1. Writing

If you like to write, there are many ways to make passive income online by doing so. Certain sites, like About.com, HubPages, and Triond allow you to publish your writing online and keep getting paid for it, long after you have written the information. These sites make it easy to get your writing published, and you usually make money every time a person views your articles or web pages.

2. Photography

Many people love taking photos, but don’t always know what to do with them once they’ve taken them. If this sounds like you, you should try selling your photos online. Many people, such as advertisers, writers, and graphic designers, are always in need of quality photographs for their projects. They will pay you a one-time fee for photos they want, and can use them however they wish. You can sell photos on your own website, but often times you don’t even need your own site to do so. Many sites, such as iStock, will display your photos for you, but will keep a portion of your sales.

3. Music

If you enjoy making music, you can sell your creations online, much as you would with photographs. Various businesses, websites, and directors are continuously on the lookout for music that would enhance their projects. Again, they pay you a one-time fee for tracks they want, and can use them anyway they choose. You can do this through your own music store website, but many sites exist that will sell them for you for a cut of the profit. You basically keep making money on tracks that you have already created, which is a cool concept.

4. E-books

If you believe you have some information that people would like to know and learn about, you can write an e-book detailing this information. If people are interested enough, they will buy your e-book. There are great benefits to writing an e-book, like not having to wait for a publishing offer, and not having to worry about the physical aspects that go along with real books. You can create your own sales page for your e-book, where you would receive all the profits, or you can sell it through a website like Amazon.com. If you choose to sell it through another site, they will again be keeping a percentage of your sales.

5. Affiliate Advertising

If you have your own website, you can make money by promoting other people’s goods and services on your site. For example, if your website is focused on gardening, you can partner with other companies that you think would be of interest to your followers. These may include gardening supply companies or seed companies. You can place advertisements of these companies on your site, and each time a visitor clicks on their ad and then orders something or fills out a form, you receive a commission from the company you advertised.

6. Drop Shipping

Drop shipping is a fairly simple method for earning passive income online. You basically get paid for selling items that you never physically see. You display the items on your website, and each time someone purchases something, the order gets forwarded on to a wholesaler that physically has the products and ships them for you. Your main job is to create a brilliant, memorable website that catalogs all your products. You will also need a few wholesalers that will work with you. In the beginning, you may have to pay a fee to these wholesalers, but from there on out, everything should be profit. Drop shipping is quite genius because you personally hold no stock of products, meaning you only pay for what you sell.

7. Designing Products

Working with sites like CafePress, you can create various designs, choose what type of products you want your designs on, and CafePress makes them. These products may include t-shirts, mugs, and bumper stickers. All you have to do is promote your products, send your design to the company, and they take care of the manufacturing and shipping of the products you wish to sell. They keep part of the profits from your sales, and you get the remainder.

Guest post from Bailey Harris. Bailey writes for InsuranceQuotes.org.

EARNINGS BREAKDOWN FOR March 2009:

• Adsense Income: $151.40
• CCM Income: $100.00
• Host Gator Income: $50.00
• Link Revenue: $80.00

TOTAL INCOME: $381.40

I’m pretty darn excited about these results!  It was nice to finally get a hostgator.com affiliate sale.  Also, it makes you feel really good when you are being contacted by other companies about advertising opportunities.  CCM income is due to a referral who joined the company.  This is a one time fee, but I will receive trail commissions too (which may or may not be significant).

Adsense is pretty steady, but is not growing.  I have never really worked to understand how to drive adsense revenue, I’m just thankful that it is there.  Most surprising to me is the usage that I get on my google search bar.  That performs pretty well, all things considered.  It doesn’t get used every day, but when it does get used, about 15% of the time is generates revenue…pretty cool!

So anyways, I love this blog!  Sharing my thoughts on investing, entrepreneurship, personal finance, faith, etc.  It really is fun to do.  Income is a great by-product of a small passion.  That being said, I’m firmly committed to generating $1000 per month of passive income from TAM by year end.  Big goal for sure, but I’ve climbed higher mountains. 

This seems like a great time to thank you all again!  I truly appreciate those of you who support this blog with comments and links.   These digital conversations and friendships are daily blessings in my life!  SO THANKS!