IM for me is not Passive Income

42 replies
well at least from what I can see.

maybe if you have a great list full of eager buyers who trust you, then maybe it can be passive.

I thought once I had a couple Amazon sites up, it would passive "smooth sailing" from there. wrong!

haha.

i have to pay an outsourced seo guy to keep my site at it's current spot. maintenance fees is basically what it boils down to.

don't get me wrong I'm making on good months, nearly double what I'm spending on seo maintenance but I wouldn't exactly classify it as passive income....
#income #passive
  • Profile picture of the author lisakleinweber
    If you're not actively working in it, it's passive. I know what you are saying though - it's still a lot of work - but anything and everything is. Even doing nothing but managing your money is work. It takes time and attention.
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    • Originally Posted by lisakleinweber View Post

      If you're not actively working in it, it's passive. I know what you are saying though - it's still a lot of work - but anything and everything is. Even doing nothing but managing your money is work. It takes time and attention.
      Too true.

      Even rental real estate isn't passive income. You can hire a property manager, but you still have to manage the manager and make top-level decisions.

      Investing isn't passive. I just read a report from TIAA-CREF that said the broad stock market last year only returned 1%. That got my attention. One per cent. Contrast that with the risk inherent in stocks. Wow. You should get a higher return for higher risk.

      I have a list I try to mail out to twice a month, takes me only a few minutes to set up -- but any sales I make aren't passive income. I worked for them. I sat here and dreamed up new enticing offers.

      You want passive income, find a rich relative who'll set you up with a trust fund. (You'll still have to manage the money, though.)

      fLufF
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      • Profile picture of the author StunningWarrior
        Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat View Post

        Investing isn't passive. I just read a report from TIAA-CREF that said the broad stock market last year only returned 1%. That got my attention. One per cent. Contrast that with the risk inherent in stocks. Wow. You should get a higher return for higher risk.
        I know this isn't the main point of the thread, but since stock investing is one of my specialties in the offline world ...

        If you expected to ALWAYS get a higher return then it wouldn't be higher risk would it? It would be lower risk.

        You expect to get a higher return over the l-o-n-g term to compensate for the risk of under-performing in the short term.

        And yes one year is very short term.

        If you invested in the S&P500 in 1964, your inflation-adjusted return to 1979 INCLUDING reinvested dividends would be negative. That's losing money over 15 years.

        Now back to the subject of Internet Marketing ...
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  • It will only be truly passive once you are generating traffic to your offer in a hands off manner such as SEO, or PPC.
    In both cases you will need to be well setup and optimized with a solid sales funnel.

    I have a site that is getting a consistent stream of around 4,000 highly targeted visitors a month from Google, and as a result is making consistent sales. For me this is completely hands off now.
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  • Profile picture of the author Zack Lim
    Work is involved if we want to get good results. But the key thing is whether we want to do the work by ourselves or we will outsources the work to other people.

    I have seem people who operate successful business offline because they have a system in the business operation and it can still be running without the person being involved.

    Haha I think at the end of the day, it all boils down to whether we willing to bear the bear the cost of getting other people to do the work and whether we have found the right guy to do the work

    Zack
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  • Profile picture of the author eshapard
    Originally Posted by redstanford View Post

    well at least from what I can see.

    maybe if you have a great list full of eager buyers who trust you, then maybe it can be passive.

    I thought once I had a couple Amazon sites up, it would passive "smooth sailing" from there. wrong!

    haha.

    i have to pay an outsourced seo guy to keep my site at it's current spot. maintenance fees is basically what it boils down to.

    don't get me wrong I'm making on good months, nearly double what I'm spending on seo maintenance but I wouldn't exactly classify it as passive income....
    If you're out-sourcing the SEO and that's all you have to do, it sounds pretty darn passive to me.

    What's your complaint? Is it a lot of work to hire this guy or something?
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  • Profile picture of the author WriterWahm
    The income might be passive but you can't be passive - once you become passive about your money then the competition takes over. But I understand what you're saying. The work never ends but it can scale down.
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  • Profile picture of the author cstrouse
    I count my Amazon sites as passive enough though I outsource most of the site building and maintenance process on oDesk. It takes me no more than 15-20 minutes each day to manage my two outsourced helpers.

    The trick is in finding good talent who understands what you need and to develop processes to make their job go smoothly and the way you want it done. If you just dump a task on them without proper training and setting the proper expectations of course it won't be passive.

    Also, if you choose contractors based on how low their price is you'll usually pay a premium in hassles and micromanaging costs. I pay no less than $5/hr and try to use Eastern European workers and it's been smooth sailing. My setback has been a lack of funds to keep them busy building me sites!
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  • Profile picture of the author feliciayapsl
    Initial hard work is to be expected. After the hard work is put in (building sites, & linkbuilding), it's considered passive income for me. I have sites that I have built 1 year ago and is still making me money till this day
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  • Profile picture of the author Ben Armstrong
    Originally Posted by redstanford View Post

    well at least from what I can see.

    maybe if you have a great list full of eager buyers who trust you, then maybe it can be passive.

    I thought once I had a couple Amazon sites up, it would passive "smooth sailing" from there. wrong!

    haha.

    i have to pay an outsourced seo guy to keep my site at it's current spot. maintenance fees is basically what it boils down to.

    don't get me wrong I'm making on good months, nearly double what I'm spending on seo maintenance but I wouldn't exactly classify it as passive income....
    If you have money left over after you pay your SEO guy and you do absolutely no work on the existing sites then that is passive.
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  • Profile picture of the author marcuslim
    I think once you have a well-oiled machine, you can make it become passive by outsourcing people to keep maintaining it. Once it gets to the point where all you are doing is maintaining and keeping it going, then outsourcing is the key to making things truly passive.
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  • Profile picture of the author virtualconsultant
    Passive Income does not mean being completely ignorant about an existing website.

    "Passive income" means you are getting a continuous income with out actively working on any website. But, you need to keep it in up-to-date condition and should be aware of the present market scenario in your site niche. You should not forget about the site if you want to get passive income from it for a long period of time. Then again, who does want to ignore or forget the website bringing in a steady flow of income?

    And in IM, you may sell your fully profitable website at a sky rocketing price and make some fortunes for all the labors of hard work invested for so many days

    Thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tenzho
    For me, Passive income means you are not working on the project. If I am outsourcing the task, all I have to do is pay that my worker. That is passive income for me.
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    • Profile picture of the author WarriorDiscount
      Originally Posted by Tenzho View Post

      For me, Passive income means you are not working on the project. If I am outsourcing the task, all I have to do is pay that my worker. That is passive income for me.
      that`s absolutely right
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  • Profile picture of the author WarriorDiscount
    or you can get a jackpot in internet marketing and then build a Mc`donald for your asset
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  • Profile picture of the author IMSince2003
    Originally Posted by redstanford View Post

    well at least from what I can see.

    maybe if you have a great list full of eager buyers who trust you, then maybe it can be passive.

    I thought once I had a couple Amazon sites up, it would passive "smooth sailing" from there. wrong!

    haha.

    i have to pay an outsourced seo guy to keep my site at it's current spot. maintenance fees is basically what it boils down to.

    don't get me wrong I'm making on good months, nearly double what I'm spending on seo maintenance but I wouldn't exactly classify it as passive
    income....
    If you don't think that's passive, then try owning a deli
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  • depends on what you thin it's passive if i'm on a boat or plane and get paid from IM that is passive enough for me at least. so it depends on how you look at it, what is passive for me might not be passive to you
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  • Profile picture of the author Ryan David
    Passive income means it takes little effort to maintain. It doesn't mean it takes no effort to maintain.

    Besides, what's the difference? If you're happy with the return you're getting for the time, who cares if you consider it passive or active?
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  • Profile picture of the author Curtis2011
    Originally Posted by redstanford View Post

    well at least from what I can see.

    maybe if you have a great list full of eager buyers who trust you, then maybe it can be passive.

    I thought once I had a couple Amazon sites up, it would passive "smooth sailing" from there. wrong!

    haha.

    i have to pay an outsourced seo guy to keep my site at it's current spot. maintenance fees is basically what it boils down to.

    don't get me wrong I'm making on good months, nearly double what I'm spending on seo maintenance but I wouldn't exactly classify it as passive income....
    If you have to pay someone to do your SEO (I'm assuming you pay for him to maintain a link network pointing to your site), then you are doing SEO wrong. Or at least, doing it without a focus on passivity in the first place.

    If you build permanent links to your website, and optimize your content when you first create it, then you will not have to maintain someone else's link structure pointing towards your site.

    Or, alternatively, if your website generates more revenue than the cost of the link structure, just set up the payments to automatically go from site revenue to SEO expenses.

    I do this with a website of mine: It earns about $200 in ebook sales per month, which is deposited into a Paypal account. Paypal then automatically pays the $5 fee to e-junkie each month, which is my ebook delivery system of choice.

    Therefore, yes it is costing me money each month and requires constant payments, but the system is set up so that it is still passive in nature and even 1 sale per month will allow the payments to continue without any problems.
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    • Profile picture of the author StunningWarrior
      Originally Posted by Curtis2011 View Post

      If you have to pay someone to do your SEO (I'm assuming you pay for him to maintain a link network pointing to your site), then you are doing SEO wrong. Or at least, doing it without a focus on passivity in the first place.

      If you build permanent links to your website, and optimize your content when you first create it, then you will not have to maintain someone else's link structure pointing towards your site.

      Or, alternatively, if your website generates more revenue than the cost of the link structure, just set up the payments to automatically go from site revenue to SEO expenses.

      I do this with a website of mine: It earns about $200 in ebook sales per month, which is deposited into a Paypal account. Paypal then automatically pays the $5 fee to e-junkie each month, which is my ebook delivery system of choice.

      Therefore, yes it is costing me money each month and requires constant payments, but the system is set up so that it is still passive in nature and even 1 sale per month will allow the payments to continue without any problems.
      So while you do nothing with your website your competitors continue to add content, backlinks and social indicators to theirs. Do you think that your $200 per month will remain at that level as you start to drop down the serps?
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      • Profile picture of the author Curtis2011
        Originally Posted by StunningWarrior View Post

        So while you do nothing with your website your competitors continue to add content, backlinks and social indicators to theirs. Do you think that your $200 per month will remain at that level as you start to drop down the serps?
        Actually my website goes UP in the serps while I do nothing.

        My traffic is higher now than it has ever been, and I've only added like 2 pages to my site in the last year. Not exaggerating: I literally do nothing (except for reply to a few customer emails) and my site brings in cash every month.

        It may help that my site is in a niche that is not very competitive or at least not very well known to people who know SEO.
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        • Profile picture of the author StunningWarrior
          Originally Posted by Curtis2011 View Post

          Actually my website goes UP in the serps while I do nothing.

          My traffic is higher now than it has ever been, and I've only added like 2 pages to my site in the last year. Not exaggerating: I literally do nothing (except for reply to a few customer emails) and my site brings in cash every month.

          It may help that my site is in a niche that is not very competitive or at least not very well known to people who know SEO.
          You're lucky !!! I suspect this is not the case for 99.9% of websites.

          Care to PM me the niche so I can put up a website too?
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  • Profile picture of the author diger
    Passive income, residuals, set & forget, etc.. all sound great and the terms are used wildly to promote all kinds of programs. Actually they all can be realized if a person will work out how to outsource and organize the steps within any program that is being promoted. Now days most leading Programs realize the need to provide their members with leading edge technology to enable their members to be successful. But The members still have get busy to have success.
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  • Profile picture of the author Roan
    I feel the people who are looking for truly passive income are looking for a magic push button that generates cash. You will probably only see real success in IM when you want to build a business and treat it like one.
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  • Profile picture of the author J Bold
    Originally Posted by extemporaneousM View Post

    I have to completely passive online income opportunities that I am having great amounts of success with. They are 100% passive AND...best part...you do not have to do any referring of others to be successful at them. Here they are

    Zeek Rewards

    Banners Broker

    If anyone is involved in either one of these, you know how lucrative and simple they are. If anyone who reads this has no clue about them, well for BB, you can follow the link above to learn more. And for Zeek, just PM and I'll send you a step-by-step guide that explains the company and opportunity as well as how to get plugged in and set your business running on complete autopilot.

    Greg

    So I've removed the link but you've included a disguised affiliate link to a really dodgy-looking program where you simply invest money and you get cash regurgitated out, somehow. All through banner ads! Yay! Easy money, right?

    If it's legit, I'm sorry, but it looks dodgy to me.

    But surely the reason you disguised your referral link is because you know they are not allowed, right?

    So you don't have to refer others to make money at these opportunities, right? So why did you just do that?

    Affiliate/referral links are not allowed in the open forum, obviously, and advertising messages are not allowed in the open forum.
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  • Profile picture of the author WebPen
    Remember what IM stands for- Internet Marketing.

    By itself, no it's not passive income.

    But what if you self publish a great book on Amazon, use IM to get it in front of people, and then it keeps selling well for months or years? That's passive.

    Perhaps you build up a company that offers a service such as backlinks, writing, or web design. Once you have satisfied, repeat clients and you pay people to do the legwork, that's passive income.

    Or you can build an authority site- one that Google doesn't have by the...footer, and get it to the point that it keeps bringing in money day in, day out while your writers keep it updated and tech guy keeps it safe. That's passive income.

    IM- just like anything else- is just a means to get to passive income.
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    • Profile picture of the author zmorris
      So all you're doing is paying someone to do SEO work... that leaves you with 167.5 hours of your week unaccounted for. That sounds pretty passive to me. If you've making a margin on your websites, then maybe you should get more websites running and double your profits.
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  • Profile picture of the author ibmethatswhoib
    I started getting into IM for the passive money dream but didn't work out like that. It's sold as really easy but it does take work. Now I'm used to working pretty hard and enjoy it, eventhough it's not passive I enjoy it. It's possible to get mostly passive income I just haven't got it yet.
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    • Profile picture of the author ShaneGorry
      The rolling Stones still receive passive income for the sale of music they produced decades ago. But why do people still buy their music? Because of all the hard work they and others put into making them the most popular band in the world at the time.

      Sure they had lots of help to get to the top once they got the attention of these who helped make them huge, and sure you'll get a lot further when you can outsource, JV and delegate a lot of the "effort". But how did the Rolling Stones get discovered in the first place? They had to put in the hard work that was required to make them stand out for all the other up and coming bands competing for attention at that time and place.

      Creating passive income may require you to work harder then you would have to in your day job. But even if it doesn't in your case, it will require a big mind shift and a whole lot of learning things that you are not yet experienced in. It also may require you to learn to fail and keep going anyway.

      Good luck.
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      • Profile picture of the author StunningWarrior
        Originally Posted by ShaneGorry View Post

        The rolling Stones still receive passive income for the sale of music they produced decades ago. But why do people still buy their music? Because of all the hard work they and others put into making them the most popular band in the world at the time.

        Sure they had lots of help to get to the top once they got the attention of these who helped make them huge, and sure you'll get a lot further when you can outsource, JV and delegate a lot of the "effort". But how did the Rolling Stones get discovered in the first place? They had to put in the hard work that was required to make them stand out for all the other up and coming bands competing for attention at that time and place.

        Creating passive income may require you to work harder then you would have to in your day job. But even if it doesn't in your case, it will require a big mind shift and a whole lot of learning things that you are not yet experienced in. It also may require you to learn to fail and keep going anyway.

        Good luck.
        And some of the revenue that the Stones get is because their record label continues to promote them. Granted the effect is probably less for the Stones than for many other artists. But the income is not 100% passive.

        But I agree that, in general, musicians and authors are very good examples of creating passive income.
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        • Profile picture of the author ShaneGorry
          Originally Posted by StunningWarrior View Post

          And some of the revenue that the Stones get is because their record label continues to promote them. Granted the effect is probably less for the Stones than for many other artists. But the income is not 100% passive.

          But I agree that, in general, musicians and authors are very good examples of creating passive income.
          Yer my point was that to get passive income you will firstly need to do some and possible a lot of work. I'll bet that almost every big name in the entertainment industry today works a lot harder than most people with a dream of Internet riches could even imagine working themselves.
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  • Profile picture of the author Exel
    It doesn't necessarily have to be passive. Basically, at start when you are learning all
    the new things and implementing them, testing, setting up your pages and what not,
    the work is huge. After some time you learn to do things the easier way, or have
    everything in place so you go the passive route.

    Of course, many marketers (myself included) love their work, and enjoy engaging in
    meaningful activities, so they don't feel need to be passive at all.
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  • Profile picture of the author paul_1
    Accdg to Wikipedia: Passive income is an income received on a regular basis, with little effort required to maintain it

    It still needs a little effort for you to be able to maintain it!
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  • Profile picture of the author kittmulcahy
    I think we all bought into the 4 hour work week too much!! There really is no free lunch, this is a business & it needs you to work in it or on it from time to time. But if you look at the alternative, you could be working a 60 hour work week & making the same amount of money.
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  • Profile picture of the author paul nicholls
    hey red stanford

    building affiliate sites is a great way to go but i wouldnt exactly call it a passive income because you dont have any control over your traffic

    you may try your best to rank high but google hold all the keys to your income so it will never be passive IMO

    however if you had a list then yeah you would have a much more solid income which would be passive

    once you have people on your list its a great leveraging tool which is the backbone of your business and then it doesnt matter what update google makes or anyone else you will still have the core of your business. So the next time theres a massive update and hundreds of people go out of business because loss of rankings you can sit there and laugh because you know you have a solid business set up

    affiliate sites are great but dont put all your eggs in 1 basket especially when it comes to SEO

    paul
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  • Profile picture of the author Brian Tayler
    Kinda like Big Mike said.... If it's passive you're doing it wrong. If you're truly passive it most likely will fail over time anyway. Business is always evolving and growing, and as such so do you. Keep on top of everything and keep involved. Nothing passive about it. But it may become so fun or enjoyable (at least it is for me) that it doesn't feel like you're really "working" at anything.
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  • Profile picture of the author nycbroker
    You gotta have multiple streams of income, that's the key.
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  • Profile picture of the author Usmile
    Maybe you find it passive because you are not working on it that much. If you want to make the most of it, then I suggest you to plan for a long-term strategy and focus on it. it's all about setting a goal and working on it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Elmar
    I wrote a blog post about that recently. IM is just like any business in that its a BUSINESS and requires people running it weather its you or someone else.

    Investing in stocks is passive income because you have competent (or in some cases not) people running the business for you.
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  • Profile picture of the author misstan
    i have tried promote a software programme from clickbank it it rebills every month. the amount is not big but it's still money every month without effort.
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