

ASK HN: Easy ways for a web developer to make online cash?  - snow_mac

I'm looking for some ways to make some cash online. I'm thinking of writing some Wordpress themes and selling them online. What could be some good avenues to creating some passive income online?<p>My Dev skills are: jQuery, HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, SQL and Coldfusion. 
I'm heavily experience in Photoshop and Design.<p>Any thoughts? I'm a college kid looking for a way to get some cash.
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kevinpet
You're unlikely to do well generating passive income. The profit is going to
go to the person running the WP theme site or whatever. There's plenty of work
doing small business websites, though. Certainly it beats helping English
majors try to recover the only copy of their thesis in the computer lab like I
did in college.

Send me an email with samples. I know people in need of someone on the
technical side (sales, customer service and graphic design they already have
covered).

Web developers are a dime a dozen. Competent web developers are harder to
find.

~~~
AdamTReineke
Is there a skill set that defines a competent web developer?

~~~
flacon
Solid cross-browser compliant code. You enjoy hanging out on Quirksmode. Deep
understanding of JS and how to make things dance with frameworks like Jquery.
Have a solid background with one server-side language (PHP, Ruby, Python etc)
and have a lot to show with it. Understand what a HTTP request is. Understand
what AJAX really is. Security: Know about SQL injection and CSRF. As a
experienced web dev, I think thats a good place to start. There's a lot to
know actually, usually takes 3-4 years for someone to even get decent.

~~~
sudont
To add on:

Speed, use of both standards and best practices while retaining cross-browser
compatibility.

Helps to know web semantics as well, I see way too many headers as masthead
logos or call-to-actions, rather than section titles and <div id=“logo”>

------
lukevdp
Freelancing in 6 steps.

1\. Find some businesses or non profits that need what you can do for them

2\. Tell them how you can help and that you can do it cheaply and with a 100%
guarantee that you will refund their money if they don't like it

3\. Make a portfolio of work you've done

4\. Find other businesses that need what you can do for them

5\. Tell them how you can help them. Show them work you've done and the
results you've generated. Give them a price for the results you will get them

6\. Repeat steps 4 and 5 indefinitely

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ortatherox
Might be worth trying to make an infoproduct: <http://unicornfree.com/>

(like e-books, screencasts and things like that to help teach people things,
distilled information certainly has a value)

~~~
ljf
seconded. if you can, read '4 hour work week' too, to figure out what might
make you the most cash with the least time.

------
ericflo
You used to be able to create a Facebook app with some viral hook and slap ads
on it and make hundreds to thousands a day. Now it's much, much harder due to
Facebook cracking down so hard on virals, but it can still be done.

Another way is to build some kind of content site and get into the arbitrage
game. That is, drive a small amount of traffic to it, ruthlessly optimize your
ad placements to max each visitor's returns, and then once you're paying less
for traffic than you're getting back out, crank up the dial on traffic being
sent to your site.

~~~
WalterGR
_Now it's much, much harder due to Facebook cracking down so hard on virals,
but it can still be done._

Bummer. I've got a viral Facebook app in the pipeline.

Is this what you're referencing?

"On September 21, 2010 Facebook took games off the news feed, limiting viral
channels to discovery stories and invites."
[http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/game-building-on-a-
bud...](http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/game-building-on-a-budget-tips-
from-the-new-york-social-gaming-summit_b22058) ("Distributing on Facebook"
section)

"Facebook is cracking down on free promotion | kills profile boxes"
[http://rooturaj.com/social-media/facebook-is-cracking-
down-o...](http://rooturaj.com/social-media/facebook-is-cracking-down-on-free-
promotion-kills-profile-boxes/)

Is there more to it?

~~~
carbocation
There's also the rule against creating direct incentive for invites, which
seems to strike at the heart of many viral mechanics.

------
wccrawford
Freelance.

Create a portfolio so that people can see the kind of work they can expect
from you. Then find people who want work done, show your portfolio, and do
some work for them.

As you can see from the comments, there's no shortage of people who need
quality work done.

Heck, there are even people who just need a quick job done and quality is less
important.

~~~
terra_t
Unless you're targeting a specialized market where you're really in demand,
I'd have nothing to do with "web freelancing".

A few years ago I worked at a job shop that did web sites for small
businesses, and I was talking with my accountant about getting my taxes done
and he asked me how much we'd charge for a web site. I told him it would be
around $2000... That would include a CMS install, original template, and some
SEO. A pretty fair price for the time of the talented people it takes, plus
the sales overhead. He was shocked. Although just getting another 10-15
clients a year would have paid for his site quickly, he was hoping he could
get one for more like $50.

4 out of 5 small biz clients will let you make a tiny profit, but 1 out of 5
is a client from hell who'll balloon a $10k fixed price project to something
that costs you $30k and wipes out the product you made from the other 4.

Not for me. I make web sites for my own account.

~~~
mattm
Charge more and ignore the people who want something for nothing.

------
aneesh
It's not passive, but if you can do great Wordpress themes, I'd be able to
give you some projects. Email's in my profile if you want.

------
RBr
Beyond article / blog post writing, submitting quick designs to theme sites or
working the affiliate game...

Have you thought about developing a few small, niche targeted for-pay lessons?

For example, a lot of people want to learn how to design and code WordPress
templates to sell on theme sites. Whip up a micro site and a very complete
tutorial. Buy an ad on one of the smaller template sites, do some low volume
adsense and you should have a few subscribers. Keep it cheap and make sure
that you get excellent feedback.

You have a good mix of skills listed above and if you identify some things
that people want to learn (use some keyword tools for this), you'll likely
have a good source of sustainable income.

~~~
snow_mac
What are some of these "smaller" template sites?

------
idiotb
The Ultimate Web Cash Flowchart [http://www.fastcompany.com/1706973/how-to-
make-money-on-the-...](http://www.fastcompany.com/1706973/how-to-make-money-
on-the-web)

------
snow_mac
Thank you guys so much, here is my portfolio: <http://adambourg.com/> \-- I'll
soon be in contact with all of you.

~~~
mattm
Good job. I would expand on your responsibilities on each site a little more.
For example, you say "Redesigned the site in HTML and CSS" Why did you do
this? What were the benefits? Did it load faster? Was it easier to maintain,
thereby saving money down the road?

Here is my portfolio page if you want to have a look -
<http://mattmccormick.ca/portfolio>

Since I put that up, I have basically gotten at least an interview to every
position I have applied for that matched my skills.

~~~
Tycho
nice portfolio but the page header is partly off-the-page. the top of the
writing (of your name) is cut off. this is on Safari 5 on Mac OS 10.6, fyi

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chc
Since a lot of people are suggesting freelancing, a couple of previous posts
and accompanying discussions on getting started with that:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1763634>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1767620>

------
mdolon
I'm working on my own premium WordPress themes site, though it's been pushed
back constantly due to freelance work (site's up at alphathemes.com though).
If you want any advice, feel free to get in touch! (username at gmail)

~~~
petercooper
You didn't explicitly make a recommendation to make premium Wordpress themes,
but I want to second your implicit suggestion ;-) It seems to be a big area
and I certainly pay for themes that are just right - saves a lot of time. You
even get the option of building bespoke ones or making a more generic one and
selling it to many people.

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juddlyon
The most direct (albeit non-passive) would be to freelance. I think the
fastest passive route would be to build a high quality affiliate website.
Themes could work, but if they get popular you're on the hook for support.

------
adambarber1
Like others have said, WordPress themes are a good way to make some cash. I
run one of those sites and need some help, so feel free to send me an email.
adam [dot] barber 1 [at] gmail [dot] com

~~~
umenline
what do you think about wordpress plugins market ?

------
fleitz
I have to say though, that finding work is a skill of its own. You should
setup a site, start posting all over the place, etc. You want to have a lot of
channels to get work through, when you're starting out you'll have to spend
more time looking for work than doing work. Also, get in touch with freelance
professionals in your area. You can get a lot of business through referrals
and the sale is so much easier when they've been referred from someone they
trust.

As others have said, WordPress themes.

The market is crazy right now, go find a designer and partner with them to
make themes. I found the whole niche by chance, I needed a designer for
another project and saw on craigslist a designer looking for someone to create
a theme from his designs for a new site in exchange for a free design.

I replied, did the theme and setup his new site, then we started working
together. I ended up dropping the other project once I saw the demand. Saving
that free design for something else now.

He's one of the best designers I've worked with, show him a few designs you
like from his portfolio tell him a little bit about your company/project and
he comes back with a stunning design in a day or two. A few days later I've
got it turned into a WP theme. You can see his portfolio here:
<http://highendcustomlayouts.com/portfolio>

We're working on a RoR app to take PSD files and turn them into WP themes in
about 5-15 minutes.

Also, find a writer, if you can offer the whole package from copy to design to
hosting it makes getting the deal that much easier.

We're starting to get pretty busy with work doing this so if you drop me an
email I might be able to hook you up with some work in the future.

~~~
mattparcher
I’m fascinated by the goal of making websites easier to create (most existing
solutions are just crummy). Please post details of your app when you have
something to show!

~~~
ohashi
I was impressed by Squarespace.

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jcfrei
Any references to previous work (eg. deviantart, etc.)? I'd be happy to
contact you in the future.

~~~
tapp
+1 (same question.)

A company I work with does a high volume of WP themes and there are residual
income opportunities there. Do you have a portfolio or reference URLs you can
provide? My email address is in my profile if you don't want to post here.

~~~
snow_mac
My website is <http://adambourg.com>

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paolomaffei
Hey, if you're looking to freelance we're intestered in you. contact: paolo-
at-orioneweb-dot-it

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olalonde
Web hosting for your clients can be an easy way to generate some passive
income.

------
dfischer
E-mail me: daniel@hybridgroup.com maybe I can give you work.

