Passive income is when you generate money with little work after an initial investment or some type of initial labor on your part. After that, you basically check for updates, errors and changes, but there is no real work on your part. For those of us who work at home there are a number of programs that help you earn money through this process:

1. Affiliate Programs
2. Pay Per Click Programs
3. Advertising Programs

Being an affiliate is when you advertise and sell on behalf of another company. You earn a commission for your sales. Affiliate programs can be used on blogs or websites. You can sign up for affiliates for almost anything, including eBay, Amazon, AT&T Wireless, etc. One of the main sources on the internet for affiliates is Commission Junction.

For eBay there is a unique affiliate program called the Bump Script. Use this on your own website. The script provides spaces for sellers to advertise their eBay listings for free. You can also add listings. If someone makes a purchase by clicking on that listing you get the referral from eBay. You can see this in action here.

Pay Per Click programs include Google’s Adsense, Bidvertiser, and maxfeeds to name a few.

Advertising programs are when you sell either text or banner ads on your website or blog. You can do this directly or through other sources such as LinkWorth.

Passive income sources require upkeep. Always keep in mind that you do have to advertise your website and get traffic to your blog. Semi-passive income would be more of a way to describe this means of making money.