How to earn money with a software side project

Introduction

I’ve been fortunate to work at a company that supports employees who want to start side projects. This has allowed me to develop some exciting side projects, including one that’s become quite popular within our engineering department. I’m excited about it because it allows me to explore new technologies and build something useful for my colleagues. It also lets me make money—something every software developer can appreciate!

So what’s this project? As most of you probably know by now (especially if you follow me on Twitter), I’m a big fan of React Native (and React in general). I teach workshops on how we use React at my company using examples from an open-source mobile app called Coffee Potatoes.

I knew right away when we started using this app that it would be fun and challenging to convert into an iOS version using Swift instead of JavaScript. Nowadays, there are so many great tools out there for building web applications with React.

If you have a software side project that you want to make money with, you have three options:

Offer a monthly subscription for premium features. This is the easiest way to charge users, but it requires building up a big enough user base before it’s worth your time. Ideally, your software should have at least 50k registered users or more. You can use Stripe for this type of payment system.
Offer a one-time purchase for premium features. This is also an easy way to charge users once they reach the point in their relationship with your product where they feel like paying up would be worth it (e.g., after using it for months). The downside here is that if someone wants one feature and not another, this isn’t ideal because they won’t want to pay twice just so they can get access!
You can use Stripe for this type of payment system. Sell your software as a service or product on a marketplace. This is the hardest way to make money with software, but it’s also the most lucrative.

You can run ads on it

If you want to monetize your side project, ads are a great way to do it. But they can be annoying and intrusive if you’re not careful. Luckily, there are ways to make them less obtrusive, such as using non-invasive ads or putting them in a place where users aren’t likely to interact (like the bottom of the screen).

There are other challenges in getting ad revenue from software projects. For example, there might not be enough traffic—in which case advertising won’t work for you—or even if there is plenty of traffic but not enough money from users who click on ads.

Ads can also be used as a way for companies to target specific demographics with their products and services by choosing what type of people see their ads on certain websites or apps.

You can offer a monthly subscription for premium features

You can do a few things if you have a software side project and are looking for ways to earn money from it. One option is to sell your software as an online service—for example, by charging $10 per month for premium features. This option has several advantages:

Monthly subscriptions are more profitable than one-time purchases. You earn more because your customers pay you every month (or quarter). And while they’re paying, they’re also using the feature that sets up the subscription. So if someone pays $10 per month for three years, they’ll pay almost $1000 before their subscription ends! That’s quite a lot of money compared to a one-time purchase of $300 or so (which would only need to happen once).
It’s easier to process payments through Stripe or another similar service than to process individual sales yourself. With these services in place, all you have to do is set up pricing tiers and send payment details when someone buys something; then collect revenue from these services periodically whenever possible. If you want even more automation in this area (and who doesn’t?), consider using Zapier, too; it lets developers connect different apps without writing any code themselves!

You can offer a one-time purchase for premium features

A good option for software that is not a platform is to offer premium features for a one-time fee. This can be an attractive option for users who want to use your app but aren’t interested in paying recurring fees (for example, $10 per month).

Some software companies have had success with this method. For example, fxapi offers two options: “Free” and “Pro”. If you choose Pro, it costs $10 per month or $99 per year; this gives you unlimited access to all of the company’s features without ads or limitations on storage space or file size.

Running ads is easiest to set up but requires a lot of traffic to generate meaningful income. Instead, try offering one-time purchases or monthly subscriptions

Running ads is easy to set up, but the amount of traffic you need to generate meaningful income makes it impractical for most developers. Instead, try offering one-time purchases or monthly subscriptions.

One-time purchases are more profitable than monthly subscriptions because they have higher revenue per user (RPU). However, monthly subscriptions are likely to have a lower churn rate (the percentage of users who unsubscribe from your service every month) and thus may be more valuable in the long run.

Focus on organic growth

Start with a good product.
Optimize your website for search engines.
Use social media to attract attention.
Use email marketing to convert visitors into customers.
Measure and improve using analytics, including Google Analytics and Facebook Insights

Focus on SEO

To start earning money from a software side project, first make sure that you have a great product. If your product isn’t good enough to be sold on its own merits, then you’re going in the wrong direction with this type of project. It’s better to focus your efforts on creating engaging content or building a community around your product rather than trying to promote it through SEO alone.

However, if you do want to make money with SEO, there are several things that you can do:

Focus on search engine optimization (SEO). This is optimizing your website so that it ranks higher when people search for keywords related to what they’re looking for (e.g., “best email marketing software”). The goal is getting ranked high and converting visitors into customers by ensuring they find exactly what they need when they land on your site. There are several ways we can optimize our sites for search engines, including:
Using descriptive titles and meta descriptions that provide helpful information about our business instead of only using keywords; give those who visit our site more information about what we offer without forcing them into buying something immediately without knowing anything about us beforehand – which often leads them back again later because now they feel like we care about helping them solve their problems!

Conclusion

If you have a software side project that you want to make money with, there are three ways that you can do so. You can run ads on it, offer a monthly subscription for premium features or sell one-time purchases for premium features. Focus on organic growth by focusing on SEO and making sure your product has good reviews and ratings.