Can you earn passive income with photography? You certainly can. This post is going to give you some ideas on how to get started earning passive income from your photos, or the gear you use. If you want to get started making an income online now watch this How To Make Your First 10K Online free video.
What Is Passive Income?
While some people hear passive income and think “oh, well that’s income you get from doing nothing!” That is not really true.
Some initial work is required, and perhaps even some occasional work to make sure everything is running smoothly and set up correctly.
However, when you compare it to getting up every morning, driving to work, spending 8 hours of your time helping to further someone else’s lifestyle and business – then it is definitely a lot more passive than that?!
It’s also a lot more rewarding, as you get to do a lot more of what you want to do but still have money coming in.
How Can You Bring In Passive Income With Photography?
There are many ways in which you can start earning a passive income with photography. Let’s look at a couple of options….
1. Print-On-Demand Services
These are websites where you upload photos, they are displayed as being available on various products, and are then sold to customers when they order. When an item of yours is sold, you earn a commission on that sale.
Once you have uploaded your image and made sure it looks good, then your work is done.
They handle the advertising, so you don’t really have to do anything else. This can turn into a really nice income if your photos are good and start selling regularly.
My favourite print-on-demand service is Redbubble. There are a number of reasons why I recommend it to you:
- A huge range of products
- Top-quality printing
- Great customer service
- 14 years in business
- You set the commission you want
That last bullet point is perhaps the most appealing thing about Redbubble. You can set your commission at whatever you like. You have to make sure that you keep your products at a competitive price, however it really is up to you. A lot of other print-on-demand services don’t offer this.
2. Affiliate Marketing
Do you use photography products that you absolutely love? Do you have a favourite camera backpack, or lens? You can earn money by promoting the products you use and love. This is affiliate marketing.
Once you sign up as an affiliate, you will receive special links that you can share. These links contain code that tracks you as the initiator of the sale, and you get a small commission. The amount of commission depends on the company.
A lot of businesses have affiliate programs nowadays. No matter what product/software/service you use, there is most-likely an affiliate program for it.
For example, let’s say that you have done a few photography courses on Creative Live. If you go to creativelive.com and scroll all the way to the bottom, you will see “become an affiliate”. You can sign up to promote Creative Live courses if you click this link.
You can use this method to find most company’s affiliate programs. Scroll to the very bottom of their Home Page and look for “become an affiliate” or “become a partner”.
If you don’t see any text like this, simply contact them. Email and ask if they have an affiliate program. Sometimes they may have one but just not have it visible on their website.
Where Do I Share My Affiliate Links?
Links can be shared on social media, via email, or on your own website.
If sharing on social media, do be careful. Some sites don’t like spammy-looking links. You might consider attaching the link to an image using AnyImage, or use a link shortener like Bitly to shorten the links.
The best thing about affiliate marketing is that you don’t have to feel like a pushy car salesman! You can approach it like you are just someone recommending a product to a friend.
Start out sharing your affiliate links with family and friends. This is good practice and they will certainly share your links with others.
An Affiliate Program Like No-Other
If you are getting excited about affiliate marketing then read my Make Money With Photography Online blog post. This will tell you about an affiliate program like no-other that pays high-ticket commissions.
This Takes Time
If you are thinking you are going to get rich super-fast with affiliate marketing – think again!
This is going to take time. You need people to trust you before they will buy through your links. To gain their trust, you first have to let them get to know you.
This is where social media can help. If you have a Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, or Twitter account, then you are off to a great start.
Begin posting about the products or services that you’re going to sell. Don’t put your links up straight away, just talk about how much you like the product/service.
Slowly get your social media tribe used to hearing/seeing you post about the product/service and soon they will be asking you where they can get one!
Remember to build that relationship and trust first.
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