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How The Smart Passive Income Blog Makes Money
Smart Passive Income blog and podcast for online entrepreneurs, now owned by Liz Wilcox
How did The Smart Passive Income Blog monetize?
Summary of the sourced claims below
The Smart Passive Income Blog monetized through multiple revenue streams including sponsorships and partnerships, affiliate marketing, course and training sales, advertising revenue, recurring subscriptions, and one-time product sales. Sponsorships and partnerships involved actively pursuing deals with brands willing to pay for targeted reach, while affiliate marketing was a significant income source through commissions from promoted products. Advertising revenue was generated by hosting ads on the blog and podcast, including host-read ads and dynamic content insertion. The blog also sold online courses and training, offered recurring subscription services, and earned income from one-time product sales such as eBooks and guides.
Revenue sources
9 sources · grouped by how The Smart Passive Income Blog makes money
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Advertising revenue
· 7 mentions · 7 sources“So the first thing I did was I put AdSense on the site. I remember that this was a big moment for me...I just put AdSense on my site. I had some code that kind of auto generates some advertisements. That day, I had made like $1.18, or the next time I checked online, I had made $1.18.”
highShow 6 more quotes
“You can monetize a niche site in multiple ways, such as selling your own products, putting up advertising, or recommending affiliate products. ... YouTube Adsense”
medium“I added some Adsense to my blog and immediately saw results. The results weren’t spectacular and clearly not enough to make a living off of, but seeing an extra $2 to $5 a day for doing practically nothing was the most amazing feeling in the world.”
high“It is providing ad revenue. We're at a point now where we're making $35,000 to $50,000 a month on ad revenue alone on YouTube.”
high“Dynamic content insertion: ART19 may use limited data that they know about you ... to change parts of the audio. The Smart Passive Income Online Business and Blogging Podcast may do this for advertising or for other forms of content, like news stories.”
medium“Pat Flynn from The Smart Passive Income Blog reveals all of his online business and blogging strategies, income sources and killer marketing tips and tricks so you can be ahead of the curve with your online business or blog. ... It's a mix of interviews, special co-hosts and solo shows from Pat y...”
medium“This show has an estimated 68.9K audience size, runs 93% host read ads and promotes 96% of ads for direct response advertisers.”
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Recurring subscriptions
· 6 mentions · 6 sources“So they changed from selling one-off courses to creating a community-powered membership experience that helps members create even more progress. ... we have built a robust framework of learning journeys ... with their innovative All Access Pass, students can embark on a seamless learning journey ...”
highShow 5 more quotes
“Recently, however, she joined Pat’s subscription service SPI Pro, through which she learned that he uses a social media platform for creators called Circle.”
high“There are paying members of the YouTube channel who pay a small monthly fee to just support the channel like a Patreon type of deal on YouTube.”
high“From building an in-house team to creating stable recurring revenue, Matt and I share a full look at the steps that led up to this moment!”
medium“We also get into what makes a creator business sellable, including building systems, community, recurring revenue, and a brand that can thrive beyond its founder.”
medium“Well, it actually started by first practicing best business practices, which was building it to sell, meaning, you know, the big book and building it so that if something were to happen to me, that's why I had structured the business in a way where it focused on community and recurring revenue an...”
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Affiliate / referral commissions
· 6 mentions · 6 sources“Lately, my affiliate income has matched and surpassed that amount, although I am currently working on some more products of my own. The only difference between the two forms of income is that one comes from a product that I created myself, and the other are products that other people have created.”
highShow 5 more quotes
“people are more than happy to go through my affiliate links, which means that if they go through those affiliate links and make a purchase, I get a commission. So I don’t even have a product to sell on the Smart Passive Income Blog, but I’m generating about $40,000.00 a month from it.”
high“Affiliate marketing is when you promote a product and receive a commission for each sale (or other conversion event) made through an affiliate link that’s unique to you. Flynn has mastered affiliate marketing, with 63% of his December 2017 income coming from this category.”
high“Then there's merch and I'm an affiliate for some products here and there.”
medium“Affiliate links: This page links to Apple Podcasts. We may receive a commission for purchases made via those links.”
high“his original work established him as a leader in affiliate marketing and podcasting”
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Sponsorships & partnerships
· 6 mentions · 6 sources“This episode was sponsored by Coveron. One scam can cost you everything. Protect yourself now. The first 100 users get 20% off with code smart20 at coveron.com/smart20.”
highShow 5 more quotes
“Podcast Sponsorships: $3,389.00”
high“There are sponsorship spots within those videos that now command five figures per spot.”
high“This episode was sponsored by Coveron. One scam can cost you everything. Protect yourself now. The first 100 users get 20% off with code smart20 at coveron.com/smart20.”
high“Shawn has spent the last 15 years building and evolving his business, from an ebook and sponsorships to his flagship Focus Course, masterminds, retreats, and eventually a completely new direction.”
medium“Case Study: Brand Partnerships”
medium -
Course / training sales
· 5 mentions · 5 sources“we've been building our all access pass and it's been really really amazing to see thousands of people come into a program to get access to all of our courses but you know it's not just the information like we were talking about earlier that they need it's the accountability the support the guida...”
highShow 4 more quotes
“Course Sales: $41,849.98 ... After listening to his audience, Flynn decided to beta test his first full-fledged online course, which would go into more detail about the process”
high“most of our flagship courses are still led by Pat Flynn, and I am also working on creating some new business courses. Pat is the teacher for many of the audience building related courses. He joins live for the celebratory kickoff event at the beginning of these accelerators and tries to make it t...”
high“Shawn has spent the last 15 years building and evolving his business, from an ebook and sponsorships to his flagship Focus Course, masterminds, retreats, and eventually a completely new direction.”
medium“you'll learn about building authority online, email marketing, building a team and outsourcing, content marketing, podcasting, search engine optimization, niche sites, social media strategies, how to get more traffic, creating online courses, affiliate marketing, and productivity tips”
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One-time / lifetime deals
· 3 mentions · 3 sources“After spending about 2 months writing my eBook, I finally launched it and earned $7,906.55 during the first month, ... after introducing an audio version of my guide, I peaked in March of 2009 grossing over $30,000 in one single month.”
highShow 2 more quotes
“I eventually got to a point where I published a book for the site. A study guide...I published that study guide – it took about a month-and-a-half to create – I had generated $7,905.88, I think it was.”
high“Book Sales: $2,246.50 ... Flynn earns income from these books he’s written: Let Go ebook (Amazon Kindle) Will It Fly? ebook (Amazon Kindle) Will it Fly? Paperback Will It Fly? Audiobook”
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Physical products
· 2 mentions · 2 sources“FoodTruckr.com earned $1,625.54 in December 2017 from two products: How to Start a Food Truck guide Food Trucker Growth Kit (upsell)”
mediumShow 1 more quote
“Then there's merch and I'm an affiliate for some products here and there.”
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Licensing
· 2 mentions · 2 sources“Now he’s able to make monthly recurring revenue from his Smart Podcast Player licenses, bringing in anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 a month.”
highShow 1 more quote
“Pat Flynn from The Smart Passive Income Blog reveals all of his online business and blogging strategies, income sources and killer marketing tips and tricks so you can be ahead of the curve with your online business or blog. Discover how you can create multiple passive income streams that work fo...”
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Add-ons & upsells
· 1 mention“He and his team ended up creating a second version of the player, and then he started getting requests from people who wanted to know where they could get it. That’s when he realized it was a good business opportunity. Now he’s able to make monthly recurring revenue from his Smart Podcast Player ...”
high
How 2,312 businesses make money
Of businesses with mapped revenue sources, the share using each —
The Smart Passive Income Blog’s highlighted.
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Recurring subscriptions61% ◀
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One-time / lifetime deals28% ◀
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Services & consulting27%
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Physical products24% ◀
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Affiliate / referral commissions15% ◀
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Course / training sales12% ◀
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Add-ons & upsells11% ◀
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Usage-based fees10%
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Sponsorships & partnerships9% ◀
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Advertising revenue9% ◀
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Marketplace commissions5%
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Licensing2% ◀
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Donations & tips2%
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Setup / onboarding fees2%
