In terms of passive income ideas, this one's a pretty cool choice and the question isn’t whether you’ll make a million (it's unlikely, sadly), but whether you need to be a coding ninja. The surprising answer is: nope.
How to build an app
If you’ve got a functional app in mind (i.e. it 'does something', or extends built-in messaging, camera or system tools) you’ll need to speak some kind of computer lingo – or, find someone who does and split your profits.
Until then, MIT’s free browser-based App Inventor lets you drag and drop 'building blocks' instead of churning out code.
If games are your thing, it’s possible to create professional apps – from Sonic-style endless runners to Angry Birds-esque physics puzzles – with next to no coding.
You’ll need to get your hands on a 'game engine': a bit of kit that helps you design, develop and deploy apps right from your desktop.
There are several out there, including a free app called Unity, which is drag-and-drop friendly and supports multi-platform publishing (build once and launch to iOS, Android and PC at the same time – a must if you want to maximise potential sales).
How to make money from apps
You can make money by charging for your app, having in-app purchases (extra lives, hints or episodes) or by running ads.
However, you’ll lose a chunk of each sale in store fees – and for Google Play and iTunes, you’ll need to pay a developer fee upfront to list your app.
While you don’t need to be an uber-geek, it helps to be an avid app user for the market you’re going after. Having a couple of cross-platform phones/tablets is handy – but there are plenty of ways to test on virtual devices if not.
Take note of what you don't like about the apps you regularly use, or if there's a feature that isn't already out there. Finding a niche is hard, but it could be your way into earning the big bucks.
If you’re serious about making money while you sleep, you’ll need to push at least a couple of apps out there.
Affiliate marketing
How does affiliate marketing work?
Affiliate marketing-based websites are basically sites or blogs that plug products and businesses on other sites for a cut of the sale.
You need to add special tracking links on your own website, or pop 'em out through social media. If someone follows your link – and buys the item – you get a referral fee.
Best of all, you don’t need to faff about with storing and shipping the products, as the stores take care of that themselves.
Affiliate marketing has the potential to become significantly more than a passive earner for you, but you’ll need to invest a lot more time and effort to get to that stage.
Loads of retailers have affiliate programmes – a quick Google will set you on your way – but if you join a network, you’ll only need to sign up once to get access to a range of stores and products. This means you'll spend less time clicking and more time making dollar.
It works well if you’ve got a site, store or social account that already has some traffic, and if the products you’re linking to tie-in with your existing posts.
Post reviews on your blog for anything you buy online and include 'buy now' links. Or add a page for a 'bookstore' featuring your favourite titles and the reasons you rate them.
Good reviews are to-the-point and tend to include relevant details about what you liked about the product and why it's worth buying. It should be more than a single paragraph, but not so long that you lose your reader to sales jargon.
