Every online dream begins with the vision of opening your email box and “like magic” the money comes rolling in. It's true -- building a passive income is your key to earning more money without working harder. While it's unlikely you'll earn millions overnight, building a passive income is a smart way to supplement your existing income. Here are some ideas for how you can build an automatic income source for your online business.



AFFILIATE PRODUCT PROGRAMS

Affiliate programs allow you to earn income selling other people's products. There are literally THOUSANDS of affiliate programs that you can sign up for in every category imaginable. Whether you are interested in selling ebooks, toys, magazines, or kitchen utensils, I guarantee there is a shop in that category with an affiliate program.

Here are some criteria to use when selecting an affiliate program. Choose a quality product that you personally believe in. You need to actually try and buy the product yourself. This allows you to personally buy into what's great about the product so you can write a killer personal testimonial. Additionally, try to find products that offer higher than average commissions. Why work your buns off selling a 5% commission product, when you can sell one that offers 30, 40, or even 50% commissions?

If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. You can investigate a company by Checking them out with the Better Business Bureau in the business' native state. http://search.bbb.org/search.html

CREATING YOUR OWN INFOPRODUCTS

What is your secret to success? Success sells, and if you have your own personal method to getting there, others will pay to hear it. That's why ebooks on how to succeed are topping the sales charts. Ask yourself, “What you know that is special, unique, and could help others?” The answer to that will make a successful infoproduct.

=> Do you know how to:

fix something, find something, save something, do something more quickly, do it better,

do it more efficiently, do a greater amount of it, do it with greater quality, do it less expensively, do it more easily, do it more often, be happier doing it, do it automatically, or more effectively, take existing knowledge and apply to a new situation

CREATING YOUR OWN SYSTEM OR SOFTWARE

Franklin Covey has created a whole income by showing others the secrets to his prioritization and organization. He packaged his methodology and sells the tools, classes, and equipment to help people achieve those same results. http://www.franklincovey.com. Do you have a unique form, software, or process that you use that makes your work easier? Document your process, find a developer to package your software, or package your process as an infoproduct, cd, teleclass, or ecourse.

RESELLER OF SERVICES

As a businessperson, your customers will often ask for recommendations for reputable service companies. This puts you in the perfect position to earn commissions reselling those goods and services. Make a list of all the services your customers use. For example, as a web developer my customers use hosting, merchant accounts, shopping carts, newsletter broadcasting services, and domain name vendors. Here is a list of the top 50 reseller programs to get you started. http://www.webaffiliateprograms.com/

PARTNER COMMISSIONS

Do you recommend consultants services to others? Often my customers need assistance with proofreading, multi-browser compatibility testing, copywriting, virtual assistance, and animated graphics. I have sought out partnerships with companies in these key areas. When I refer a client to them, they pay me a referral fee and vice versa. Who do you know that you could create similar deals with?

ADVERTISING SALES

You may be sitting on valuable real estate and not even know it. If your web site gets lots of traffic or you have a popular ezine, you may be able to earn income through advertising sales. Some ideas for how to package your advertising packages can include banner ads, text ads, sponsorships, partnerships, paid classifieds or business directory listings. Another ideas is to create “co-branded” paid or free ebooks with advertising space.

REFERRAL NETWORK

Think about who your audience is, and then ask yourself, what other types of professionals have the SAME target audience. By creating your own referral network, you can charge businesses to become a member and agree to promote them to your audience. This is on the idea of how the 1-800-Dentist concept works. Dentists pay a fee to be part of the dentist network. When someone phones 1-800-Dentist asking for a dentist in their area, they look at their list of dentists and match you up with one bearing the qualifications you are seeking. Then 1-800 Dentist gets a small commission from the dentist for sending them a qualified customer.

For an idea of how this can work in a web application, you could create a preferred network of web developers. Web developing companies pay a small fee to be included in your referral network. Then offer an area on your site where people can search to find a web developer in their area. When a visitor signs up with one of the web developers in your network, you get a commission.

THE PAY PER INCLUSION CLUB

If you are an expert in your field, you can create a community where others can learn your secrets to success. By offering a free level of membership, you can allow visitors to poke around and see that you know your stuff. Then you can offer them a paid membership to your member's only section. Internet Marketing Challenge is one such community built by Internet Marketers geared toward the aspiring entrepreneurial crowd. CoachVille by Thomas Leonard is another community built for the business/personal coaching audience.

SUMMARY

According to Think and Grow Rich, the wealthy of the world are people who have a brilliant idea that has changed the world. I believe that those who resell those brilliant ideas will become rich. Take advantage of the power of passive income and you too can be working less and earning more!