Well, I’ll get directly to the point, a blog is not passive. At least not in the first 3-5 years. However, you should start a blog for passive income tomorrow.
I have been blogging for exactly two years, which has changed my life. Having a blog is like creating a clone of yourself, who continues to work even as you sleep.
The long road. Blogging is anything but easy money. Imagine you are setting up a lemonade shop in the middle of the desert, right off the main interstate.
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At first, no one will stop, but as people travel, they will remember your shop. Eventually, more and more people will stop by, and word of mouth will spread.
Setting up a shop on the internet is a daunting task. So, how on Earth do you get people to stop by your blog (lemonade stand) and discover your content? The answer is slowly.
Find your voice. Nobody is going to stop by at first because your content will suck. No matter how much you believe people care about your life, they truly do not.
People may care a little about your coffee and sleeping habits once you have a solid audience (maybe 3-5 years later). At first, you’ll need to focus on your distinct voice and content that makes you different.
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How do you find your voice? You have to write a lot of content. I dedicate this article to the writers of the world. If your intent is solely to monetize your blog, thousands of other articles exist.
Be a writer. The monetized bloggers will tell you to do affiliate marketing and sponsorship. They advertise their blogs and try to become bigger and bigger.
If that is you, that’s not a problem. There is a place in the world for bloggers of all types. I do not want ever to outsource my blog to ghostwriters.
I take my content seriously and want it all to be my work. I follow bloggers for their voice. I look forward to reading their views on topics and their specific perspective on life. That’s why I choose to stay a smaller blogger.
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That is why I write every day. If you want to generate this much content, you’ll need to refill your content void in your mind constantly. That means you must consume many books, articles, and videos. Always continue to educate yourself, and you’ll never run out of content.
The slow grind. I have published over 900 articles on my site over two years. This content is slowly growing search traffic. By slowly, I mean “slow as hell.” But, that is okay because I prepared for this reception.
The book “The Passive Income Myth” helped me understand the true nature of blogging. You do most of the hard work upfront and let time do the rest. Then, all you have to do is add content from time to time.
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Yesterday, I had 11 visitors from search. Yes, eleven. Remember that a year ago, I didn’t even have eleven visitors from search in a month. The power of compounding is impressive, but it does take time.
This search traffic is the key to your passive income. While you wait for the search engines to rank you higher, just keep generating content—here’s why.
It’s all about authority. Most bloggers don’t tell you that it takes authority to rank on search engines such as Google and Bing. There are two types of authority; article and domain.
Article authority relates to a specific article’s ranking and importance. You’ll probably have one piece that starts to show consistent traffic at first. I have an article that brings in 2-3 visitors daily, which is an enormous win.
Domain authority relates to your entire website. Once Google and Bind recognize that search visitors click through multiple pages around your domain, they will view it with more respect.
As your domain gains more respect and prominence, your rankings across all your articles will slowly grow. “A rising tide lifts all ships.”
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It takes a long time to grow your domain and article authority, but you’ll have to stick with it. This is why most people give up; they think they will get significant traffic in the first 3-5 years.
The long game. Don’t start a blog for income today, do it for income tomorrow. Think of it as a retirement nest egg. If you stick with it, you will grow an audience. It’s almost impossible not to succeed in this field if you commit fully.
It took me 15 months to earn my first $100 from Google ads. My next payday of $100 will take five months. Eventually, I’ll make $100/month, then $100/day. The money is there; you’ll just have to understand it is a long game.
Additional income. Blogs can lead to fantastic revenue streams over time. Affiliate marketing can become a massive driver of income from your blogs.
An excellent way to make affiliate income is by reading and reviewing books. I think every blog should have a book review section. It not only drives traffic but also gives you more credibility. Most people cannot finish a book, let alone 100. Reviews allow you to stand out among the crowd.
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Once you have even a small audience, you can offer even more products for sale. You can sell T-shirts, online courses, and books. And it all comes in passively.
You write an article about your new product and publish it on your blog. It sits and slowly makes you sales. Maybe one day, Google will send it traffic, and your numbers will quadruple overnight. You’ll never know until you try.
Content is king. The best part is you are creating content that you can repackage any way you want. You can turn your blog content into books, podcasts, and videos.
You can publish to other sites like Medium, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. You can start a Facebook group where you can publish content that people can interact with directly.
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It’s essential that you publish evergreen content. This means your content doesn’t have a shelf life; it is always valuable.
For example, if you talk about how McDonald’s stock will increase tomorrow, your blog post is good for one day. Your content is good forever if you talk about why you should invest in dividend-paying stocks (including Mcdonald’s).
Always take a step back and identify the true intent of what you are trying to say. You will grow faster with current topics, but writing like this is the meat grinder. You may as well go to work.
Conclusion. Starting a blog is like opening a Roth IRA—it should be your retirement plan. Your blog can easily bring in $3,000 to $5,000/month in passive income. However, it may take five years to achieve this level of income.
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Are you willing to grind away your life for five years to have the most passive income outside dividends? That’s what I am doing, and it is an amazing experience.
I challenge myself every day to write and create, and I also get to look back at all my 500+ books. Building my portfolio is one of my life’s most significant accomplishments, and I love the challenge of writing.
If you have grace, you’ll do fine in this endeavor. I appreciate every page view, like, and download. Someone took the time to read my words, which is something to treasure.
In the end, blogging is about you and your journey. How do you want to spend your 40s and 50s? Starting a blog in your 20s will give you enough income to retire early and live the laptop life. That’s if you can endure the first five years. Good Luck!
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