Use case
A side project dashboard: uptime, costs and revenue in one place
Keep every side project healthy and see which ones earn, break even or lose money, with uptime, renewals, deploys, search data and costs on a single screen.
Updated 6 min read
Side projects multiply. Each one has a domain, a host, a repository, an analytics account and a card that pays for them. The next one is always more interesting than checking the last.
This page is about keeping the whole set healthy without turning maintenance into a second job.
What goes wrong with a portfolio of side projects?
- One quietly breaks. A certificate expires, a deploy fails or the host changes something, and you find out weeks later.
- Domains lapse. A domain costs little and renews once a year, which is exactly why it is forgotten.
- You cannot tell which one pays. The money is in different dashboards and the costs are in a spreadsheet you stopped updating.
- Traffic changes unseen. Search Console is per property, so nobody looks at the ones that are not currently exciting.
- Everything is in a different tab. The effort of checking is bigger than the effort of ignoring.
How do I see all my side projects in one dashboard?
- One project per side project. Add its live address, repository, hosting and Search Console property.
- Record costs and revenue. Add recurring costs such as hosting, domains and tools, and one-time or recurring revenue. Yearly and quarterly amounts are counted as a monthly equivalent, and currencies are kept separate.
- Put renewals on the calendar. Certificates and domains are read for you. Add subscriptions and tokens by hand.
- Review one list. Sorted by what needs attention, with the cost and margin beside it.
How do I know which side project is worth keeping?
Look at three signals together.
| Signal | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Margin | Whether the project pays for itself, once revenue exists |
| Traffic trend | Whether search interest is growing, flat or fading |
| Health and effort | How often it breaks and how much time it takes to keep running |
A project with revenue and falling cost is a keeper. A project with no revenue, flat traffic and a monthly bill is a decision you have been putting off. Having the numbers in front of you makes that decision a five-minute one.
What do I check each week?
- Anything that is down, degraded or failing a deploy.
- Anything with a certificate or domain due in the next 60 days.
- Traffic changes on the projects that matter to you.
- Costs that jumped compared with recent months.
Margin stays Not available until a project has revenue, because a zero would look like a result when it is only missing data.
Where Datumboard fits
Datumboard shows health, deploys, renewals, search data, costs and revenue for every project in one list, so a Sunday review takes minutes. It is in early access, and you can join the list below.
Frequently asked questions
How do I track the costs and revenue of several side projects?
Record each project's recurring costs, such as hosting, domains and tools, and its revenue, against the project itself. Counting yearly costs as a monthly amount and keeping currencies separate gives you a margin per project that you can compare over time.
How do I know which side project is worth keeping?
Compare three things per project - its margin, its traffic trend and the time it demands. A project with a falling margin and flat traffic is a candidate to shut down, and one with growing traffic and low cost is worth more effort.
How do I avoid forgetting about a side project that quietly broke?
Put every project on a health list that shows uptime, the last deploy and expiring domains and certificates, and review it weekly. A project with no monitoring should read as Not monitored, so silence is never mistaken for health.
Keep reading
- How-toTrack costs per client or projectWhich costs to count, how to turn yearly and quarterly bills into a monthly figure, how to share costs between projects and how to see which ones actually pay.Read
- FeatureCosts and revenue tracker per projectRecord what each project costs and earns, import a CSV and see monthly totals and margin per project, with yearly bills counted properly.Read
- FeatureSearch Console dashboard for multiple sitesSee clicks, impressions, CTR and position for every Search Console property in one place, with plain advice on what to improve first.Read
- How-toTrack domain and SSL expiry dates for clientsWhy domains and SSL certificates lapse, how to check any expiry date in one command, and a repeatable process for tracking every client's renewals in time.Read