[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":225},["ShallowReactive",2],{"content:\u002Fuse-cases\u002Findie-hackers-side-projects":3,"related:\u002Fguides\u002Ftrack-costs-per-client-project,\u002Ffeatures\u002Fcosts-and-revenue-per-project,\u002Ffeatures\u002Fsearch-console-dashboard,\u002Fguides\u002Fhow-to-track-domain-and-ssl-expiry-dates":210},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"category":184,"description":185,"extension":186,"faq":187,"h1":196,"meta":197,"navigation":198,"path":199,"published":200,"readingMinutes":201,"related":202,"seo":207,"stem":208,"updated":200,"__hash__":209},"useCases\u002Fuse-cases\u002Findie-hackers-side-projects.md","Side project dashboard: uptime, costs, revenue",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":175},"minimark",[9,13,16,21,56,60,87,91,94,138,141,145,159,162,166],[10,11,12],"p",{},"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.",[10,14,15],{},"This page is about keeping the whole set healthy without turning maintenance into a second job.",[17,18,20],"h2",{"id":19},"what-goes-wrong-with-a-portfolio-of-side-projects","What goes wrong with a portfolio of side projects?",[22,23,24,32,38,44,50],"ul",{},[25,26,27,31],"li",{},[28,29,30],"strong",{},"One quietly breaks."," A certificate expires, a deploy fails or the host changes something, and you find out weeks later.",[25,33,34,37],{},[28,35,36],{},"Domains lapse."," A domain costs little and renews once a year, which is exactly why it is forgotten.",[25,39,40,43],{},[28,41,42],{},"You cannot tell which one pays."," The money is in different dashboards and the costs are in a spreadsheet you stopped updating.",[25,45,46,49],{},[28,47,48],{},"Traffic changes unseen."," Search Console is per property, so nobody looks at the ones that are not currently exciting.",[25,51,52,55],{},[28,53,54],{},"Everything is in a different tab."," The effort of checking is bigger than the effort of ignoring.",[17,57,59],{"id":58},"how-do-i-see-all-my-side-projects-in-one-dashboard","How do I see all my side projects in one dashboard?",[61,62,63,69,75,81],"ol",{},[25,64,65,68],{},[28,66,67],{},"One project per side project."," Add its live address, repository, hosting and Search Console property.",[25,70,71,74],{},[28,72,73],{},"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.",[25,76,77,80],{},[28,78,79],{},"Put renewals on the calendar."," Certificates and domains are read for you. Add subscriptions and tokens by hand.",[25,82,83,86],{},[28,84,85],{},"Review one list."," Sorted by what needs attention, with the cost and margin beside it.",[17,88,90],{"id":89},"how-do-i-know-which-side-project-is-worth-keeping","How do I know which side project is worth keeping?",[10,92,93],{},"Look at three signals together.",[95,96,97,110],"table",{},[98,99,100],"thead",{},[101,102,103,107],"tr",{},[104,105,106],"th",{},"Signal",[104,108,109],{},"What it tells you",[111,112,113,122,130],"tbody",{},[101,114,115,119],{},[116,117,118],"td",{},"Margin",[116,120,121],{},"Whether the project pays for itself, once revenue exists",[101,123,124,127],{},[116,125,126],{},"Traffic trend",[116,128,129],{},"Whether search interest is growing, flat or fading",[101,131,132,135],{},[116,133,134],{},"Health and effort",[116,136,137],{},"How often it breaks and how much time it takes to keep running",[10,139,140],{},"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.",[17,142,144],{"id":143},"what-do-i-check-each-week","What do I check each week?",[22,146,147,150,153,156],{},[25,148,149],{},"Anything that is down, degraded or failing a deploy.",[25,151,152],{},"Anything with a certificate or domain due in the next 60 days.",[25,154,155],{},"Traffic changes on the projects that matter to you.",[25,157,158],{},"Costs that jumped compared with recent months.",[10,160,161],{},"Margin stays Not available until a project has revenue, because a zero would look like a result when it is only missing data.",[17,163,165],{"id":164},"where-datumboard-fits","Where Datumboard fits",[10,167,168,169,174],{},"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 ",[170,171,173],"a",{"href":172},"#early-access","join the list below",".",{"title":176,"searchDepth":177,"depth":177,"links":178},"",2,[179,180,181,182,183],{"id":19,"depth":177,"text":20},{"id":58,"depth":177,"text":59},{"id":89,"depth":177,"text":90},{"id":143,"depth":177,"text":144},{"id":164,"depth":177,"text":165},"Use case","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.","md",[188,191,193],{"q":189,"a":190},"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.",{"q":90,"a":192},"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.",{"q":194,"a":195},"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.","A side project dashboard: uptime, costs and revenue in one place",{},true,"\u002Fuse-cases\u002Findie-hackers-side-projects","2026-10-12",6,[203,204,205,206],"\u002Fguides\u002Ftrack-costs-per-client-project","\u002Ffeatures\u002Fcosts-and-revenue-per-project","\u002Ffeatures\u002Fsearch-console-dashboard","\u002Fguides\u002Fhow-to-track-domain-and-ssl-expiry-dates",{"title":5,"description":185},"use-cases\u002Findie-hackers-side-projects","1Jv2ukMAtNlZmvhKtw-5YPAn4iRNqHVcbGpMOF3_0dc",[211,215,219,222],{"title":212,"description":213,"path":203,"category":214},"Track costs per client or project","Which 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.","How-to",{"title":216,"description":217,"path":204,"category":218},"Costs and revenue tracker per project","Record what each project costs and earns, import a CSV and see monthly totals and margin per project, with yearly bills counted properly.","Feature",{"title":220,"description":221,"path":205,"category":218},"Search Console dashboard for multiple sites","See clicks, impressions, CTR and position for every Search Console property in one place, with plain advice on what to improve first.",{"title":223,"description":224,"path":206,"category":214},"Track domain and SSL expiry dates for clients","Why 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.",1791830035936]