You know I love a good rental side hustle with recurring revenue and strong ROI.
But in this example, there’s no equipment to buy, no delivery logistics to deal with, and no tenants trashing in your place, which leads to some really strong margins.
John Michael from TownRankSEO.com started this journey just this past February. He is a longtime Side Hustle Show listener who recently started building and renting out simple local websites.
Websites are digital real estate. And if the location is right — namely, if it shows up at the top of Google — that could be worth quite a bit to the right tenant.
Tune in to Episode 693 of the Side Hustle Show to learn:
- How to research profitable local niches for website rental
- What it takes to build and rank these sites quickly
- Creative ways to find business owners who need leads
- The unexpected SEO consulting opportunities that emerged
Want more? Hit up Website Rental Coaching.
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To get the ideas flowing and kickstart your research. Success! The list of Rank and Rent Niche Ideas is on its way. If it doesn't show up in 5-10 minutes, be sure to check your spam/promotions folder and drag it back where it belongs!
50+ Rank and Rent Niches
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How the Website Rental Business Model Works
John’s approach was inspired by earlier episodes featuring Luke Van De Veer’s website rental coaching and student success stories. The concept is to build local service websites that rank high in Google, then rent them out to business owners who need more customers.
In practice, John built a website for gravel driveways in a California city. After ranking it well in Google, he started getting leads — people looking for someone to install a 700-foot gravel driveway (roughly a $20,000 project).
John’s goal is to find one quality contractor per site and rent the entire lead flow to them for a monthly fee. Early on, he might sell individual leads while building relationships. But the end game is pure passive income — the contractor pays a monthly fee and gets all the leads the site generates.
John uses CallRail to track phone calls and can even forward calls directly to his tenant once the relationship is established. This means he can step out of the middle entirely while still earning monthly rent.
Finding Profitable Niches: The Research Process
John follows about 14-15 criteria when selecting niches, but here are the key factors he looks for:
Population Sweet Spot
John mentioned that Luke recommends targeting cities with 40,000 to 400,000 people. You don’t want too big (too competitive) or too small (not enough demand).
Competition Analysis
John looks at the top three businesses in Google Maps for his target keyword. If the first business has 130 five-star reviews, the second has 49 reviews, and the third has 68 reviews, that’s probably too competitive. But it’s a golden opportunity if these businesses don’t even have websites.
Search Volume Research
Using tools like SEMrush, John looks for at least 1,000 monthly searches for the main keyword nationally. But he also uses common sense — a city of 150,000 people definitely needs plumbers and concrete work, even if the exact local search volume isn’t clear.
Business Availability
The niche needs enough local businesses to partner with. If there’s only one or two providers in the area, you don’t have options if your first choice doesn’t work out.
The Four Pillars of Ranking Local Websites
Once John selects a profitable niche, he focuses on what Google wants to see for local rankings:
1. Website Design and Technical Performance
The site needs to load fast, work well on mobile and desktop, and be technically sound. John doesn’t overcomplicate this — a clean, functional site beats a fancy one every time.
2. Comprehensive Content
Google wants content that answers real questions customers have. John researches FAQs like “How much does it cost?” and “How long does it take?” He studies competitor websites and uses ChatGPT to help generate content ideas, but always adds his own touch to make it unique.
3. Local Citations
John needs to get listed on sites like:
The key is making sure the business name, address, and phone number (NAP) match exactly across all listings.
He uses Citations Babe to create over 200 unique citations with different descriptions for each.
4. Quality Backlinks
This is where John puts in the most work. He uses competitive link acquisition — finding out where his competitors get their backlinks and reaching out to those same sources. He varies the anchor text and spreads links across different pages to make it look natural.
Getting Your Google My Business Listing Approved
One challenge John faces is getting Google My Business listings approved when he’s not physically located in the target city. Google has gotten stricter about verification, sometimes requiring video confirmation.
So John partners with a local business owner who can do the video verification if needed. Sometimes it takes multiple attempts, but persistence pays off. Having that Google My Business listing is crucial for local rankings.
Finding and Converting Business Partners
John finds potential partners primarily through Facebook groups in his target cities. He looks for contractors advertising their services, checks out their websites (if they have one), and examines their Google My Business profiles.
It’s also important to have genuine conversations about their current lead generation challenges:
- How are you getting leads now?
- Are you paying for leads somewhere else?
- Are you satisfied with your current lead volume?
- Could you handle more work if it came in?
John positions himself as someone who can replace their existing lead costs, not add to them. If they’re already paying for Thumbtack or Angie’s List leads, his service can be a better alternative.
Pricing Strategy: What to Charge
John’s rental prices have evolved as he’s gained experience:
- First site: $300/month (just wanted something on the books)
- Second site: $500/month
- Current goal: $1,000/month for new sites
The pricing depends heavily on the industry. A gravel driveway lead could be worth $500-1,000 to a contractor since it’s a $20,000 job. An interior painting lead might only be worth $50-100 since the job value is much lower.
John’s rule of thumb is to give contractors about a 10x return on their investment. If they’re paying him $500/month and getting $5,000 worth of leads, everyone’s happy.
Building a Portfolio: John’s Current Status
Since starting in February, John has built 10 websites across various niches:
- Gravel driveways
- Retaining walls
- Kitchen remodeling
- Sober living facilities (a surprisingly profitable niche)
Of these 10 sites, 3-4 are currently rented out and generating monthly income. The others are in various stages of ranking and lead generation.
The beauty of this model is that once a site is built and ranking, the maintenance is minimal. John adds 2-3 new articles per month to keep Google happy, maintains some backlinks using Majestic, and ensures the content stays fresh.
The Unexpected Side Hustle: Local SEO Consulting
One of the most interesting developments in John’s business came from conversations with potential website rental clients. Many contractors said they weren’t interested in renting a site, but they’d love help with their existing website.
This led John to launch a local SEO consulting service. He now has 5-6 paying clients at $500/month each for services like:
- Writing detailed content for their websites
- Optimizing Google My Business profiles
- Teaching them how to get more reviews
- Managing their online reputation
- Creating location-specific landing pages
This consulting work provides immediate cash flow while the rental sites continue building momentum in the search results.
Tools and Technology Stack
John keeps his tech stack relatively simple:
For Website Building and Management:
- WordPress for the websites themselves
- CallRail for phone number tracking and call forwarding
- ChatGPT for content ideas and research
For SEO and Research:
- SEMrush for keyword research and competitor analysis
- Majestic for backlink analysis and trust flow metrics
- Citations Babe for creating local directory listings
For content creation, John uses AI as a starting point but always humanizes the content.
He’s learned that you can’t just ask ChatGPT to “write an article about gravel driveways.” You need specific prompts, then edit and improve the output to make it unique and valuable.
Domain Strategy and Geographic Targeting
John typically uses exact match domains like “BostonGravelDriveways.com” for maximum SEO benefit. He’s found that being specific works better than trying to be broad.
For smaller markets, he might target a broader region, but he can always create location-specific pages for suburbs and nearby cities. The key is building out detailed pages for each area with local landmarks and specific information, then linking them back to the homepage.
Managing Multiple Sites and Scaling
The scalability of this business model is impressive. Since each site is relatively hands-off once it’s built and ranking, John can manage multiple sites without being overwhelmed.
Mistakes to Avoid and Lessons Learned
John’s biggest early challenge was feeling overwhelmed by everything he needed to learn.
His advice is to take it one day at a time and focus on the next logical step rather than trying to see the entire journey upfront.
The Role of AI in the Business
John has evolved his thinking on AI content. A year ago, he was worried Google would penalize AI-generated content. Now he uses it strategically:
- AI helps generate initial drafts and content ideas
- He always edits and humanizes the output
- He uses specific prompts rather than generic requests
- For citations, he outsources to professionals who write unique descriptions
It’s important to use AI as a tool to speed up the process, not as a replacement for human creativity and local knowledge.
What’s Next for John?
His current goal is to have 10-20 sites rented out, providing enough passive income to invest in other opportunities like real estate. He sees this as an asset he can eventually pass on to his children — a business they can run and maintain for ongoing income.
He’s also exploring how to systematize the SEO consulting side of the business, potentially creating packages and processes that could scale beyond his local market.
The most exciting part is this business has a clear path to becoming a real asset. Once the sites are ranking and the tenants are happy, it becomes a predictable income stream that can grow over time.
Your Turn: Getting Started with Website Rental
If you’re interested in exploring this business model, start with thorough niche research. Look for local service businesses in mid-sized cities where you can see clear gaps in the online competition.
Remember Luke Van De Veer’s training at Website Rental Coaching for the complete methodology, and check out our previous episodes with Luke (Episode 448) and Miao (Episode 597) for more perspectives on this business model.
The combination of low startup costs, high profit margins, and scalability makes this an attractive option for anyone willing to learn some basic SEO and relationship-building skills.
John’s #1 Tip for Side Hustle Nation
“Be consistent and don’t be afraid to fail.”
50+ Rank and Rent Niches
To get the ideas flowing and kickstart your research.
Success! The list of Rank and Rent Niche Ideas is on its way. If it doesn't show up in 5-10 minutes, be sure to check your spam/promotions folder and drag it back where it belongs!
Episode Links
- TownRankSEO.com
- Website Rental Coaching
- Episode 448 with Luke Van De Veer
- Episode 597 with Miao
- CallRail
- SEMrush
- Yelp
- Yellow Pages
- Angi (Formerly Angie’s List)
- Thumbtack
- Citations Babe
- Sober living facilities
- Local SEO consulting service
- ChatGPT
- 23 Best Real Estate Side Hustles to Build Wealth and Cash Flow
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