“Passive income” are two of the sweetest words in the English dictionary. I don’t know anyone who would say no to money coming in every month without having to actively work for it! Passive income ideas are all over the world wide web and the opportunities are ripe for the taking!

That said, most people don’t build passive income streams because they simply aren’t willing to make some time and money sacrifices when first starting out. Anything that’s going to provide a long-term source of income is going to take work. Tons of work. Especially at the start.

We live in a culture that glorifies instant gratification. We’ve never had things so fast and readily available before. This is bad news for most people as we get hooked on getting what we want in an instant. But you bloggers, you’re different. You build platforms that give you a voice in this wacky world. You create content that compels and builds trust in your brand.

But here’s the problem…

You spend all your time on your blog. So much so that you don’t have time to do anything else. You need to shake things up and I’m going to show you five key components to a systematized blogging business.

Let’s get started!

Outsource Your Daily Tasks

You know those menial tasks that you spend hours on everyday can be outsourced to somebody for a few dollars? Admin tasks eat up precious time you could be using to create more content for your readers.

Write down how much you spend on each task related to your blog and see if it’s something you can outsource for a small hourly fee.

Recently, I needed some help with a broken link building campaign I was running. If I did all the work myself, I would have spent four hours a day on that task! Instead, I paid someone $15 a day to do this for me.

It’s worth mentioning that $15 was a lot for this person in their local currency, so this isn’t anything unethical. You can find freelancers for all sorts of work on platforms like Upwork and PeoplePerHour.

Leverage The Right Business Model

The right business model is the difference between succeeding and failing in the blogging world. Many people still assume that running display ads on their blog is a viable way to generate income. And yes, you can make a few hundred dollars a month from this, but it’s not going to change your life.

If you really want to build this thing into a five or six figure business, you really only have two options…

Use affiliate marketing or create your own product.

Both of these strategies can generate some incredible results. I’ve seen bloggers make six figures a month through both methods. Most people start off with affiliate marketing because you don’t need to create your own product from scratch. Instead, you align yourself with products/services that you love and promote these in exchange for a commission.

Automate Your Sales Process

We all know about the power of email marketing, but do you follow-up with your leads or close them over the phone? 

When it comes to higher priced products that cost thousands of dollars, people don’t usually flip out their credit cards and fill in the blanks. There’s usually a consultation process. For example, one of the products we promote is an “entrepreneur incubator” which teaches people how to transition from the corporate world to become a self-accountable (and successful) business owner.

Within this training platform, there are various tiered levels of membership. Some of this training costs thousands of dollars. All we need to do is send our leads an email, pick up the phone to book the client, and the system does the rest when it comes to high-ticket offerings. Then we receive commissions on all the sales.

This is a powerful way to automate your sales process above and beyond email nurturing.

Select The Right Traffic Strategy

The strategy you choose for traffic can make a huge difference to your monthly costs and profit margins as well as your ability to automate!

If you’re running Facebook ads to get eyeballs on your page, you’re going to be constantly tweaking things on the Facebook side to maximize your ad spend. My personal favorite strategy is good ol’ fashioned SEO.

Sure, it’s really tough at the start, and it’s a long game, but the rewards are totally worth the work. Once you find an effective promotional strategy and win those top rankings, you’ll be reaping the benefits for years to come.

Find The Right Products

It’s no use promoting things to your audience that you don’t believe in yourself. Authenticity is a palpable thing. And if you’re trying to push certain things to your readers and subscribers, they’ll know.

Sticking with the theme of affiliate marketing, there’s a dizzying array of products and services to promote. Enough to find awesome things to promote in almost every industry. Spend time researching affiliate programs in your market to find the ones that suit you best. Most affiliate programs are free to join but the commissions levels can vary widely.

I hope this short and sweet guide has given you some interesting takeaways for you to think about. Blogging can be an extremely powerful way to connect with people all over the world and share your inspiring message. It can also be almost fully automated and provide a gateway to true financial freedom.