Due to world economic meltdown, nowadays, everyone including college students seek ways to earn extra income online to match up with the high cost of living caused by global inflation crisis.
In addition, some are without parents/guardians or don’t even have any external source of financial assistance.
Hence the need to sponsor themselves throughout their tertiary education.
So, in this article, we will discuss various easy online passive income ideas that students and beginners generally can leverage on without working to fund their education and well-being.
Without further ado,
Lets jump right in.
But a moment please!
For those who haven’t heard about passive income, what exactly does it mean?
Passive income refers to earning that comes without actively working for it on a regular basis.
It doesn’t require much efforts continuously to generate.
It is different from active income that is about wages, salaries and commissions from employers hourly, weekly or monthly.
Infact, it is this form of income that is best for students so it wont interfere with their studies.
So, back to out topic proper, lets get into serious business.
SPECIAL NOTE: If you don’t have much time to read, feel free to click on any of these category topics that interests you for quick access.
Easy online passive income ideas for students and beginners
Invest In Stocks
Those days, a good number of companies launch initial public offerings where they offer shares of thier stocks to the public(called shareholders) for sale.
Of which at the end of an agreed period(mostly, at quarterly yearly basis), the companies pay dividends(cash) to thier shareholders based on the amount of shares you bought.
The higher the number of shares you buy, the more you are paid out of the company’s profit.
So, how do you earn money here?
- Research and study out a number of companies are doing well in the financial markets and go for those if you are OK with their financial statements.
- Once they make that public announcement, purchase as much shares as possible. Don’t go overboard with it.
- Wait till the period of cashout where you will be paid your dividends.
- Attend AGM shareholders meetings when called upon.
One thing i love about this is that all you need do is to just make some financial investments(buying shares) and when it is time for dividend payment, you smile to the bank.
But it comes with some risks: companies can experience production losses, economic stress can wade in, unforeseen circumstances can occur e.g. Covid-19.
Though this method comes with these risks, it is worth investing into.
NOTE: Carrying out feasibility studies isn’t easy and can be time-consuming hence the need to hire a stockbroker to assist you at a cost if you can afford it.
Create an App
App means Application.
People seek out easiest ways of doing things online and solving problems.
And if you can create an App that offers solution to this, it is a fantastic way of earning passive income.
How?
- Research out areas you can offer to mobile users. it could be browsing out movies/music, navigating locations, playing games, tutoring etc.
- Develop a mobile Application on it.
- Test-run the App to make sure it is working perfectly
- Upload the app unto mobile platforms e.g. google play store, IOS store etc.
- Monetize it by running in-app ads or introducing a nominal fee for download
And as mobile users patronize your app by installing and running it on their mobile devices, you make money when it is downloaded and/or when ads are run on the app during operation.
If you are a heavy mobile user, you must have encountered some sort of it while operating your mobile devices.
There are several places where you can learn how to create mobile apps.
– First, search out on Youtube to watch video tutorials on how to create one.
Lets watch this youtube video by turkmen tech below especially if you are a beginner. It is only 8 minutes long
.
– Secondly, Another is an online marketplace called fiverr where you can hire over a whooping 37,000+ freelancers to help you build mobile apps for a fee as you can see below.
All you need do is to visit this fiverr Link, create your user account to get started.
This link will help you out: How to create your fiverr account
Generally, if your app gains more popularity by getting lots of positive feedback reviews, you are good to go.
Create an Online Course
If you are highly knowledgeable or talented in any skills, don’t you think this serves as an opportunity to teach others and make money from it?
Take a critical look at this image below;
These are individuals who are offering various online courses on topics on various niches such as web design, IT, marketing, software, finance & accounting, graphic design etc on udemy.
So if they are, you can too. Infact, this method can even make you an internet millionaire over a specific amount of time.
So, how do you get started?
– First, there are video creation equipment such as microphone, camera, smartphones, earpiece and video editing software that you can use.
This tutorial of how to create your online video course using this first method puts you through.
– Secondly, there are several course creation software and tools such as podia, thinkific, teachable, learnworlds, learndash, ruzuku etc. that can also assist you on this.
A very prominent one is Thinkific.
Now, after creating your tutorial videos, all that is left is to compile them together and upload on various online course platforms including udemy.
That is all.
Once done, visitors will subscribe to your videos and you earn money automatically even while you sleep.
What can be sweeter than this?
Affiliate Marketing
This process involves promoting/marketing a product on behalf of its manufacturer(merchant) and when a conversion is made, you(affiliate) earn commission(cash) for your promotional efforts.
Such conversion can be in form of sales, clicks, visits etc.
T
his image below perfectly illustrates its cycle.
If you are new to affiliate marketing, I wrote a deep-researched article that covers everything about affiliate marketing specially for you.
The following steps briefly describes the process of affiliate marketing;
- You can choose to go for a single stand-alone product on manufacturer’s website or a multiple of products on affiliate network marketplaces such as JVZOO, Clickbank, digistore, CJ, amazon associate etc.
- Go for the product(s) you wish to promote by applying via its filling up its affiliate form or applying directly. Then wait for your application to be reviewed by the manufacturer.
- After review, if you are successfully accepted, you will be given the affiliate link for your chosen product.
- Promotion! promotion!! promotion!!!
Promote the hell out of it using various promotional methods such as email marketing strategies, Google paid ads, blogging, social media marketing strategies, building high quality backlinks etc. - Once a visitor purchases your product, you earn money.
The more purchases being made, the more money you make.
So, how can a student earn passive income from this form of marketing?
All the student needs is to setup various channels of promotion such as
- doing email marketing
- writing honest product reviews on blogs and content syndication sites
- creating and uploading videos on YouTube
- promoting on social media groups and pages
- create eBooks and upload to document sharing sites
- writing product tutorials
Focus on any, some or all of these promotional methods listed above and allow it to gain momentum.
As time goes on, visitors will begin trickling in, hence sales and eventually earnings.
Covering everything about affiliate marketing is an entire topic on its own, hence this resource covers almost everything about it below;
RESOURCE LINK: How to make money from Affiliate Marketing
Blogging
By setting up a blog(website), you can earn cash online via various means such as;
- Through Google Absense
- Through Ezoic
- By promoting affiliate products
- Writing honest product reviews
- doing sponsored posts
- displaying banner ads
And out of these means, one commonest way of making money passively is through Google Absense.
Google absense is a google-controlled advert network (that you set up on your blog) which displays various adverts across different locations of such blog based on its contents as typically shown below;
And when an action(clicks, sales, impressions etc.) is carried out on such ads, you earn money.
All that is required of you is to choose a particular niche e.g. sports, health, entertainment etc., host a blog online, write high-quality contents and finally set up Google Absense on it.
In case you apply for it and get rejected, Ezoic is a good alternative.
Besides, you can go for both.
But note that there are certain conditions to be met before your google absense request is approved.
Do your research on it thoroughly before applying.
Finally, if you are accepted, its going to be a roller coaster ride all the way while you watch as your earnings grows without doing nothing.
Check out this screenshot showing earnings from google absense from a certain blogger below;
Isn’t this sweet?
Of course, it is.
Invest In YouTube Videos
Just like Google absense, YouTube also has its own advert network called YouTube partner program(YPP)(owned by the same Google) through which you can make money from YouTube
If you watch youtube videos regularly, you must have come across adverts like these shown below;
These are YPP adverts in action and just like absense, you make money online when viewers watch your videos and click on these adverts.
So, how do you go about the whole process?
Simple!
By creating High-Quality Videos that offers great value.
By great value, i mean high resolution videos that offers information-rich content very beneficial to its viewers.
Once you can churn out such videos, your subscribers will increase gradually, hence the more views your videos get.
And as more viewers watch your videos, your earnings increase day-by-day and you could be on your way to becoming a millionaire online.
So, all you need do is to create a gmail account(if you have none), set up your YouTube channel through which you upload your videos unto it.
For a well-detailed step-by-step instructions of how to set it up, visit this article link i created below;
Click this resource link: How to create a YouTube channel and upload videos successfully
Now, after that, there are certain conditions that MUST be met to qualify for the YPP program
- First, follow the YouTube rules and guidelines
- second, grow your channel to over 1000 subscribers
- third, your videos must have be watched over 4000 hours.
Just keep producing and uploading good quality videos and keep promoting until you meet these conditions.
After that, your videos will get momentum on its own, getting more views and hence more passive income to your bank account.
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Sell Photos Online
Check out these beautiful photos below;
First is about animals
Second photo is about ariel view of nature
Can you see how captivating and glamorous these images are.
As a student, this offers you a fantastic opportunity to make money from them.
How?
By getting a very good HD camera, snapping images of interest and uploading them in your user account portfolios on photo sharing sites and have been licensed.
So, when visitors likes your photos and buys it periodically, the photo site pays you from the sales deal recurrently.
So, what is the challenge here?
Make your photos eye-catching and beautiful enough that visitors will find it hard to resist for their projects, business or whatever.
Here are examples of photo-sharing sites: istockphoto, bigstockphoto, gettyimages, dreamstime, alamy, shutterstock, 123rf, depositphotos, 500px and many others.
There are several niche categories you can choose to operate from; be it animals, nature, celebrities, science, religion, Arts, fashion/beauty, industrial, interior, people etc.
Whichever niche/category you go for, get the very best of photos out of it.
Start a Dropshipping Store
Just like ecommerce stores e.g. bestbuy, target, walmart, you too can set up your own online store, fill in up with items from major stores like aliexpress, amazon and resell at your own convenient prices.
A good example is Jumia.
It is an online marketplace that operates in most African countries.
They import items on various niches such as fashion, health, computing, electronics, computing, automobile etc. and resell at higher prices.
The only difference is that they themselves supply directly to customers unlike dropshipping where you forward your customers’ orders to manufacturers who process the order and ship the products to your customers directly by themselves.
This image below better illustrates its cycle for easy understanding;
So, as a student, here is how you carry out the process;
- first, you carry out a deep research of what niche is trending in the consumers, market space.
- Discuss business with your products’ manufacturers, stating your intention to market their products at your own price and forward orders at their own(manufacturers) wholesome prices.
- After agreement, go for products that are hot-in-demand.
- Create your online market store. They are several dropshipping apps you can sign up to assist you. A good App is shopify that offers a 14-day free trial period.
- Add your products’ photos and description in full, understandable details.
- Promote your online store using online and offline promotional methods.
So, when a customer likes a product and places an order, the little work you do is to simply forward such order to your manufacturer and he will take it up from there.
Finish.
CONCLUSION: EASY Online Passive Income Ideas For Students And Beginners
How much passive income can you make online?
There is this general perception that passive income might not be much since it doesn’t require daily efforts.
But with what i have listed above, i assure you it can generate enough to take care of your expenses in school provided you put in lot of work and consistency especially at the initial stage.
A good example is the business of creating an online course which is capable of earning you a substantial amount of recurring income as online visitors subscribe to your tutorial videos regularly.
All you do is to provide updates.
That is all.
And yes, it can make you a millionaire online depending on the type of online business you choose to go for and how feasible it is to attain the million-dollar mark in earnings over a period of time.
Before i round up finally, i want you to note one thing; It is NOT a get-quick-rich kind of scheme.
All you have to do is to make a little investment (depending on your financial strength) alongside some hours, efforts and perseverance.
But trust me, you will reap the result in many folds back; recurring income for a lifetime.
Now, over to you….
What do you think about this list: easy online passive income ideas for students and beginners?
Which of these ideas are you trying out?
What challenges are you facing in school financially as a student?
Or
Do you have any questions about anything related to this topic at all?
Feel free to drop your comments, questions, suggestions, criticisms, analysis and advice
I am 100% available to respond to your comments anytime, anyday.
Thanks for your time, patience, endurance and attention.
Till I see you again in my next post, I remain your online marketing tutor and specialist.
Bye for now.