Content and media side hustle ideas
A blog, niche website, newsletter, YouTube channel, podcast or social account that earns from ads, affiliate links or sponsors.
34 ideas
- Content and mediaA simple website that helps people learn Excel through exercises. The founder built it with very little effort and grew it as a dead-simple, boring niche site.Hands-offOnlineStarter Story, 2026
- Content and mediaFree chalkboards and whiteboards placed in restaurants and busy venues, which use them for daily specials. Income comes from selling small ad spots along the bottom to local businesses.Online and in personSide Hustle Nation, 2026
- Content and mediaA group of free sudoku websites that earn steady income from minimal ads.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2024
- Content and mediaStarted a price comparison website for college textbooks that earns affiliate commissions, mostly from search traffic.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2019
- Content and mediaAn information site about a specific skin condition that earns from display ads and Amazon affiliate links and is mostly left on autopilot.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Content and mediaA personal technology blog that earns small amounts from on-page advertising.$100 to $1kOnlineHacker News, 2018
- Content and mediaBuilt a search tool that ranks Amazon products by ratings and review volume, grouped by price range. Money comes from affiliate links.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Content and mediaA website comparing prices for domain extensions across registrars. Earns through registrar affiliate commissions and paid data downloads.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Content and mediaBuilt a WordPress website for people looking up information about others. It earns from Google AdSense and needs only software updates now.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Content and mediaA website with a searchable product catalog that earns from Amazon affiliate links.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Content and mediaRuns a guide site for visitors interested in Silicon Valley sights. Income comes from ads.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2016
- Content and mediaA network of automated accounts that gather tech meetups and conferences for each city and tweet them, plus a weekly mailing list. Money comes from affiliate fees for conferences and workshops and from ad blocks in the newsletter.OnlineHacker News, 2016
- Content and mediaBuilt a site that forces Google Maps links into a chosen language. Ad revenue covers its hosting.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Content and mediaAn advertising-supported website running for about a decade that grew its income yearly with mostly passive upkeep.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Content and mediaAdded Amazon affiliate links to a popular Raspberry Pi garage door tutorial and earns from purchases.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Content and mediaA fan site run by a community of contributors that earns small ad revenue to offset server costs.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Content and mediaHosts a forum and website for a nonprofit, in exchange for placing ads that cover the hosting costs.OnlineHacker News, 2014
- Content and mediaA logo design gallery where designers submit work, earning from ads and ad network placements.OnlineHacker News, 2014
- Content and mediaA website that helps users assemble PCs, earning from affiliate links and ads.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Content and mediaRuns three white label dating sites that earn with little maintenance.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Content and mediaA career site for Marines with a mailing list, earning a modest amount with about a day of work per month.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Content and mediaA jobs site that earns from affiliate links and AdSense, being rolled out as a network.OnlineHacker News, 2014
- Content and mediaBuilt a rhyming dictionary site where an ad unit covers the hosting costs.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Content and mediaA site of tax and finance calculators that earns from AdSense and affiliate income, needing only occasional upkeep.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2014
- Content and mediaA site that tells you where to buy tracks heard in DJ tracklists, earning small affiliate commissions that cover its hosting.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Content and mediaA search site for books that earns small amounts from affiliate sales.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Content and mediaBuilt many small niche websites on keyword-rich domains with SEO copy to earn AdSense revenue, then sold the whole set on Flippa.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Content and mediaRuns several user-submitted humor sites and earns from them plus licensing for a paid iPhone app tied to one site.OnlineHacker News, 2011
- Content and mediaRuns two small sites that earn mostly by selling text links through a link marketplace, plus some AdSense.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Content and mediaA technical blog documenting electronics projects, earning small ad income.OnlineHacker News, 2011
- Content and mediaA YouTube review of a pull-up bar that ranked well in search and pays a periodic share of ad revenue.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Content and mediaBuilt a Sudoku website that now earns from advertising, mostly sponsored text links, with free signups seeing no ads.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Content and mediaRuns wallpaper websites that earn from domain registration commissions, plus ads on a related blog.Hands-offOnlineHacker News, 2011
- Content and mediaThe operator buys an expired exact-match domain for a niche, rebuilds it as a site that earns from the niche audience, and adds a niche job board. Upkeep is minimal.Hands-offOnlineThe Koerner Office