Everyone wants to make passive income, but where do you start? If you search on Google, there are a lot of results that come up, but how do you know which one is best for you? Hopefully after reading this article you will have a better idea of what might interest you, and what might be your fit!

Passive income (also known as residual income) is the best type of income because it requires you do something only once, and then you can continually make money off of it forever!!
A great definition given by Patt Flynn on his SmartPassiveIncome Blog is: “Passive income is building an online business that takes advantage of systems of automation that allows transactions, cash flow, and growth to happen without requiring a real-time presence.”
However, don’t take this wrong. Passive income isn’t easy, it requires hard work and effort. The more work you put into it, the more passive income you can earn. Generating passive income doesn’t happen overnight, but it is possible! Many people have shown the true possibilities of passive income. For example, Pat Flynn has turned his smart passive income blog into a passive income machine that is bringing him in over $30,000 a month!!

Here is a list of the 7 best ways to make passive income:

1. Revenue Sharing Sites:

Revenue-Sharing sites allow the users to create their own content (usually articles, photos, videos, etc) and receive money based on a percentage of the ad revenue generated from that users content. There are lots of revenue-sharing websites out there and their models range from 40-99% ad revenue sharing! Some offer a higher ad revenue percentage share because they have a lower ranking in Google and don’t have as strong as a brand as some of the other websites that can get away with giving users less ad revenue. On top of ad revenue, many of these sites allow users to add in affiliate links to their articles and generate even more money. Most of the sites allow Amazon affiliates, eBay, etc. Revenue-sharing sites are great for people who don’t want to manage their own hosting, and build up a following (which can take a lot of time when starting out on a blog or niche website). Here are some of the top revenue-sharing sites:

– SeekyT: SeekyT starts off with 50% ad revenue sharing and gives users the opportunity of increasing that sharing to 99% depending on how many articles they write, comments made, referrals and followers. This chart gives a description of how their tiered revenue sharing system works.

– Infobarrel: Infobarrel offers an initial whopping 75% ad revenue sharing right from the beginning and they offer contests once a month where users have the opportunity to increase their revenue sharing to 90%! Check out this article explaining Infobarrel in more depth to learn more about them and see if they would be a good fit for you.

– Hubpages: Hubpages has been around for a while and they have created a strong brand/google ranking for themselves so they can get away with only giving 60% ad revenue sharing. Sign up here!

These are some other revenue-sharing sites that are more popular but there are many more: Bubblews, Writer Town, YMIdoingthis, Redgage, DailyTwoCents, and Ehow.

2. Create your own blog/Niche Website:

Another great way to make a passive income off of your content is to host your own blog or niche website. Instead of using a revenue-sharing platform and forfeiting a percentage of your ad revenue, you get to retain 100% of all ad revenue generated from your website. As mentioned previously, the downside to creating a blog or niche website is that you have to create your own brand, do your own marketing and manage your own hosting and ad revenue account (Adsense, Chitika, etc.) This means that to monetize your website, you will have to get your own Adsense or Chitika account, which can be difficult. However, these days you can create a blog for free through wordpress.org or just use Tumblr, Blogger or any of your social media accounts and monetize your content using VigLink! The best way to make the most money is to choose a blog or niche that contains a keyword that is searched often in Google so your site can receive free search engine traffic. Also, it is recommended to promote your website on social media to begin your gathering of a following. I found this site useful in helping to find niche ideas.

3. Publish content:

One of the best ways to bring in a passive income is to publish your own content. Luckily, these days it has gotten very easy to publish your own content which makes it great for all levels of experience. Yes, it can be difficult to create content, but the upside is that you only have to do it once and it can earn you money forever! These are the most common types of content publishing:

– Ebook: Publish on Amazon

– Podcasts: Publish your podcast with Apple

– Online Course: Create your own online course through Udemy, or find your own on host and publish your course on your own website.

– Iphone/Android App

4. Investments:

Another great way to earn some extra money is through investments. You do need to have some initial money to begin investing, but most people have some sort of savings and you can put your savings into an investment that can earn you money! There are many different investments and each one depends on how risky of a person you are. Stocks are the most risky, but have the highest reward. If you are a conservative person then I would invest in bonds, CD’s, money market accounts of savings accounts. Either way, you can earn some extra money in the bank from interest. Remember to invest in these things:

– Stocks (with dividends)

– Bonds (Corporate and Government)

– CD’s, Money-market account, and savings accounts

5. Peer- to- peer lending:

Peer-to-peer lending is another way to earn interest on your money. These are websites that connect people who are in need of a loan to people who want to loan out their money and earn interest. You can earn a higher interest rate on these peer-to-peer lending sites because they are more risky (you don’t know if the person will pay you back). Here are some of the most popular sites:

– Prosper

– Lending Club

6. Rent out your property:

This is a great way to make some cash, but it does require some cash up front. Luckily, these days there are endless amounts of things you can rent out depending on how desperate you are. You can rent out your couch, parking spot, electric tools, car, pets and even your toilet. Also, renting out your apartment or house is an option but this can be a more expensive route and might have more problems than you would expect.

7. License Photos or music:

Last, collecting royalties on your music or photos is literally the best way to make passive income. This is the true meaning of passive because you only have to produce it once, and then you can sell the same copy of it forever! It can be difficult to license out your music because you have to be talented and have the equipment to make your song sound like a professional recording. However, it is a lot easier to make a passive income for photographers. Photographers might not make as much money, but it’s something anyone can do that has a camera. The sites listed below are commonly used to sell your photos on, and they are free to sign up for!

– Istockphoto.com

– Gettyimages.com

– Shutterstock.com

I hope this article has helped broaden your imagination of what different ways you can make passive income! Let me know if you have a great way to make passive income that I didn’t list.