I’ve been a web content writer for several years now. I love the work, and I enjoy working with my clients and being able to call the shots in my own business. In many ways I’m living a dream that I held for years when I would go to work each day and plop down in my chair in my cubicle in jobs that I did not enjoy but I felt at the time that I had to do them to pay the rent and feed my children.

When I first started out doing web content development and ghostwriting for clients I began to feel like maybe I had traded my 9-5 for yet another dead-end situation because I was still trading time for dollars, but I was not getting paid sick days or vacation days. As time went by I kept my eyes and ears open to the opportunities that were available to me as I learned more about Internet marketing and making money online.
I learned that as a web content developer I could begin to start earning a passive income by writing articles much like the ones I was writing for my clients and publishing them online and getting paid a share of the advertising revenues that the content generated for the site. Now, in addition to the valuable service that I provide to my clients, I am also investing in my future income by maintaining a portfolio of blogs, and writing and publishing content that I get residual payments on month in and month out after having done the work once.
Here are a few ideas for generating passive income for freelance writers:
Blogging
Blogs can generate passive income in a couple of ways:
Ad revenues: Through programs like Google AdSense or other contextual ad programs you can receive a check each month from the ad revenues that your content generates.
Affiliate marketing: Promoting products that would appeal to your blog’s audience and getting paid a commission when your visitors click on your affiliate link and purchase a product.

Content Sharing Sites:
You write and publish original articles and publish them on these and several other content sharing websites and then get paid monthly for a portion of the ad revenues.

• Hub Pages
• Associated Content
• Helium

Product Creation:
You can create your own product and offer it for sale on your website. This could be an ebook about a topic that you have some knowledge or expertise in, an audio program or a how-to video series. You create the product once, and you continue to get paid for it each time you sell a product.

The trick is to schedule time each week to write and submit content either to your own blogs, or to the content sharing sites. It takes several articles before you start generating more than a few dollars a month, but the good news is that as long as the content is on the site you will keep getting paid.

I welcome you to subscribe to my RSS feed, or get blog updates by email. Keep on writing.

Photo credit: Jay Lopez

When visitors land on your website you’ve got mere seconds to grab their attention and get them to stick around to see what you’ve got to offer. Most people will not buy what you have to offer on their first visit to your site, but if they like what they see, you want to seize the opportunity to open up a dialogue with them so that they can get more comfortable with you and learn what you have to offer before they click that “Buy it Now” button.

So, your goal should be to get your visitors to sign up for your email list so that you can continue the conversation with them. In order to entice and encourage your visitors to give up their contact information, you’ve got to answer the “What’s in it for me?” question for them. What do you have of value to offer them that will give them that will whet their appetite for the products and services that you can provide?

This is basic content marketing at work. Content marketing seeks to woo prospects encouraging them to become customers who continue to come back for more because you have both demonstrated the value of what you have to offer them, and you have made the effort to develop a relationship with them.

The key to successful content marketing is to consistently deliver valuable and relevant content that meets your prospective customers needs. It is not thinly-veiled marketing materials–otherwise called spam. Rather through the content that you offer you are establishing your expertise and authority in your subject matter and industry. Through your relationship building efforts you are creating an environment of trust that could lead to higher customer loyalty.

It is easier than you think to create your own free product to give away to your website visitors, and in today’s post we are going to take a look at some creative ways you can quickly and easliy come up with a product to give away to generate leads and build a responsive email list.

Here are some ideas for giveaway products:

• eBooks

• A video series

• An audio series

• An email e-course

For each of these products you will begin with an outline. You can create a mindmap to brainstorm for ideas and then arrange them in outline order.

If you are going to create an ebook, chunk it down to a series of short articles strung together with an introduction, a table of contents, logical transitions and a conclusion that summarizes the materials and presents the next steps that you want your reader to take. A give away ebook does not need to be more than five to eight pages long. You will deliver on the promise made in the title of the book, but remind them that if they want the complete picture they should visit your website for more in-depth information.

If you don’t like to write, or if you think you’re not a good writer, you can record what you want to say in your ebook and then have it transcribed. Sign up for a free conference call service that records calls. Dial in and create your recording, and then find a transcriptionist through any of the online freelancing websites such as Odesk.com, or Elance.com. There is an online transcription service called, speechpad.com where you can call a phone number, speak your message into the phone and then the audio is transcribed and sent to you in an email.

For a video series you can use the outline that you created to write scripts or storyboards if you are making slide-show videos. Having a plan in advance makes gathering the information and shooting the videos take less time and effort.

With audios, your outline will help you to stay on topic when you are recording your messages. If you want to get fancy, add a bit of bumper music at the intro (fading in) and out-tro  (fading out). Be sure to include a short blurb at the end of your audio inviting the listener to visit your website.

An e-course can be easily put together from a series of ‘how-to’ articles. Load the messages into your email auto-responder service and then stagger delivery of the messages every few days. At the end of each message, point your readers back to your website.

Once you’ve got your product created, you can either hire a graphic designer to create an e-cover for your product, or you can make one yourself quite easily and inexpensively here: http://bit.ly/ecovermaker.

The final step is to upload your product to your website and create a link to the download page. Grab the opt-in code from your auto-responder program and if you have a WordPress blog you can add a new text widget to your blog’s side bar, and paste the opt-in code along with your e-cover image into the widget and then click ‘save’ and then ‘close.’

You should add a bit of descriptive copy above the opt-in box that tells the visitor what they will get when they subscribe to your email list. Better yet, create a short intro video that describes what they will be receiving.

Remember, this is not a marketing piece. You are offering them something of value in exchange for their subscribing to your email list. At the end you can include a call to action that directs them to your website to find more information and resources about your products and services.

If you’d really like to have a custom made lead generation product that you can upload to your website or blog to showcase your content and build your contact list, but you just don’t have the time to create one yourself, contact me and I will create one for you.

Have you created an awesome free product to give away to visitors to generate leads? Please leave a comment with a link to your site so that we can take a look.

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Please take a second and watch this video and leave a comment if you would. Thank you!

After spending more time than I should have searching, I came across this product called, Create Your Own eBook Covers with Free Software. It sounded intriguing so I took a closer look. This product is basically a step-by-step eBook that walks you through creating your own professional looking eBook covers. It’s literally click here, do this, do that and voila! you’ve got your own eBook cover. The ebook also comes with a series of instructional videos and design templates, so you are literally ready to go as soon as you download the product.

I made a quick video to show you how I created my first eBook cover using one of their templates and following the instructions that came in the package:

A bonus that is included in the product is a series of instructional videos that show you how you can make money by offering this product to your website visitors or email subscribers in the same way that I am sharing this fabulous find with you.

So, to recap, when you purchase the Create Your Own eBook Covers with Free Software product you will receive an eBook that walks you step-by-step through the process of creating your own professional looking eBook cover using software that won’t cost you a dime, ten instructional videos that walk you through all of the steps, a set of design templates, and bonus videos that show three different ways to generate some income with this product.

Given the fact that I successfully used this product and I can attest to the fact that it does what it promises, I recommend it to you to try when you just can’t afford to hire a graphics person to create your eBook covers for you.

We’ve all heard stories of people making boatloads of money online by selling information products. Yet for most people making their first $100 would make them very happy. You see, once you make your first $100 the next $100 is much easier.

One of the best ways to develop your first information product is write a report. The best part of all is you can charge anywhere from $5 – $25 for the report! In some cases, even more.

Before I get into more on reports I want to explain what information products are. Information products include books, CDs, MP3s, white papers, reports, teleseminars, webinars, Podcasts, etc. In the Internet context, the term refers to electronically deliverable, knowledge-based products.

Anything that contains knowledge and you can deliver it electronically is considered an information product.

One of the easiest (and quickest to create) information products around is a report. And yet, many people have no idea where to start, how to market and how to turn their information into profits. Let’s start at the beginning.

There are ample benefits to creating low priced reports. Nowadays, many consumers would rather pay a few dollars for a fast solution to their problem than have to search around for the information (even if it’s free).

It doesn’t matter what topic, market or industry, reports are a great way to provide solutions to readers and generate great revenue with very little work.

Reports are also a great way to build your opt-in subscriber list. Most people have heard, “The gold is in the list.” This is so true. With a good opt-in list of subscribers you can literally make money at the press of a button.

Reports are so easy to create that you can often do so with little or no money out of pocket. Sure, there is time involved, but when you consider that you can generate hundreds (and even thousands) of dollars in revenue from a 10 – 20 page plus report, the time invested is worth it.

Because your reports will be delivered electronically, there are no storage costs. With physical products you have to keep inventory on hand, find a place to store them and often watch them collect dust. This won’t happen with online reports.

After the initial costs of developing your report, there are literally no additional costs to continue selling them.

With the right systems in place you can generate excellent revenues fast, easy and with what seems like the press of a button.

Kathleen Gage, The Street Smarts Marketer™, is an Internet marketing advisor who works with spiritually aware speakers, authors, coaches and consultants who are ready to turn the knowledge into money-making products and services. Visit http://budurl.com/zmkr for her report on how to develop money making reports.