My Unique Passive Money Maker Method as a Developer

OK, so from the beginning let me introduce myself…

Hello! I’m Serghei Pogor, a Senior PHP Developer with a strong focus on the Symfony Framework. Despite the common jokes about PHP being outdated, I’ve successfully navigated this field for over 10 years, specializing in backend development.

Throughout my career, I’ve been involved in numerous projects and startups. These experiences have significantly shaped my professional perspective and approach.

In this article, I’m excited to share my unique Money Maker Method. It’s a strategy I’ve developed and refined over several years. While I refer to it as a “Passive Method”, it’s important to note that it initially required a considerable amount of effort, especially in the first six months.

Before we dive deeper into the details of my Money Maker Method, I want to be upfront about what this article will NOT include.

1. No Sales Pitch: I want to assure you that I’m not here to sell you anything. My goal is to share knowledge and insights, not to push products or services onto you.
2. No Affiliate Promotions: You won’t find me promoting or sharing any affiliate networks or side hustles. This content is purely informational and focused on the method itself.
3. No Earnings Proof: I won’t be providing proof of the earnings I’ve made using this method. The focus here is on the strategy and its implementation, rather than showcasing personal financial gains.
4. No Full Code Disclosure: While I’ll discuss the general approach and techniques used in my website applications, I won’t be sharing the complete scripts or the detailed inner workings of these applications.

This article is focused on the method itself, the concepts, and the strategies behind it. While I might consider revealing more detailed information in future articles, this current piece is about laying the groundwork and understanding the core ideas.

Let’s outline the technical skills needed for my Money Maker Method. Whether you’re a hands-on person or prefer to delegate, understanding these skills is crucial.

To replicate my method, you’ll need a grasp of certain technical skills. However, if these aren’t in your toolkit, don’t worry — you always have the option to hire someone to set everything up for you. Here’s what’s needed:

1. PHP + HTML/CSS/JS — some basic skills to create a simple website app.
2. Python — basic skills to create simple server-side bots

Remember, these skills are important, but if they’re not in your current skill set, hiring a skilled developer is a perfectly viable route to bring this method to life.

My main rule for this project is really simple:

If something can be done by a computer program, let the program do it, even if it takes a while to make that program. It’s like if you had a really long math homework. At first, you might spend a day learning a cool math trick to solve the problems faster. Then, once you know the trick, you can finish all your homework super quickly every time, giving you more time to play or read your favorite book!

so, let's start….

My method might not seem super unique at first, but it’s all about how I do it that makes it special and profitable. Think of it like making a lemonade stand. Selling lemonade isn’t a new idea, right? But if you find the best spot in the park, make a super yummy recipe, and then figure out how to have more and more stands, you can end up with the most popular lemonade business in town!

In simple terms, my method is about getting people to sign up for emails — pretty straightforward. But the magic happens in how I get people to sign up, how I manage their information, and how I grow the business. That’s the part I think you’ll find really interesting.

Now, because I’m a developer, I use my coding skills to make all this happen. But don’t worry if you’re not a coder! Nowadays, anyone can hire a freelancer online or even use tools like ChatGPT to help out. So, even if you’ve never coded before, you can still use my method.

Website

The first part of the application is crucial and needs to be set up correctly to save time in the future, especially when we plan to expand our business model. Essentially, we need a simple website that includes an email subscription form.

However, it’s important that this website is a custom-built application using your own domain and hosting. Avoid using free services for this, as they can limit your control and flexibility, which is essential for scaling up your business effectively in the long run.

When creating the app for this method, there are several key points to focus on:

1. Niche Independence: The app should be versatile, not tied to any specific niche or market. This flexibility allows it to be useful in various contexts and adaptable to different audiences or products.
2. No Hardcoded Elements: Ensure that the code is dynamic, with all information being pulled from a database. This approach is crucial for scalability and adaptability. Hardcoding, which means putting fixed data directly into the code, limits flexibility and can create more work in the long run.
3. Visitor Tracking System: Implement a system within the app to track visitor interactions. This includes monitoring impressions, clicks, and the effectiveness of redirects.
4. Redirect System: While external services like Bitly can be used for redirects, having an in-built redirect system in your app is beneficial. It offers more control and integration, though it does require some technical expertise to set up.

These components are essential for creating an app that’s not only functional but also scalable and adaptable, allowing for efficient management and growth of your business model.

For your app, focusing on a streamlined, efficient design is key.

Here’s a breakdown of the essential pages and a crucial implementation detail:

1. Homepage: This is the first page users see. It sets the tone for your app and invites users to explore more.
2. Email Submit Form: A crucial feature. Here, users can provide their email addresses, usually in exchange for something valuable, like an ebook, a newsletter, or access to exclusive content.
3. Contact Us: A page for users to reach out with questions, feedback, or inquiries. It’s an important channel for communication and building trust with your audience.
4. Privacy Policy: This page outlines how you handle user data. It’s not just important for transparency and trust; it’s often legally required, especially considering various international data protection laws.
5. Terms and Conditions: Here, you’ll detail the rules and guidelines for using your app. It’s a must-have for protecting both you and your users.

The trick in building these pages lies in their dynamic nature. All content should be dynamically loaded from a database, not hardcoded into the app. This approach ensures that updating or changing content doesn’t require a complete overhaul of the codebase, making the app more flexible and easier to manage. It’s about creating a solid foundation that can adapt and grow with your business needs.

Underlining the importance of dynamic content, even for typically static pages like Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions, is a smart move.

Let’s break this down:

1. Dynamic Legal Pages: For pages like Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions, the overall text remains consistent, but key details like your business name, address, website, and email addresses should be dynamically loaded from a database. This approach ensures that if any of these details change, you only need to update them in one place — the database — rather than editing the page code directly.
2. Homepage Structure: Imagine your homepage divided into sections like About Us, Email Subscriber, Testimonials, Listings, and Benefits. The structure of these sections is fixed in the code, but the actual content within each section comes from the database. This setup is somewhat similar to a WordPress system, where the layout is defined, but you can easily change the content.
3. Why Dynamic Content Matters: At first glance, having dynamic content might not seem crucial, especially if you’re only managing one website. However, the real value becomes apparent when scaling up. When I started, I thought one website would be enough. But after automating my first site, I realized the potential for more. Automation doesn’t mean just repurposing trending articles or generating content with AI like ChatGPT. It’s about creating a system that can adapt and grow, allowing for multiple websites to be managed with similar efficiency. This approach isn’t just about saving time; it’s about creating a scalable, flexible system that can evolve with your business needs.

So, my website, because I'm a PHP Developer was built using Symfony framework and MySQL database

What is the website about?

My website concept is straightforward and smart. It’s centered around offering something valuable for free — in this case, a downloadable PDF book or file — in exchange for an email address.

Let’s break it down:

1. The Offer: You’ve chosen to give away free downloadable content, like a PDF book. For my first website, I tapped into the demand for ChatGPT tutorials, which was a hot topic. This is a clever strategy because it attracts people who are interested in this popular subject.
2. The Process: Visitors to my website can download the PDF book, but there’s a small step they need to complete first: submitting their email address. Once they provide their email, they receive the download link in their inbox. This method is effective for a couple of reasons:

• Quality Email List: By requiring an email address for the download, you ensure that the people on your list are genuinely interested in what you’re offering. This step helps filter out bad or fake email addresses.
• Value Exchange: Visitors get something valuable (the PDF book) for free, which makes them more willing to provide their email addresses. It’s a win-win situation.

3. Why Email Confirmation Matters: Sending the download link via email is a smart move. It not only verifies the validity of the email addresses but also initiates a relationship with the user. You’re ensuring that your email list is filled with active, engaged users, which is crucial for any email marketing strategy.

This approach, offering something of value in exchange for an email address, is a proven method to build a solid, engaged email list. It’s simple yet effective, and can be adapted to various types of content, depending on what your target audience finds valuable.

Indeed, the structure of my method is becoming clearer now. Users visit my websites to download a free cheatsheet, and in doing so, they provide their email addresses, which I can use for future engagement. While the concept itself might not seem unique, the way I’ve implemented it certainly is.

What sets my approach apart is the full automation and application across multiple websites.

To give you an idea of the scale, I currently manage 20 websites. Each month, I launch a new site, each in a different niche. The process of launching a website, including setting up hosting, purchasing a domain, and configuring the website including all Python scrips, takes just couples of hours. After that, each website operates on autopilot.

I don’t need to manually create new pages or PDF files; everything is automated. This efficiency allows me to focus on expanding my network and exploring new niches, rather than getting caught up in the day-to-day maintenance of each site. The potential for growth and reach with this method is substantial, given its scalable nature.

The key concept in my strategy is focusing each website on a specific, easily identifiable niche, summed up in just a few words, like “ChatGPT Cheatsheets.” This clarity helps in attracting a targeted audience.

Now, creating a PDF cheatsheet might seem time-consuming, but here’s a twist: I’ve never actually created one myself. Instead, I source these PDFs online.

Initially, with my first website, I spent about an hour each day searching Google for free PDFs that I could legally reshare on my site. This approach worked well at first, providing my visitors with valuable downloads. However, I quickly realized that spending an hour daily just on searching was not efficient. It was clear that I needed a more streamlined process to maintain the scalability of my business model.

To streamline the process of finding relevant PDFs for my websites, I developed a Python bot. This bot is designed to automatically search Google for free PDF books related to a specific niche. Here’s how it works:

I set up the bot to run queries like:

"ChatGPT Cheat Sheet" filetype:pdf

This specific query, for instance, yields about 1260 results on Google. However, not all these results are usable – some links might be inactive or lead to broken PDF files. So, let's be conservative and estimate that 70% of these results are viable. That still leaves me with around 500 usable PDF files from just this one query. And of course, the bot can run multiple queries to gather even more resources.

By automating the search and collection process with a Python bot, I significantly reduced the time and effort needed to source quality content for my websites. This automation is a key component of my strategy, enabling me to maintain and expand my network of niche websites efficiently.

To further automate my process and avoid manual work, I implemented a second Python bot. This bot’s role is to automatically generate content for each PDF file, based solely on the file’s name. Here’s how it functions:

Take, for example, a PDF titled “1000 ChatGPT Prompt Commands to Write Unique Good SEO Articles.” The Python bot uses this title to create descriptive content about the PDF. It can leverage the ChatGPT Paid API, or alternatively, use a service like UnlimitedGPT for free.

The key here is that the content created by the bot isn’t just a plain article. It follows a specific structure, tailored to the content and context of the PDF. This structured approach ensures that the information is relevant, organized, and adds value to the PDF being offered.

By using this method, I can automatically generate appealing and useful descriptions or summaries for a vast number of PDFs without any manual input. This automation is crucial for managing content across multiple websites, especially considering the volume — with 500 PDFs, and posting one each day, there’s enough material for over a year and a half. This system significantly streamlines the process, making it manageable and scalable.

To align with the structure of the PHP website, particularly the Email Submit page, I’ve tailored the content generation process to be highly specific and automated. Here’s how it integrates with the website’s structure:

1. Title, Description, and Keywords: These are generated based on the PDF’s filename. For instance, if the PDF is titled “1000 ChatGPT Prompt Commands to Write Unique Good SEO Articles,” the Python bot uses this to create a relevant title, a descriptive summary, and targeted keywords. Keywords are especially crucial for SEO purposes.
2. Image: I use another Python bot to extract the first image from each PDF and save it as a JPG file. This image is then used on the website, providing a visual element that corresponds to the PDF content.
3. Random Hex Color: For design consistency and visual appeal, the bot also generates a random hex color code. This color can be used in the website’s design elements related to the PDF, like backgrounds or borders.
4. Random Data in JSON Format: The final piece is generating random data in a JSON structure. This data is used for various purposes on the website, adding an element of uniqueness to each PDF’s presentation.

To illustrate, I would ask ChatGPT to generate information for a specific PDF based on its filename but in a structured JSON format. This JSON would include the title, description, image link, keywords, random hex color, and any additional random data needed.

This structured approach ensures that each PDF’s presentation on the website is both informative and visually appealing, while also being efficiently automated.

[
  {
    "color": "... HERE should HEX Color code ...",
    "keyword": "... HERE should be a list of comma-separated keywords related to book name ...",
    "slug": "... HERE should be a page-slug, good for SEO purpose, without STOP words and only letter and - ...",
    "name": "main",
    "image_path": "_IMAGE_PATH_HERE_",
    "pdf_path": "_PDF_PATH_HERE_",
    "title": "... HERE should be a title related to book name ...",
    "subtitle": "... HERE should be a subtitle related to book name ...",
    "description": "... HERE should be a description related to book name ...",
    "icon": " HERE some random fontawesome icon related to tile",
    "testimonials": [
      {
        "title": "... HERE should be a random fullname ...",
        "subtitle": "... HERE should be a random profession ...",
        "description": "... HERE should be a random profession ...",
        "media": "profiles/male/profile-{_RANDOM_1_200_}.png",
        "icon": ""
      },
      {
        "title": "... HERE should be a random fullname ...",
        "subtitle": "... HERE should be a random profession ...",
        "description": "... HERE should be a random profession ...",
        "media": "profiles/female/profile-{_RANDOM_1_200_}.png",
        "icon": ""
      },
     ... and maybe more
    ]
  },
  {
    "name": "benefits",
    "title": "random title",
    "subtitle": "random subtitle",
    "description": "random description",
    "icon": "",
    "benefits": [
      'list of benefits here'
    ]
  },
  {
    "name": "form",
    "title": "Get Free PDF Now",
    "subtitle": "Sign Up Now",
    "description": "random description",
    "media": "_IMAGE_PATH_HERE_",
    "icon": "",
    "sections": []
  },
... and maybe some more sections depending your niche
]

The main concept here involves creating a JSON file that serves as a universal template for various types of content across different niches. This JSON file acts like a standardized form, but it’s filled with unique details for each specific topic. Here’s how it works:

1. Standardized JSON Structure: This is like a standard form used for different subjects. Whether it’s data for a ChatGPT Cheatsheet, Weight Loss Plan Ideas, or Wedding Planning Tips the structure of the JSON file remains the same. It includes sections for the title, description, image link, keywords, and other relevant information.
2. Unique Content in a Uniform Format: While the format is consistent, the content within each section of the JSON is tailored to the specific niche. For example, the title and description for a cheatsheet on ChatGPT will be different from those for wedding planning, but they will be organized in the same way within the JSON structure.
3. Purpose of This Approach: This method is efficient because it allows for:

• Reusability Across Different Niches: The same JSON structure can be applied to any topic, making it easier to manage multiple websites in different niches without needing to redesign the data format for each one.
• Efficient Content Management: By using a uniform structure, I can streamline the content creation process, making it quicker and more organized. This is especially helpful when dealing with a large volume of content across various sites.

Why do we need this?
because in this way we can use some code for all our website events with totally different niches and we can use all our Python bots again for all our website

so, it should be like this:

parse_pdf_from_google.py website=1
parse_pdf_from_google.py website=2
parse_pdf_from_google.py website=3

… and the same for any other Python scripts

ok, so to summarize the progress so far:

1. Fully Automated Website: I’ve developed a website that operates entirely on its own. It uses a generated structure, which means that the basic framework of the site is pre-designed and filled in with data automatically.
2. Clonable Business Model: The logic and structure behind this website aren’t just for one site. They can be duplicated or ‘cloned’ for any number of websites. This makes it easy to expand into different niches or topics without starting from scratch each time.
3. Python Scripts for Automation: To support this automation, I’ve created Python scripts. These scripts are the workhorses behind the scenes. They search for and gather data, like PDF files, and then format this data to fit into the website’s structure. They’re designed to handle the repetitive tasks of finding and organizing content, which saves a tremendous amount of time and effort.

In essence, this setup is a powerful combination of web development and automation scripting. It allows for the rapid deployment and management of multiple websites, each filled with relevant content, with minimal ongoing manual input. This efficiency is key to managing a broad network of sites effectively.

So, this article has really grown, hasn’t it? There’s so much to talk about when it comes to this automated website and business model. But don’t worry, I’m not going to try and squeeze everything into one long read. Instead, I’m thinking of breaking it down into smaller, more digestible pieces. This way, I can dive into each part of the process in more detail, like how the Python scripts work, or the nitty-gritty of the website structure.

I’m also toying with the idea of sharing some of my actual code. Imagine having a ready-to-go toolkit that you could just pick up and use. But I’ll have to see how these articles go first. If lots of people are interested and find this stuff helpful, then sharing my code could be a great next step.

You know, building this whole business model didn’t happen overnight. It took me about half a year to get everything up and running smoothly. There are so many little tricks and hacks involved, especially when it comes to things like getting more traffic to your site or boosting your Domain Authority. It’s a lot to cover, which is why I can’t fit it all into just one or two articles.

So, stay tuned!
There’s more to come, and I’m excited to share it with you. Whether it’s through more articles or even giving you a peek at my code, I’m looking forward to helping you understand all these cool tricks and techniques.

I hope you found this article interesting and helpful. If you did and you’re curious to learn more, please let me know in the comments.
Your feedback is super important.

If you’re eager for more insights like these, your comments will tell me that I’m on the right track and should keep going with this topic.

So don’t be shy, drop a line or two in the comments section.

I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts and continuing this journey together.