Passive Income

Passive income ideas are the best thinking you can do to influence your earnings without working more hours.

In a rapidly declining economic landscape, we lucky digital marketers have the money-busting skills to create multiple passive income streams.

Savvy entrepreneurs understand that when times are tough, it creates opportunities. By providing solutions for those in need of help, it’s entirely possible to build a passive income empire.

For example, creating and selling digital products, online courses, and affiliate marketing are popular choices for digital marketers who want to escape the life-sucking “exchanging time for money” trap.

Before you get too excited, let’s understand that passive income ideas don’t make it magically happen.There are things you should know about passive income.

You can’t sprinkle unicorn dust and expect money to appear under the mattress.

It takes a lot of initial grunt work to set up a solid foundation with an automated system to create recurring income while you sleep. Still, if you’re prepared to invest the time and effort, the rewards are worth it.

This article is a deep dive into the best passive income ideas for digital marketers.

Why Should You Consider Passive Income Ideas?

I cannot remember a worse economic period in my lifetime. Every time I go out, the things I buy get more expensive. Inflation is ridiculous, and salaries cannot keep pace. For instance, second-hand car prices have rocketed.

Before we sink into a pit of hissing snakes, let’s look at how your digital marketing skills can spring you above this erupting financial volcano.

Passive income is the eighth wonder of the world. You can build a part-time side hustle or really dig in and create a full-time income, working fewer hours than your day job and having more fun.

What Is Passive Income?

You’re lying in bed on a Sunday morning, drooling a little bit, maybe, but feeling pretty good about life and here’s why. You open your emails to see you “earned “a few hundred dollars overnight without you doing a thing.

All your hard work a few months ago is now reaping the rewards. Those passive income ideas you read about on a blog have materialised into existence.

Honestly, my friend, there is nothing better than getting that notification.

Typical examples of passive income are recurring commissions from a subscription service, such as the Systeme marketing platform that pays a whopping 60% for life.

You receive monthly commissions like clockwork, even if you go off on holiday.

The problem is that people think passive income is easy, but it’s not. It takes time to build. Still, digital marketers have the skills and the understanding of how to drive traffic, create content and monetise your offers for passive income.

9 Ways To Create Passive Income

So, let’s get to the meat and potatoes and share my passive income ideas.

#1: Sell Templates

Templates are one of the fastest-growing ways to make passive income online. It could become a million-dollar business if you find a niche you enjoy.

One lady I follow on Threads made $25 in her first month selling Canva templates. Six months later, she averages $14k/month!

So, if you’re a creative bunny ready to make passive income from creating templates, here are some ideas.

Canva Templates

I have made over 1000 designs on Canva and never considered selling them. Doh! Even with a free Canva account, you can create gorgeous designs, such as

• E-books
• Journals
• Workbooks
• Habit Trackers
• How to Guides
• Content Planners
• Wellness Trackers
• Website Templates
• Pinterest Pin Templates
• IG Reels & Stories Templates

There are no limitations on what you can create with Canva.

Market via your website, social media, and Pinterest marketing. Sell on Etsy, Shopify, Gumroad (I launched my first two products recently) or add e-commerce functionality to your website.

AI Prompts

If you can create helpful AI prompts, people will buy them.

I recently posted a short AI SEO prompt on LinkedIn with 11,000 views. Four people shared, and the post had many comments appreciating the prompt. Considering I had been off LinkedIn for a year, that was an excellent demonstration of the need for prompts that help people work more efficiently and get positive results.

I find it easy to generate prompts, but many people cannot master generative AI or don’t have the time to play around fine-tuning prompts.

I use Claude AI to help me create blog outlines, assess the competition and more. It saves me a ton of time. Subsequently, I have put together some AI prompts for generating SEO content to sell online.

The beauty of passive income is that you don’t need to charge the earth for your products.

Success Story: One lady I know sold $3 recipes and made $250k in her first six months.

Start selling at a “no-brainer” price. Get positive feedback and either create more products or raise your prices. In addition, make sure you get people onto your mailing list.

Why?

It’s simple. It’s easier to sell your products to a person who’s purchased from you before.

Notion Templates

I’m not a fan of Notion, but many people make a good income from personalised Notion Templates. They’re pre-built pages that people can add to their workspace to organise their content. The following are a few examples.

• Goal Tracker
• Habit Tracker
• Team Knowledge bases
• Personal Workout Trackers
• Personal Finance Tracker

Google Sheets Templates

If you’re a whiz with Google Sheets, you can create anything from a simple spreadsheet for budgeting, profit and loss sheets, meal planning, habit tracking, etc. There is considerable scope for the creative mind if you like designing presentation slides, design templates or spreadsheets.

Research what people want to save time and gain efficiency, and then create your Google products.

#2: Create a Course

Creating an online course can be a dependable cash cow if you have an area of expertise.

What puts most people off is how much time and effort is involved, especially as many prefer video content over text-based courses.

One way to make it easier is to use generative AI like Claude or ChatGPT to create an outline for your course. After that, create bite-sized modules, add quizzes and provide resources like the text version of each module.

If you’re worried about the cost of hosting a course, I got you. Platforms like Kajabi, Skool and Thinkific charge a monthly fee of $99+. However, you can host one digital course free with the Systeme lifetime free plan.

Systeme takes the payment and delivers the course login details. All you have to do is create it.

Systeme doesn’t take a percentage of your sales as other platforms do, like Etsy, Spotify, etc.

The bonus of hosting a course on Systeme is you can automate additional marketing tools like capture pages and email campaigns. These add extra oomph to getting traffic to your course sales page.

Ideas for courses:

• Photography
• Email Marketing
• Pinterest Marketing
• Success on YouTube
• Social Media Marketing
• Creating Canva Templates
• Building a WordPress Website
• Paid Advertising (Google, Facebook, Instagram etc)

Write a list of whatever you are most knowledgeable about. After that, reflect on whether you have enough interest in the subject to spend a few weeks or months putting a course together.

#3: Become an Affiliate Marketer

Affiliate marketing is a one of the best passive income ideas on this list. Sadly, many people get it entirely wrong and never make a bean.

Forget Amazon, where you earn a measly 4% on sales—research affiliate partners in your niche. For instance, TripAdvisor offers affiliates a whopping 50% commission per booking if you are in the travel industry.

If you’re working with clients and want to provide additional marketing services, Systeme pays a 60% lifetime commission on annual or monthly subscriptions.

Forget about the likes of Clickbank because that’s where all novice affiliate marketers head. Think strategically.

1. Choose a Niche – make it one you are interested in and one that pays well
2. Decide Which Platform To Use – you might want to start a niche-specific blog or use social media channels. Ideally, choose search engine-based platforms like YouTube and Pinterest
3. Build Traffic – when applying to merchants, they will ask how you generate traffic. I waited until I had 10,000 monthly impressions on my blog. Alternatively, they are happy to work with social media influencers
4. Find Affiliate Programs – research each company. I contacted those whose products I use or have used. Check Trustpilot that the company has a good reputation and only apply to those relative to your niche
5. Produce Good Quality Content, focusing on providing value to your audience. Write or video content like reviews and comparisons
6. Curate Content – if you write a blog, curate it into social media posts. Create a video format, especially if you have a blog. Google rewards video content highly these days
7. Build An Audience – you need traffic to get sales, so focus on creating consistent content

Don’t start doing paid advertising until you get traction from organic marketing. It’s a waste of money. Ensure you have a fully functioning sales funnel, such as the following:

• Capture page
• Lead magnet
• Email campaign
• Upsells and Offers

#4: Build And Monetise A Niche Website

I’ll start this section by stating that this isn’t the fastest way to passive income. Still, if you can go hard at it for a year or so, you can rest assured the monetary results will come.

One lady on the Medium platform started a “strange fruits” recipes niche website. People sniggered at her, but she made $100k in the first six months. After that, she began creating these websites to sell to people keen to join the niche.

The more you can narrow down the niche, the better, then you can create your customer avatar.

The downside of this passive income idea is it’s a lot of work. To get ranked in SERPs, you need a lot of content. However, generative AI can do a big chunk of the legwork if you have some great AI prompts.

• Identify Your Niche – research it thoroughly and check the competition
• Buy a Domain Name – Choose one that describes your business
• Build the Website – Consider using WordPress, Squarespace and you can even build a Canva website and connect your domain name
• Write Content – create pillar posts (an in-depth topic) and generate content clusters (sub-niche content for the pillar post), and then build internal links between the articles
• Drive Traffic – use SEO on your website, social media marketing, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok, guest posts
• Keep Going – don’t lose heart if you don’t see results for a while. I got my first affiliate commission four and a half months after starting my blog

#5: Write an eBook

Much like creating a course, putting an eBook together can be time-consuming. Still, it’s a fantastic way to demonstrate your expertise.

The eBook doesn’t need to be long. It’s better to consider an eBook series rather than doing a deep dive into a broad subject. For instance, SEO involves a multi-pronged approach, from on-page, off-page and technical SEO. Creating one course that covered all of that would be overwhelming for the reader and to create.

You can hire a ghostwriter if you’re not a good writer and stick pins in your eyes instead. That’s not a cheap option, but it could pay for itself quite quickly with effective marketing.

You can publish your eBook on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Lulu or upload it to Gumroad.

I have one book on Amazon in paperback and kindle versions that has made steady monthly sales for many years.

If it’s relevant, you can add social media handles and affiliate links into the eBook.

How to Write an eBook

• Research the Market – how much competition is there?
• Find Low–Difficulty Keywords – that can help the book’s discoverability
• Create Easily Digestible Chapters – ensure the layout of the chapter content makes sense
• Write to One Person – a conversational style is the most popular format for readers. Create an avatar and write to that one person, focusing on what they most want to know
• Have a Simple Layout – make the eBook visually appealing. I’ve bought eBooks that have text squashed together on each page. It’s better to have plenty of white space because people skim content
• Create a Style Sheet – decide what colours and fonts to use throughout the book
• Add Images – Make the eBook visually appealing by breaking up the text with colour-themed images, infographics, charts, etc
• Proofread & Edit – there’s nothing worse than typos and bad grammar in a book. I use Grammarly Premium, but that still needs to be double-checked
• Create a Sales Page – use Systeme’s free plan to build a simple sales page. Add a thank you page (for subscribing) and a video page, ideally with you talking to personalise the eBook
• Create an Email Campaign – write an email sequence with at least a dozen emails. Send them out every few days for the first few days and then weekly. Tag the campaign on the sales page

#6: Sell Stock Photos

If you’re a whiz with a camera, why not generate passive income from your shots by selling them online to stock photo platforms like Shutterstock and Pexels?

Most photographers get caught in the time-for-money trap, and even if you earn well as a photographer, without clients, there’s no income coming in.

You might not make a six-figure income from stock photography sales, but it’s quick and easy to upload photographs that could generate revenue for years to come. People will pay for high-quality images.

#7: Start a YouTube Channel

If you’re creating content for a blog, the most powerful move is to curate that content to YouTube.

I’m blushing a bit because it’s something I keep putting off. It’s hard work creating and editing video content. It always takes longer than you expect. Then, technology lets you down, and suddenly, an entire day has passed, creating a 10-minute video.

Still, the potential for YouTube is unrivalled.

1. It’s a search engine – it can get ranked on page one SERPs
2. You can add SEO in the description
3. You can add affiliate, membership, course or sales page links in the description
4. Once you get enough subscribers and watch time, you can monetise the channel (1000 subscribers + 4k watch hours in the last 12 months)
5. If your channel becomes successful, you can get sponsorship and brand deals

Starting a YouTube channel is free, but it is a heavy time investment.

#8: Build A Job Board

Building a digital job board might seem a massive undertaking, but you can purchase DFU templates.

It’s not a passive income source that appeals to me because of the initial work required. Still, it can be a lucrative business if you focus on building a job board within a small niche.

To make money from your job board, you have several options:

• Charge Companies a one-off fee to post job offers
• Charge companies a monthly fee to post ad hoc job offers
• Offer premium features
• Join an ad revenue source like Google AdSense or Mediavine (you’ll need sufficient traffic to get approved)
• Partner with a recruitment agency for a commission for leads

The tricky part of setting up a digital job board is to get sufficient traffic. Companies won’t spend with you unless they know there’ll be a lot of eyes on their job offers.

You need an enormous bank of job seekers who will visit your job board instead of heading to Indeed, Total Jobs or any big boys online.

Focus on the uniqueness of your specialism. Narrow your niche down as small as possible. The giant job sites are so random and mostly useless for job seekers. Find a gap in the market that will attract employers and job seekers, and then focus on marketing as if your life depended on it.

#9: Buy A DFY Digital Product

Creating products, building a course, and all of the above suggestions miss one vital step. If you’re a beginner, you have no idea how to create an automated sales system that drives traffic to your offer when you aren’t working.

Most people fail (90% quit digital marketing) because they don’t have that system.

Yes, you can build sales pages, email campaigns, etc, but it is time-consuming. I’ve spent days messing around with a simple sales page.

For a beginner, the main criteria for passive income success is the following:

1. Have a great product
2. Have an automated system
3. Learn social media marketing
4. Work with an experienced mentor
5. Learn how to drive organic traffic to your offers consistently

That’s why I chose the Catalyst. I was floundering because I didn’t know how social media algorithms work. I didn’t know how to get traffic to my business other than SEO. The latter works for me with my blog, but you should never have only one traffic source.

Please read my review of the Catalyst Collective. I’m giving away a free Instagram Business Growth Guide that teaches you the foundations for getting more followers and sales on Instagram reels and stories.

Conclusion

The hard truth about passive income ideas is they’re easy to think about but not so easy to implement.

Whatever you decide to do, follow your heart and take the path that interests you the most. It’s human nature to have initial excitement about a project but lose interest when results are slow.

Learn from me. I wish I’d started years ago when I had the idea to start affiliate marketing, but I felt overwhelmed by the tutorials I found on YouTube. I’ve since discovered that it isn’t complex, and there is an easy way to make affiliate commissions.

Get started today. Dig in and start building your passive income sources.

FAQs

How Much Passive Income Can I Earn?

That depends on which avenue you choose. Some passive income streams could generate a few hundred dollars; others could create 6-7 figure income.

Try not to focus on too many passive income streams simultaneously. Start by building up one passive income source and then move on to the next.

Do I Need A Lot Of Money To Get Started With Passive Income?

It’s possible to start making passive income with little to no investment. Still, there are typically associated costs, such as website hosting, domain name purchase, graphic design platform subscriptions, etc.

Considering the passive income potential of most of the above ideas, the costs are comparatively small.

What Are The Best Digital Products For Beginners To Sell?

It’s best to focus on what you can do easily. If you don’t enjoy graphic design, Canva templates might not be your best option.

For beginners, it’s often best to start with a DFU product like Inner Bloom (a master resell rights digital product) or the Catalyst Collective, an affiliate product that pays 70% commission.

The benefits of these two courses are that you will learn to master social media marketing, create digital courses, and drive traffic to your offers. For a beginner, it is the ideal route to learning how to make passive income.

You should know about passive income that it’s not easy to achieve. That’s not to say it isn;t possible, because it 100% is.

When I began my digital marketing journey, I soon realised many people aren’t cut out for launching a digital marketing business and making a passive income.

Now, I’m not sure if people are lazy, or it’s learned helplessness or a job mindset, but the number of people I see in Facebook groups asking for help to actually “do” their business for them is higher than you might think.

Here are a few examples: –

• How do I generate traffic?
• How do I build a sales page?
• How do I write an email campaign?

Think of ANY question relating to online sales and marketing, and someone is asking about it. I mean, “How do I get traffic?” does anyone genuinely believe they’ll get the answer with a few lines in a comment?

Here’s the truth

Digital marketing is a business, like any other business, either bricks and mortar or online. You wouldn’t open a pie shop in town without checking the footfall, local interest in pies, what type of pies people want, what prices are acceptable for the location, etc.

For a moment, I assumed people do their due diligence, but they don’t. From 2021 to 2023, several start-up companies I worked for went bankrupt. In each case, to me, the reasons for failure were obvious.

There was mainly a lack of preparation, not considering future obstacles, poor money management, and all the typical rookie mistakes new business owners make.

But, Jan, Isn’t Digital Marketing Easy?

Digital marketing is simple but not necessarily easy. When you start a digital marketing business, it’s a shedload of work, and there’s a gazillion things to learn. I began in November 2023 and am still working on editing my products and setting up automated processes to sell my digital products.

It’s a tad more challenging for me with my ADHD brain, and there are times I think I’ll never get everything in perfect working order. However, I KNOW it will work because I am laying the foundations. Even at this stage, I know I could help small business owners get better results from their social media marketing.

I’m the saddo (AKA entrepreneur), spending hours each week learning about driving organic traffic, social media marketing, understanding the algorithms, creating email campaigns and hooks, editing videos, faceless digital marketing, and anything relevant to my business.

I’ve bought a few in-depth courses, like the TikTok training, but most information is available on YouTube tutorials.

Top Tips: What to Do Before Considering a Digital Marketing Business

Tip #1: Know yourself REALLY Well

To give you an idea of how important it is to know yourself, here are the character traits that get in my way:

1. I have ADHD, so I hyper-focus – leading to burnout – or procrastinate
2. I overthink everything – with a slight perfectionist edge
3. I spend too much time planning
4. I get lured by shiny objects
5. I ALWAYS underestimate how long a task will take
6. If there’s no perceived emotional reward, I lose interest (That’s an ADHD thing)
7. I crave freedom, so the commitment required for social media marketing clashes with that desire

It’s a lot, though you can probably create an equally impressive list. LOL.

Tip #2: How Much Free Time Do You Have?

Everything always takes longer than you think. That could be because we have time blindness. I have learned that it’s better to overestimate the time required or, even better, set strict time allotments.

Try using an online clock, such as the free  Clockify app, to assess project times (as long as you remember to stop and start it!)

Tip #3: What are you Prepared to Give up?

We know that finite time does not exist, so when you take on a new task, it’s inevitable that you will need to give up something previously taking that space.

Most of us spend time scrolling mindlessly in the evenings, watching Netflix, or playing online games.

One client pays me well but splits the work between multiple writers. I love writing for this company, but the monthly income doesn’t cover all my bills. However, the new company pays significantly less, and the genre does not excite me.

I think I’ve decided what to do because I am super close to having my first product bundle ready, which is exciting.

I hope you found this article helpful. If you genuinely want a successful digital marketing business, you will do everything necessary to make it happen. It helps if you love the digital marketing space, enjoy creating content and are happy to put in the time, knowing it could happen in a day or take months.

Conclusion

If the goal is passive income, check 9 best passive income ideas for digital marketers. It takes commitment and focus. It’s a long game, but if you stay in it, you will eventually win. If you want to make passive income from your blog, read your blog, read 7 ways to monetise your blog.

Believe in yourself and trust that you can achieve passive income.