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There are a few ways to make money writing online. Residual income writing sites are one, but do they really offer passive income?
When it comes to residual income writing sites, you’ll hear a lot about how they offer passive income opportunities. Passive income is when you’re making money by doing very little. In fact, you’ll make money doing nothing at all.
Is it really possible for any form of writing to be passive? Book sales are more of a passive form. I wouldn’t say residual income sites are all that passive. And I say that as someone who makes a lot of money via them.
You need to add new content to residual income writing sites
One thing to make note of is the amount of time you need to put into the sites to keep the content fresh. If you let a website just remain stagnant, it’s not going to keep bringing in the money. Okay, it make trickly in a dollar or two each month, but it’s not going to be a lot.
I do write this from experience. When I keep adding new content to writing sites, I can pull in thousands each month. When I allow the old content to just trickle in the views, I only make a few dollars. It is a downside of writing at these sites.
You need to keep promoting on social media
Passive income is supposed to be the sort that you make while you sleep. You’re supposed to be able to do nothing at all and keep the money rolling in. That’s not possible with residual income writing sites.
Even when you get viral articles or blog posts, you still need to do some work to market your content. You’ll need to get onto social media to promote your stuff and then engage with people as you do it. You can’t just ignore your readers. That’s just not the way this all works.
You can set up schedules for your social media. There are tools out there to do it, and there are tools like MissingLettr* that will allow you to set up yearly campaigns so your content is always going out. These still require some work and maintenance to set up, so your income isn’t passive in the way that dividends or some other options would be.
Passive income requires no effort
Something to remember about passive income is that it requires no effort. That’s not the case with residual income writing sites.
If you want truly passive income, you’ll buy stocks and let the dividends roll in. Or maybe you’ll get into real estate and rent out a property. Yes, there is some maintenance on the property, but you can hire people to take care of that. You can sit back and allow the money to come in.
Residual income writing sites require work. Sure, you’re not the one doing the website maintenance, but you’ll need to write the content, publish it, get the images and links, market it, and keep it updated. Residual income and passive income are not the same thing.
MORE: Why you need a niche on revenue share writing sites
What do you think about blogging and residual income? Are you looking at revenue share writing sites? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
