Is Blogging Income Passive Income?

Blogging and Passive Income
There is definitely a passive component to blogging income, but only in direct correlation to how timeless the content is. For example: which blogger is creating more passive income?
a) One who writes about the weather, what he had to eat, the new features of his website, what he read that day, what his new year’s resolutions are, what he plans on doing, and how he is feeling at the moment?… or
b) one who writes about a lasting principle that she has learned over many years, philosophies that took her years to develop, and what she learned from her experience in order to help other people save time and money?
The second blogger is writing timeless material while the first is writing material that is only relevant for the moment. The second blogger stands a much greater chance of creating passive income from blogging.
Measuring the Passive Component
No income source is completely passive. Passive income sources can be distributed on a continuum between completely passive and completely active, but it’s all relative. Most sources have a passive component and an active component.
It would be somewhat tricky to measure what percentage of a blogger’s income is passive and what percentage is active without asking that blogger to stop blogging for a year to see what percentage of his income persists.
Active blogging income is mainly composed of that traffic that is generated by eager fans who check in every day to get the latest post. Unfortunately, regular visitors aren’t the best source of income because they come for the content, not necessarily the advertisements. The click-through rates for regular visitors tend to be lower than for first-time viewers.
Passive blogging income has a lot to do with new visitors. Does your content have the ability to continually generate new viewers who are more likely to click on ads and affiliate links?
Complicating the formula is the fact that the amount of regular visitors contributes to the rate of new visitors. Regular visitors may spread the word about your site and attract new visitors.
Not a Traditional Blog
Genius Types has never really fit in with the traditional blogging mold. I’ve had many readers complain that I don’t post frequently enough, even to the point of questioning if I was still alive after a month-long break for the holidays. I’ve received harsh criticism for not participating in time-consuming blog memes and lists, which other blogs use as a source of harvesting cheap links (the currency of the web). Plus, I’m not very good with reciprocating links and comments.
The reality is that I’m more concerned with the long-term viability of Genius Types than I am with day-to-day traffic and social niceties. I see this site as a way to document the wisdom that I accumulate throughout life. Sometimes it comes to me frequently, and sometimes I go long periods of time without anything worth writing about.
I’ve tried forcing myself to post and it just didn’t feel right. Search through my archives and you’ll find a few trivial posts; but for the most part, I try not to write unless I have something to say.