Creating Passive Income and Summer Fun
Here’s another guest blog post by my bud, Susanne Myers of EasyLinkLove.com She's going to talk about creating passive income – so that you can enjoy your summer.
ok. Turning this over to Susanne. Enjoy her brilliance!
Creating Passive Income 
By Susanne Myers from AffiliateTreasureChest.com
Today is the first day of summer break in our neck of the woods, which means we headed down to our beach house right after our daughter got out of school yesterday. We’ll be spending quite a bit of time here this summer, swimming in the ocean, napping in the hammock in the backyard and checking out the local seafood restaurants. It’s something I never thought we’d be able to do, and to be honest, it wouldn’t have been possible just a few short years ago.
The reason we can take off for weeks at a time and spend most of the day playing on the beach is that my husband and I have both spend the past few years creating passive income. We have quite a few different websites, some lists, autoresponder series, reports and ebooks out there that create income for us even when we’re not working.
How’d you like to get started this summer and set up your own little stream of income?
Getting Started
What’s worked well for me is to start small and then keep building and keep working at it, increasing my passive income along the way.
Since you’re a reader of Nicole’s blog, I’m sure you know all about her awesome PLR articles from www.EasyPLR.com. You may even own quite a bit of it already, so let’s start with that.
Pick one of the PLR article packs and use it as the basis of a new niche site.
I’ll tell you a little “secret”. Nicole does a lot of research before she ever puts out a PLR pack on a topic. She makes sure there’s plenty of traffic, affiliate offers to promote and most importantly that it’s a profitable niche. That’s part of what makes these packs perfect for affiliate niche websites that will make you money month after month.
The basic steps to getting started with your own affiliate website are to choose a niche, set up a website (via a wordpress blog), add content to it (both the PLR from Nicole and some you write yourself), promote it and then monetize it.
Instead of covering each of those steps here (and turning this into a super-long 2000 plus word post), I’ve put together a short 7 day ecourse for you that walks you through each step.
-> Sign up here: Free Affiliate Marketing Fast Start Lessons
Go ahead … go sign up right now – it’s free and I’ll wait till you’re done 🙂
All signed up? Perfect!
Work through each of the daily lessons using the PLR article pack you picked as the basis for your niche website. By the end of the 7 days you have your first little stream of passive income set up.
Don’t stop there …
Keep Working At It
Take a minute to give yourself a pat on the shoulder for a job well done … and then get back to work. Add some more content to your new site, build another or set up a list for the first one. Keep working at this and other little streams of passive income. The key is to keep working at it and building more and more income streams, even if it just brings in a few extra dollars per month. Those little dollars all add up.
We weren’t able to hang out at the beach all summer last year and the years before that, but we keep at it. At first the passive income paid for a pizza a week, a few months later we were able to cover our car payments and now we’re able to rent a house at the beach all summer.
How about you? What would you like to be able to do that’s just a bit out of reach financially? Use it as motivation to set up a new niche site this week and keep working on your passive income streams all summer.
Want More from Susanne?
Here are some places you can learn more..
- Free Affiliate Marketing Fast Start Lessons
- EasyLinkLove.com
- Susanne has also shared great information all over my blog. Click here to learn more from her
The Mom
June 4, 2011 at 3:16 pmWonderful post, Susanne. I just love how you lay things out so simply. And, you never sound like any of those “get rich with internet marketing” headline hypes. It’s work, sometimes hard work, but mostly it’s dedication, and like you said, motivation.
Makes ‘yours truly’ think she better get to work! 😉
Thanks, Nicole, for inviting Susanne. You ladies are the best!
Susanne Myers
June 5, 2011 at 1:25 pmGlad you enjoyed it Patti. I have to keep things simple or I end up confusing myself and not get anything done 🙂
This stuff does take some time to grow, but it grows exponentially, which means you’re off to a slow start but as you’re building momentum, things start to take off.
Helen
June 5, 2011 at 5:59 amVery inspiring post, thank you! I’m just about at the pizza stage of my passive income journey and although it’s wonderful to see some progress, I keep thinking “how on earth am I ever going to make a full-time income from this?!” It seems such a big leap to turn those little trickles of income into a river. You’ve helped me see that I’m on the right track and I’ve just got to keep going. Beach house here we come!
Susanne Myers
June 5, 2011 at 1:26 pmHelen, you’re definitely on the right track. Just keep working at it. Each blog post you add, each article you submit, each guest post you write will get you one step closer to that beach house 🙂
Lisa
June 5, 2011 at 6:05 amYay! I need a summer project- I never thought about using PLR for affiliate niche websites. Thank you Susanne 🙂
Susanne Myers
June 5, 2011 at 1:27 pmVery welcome. They are a great start for a new niche site.
Trudy
June 5, 2011 at 9:24 amsigned up for the fast start lessons, thanks!
Susanne Myers
June 5, 2011 at 1:27 pmYou’re welcome Trudy. Let me know how you like it.
Kat Dennis
June 5, 2011 at 12:22 pmThis is a great article and I am headed over to take the course. Thanks to both of you.
Susanne Myers
June 5, 2011 at 1:28 pmThanks Kat. Glad you enjoyed the article. Hope the course is helpful as well.
The Happypreneur
June 6, 2011 at 7:21 amIt just so happens one of the main projects I am focusing on right now is Niche sites, so this was great timing. I’m signing up for your ecourse to see if I’m any pieces of the puzzle. Thanks for that info!
Question for both Suzanne and Nicole – would love to know both your takes on this –
Do you ever build lists for any niches outside of your main business niche? For example; My main niche is internet marketing newbies. What if I find a niche site is particularly successful for me like dog grooming or scrap booking and it isn’t something I know much about, would it make sense to build a list in that niche or is building a list in more than one niche muddying the waters too much? Just wondered what your take on this is?
Blessings,
Celene Harrelson
Susanne Myers
June 6, 2011 at 7:30 amCelene, I have lists in all sorts of different niches from potty training and frugal cooking to link building, plr and affiliate marketing.
I think especially if you’re working in the internet and affiliate marketing field it’s important to build niche sites, lists etc. If you don’t, how will you know what works and how can you build credibility with your readers, subscribers and customers.
I worked for years in various niches sites (and continue to do so) before I ever started going into the affiliate marketing niche.
So yes, build a bunch of different lists in different niches. I use pen names for several of them to avoid confusion and “muddying the waters”.
The Happypreneur
June 6, 2011 at 7:40 amThanks Susanne! I like the pen name idea. Do you also write articles for these niches? Seems that would spread you a bit thin wouldn’t it?
Susanne Myers
June 6, 2011 at 7:41 amI do for some of them, I outsource the articles for others. But yes, you want to market all of your niche sites in various ways.
The Happypreneur
June 6, 2011 at 7:37 amOops, I spelled Susanne wrong, sorry!
Susanne Myers
June 6, 2011 at 7:41 amNo worries 🙂
Helen
June 6, 2011 at 7:43 amI’d like to try other niche sites too, but my fears are a) that I’ll spread my efforts in too many different directions and make less progress than I would with just the one site and b) that I can’t be seen to be an ‘expert’ in several different subjects but on the other if I use a pen name it seems somehow dishonest and I might get found out! 🙂
The Happypreneur
June 6, 2011 at 11:27 amHelen – I guess if it’s a money maker we can become experts by studying up on the subject and using plr, public domain stuff and article directories for content. As far as using a pen name, famous writers do it all the time so they can reach different markets with different writing styles.
Just my 2 cents…
Celene Harrelson
Helen
June 6, 2011 at 1:25 pmGreat points, thanks Celene!
blue flamingo productions
June 6, 2011 at 6:25 pmThank you for sharing your insights and expertise regarding passive income! I have four questions:
1) your niche sites bring in that passive income through the links you have on them for various affiliate products and services, right?
2) do you recommend purchasing PLR packages to help folks launch their sites quicker (and not worry about being stuck on the writing aspect?)
3) isn’t it necessary for the owners of the niche sites to write their own opinions and experiences on the affiliate products in order to promote them effectively?
4) again, just so I understand this thoroughly – the passive income comes from having, promoting, and offering the different products and services from different affiliates (that pertain to your niche), right?
Thanks for your help!
Susanne Myers
June 16, 2011 at 4:35 amYou are very welcome.
Yes, the passive income come via various affiliate offers that are on the site itself or in email messages that go out to a list I’m building for the site.
Using PLR is a great way to quickly add content to a site and I use it on a regular basis, both when I first start the site and later as more and more content is added. I like to rework the PLR I use a bit to make it sound like me and to optimize it for certain long tail keywords so I can get search engine traffic to my niche websites.
You don’t always have to write about your own experiences with affiliate products, but it can help with conversions. Sometimes all I do is add a link in the context of the post, sometimes I write a little recommended reading note at the end of a post etc.
Yes, you want to promote different affiliate offers that your readers are interested in.
Ellen
June 7, 2011 at 7:02 amI love how you went from the pizza to the car payment to the beach house! You’re an inspirational marketer, thanks for this dose of reality!
Marcia Ming
June 7, 2011 at 6:58 amSusanne and Nicole,
How long do you stick with a niche if its not making money? Do you have a series of questions or tests that help you find things that need to be approved or mistakes you are making in a niche? How do you know if a niche is good, but you may be doing something wrong? I would love to hear your thoughts on these questions.
Marcia
The Happypreneur
June 7, 2011 at 8:59 amOh! That’s a great question Marcia – I want to know the answer too!
Susanne Myers
June 16, 2011 at 4:43 amHi Marcia,
great question… here’s what I do:
I’m usually pretty excited about a new niche site when I get started and do a good bit of work on it in the beginning. Then I usually let it sit for a bit to see if it starts to make money. If it does, I keep working on it a good bit again. If it doesn’t it may sit a bit more and I may eventually put a little more effort into it. Otherwise, I’m fine with a site that brings in $10 or $20 a month without me having to do much.
A word of caution: Don’t take this as an excuse to jump from one niche to another. I’ve been doing this since 2004 and have accumulated quite a few niche sites over the years. It does take time and you have to spend some time on each site, both building it and adding content to it as well as going out and marketing the site, building links to it etc.
Carol
June 7, 2011 at 8:47 amI thought when I purchased PLR that I had to sell it and could not give it away on a blog site.
Nicole
June 7, 2011 at 8:59 amHi Carol. 🙂
The rights/rules will depend upon the PLR site. The articles at EasyPLR.com CAN be used as free web content for your blog.
Warmly,
Nicole
Carol Owens
June 7, 2011 at 10:54 amGreat post, Susanne. Very good information. I have a question though.
If you use a pen name for some niches, which I think is fine, how do you use social media with that pen name? For example do you use a photo of yourself or some other photo? Just curious how it would work.
Susanne Myers
June 16, 2011 at 4:45 amI do a combination of things. For some of my bigger niches I use my name and photo. For smaller niche sites I use pen names and either stock photos of people, or a more general picture (i.e. a stove or some food items for a cooking site). You can also use your main logo for your social media picture.
Kira
June 8, 2011 at 4:28 pmGreat post. Being consistent is so important. Thanks for the reminder.
KarenSaulmy
June 13, 2011 at 8:19 amI would like to know the same as Marcia, I have done my research and the niche I am in gives so many monthly searches, how come I cant make it , so frustrating.
Susanne Myers
June 16, 2011 at 4:48 amKaren, how much time are you spending on building links, writing guest posts, article marketing etc?
From my experience (both personal and with my customers and coaching clients) it’s often a matter of not doing enough “offsite” stuff to get the site to rank, attract readers, subscribers and customers.
A good rule of thumb is to spend 20% of your time on your site (adding content etc) and 80% out on other web properties be it social media, article marketing, guest blogging, forum participation etc.
You have to market your sites until enough momentum builds up where others start to talk about your site, recommend it to others etc.
Emily
June 14, 2011 at 5:00 pmHow do you handle so many different websites? I’m thinking you outsource a lot? I could never do the SEO and articles for more than two or three sites.
Susanne Myers
June 16, 2011 at 4:49 amHi Emily,
great question. I actually don’t outsource a whole lot. I work a lot in batches and get websites to the point where they are profitable and get a fair amount of seo traffic each day. Once they reach that point, I focus more on another niche site and just occasionally go back and add content. If they are very profitable, they get more of my attention and I may hire an assistant to help me run them.
Emily
June 16, 2011 at 6:36 amThank you so much, Susanne! You have helped me make a decision about one of my sites. I have been struggling about whether to keep it or not. I have decided to keep it; focus on my main baby until, as you say, it’s profitable, then go back to this other one and make it profitable.
Julia
June 16, 2011 at 3:27 amPassive income is where it’s at, to me its when you make an initial time,education, and money committment, but then (hopefully) the time, education, and money committment diminish as time goes on. Needless to say, maintenance and repair is always required of most passive income, but hopefully not as much as a full time job. Some types that I am currently involved with are building a pension, tax-deffered savings, taxi-medallion leasing, and rental property. What I am also trying to do now is also patent something, and hopefully license it or sell it off; I’d prefer to license it because to me slow nickels are better than fast dimes.
Down Or Just Me
August 12, 2011 at 4:47 pmSuzanne – great guest post here, thanks! Passive income can be tricky, especially for beginners, but the advice you lay out here is really easy to understand and motivational. Awesome ideas!! 🙂
Laurie