How to Make $5000 of Passive Income Every Month in WordPress

Are you looking for a low-maintenance side gig to generate some extra income? Selling digital downloads might be the answer.

I’ve been personally selling digital downloads for over a decade. It’s a painless way to make money because you don’t have all the overhead of selling physical goods, and you can set up an online store with little effort using a free WordPress plugin.

Let me share my experiences with you and tell you how you can make $5000 of passive income per month selling digital downloads on WordPress.

Note: Keep in mind that running an online business takes time and requires your constant attention. Selling digital downloads, however, is as close to passive as it gets.

💡TL;DR: Key Steps to Earning Passive Income

• Choose a Product: Select a high-value digital product that solves a problem for a specific niche.
• Set Up Your Store: Use a self-hosted WordPress website and a plugin like Easy Digital Downloads to sell your product.
• Automate Your Workload: Use tools to automate tasks like email marketing, customer receipts, and order fulfillment.
• Use Marketing Strategies: Boost your revenue with proven tactics like offering subscriptions for recurring income and order bumps at checkout.

Why Digital Downloads Are a Great Way to Make Passive Income

You’ve heard the expression, ‘No pain, no gain.’ This means that achieving something worthwhile normally requires sacrifice and hard work.

But what if I told you that you can make money with your WordPress website while you sleep?

That’s passive income.

Passive income is money that you earn with little to no ongoing effort. Think of it like a musician who records a song once. They put in the creative work upfront, but they can earn royalties from that single recording for years to come.

Or selling digital downloads.

Compared with selling physical products, digital downloads are a breeze. There’s no need to keep track of inventory, no running out of stock, no need to hire storage space or workers to manage it, and no shipping and handling.

Like everything, it requires a little setup. You’ll have to create or obtain the files you want to sell. And you’ll need to set up a WordPress website and install an eCommerce plugin.

Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is one example of a plugin designed specifically for digital downloads. It lets you get started for free, and you can purchase extensions to add the features you need as you grow.

Once your online store is set up, you can continue to sell your digital product over and over again. So, the money you make will require very little ongoing effort.

You can even use automation to save time and effort and make the income truly passive.

How Much Passive Income Can You Earn With Digital Downloads?

The amount of money you can make by selling digital downloads varies a lot, depending on your skills, experience, and the type of digital products you are selling.

When starting out, it’s typical for beginners to make just a few hundred dollars a month in initial sales.

That being said, in time, it’s not uncommon for established sellers with a loyal audience to achieve $5,000 or more per month.

For example, Emily McDermott started by selling business document templates and made an impressive $700 in her very first month.

By focusing on her product and audience, she grew that income to over $7,000 per month in just three months, all while working only a few hours a week on her store.

The potential doesn’t stop there. Top earners make tens of thousands of dollars each month. But this is rare and will take more effort.

This extra work may take it out of the ‘passive’ income category. But with that sort of revenue, you’ll probably want to spend more time working on your online store anyway.

A number of our Easy Digital Downloads customers have achieved this. For example, Set Sail Studios has made $236,000+ selling fonts, and Escape Room Geeks has made $390,000+ selling printable escape room kits.

Are you interested in making this kind of passive income? Your first step is to decide on a digital product to sell.

The Best Types of Digital Products for Passive Income

The best digital products are ones that your customers find incredibly useful and are willing to pay for, but that you don’t have to constantly update.

They should generate a profit and line up with your business niche. Potential customers will only buy your digital download if it solves a problem or meets a need.

A unique product in a specific niche will help you stand out and attract an engaged audience. Here are some of the most popular types of digital products that don’t require ongoing effort:

• eBooks: If your blog contains a lot of useful information, then you can easily repurpose the content as an eBook. You can create multiple books based on specific topics or your most popular posts.
• Online Courses: You can bundle your expertise into an online course. This offers more value than eBooks but can take more time to set up initially.
• Simple Software: While complex plugins require support, a simple software program or web application that solves a common problem can be perfect. You can even use the EDD Software Licensing addon to automate activation.
• Business Documents & Templates: Many people will pay for useful business documents and templates. This could include legal templates, project management spreadsheets, or presentation designs.
• Digital Art & Graphics: If you have design skills, you can sell digital art, printables, Canva templates, or unique fonts like Sam Parrett from Set Sail Studios.
• Stock Photos: Photographers can create and sell stock photo libraries for businesses and bloggers to use in their content.

The types of digital products that can generate passive income are endless. For inspiration, you can read about the pros and cons of many categories in this post on the the most popular digital products to sell on the EDD blog.

How to Reduce Your Workload With Automation

When making passive income, you’ll want to be as hands-off as possible. In my experience, the best way to do this is to use automation to work smarter, not harder.

Luckily, you can get your website to perform many routine tasks automatically using automation.

These include email marketing, social media, customer service, admin tasks, and more. It’s simply a matter of choosing the right automation tools and setting them up correctly.

If you are using Easy Digital Downloads, then the software will automatically email purchase receipts and order confirmations to your customers. You can even personalize your automated eCommerce emails, leading to increased customer engagement.

Using some extra tools, you can also automate your email marketing. This means that instead of writing emails manually one by one, you write them just once and set up triggers based on user activity to personalize the emails and send them automatically.

Sending targeted emails based on what a customer has viewed or purchased is far more effective than sending the same generic email to everyone. It feels more personal and leads to better results.

You can set up the triggers using the FunnelKit Automations plugin for WordPress and send out the emails using a top email marketing service like Constant Contact.

Additionally, you can use automation to reduce cart abandonment. By offering incentives and reminding visitors about their forgotten purchases, you will be able to build customer loyalty and encourage future purchases that contribute to your passive income stream.

For example, OptinMonster‘s exit-intent technology will watch the user’s mouse to determine when they are about to leave your website. It can then automatically display a popup just in time, offering an incentive to complete the visitor’s purchase.

There are plenty of other automated workflows you can use while selling digital downloads. To learn about the best automation tools, see how to use eCommerce automation to save time and money.

Marketing Strategies to Boost Your Passive Income

I mentioned earlier that you can get started selling digital downloads by using the free version of Easy Digital Downloads. Let me introduce you to some paid marketing tools and add-ons that can help you make even more passive income.

In my last guest post, I talked about how order bumps are one of the best ways to encourage customers to spend more money on digital downloads. This is when you offer the buyer extra or upgraded products during checkout.

This is a great strategy when you are selling multiple digital products. You can automatically add order bumps with the EDD cross-sell and upsell add-on to boost your sales.

For example, if you sell music downloads and a customer purchases a song, you can offer them the option of purchasing the entire album while checking out. They may appreciate the suggestion and make the larger purchase.

Alternatively, if you are selling your digital products through WooCommerce, then you can see this tutorial on how to create an order bump for WooCommerce.

Another strategy is to turn a one-off payment into ongoing income by offering subscriptions or recurring payments.

This is a good strategy when you are selling online training or access to cloud-based software. Subscriptions allow your customers to avoid a large initial bill and bring in ongoing revenue to your business.

Subscriptions are easy to set up with the EDD recurring payments add-on. And because it’s an automated system, you will get fewer late or missing payments.

Frequently Asked Questions About Passive Income

Here are answers to some questions that I get asked frequently:

How much does it cost to start selling digital downloads?

The initial cost can be very low. You can start with a basic web hosting plan and use free software like WordPress and the free version of Easy Digital Downloads. Your main investment will be the time it takes to create your digital product.

Is selling digital downloads truly passive?

It’s as close as it gets. There is upfront work to create the product and set up your store. But once it’s running, the sales and delivery are automated. You’ll only need to spend minimal time on marketing and customer service.

What are the most profitable digital products?

This depends on your niche and skills. However, products that teach a valuable skill or solve a common problem, like online courses, specialized software, and professional templates, are often very profitable.

I hope these tips help you make passive income from your WordPress website. You may like to see some other guides related to making money in WordPress:

• How to Sell Ads on Your WordPress Blog (Beginner’s Guide)
• How to Make a Classified Ads Website with WordPress (Step by Step)
• Proven Ways to Make Money Online Blogging with WordPress
• How to Raise Money with Crowdfunding in WordPress
• How to Accept Recurring Payments in WordPress
• Tips to Grow Your Business Online (Without A Lot of Money)
• How to Easily Create a Coupon Site in WordPress

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