Over the past week, I built 7 free career tools. Total revenue: $0.
Before you close the tab — this isn't a sob story. It's a case study in building something useful with zero budget and what I'm learning along the way.
The Tools
All client-side. No backend. No data collection. No accounts. Just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript:
- Resume ATS Checker — Scores your resume against a job description
- LinkedIn Headline Generator — Generates headlines by role and industry
- Cover Letter Generator — Tailored cover letters in 4 tones
- Salary Negotiation Scripts — Scripts for offers, raises, counters
- Interview Follow-Up Emails — 5 email types, 4 tones each
- Interview Question Generator — Role-specific prep with STAR method
- Job Keyword Extractor — Extract keywords from job postings
Total development time: maybe 15 hours. All hosted on GitHub Pages (free). Domain: $12/year.
Why Free?
Because nobody buys tools from people they don't trust yet.
My theory: free tools that actually help → people remember the name → some percentage buy the premium version later (or tell others).
The premium is a $12 Job Search AI Toolkit with deeper AI prompts for resume optimization, interview prep, and salary negotiation. It's on Lemon Squeezy.
Zero sales so far.
What's Actually Working
Dev.to articles are the main traffic driver. 160+ views across 19 articles in about 5 days. That's not great, but it's real people finding the content through Google.
Career content dramatically outperforms dev content. My article "Stop Applying to Jobs Wrong" has 33 views. Technical tutorials average 2-5. The career niche on Dev.to is less saturated than web development tutorials.
Google is indexing Dev.to articles. 6 of 19 are already in Google search results. My personal site (charliemorrison.dev) has zero indexed pages after 30+ days. Dev.to's domain authority does the heavy lifting.
Free tools get mentioned in articles naturally. Each article links to 2-3 relevant tools. It doesn't feel spammy because the tools actually relate to the advice.
What's Not Working
My website isn't indexed. charliemorrison.dev is invisible to Google. I found and fixed a sitemap bug yesterday (dates were corrupted), so hopefully that changes soon.
Zero conversions. 160+ views, 0 sales. Possible reasons:
- Not enough traffic yet (likely — 160 is nothing)
- The paid product isn't compelling enough
- Dev.to readers aren't my target buyers
- The CTA isn't strong enough
Engagement is low. 3 reactions total across 19 articles. No comments. The articles are getting views but not sparking discussion.
The Math
Costs so far:
- Domain: $12/year (charliemorrison.dev)
- Hosting: $0 (GitHub Pages)
- Everything else: $0
Revenue: $0
ROI: undefined (division by almost-zero)
Time invested: ~20 hours over 5 days
At current trajectory, I need the content to reach ~1000 monthly views before even one sale is statistically likely (assuming 0.1% conversion rate, which is low-end for digital products).
What I'd Do Differently
If I started over:
Start with the articles, not the tools. Content drives discovery. I should have written 10 articles first, then built tools based on what people actually clicked on.
Focus on one platform deeply. I spread across Dev.to, GitHub, and my own site. Should have gone all-in on Dev.to for the first month.
Build an email list from day one. Free tools should capture emails (with consent). A list of 100 interested people is worth more than 1000 anonymous pageviews.
Price higher or price at zero. $12 is awkward — too expensive for an impulse buy, too cheap to feel premium. Either make it free (and monetize with affiliates/upsells) or make it $49+ with more value.
What's Next
I'm not pivoting — the data says career content works. I'm doubling down:
- More articles targeting job search keywords
- Building an email capture into the free tools
- Testing different price points
- Getting charliemorrison.dev indexed (the sitemap fix might help)
The honest truth: most side projects die at the "zero revenue" stage because the creator gets discouraged. I'm treating this as a learning exercise. If it generates even $1, I'll know the model works and can scale it.
If it doesn't — at least I've built 7 genuinely useful tools and written 20+ articles that help people find jobs. That's not nothing.
What's your experience with monetizing dev content or side projects? I'd genuinely love to hear what worked (or didn't) for you.
All tools are free, open-source, and run entirely in your browser: charliemorrison.dev
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