Passive income is not so "passive"

What is passive income?  It sounds great.  Who doesn't want to do nothing and earn money?  Well to be honest, as the saying goes, there is no free lunch.
Passive income requires some up-front leg work, no matter what type of passive income you would like to earn.  Traditionally, book/movie/music royalties, product endorsements and referrals, and others are thought of as "passive income".  However, you have to have written a book/piece of music or starred in a movie to begin with...  only then you can start earning this ‘residual' income.  The same is true with the web.  You can put advertising on you blog, or add affiliate or contextual advertising, ask your users to subscribe for a fee, write an ebook, or even take donations.  But you are not going to make much money if you don't do the work that needs to be done. Marketing!
So is it worth it?  Well yes and no.  Just like any opportunity, you have to evaluate whether or not there is a market for the topic/service/product you have a website for.  My students at BCIT are full of energy when it comes to this.  From websites for dogs (www.breedadvisor.com) to services post cosmetic surgery (www.justgotem.com) to selling underwear (www.thepantyshop.ca) the students have come to realize that their dreams of building an opportunity for themselves takes more ‘marketing' work than they anticipated.
Generally speaking, web popularity=success.  Unfortunately popularity doesn't come from sitting back and counting users.  Our first month working with The Naked Truth netted us $50 of ‘so-called' passive income.  But I can tell you, hundreds of hours have been logged by the Media FX Group team.  So you might think that we've failed.  But no, actually this is a real success, because we have laid the ground work.  The bug is in people's ears, and potentially with very little work we could sit back and collect our $50/mo.  That's not our intention however.  We believe that we can make more money per month than I would be willing to share with you (publically).  So with a few more months of hard work, we eventually hope to sit back and watch the money roll in. 
So how can you or your company take advantage of this potential income?  Certainly, if you are creating content, like blogs or videos, you may want to take your production to another level.  Create a report worthy of paying a fee for.  Instead of a online video model, create a documentary available only on DVD.  As far as advertising, or donations and affiliate programs, if your company supports it here are some great places to start:
 

• Google Adsense - www.google.ca/adsense
• Affiliate Programs:
  • Amazon - https://associates.amazon.ca
  • Many other product websites. There are simply too many to mention - in every industry.  From hotels/travel, dating, online businesses, health, and more.

 
In many CMS ecommerce utilities like Drupal, Magento, and Magento, you can install modules that allows you to issue affiliate links to your partners. When anonymous users follow these links, the clicks are counted by affiliate, day, and sometimes keyword.  When referred users sign up for an account, the account is associated with that affiliate.
Let's assume you write a blog for cancer survivors and want to "sell a popular existing book" that you would recommend to your readers.  If you sing up for an affiliate program through Amazon, you can make a commission of 8.5% -- every time someone clicks on that link embedded on your website.  Amazon actually sells the book, but you are their partner in the sale.  Sounds great right!  But remember, if you don't have the hits (enough visits on your website from users), the less likely someone will purchase the books you recommend.
The reality is, this income is a great way to supplement your traditional income, for your organization or for yourself.  There are a few dramatic success stories out there, but for the rest of us, if we can create content (a website) that generates any meaningful income beyond its intended purpose, that's a success - for you, your organization, and your users.