In the tech industry, web developers top the list as some of the most talented professionals. However, finding a high-paying job that meets your needs can be challenging. Getting a part-time job or working freelance are both good options for procuring additional monthly income. However, there are ways to earn passive income for web developers that are far more efficient and beneficial.
If you’re a web developer searching for passive income strategies that will help you earn more money while allowing you to keep your day job, then you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ve compiled a list of the best and easiest passive income ideas for web developers. Use your web development skills to start making a passive income today.
What Is Passive Income?
Passive income is money earned in addition to your active income source, with less effort, maintenance, and micromanagement. This is different from the active income that you earn from regular jobs, tips, and commissions. According to a publication from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), there are two kinds of passive income activities. The first is a trade that you don’t directly participate in, and the second is rental income activities.
The idea is to create a product, service, or business that may take initial effort, but over time the income generates on its own. Passive income strategies are a great way to supplement your current source of income. Earning extra income can be allocated to savings funds or kept as a safety net in case of job loss or emergencies.
Passive Income Strategies for Web Developers: Types of Passive Income
Before you begin to explore possible income streams, you need to choose your niche and study the projects you want to invest in. Investing both time and money is essential in kickstarting your passive income idea. Most importantly, that time you invest should be devoted to studying the trade. Below are three types of passive income streams you can explore.
Trade and Business
You can generate passive income through an existing business or product. There are many options to explore, including dropshipping, stocks trading, lending, and using a current hobby to earn extra money. The advantage of trade and business is that the income potential is big, and with a bit of luck, you may even find yourself making more from it than your regular job.
Rental and Leasing
You can explore this passive income option if you have existing land, extra apartment space, or any vacant property you can set up as a rental place. You can also look into real estate crowdfunding, flipping properties, and real estate investment trusts (REITs). The advantage of renting and leasing is having a steady and predictable monthly passive income stream.
Digital Goods and Online Marketing
Being a web developer, you have an advantage because you have knowledge on many aspects of the online sphere. You can maximize your web design skills to earn more money through digital products and by participating in content marketing services. These include assets that you can sell or put online to generate money. Some examples are ebooks, websites, or Youtube videos.
10 Best Passive Income Ideas for Web Developers
1. Blogging
Creating a monetized blog is a great way to make passive income. With your web development skills, you can make a sleek, user friendly blog site for people to explore. Internet users are constantly Googling for information, and your blog can provide them with the answers they’re looking for. There is plenty of room for monetary growth in this niche, with the most popular blog sites earning millions of dollars per month.
2. Ebooks
It has become easier to make ebooks with tools like Canva, Adobe InDesign, and Kindle Create. If you have publishable, quality content, you can create ebooks to sell online on sites like Amazon and Kindle. The bulk of the effort comes from making the ebook, but once it is published and marketed, you will make money from every sale.
3. YouTube Videos
If you’re more of an audiovisual type of person ready to make a time investment, you might consider creating a monetized YouTube channel. YouTube’s AdSense program allows you to earn money from businesses buying ad spaces on your videos. To become a YouTube Partner, you need to grow your channel to 1,000 subscribers with 4,000 public watch hours on your video content.
4. Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a low-risk investment to sell items online. The process requires you to contact a supplier who offers a dropshipping business model, promote their items online, and wait for customer orders. When an order is placed, you pay your supplier who ships the items directly to your buyer. You don’t need to shell out money for inventory or overhead costs.
5. Build and Sell Websites
Maximize your web development skills by creating stuff you know best. You can create website templates and sell them online on sites like Templamatic, BuyStockDesign, FlashDen, and Sitepoint. You can also explore Flippa, a platform where you can sell apps, ecommerce stores, blogs, and other online businesses.
6. Website Leasing
Website rental or leasing is often a great option for startups or businesses with limited resources since it costs less than hosting your own site. As a web developer, you can offer this service as a package, which includes creating and designing the site, hosting services, and providing ongoing maintenance of the site.
7. Print-On-Demand
If you are a designer or a digital artist, you can offer a print-on-demand service. Use your creativity to provide tarps, invitations, posters, book covers, and merchandise designs. You can work with a supplier to minimize your operational costs. You simply provide the designs online, and the client gets them printed and shipped to their desired location.
8. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing requires you to create online promotional content for affiliated products to encourage online sales. After joining an affiliate program, you get paid for every purchase that comes from your affiliate link. To create an effective affiliate marketing campaign, you need to have a strong online presence and be able to target a specific niche.
9. Online Courses
Use your web development and design knowledge to teach and offer an online course. Creating educational content may take a lot longer than some of the other passive income ideas, but the payoff can be significant. You can use online learning platforms like Udemy, CodeSchool, or Treehouse to sell your courses.
10. On-Demand Apps
If you have a background in mobile app development, you can invest time in developing and building a mobile application and monetizing it through downloads and in-app purchases. You may need to upgrade it from time to time to sustain the interest of your users, but this is a great passive income for those who are passionate about app development.
Other Ways to Make Extra Money as a Web Developer
- Offer freelance web development services. Use your free time to offer web design, website creation, and web maintenance services. You can do this part-time and offer your services through freelance platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and GitHub.
- Power tools and equipment rental. If you have power tools or equipment like lawnmowers, drills, grinders, and ladders, you can rent them out to earn extra money. It’s a great way to maximize your tools instead of just letting them sit in the garage.
- Real estate crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is pooling together investments from several people to purchase commercial properties. The chosen property should have the potential for a fix-and-flip, or be able to generate income from leasing or rentals.
- Vending machines. You can purchase vending machines and place them in high-traffic locations. Secure the appropriate licensing permits, buy different types of products to stock the machine, and you’re ready to start your vending machine business.
- Property rentals. You can use property rentals as passive income if you have an existing property that you can renovate, refurbish, and rent out. There are different types of property rentals, including residential, commercial, industrial, vacant land, short-term lodgings, and vacation rentals.
How to Make Passive Income for Web Developers
Passive income for web developers can range from marketing, ecommerce, rental properties, and web development-related services. Web developers can easily earn six figures by choosing the most suitable passive income stream that they can manage with their skill set.
Passive Income for Web Developers FAQ
Web developers are in high demand and have a 13 percent job growth projection between 2020 and 2030. As ecommerce continues to expand, traditional businesses are transitioning to a digital operational format, causing the demand for web developers to steadily rise.
Earning $100,000 as a web developer is possible when in the right industry sector and job position. The three highest paying industries for web developers are software publishing, financial investments, and credit intermediation.
Programmers can sell their services and digital goods. They can offer freelance web development services or online programming tutorials, build a blog about coding, or create open source coding tools.
Web developers can make a lot of money by being self-employed with multiple streams of income. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 18 percent of web developers are self-employed. By being self-employed, they have more income-generation opportunities, specifically through passive income streams, and are able to offer their services at their preferred rate.
About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication.
