Ask HN: What was the easiest buck you've made on the web in 2014?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8380719

34 27 12 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Send me a buck and I'll let you know.

One of my businesses (www.iamlovable.com) has actually picked up paying clients from Instagram posts. Credit of course to my amazing business partner (@millieald) for cultivating that community as well. Please share those links with all the 18-30 year old women you know.

porter• 12 years ago

Once you have an audience that knows, likes, and trusts you, and a product they want, then most of the "bucks" made are pretty easy at the margin.

hayksaakian• 12 years ago

display ads make it easy to earn exactly 1 buck, but growing the user base is a grind

saleshacker• 12 years ago

http://www.twodollarclub.com

namuol• 12 years ago

This is brilliant and hilarious.

brandonlipman• 12 years ago

this made my night, thank you.

aw3c2• 12 years ago

I asked the tiny community of my hobbyist website to donate for hosting costs and got almost 150% of what was needed and asked for. The world wide web can run on altruism.

Mandatum2• 12 years ago

Wordpress website setup. Choose theme from large Wordpress theme directory, show client theme demo site, install on Wordpress-friendly provider, configure and send login details to client with links to current Wordpress tutorial. My spend is <$60USD, profit margin is $400+ for very little work.

hostyle• 12 years ago

i have to ask: do you not consider this dishonest? why charge so much for doing so little? sure. people will pay a mint for something they discern as hard andhave no knowledge of, but i have to say i am concerned about your ethics in doing so. this is the ugly side of both capitalism and entrepreneurship.

fernandosure• 12 years ago

Have you thought about what doctors do, its the same. think about the time spent learning the skill and the value proposition to the client

smoje• 12 years ago

There's value in having someone else do something for you. Eating at a restaurant is a basic example.

When there's risk involved, you're willing to pay even more. Hiring an electrician or plumber. And the value goes up the more risk there is, just like an insurance premium.

But value can go through the roof when there's a potential for gain on the line. Especially coming from a credible source with a proven track record of success. How much would you pay for a machine that spit out $2 for every $1 you put into it? Even if the total cost of that machine's parts was only $40?

A good consultant can analyze a business, figure out what needs to change, write some decent content, bring it all together in a theme forest template, set up so e traffic sources, and add 5, 6, or 7 figures to a business's bottom line.

Plus, if you're too cheap, they might not even consider you. Would you buy a $20 car? You'd be very skeptical and ask a lot of questions. There's even the weird pricing trough where you just assume it's a scam and move on.

All that to say that charging $500 is more than reasonable. I usually charge 6x-10x more for a superficially similar service (consulting plus template setup and customization). It's all about how you position your service, and what benefit you can guarantee your client.

theklub• 12 years ago

Had he charged 3k$+ it might be unethical but 400 is nothing.

Mandatum2• 12 years ago

I've very much dumbed down what I do, there are years of knowledge and advice I can give to the owner on what to do regarding different IT areas of their business. From starting and managing an ecommerce platform, advertising online, suggestions about their onboarding process.. If any of this comes up, or I see ways to improve their workflow as I go I usually make the suggestion in writing.

I'm there to provide and create value, not take the money and run.

I'm not going to lie however, in some cases the person clearly has no other mindset than "I need a website, I need it cheap, I need it fast" - in those cases I slam it together - giving them what they want.

fallinghawks• 12 years ago

Back in 2009 I put a couple drawings up on CafePress (http://www.cafepress.com/fallinghawks), then pretty much completely ignored the site. I just got a commission check last month. Apparently there was some falconry meet somewhere and somebody got a kick out of the shirts and bought a few.

Zombotany• 12 years ago

May I ask you how to join this website and get revenue from our drawing ? tks

cleverjake• 12 years ago

reddit.com/r/beermoney - made over $1,000 in the last 4 months in amazon gift cards.

chrisBob• 12 years ago

I put together what I think is a decent game on the iPad a little while back[1]. In 2014 I think it made me about a buck[2]. Putting something up in the App Store can be a good source of passive income, but don't recommend it if you are looking for more than a buck.

[1] https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ocean-commotion/id518629974?... [2] If you don't count the $100/yr developer fees

motyar• 12 years ago

Wrote a PHP script and made few easy sales http://motyar.info/geodata/

mapster• 12 years ago

How have you been able to build interest?

taphangum2• 12 years ago

$1,100 a month from my Udemy course: https://www.udemy.com/building-and-selling-a-niche-website-f....

Once I got it it up and did the first little bit of marketing, it's been literally no work. Maybe 30-45 min a month answering questions, but I wouldn't consider that work. :)

sarciszewski• 12 years ago

Wow really? Maybe I should submit one ;)

taphangum2• 12 years ago

It's definitely worth it if you have the time to do it well. I know one instructor who did $140k in his first month (he did have an audience beforehand though). Feels like a 'goldrushy' time in online education right now. A lot of people don't know this.

keviv• 12 years ago

Made over $700 in commissions from Digitalocean referral program.

You can sign up using the link below and get $10 hosting credit.

Referral Link: https://www.digitalocean.com/?refcode=4d7fb2079a96

HeyLaughingBoy• 12 years ago

The only buck(s) I made on the web in 2014 was writing some Arduino code on spec for someone who was having trouble getting his head around a few concepts.

Initial code took about 1/2 hour and I charged a bit over $100. Don't remember exactly how much.

I then spent hours writing emails (on top of the documentation I supplied) explaining things as he tried to add functionality on his own :-(

lise_s• 12 years ago

Renting my washing machine (http://www.lamachineduvoisin.fr/fr/ in France)

ashraful• 12 years ago

There was an article on digg.com about Google becoming a worse search engine. The article was on news.yahoo.com

Someone commented "5 dollars to someone who points out the irony in this", I replied. The guy sent me $5 via Paypal. I used the $5 to get a .com domain (special offer on GoDaddy). The domain was for my web design portfolio, and that's how I got started.

Ask HN: What was the easiest buck you've made on the web in 2014?

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