is to recoup those investments without much additional future work.
Once your passive income–earning website is up and running, add fuel to the fire with some digital promotions.
Get a free guide on collecting online payments with WordPress.com!
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