5 Ideas for Earning Passive Income Online

Wouldn’t it be nice to be paid regardless of whether you did any work that day or not? It may seem like a dream, but there are several hundred passive income opportunities available online. Here’s a peek at just a few of them.

1. YouTube

If you excel at explaining your hobby or passion, you might consider creating a YouTube channel to earn passive income. There are some restrictions in place such as needing 1,000 subscribers before you can monetize your video, but videos of your hobby should be considered a fun side project until you reach that point. For example, a friend of mine loves building aquariums and is continuously re-arranging the landscape of his three 55-gallon aquariums. He bought a small video camera and set it up to create time lapses of his tanks coming together. These videos get modest views of around 50K to 60K views per video, but that’s money he’s making from a hobby he does anyway.

2. Online Trading

Online stock trading is another good opportunity for passive income if you’re not averse to risk. Investment firms are creating products like Betterment and Wealthfront to help people manage their investments automatically. These robo-advisors consider the length of time you want to invest and how risk adverse you are to determine where to put your money. You’ll passively generate income, but this method requires having money to invest in the first place.

3. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing for specific niches can be a great way to earn extra income, especially if you already have a large following on social media sites. Amazon’s affiliate program is the most common one as you generate sales on product link clicks for up to 24 hours after someone visits the site from your link. Large sites all across the internet use some form of affiliate marketing to supplement their income, especially if they’re writing about a product. If you can combine affiliate marketing with YouTube and Podcasting, you can help spread the word and earn passive income on the side.

4. Podcasting

Podcasting has taken off in the last few years as another way to earn passive income. The back catalog of shows you produce will contain advertising codes that earn you a commission for each sale you refer. Just have a listen to any of the top ten podcasts that are available on iTunes to see what I mean. That special sponsor code podcasts give out is how they track their commissions with that sponsor. Podcast episodes can also be sponsored directly by a company if the show gets large enough. You will need to have a solid idea to build a podcast following, but it can be a very lucrative way to generate passive income from your audio catalog. Some services like SoundCloud and Spotify even pay-per-stream of your podcast.

5. Sponsored Posts

If you enjoy writing about products and services online on a blog or social media, consider doing sponsored posts on your blog. The content should remain relevant to your niche, but it’s a great way to earn some side income. You’ll need to stay compliant with Google’s terms and conditions about marking sponsored content, but a high traffic blog can earn thousands from sponsored content.