Ask HN: Is there any other web-business as easy as online dating and blogging?

To make a successful web startup you have to deal with problems much harder than pedestrian ones like inventory and shipping.

Creating a successful dating site "doesn't require anything other than building a web-app" in roughly the same way that being a successful novelist doesn't require anything other than writing a novel.

Why would you deliberately look for low barriers to entry? If it's so easy that people will do it for free, you may have some trouble making a profit -- especially if your motivation is to do a minimal amount of work.

If you want no hassle, affiliate sites are the way to go as you only generate the sales lead and they do all the rest. Once you find something that works, you just replicate. CJ.com is a good place to start.

I'm not sure what you mean by "blogging business" though, you mind elaborating?

Social sites where the users generate all the content are good as well, look into scripts like Pligg which are easy to install and customize to suite your niche.

But the people making money in ANY business are the ones who aren't looking for something easy. As PG says, they're the ones looking for an opportunity to get rewarded for working harder than their competition. This is truer than ever on the web. Sure match.com or whoever may have cheesy ads but in the boiler room there will be talented geeks working their asses off.

Gimmicks work well - http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/

drop shipping on ebay, i would argue, is easier if you have a good product to drop ship.

blogging requires effort to write content. online dating software requires effort to build the community and improve the site to a level that makes people actually want to use them. both require active work on the website that doesn't necessarily pay off, at least initially.

with drop shipping, you find your source and post it on ebay. the item sells, order an item and send it to them.

User-submitted news sites that allow people to vote articles up and down. ;-)

Most service based business like this have been done e.g. fininding jobs, houses, love.

If you want to go that route, just do what many others are doing - use web 2.0/3.0 tools to do them better and play the niches.