The idea is great, but during short “investigation” what niche I should choose and which keywords should I pick out,  the basic question appeared: “what kind of site should I create; the authority site or niche site?”

The answer on that question is very important: I don’t have a lot of time to play around with another thin niche site. On the other hand – authority site needs even more effort…

First part of this year clearly show us that we have to really think about our business model – Google Penguin overturned SERPs, Amazon closed down some affiliate programs and turned off some accounts. What’s more – there was a lot of bans in the most lucrative program for niche sites – Google AdSense. And nobody knows why…

Blogosphere was boiling with anger and site owners were shuddering with fear. Do you remember that? Did you lost some traffic or maybe your AdSense account was also banned?

Okay, no more complaints and hassles – lets go to some news and facts.

Last week there was a debate on AdSense Flippers between Steve Scott and Mike Thomas about pros and cons of niche and authority sites. Both of them have their own arguments for and against, but I have the impression that nobody wins this debate…

In this post I want to share with you my point of view about niche and authority sites and my business model. At the end I will ask you about your opinion and your preferences – niche or authority sites?

Niche Sites

Pros:

• easy to set up
• low money investment
• low time investment
• if you have experience it’s almost automatic for you to earn money from it
• you can outsource the whole process
• faster ROI (Return on Investment) –first earnings appear after 1-2 months

Cons:

• in most cases only one source of traffic: Google (you can lost it in minutes)
• in most cases only one source of making money (you can lost it in minutes)
• probably lower ROI

Authority Site

Pros:

• easy to set up
• a lot of possibilities of earning money
• at least few sources of traffic
• your online effort (authority, brand) may be used in the real world
• probably higher ROI

Cons:

• long-term ROI (real money appear after 1-2 years)
• you can’t outsource a lot of tasks related with your authority site
• huge amount of time is needed to establish your authority, social proof and brand

You may be interested in reading: Online Passive Income – 5 Money Making Ideas for Bloggers

Okay, and how about my business model?

As you know (if you don’t know it, please read section about), I have some websites on Polish market – few dozen niche sites (mostly in financial market) and one vortal (also on financial market). It works very well for me at this moment, but unfortunately a lot of traffic comes from Google. And big brother G. may change some rules in the future and … (uncensored words appeared)

On English market NPI (NoPassiveIncome.com) is my first, hopefully not last website. And I plan to make some things different than I did on Polish market.

That means:

I want to create at least two authority sites (including NPI) and around them having about 5-10 related niche sites.

I want to diversify income sources as well as traffic sources also for niche sites.

Traffic for my niche site will come from:

• SEO (organic traffic)
• Mailing list (from my authority site and from separate lists)
• Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, other if appropriate)
• CPC Ads (Google AdWords, Facebook Ads)
• Authority site (posts)

The same will be with income– below you can see main sources of income for my future niche sites

Each niche site will earn money on:

• 2—5 related affiliates programs
• My own e-product (probably ebooks or training programs)
• Ads in CPC model (Google AdSense or something similar)
• Ads in CPM model (only for niche sites with more than 10k page views per month)

I know that this model is very time-consuming and may take about one or even two years to see a results. But it should work. I hope…

And what do you think about it? Please share your business models or all of your opinions about niche, authority sites or my business model in comments below.

You may be a little bit confused – even my domain name tells you, that there is no passive income at all… So, where is the truth?

OK – I’ll reveal you a secret. There is not passive income in Internet! And please read this article very carefully – more than 99% of bloggers doesn’t earn a decent income from their websites (blogs, niche sites and other sites)!

Each time, when you want to earn money online, you must work – sometimes more, sometimes less. And in this post I’ll show you, what online passive income is, what skills you should have as a blogger and five money making ideas for bloggers. These concepts don’t need a lot of time, sometimes you can forget about your online business for some months (so they are ALMOST passive, but not passive!), and, for this reason, they are ideal for bloggers.

But before revealing you these 5 concepts, please let me tell you, what does passive income means for me.

So, passive income means an income generated regularly without any effort. Only effort is (if any) needed at the beginning, when you setup an account in your bank

Examples of passive income:

-interest of deposits

-rent from real estate (if they don’t need active management!)

-royalties (from written books, screenplays, software programs)

-pension (when you retired, you will get some money as a regular, monthly pension)

Online passive income means for me:

• Hard work on the beginning (maximal one month of effort, but you may work 16 hours a day )
• Automation for almost everything, for example purchase, payment, etc. (you should simplify everything as much as possible!)
• Little time for maintaining it (monthly it should be less than one working day)
• Possibility of delegating tasks to somebody else (so you may go for your monthly holidays)

Now you know what passive income (normal and online) means for me. Does it mean the same for you? But let’s go to another aspects of blogging for money

As a powerful blogger:

1)      You are excellent writer (if you are not good writer, please read 10 Article Writing Tips, How To Write Killer Article

2)      You know, how to get a lot of traffic (if not, please read: 8 Helpful Tips, How To Promote Your Blog)

3)      You have a big email list (if not, please read this post 12 Action Steps To Build A Profitable Email List From Scratch by Michael Chibuzor)

4)      You are aware of it, how your blog may be successful (if you are not aware of it, you must read my guest post 3 Vital Tips For Creating A Successful Blog

With above mentioned assumptions, now you are ready to learn 5 Money Making Ideas for Bloggers. All of them, when properly used, fulfill my requirements about online passive income. Here you are:

1. Prepare an online product (for example an eBook)

You can earn money by selling it by yourself, or by creating affiliate channels for selling it. In this case you will share some profits with your affiliates (as commission).

2. Create niche site(s)

Your income will be generated by placing contextual ads on this site. Best choice for contextual advertisement  is Google Adsense, alternatively you may choose Chitika for instance

3. Product site

It is a mix of points mentioned above. You can create online product (it may be eBook as well) for example WordPress Plugin. But you can promote someone’s product too (in that case, you will get commission from product creator. And you sell this product via your optimized website.

4. Use your email list

If your list is enough big, you can try to monetize it through affiliate links, sponsored emails, or paid reviews

5. Make a paid membership site

It’s very simple model of earning – you create great content, limit it only for paid access, and invite your readers (which trust you, that it is worth for paying for it).

If you want to learn more, you may read How To Make Money Online – 10 best ways for doing it!

And how about you? What does “passive income” means for you? Or maybe you have another useful concept how to earn money online?