How We Got 100,000 Monthly Visitors in 24 Months Using SEO
Featuring Tyler’s first SEO project.
In April 2020, I started a home and garden website. I knew the basics of SEO but wanted a place to test what I learned and see real results. So, I read books, took courses, and applied everything I learned on this site.
Here’s what happened:
| Timeline | Number of Articles | Results |
|---|---|---|
| Apr 2020 | 0 | 15 Pageviews |
| Aug 2020 | 32 | 1,100 Pageviews Per Month |
| Mar 2021 | 146 | 13,000 Pageviews Per Month |
| May 2022 | 315 | 109,000 Pageviews Per Month |
| May 2023 | 352 | 171,000 Pageviews Per Month |
Starting Out (Months 1-4)
In April 2020, I bought a domain, used a simple WordPress theme, and began publishing articles. Since SEO takes at least 3-6 months to see results, I wasn’t sure if it was going to work. I was also writing every article myself, taking about 6-8 hours for each article, so it was a slow process.
By August, I had 32 articles, which was below my target. However, I started to see some progress in the form of 1,100 pageviews per month. After writing 30 articles, my experience grew, and the time it took to write each article decreased to about 4 hours.
I also started to notice trends in Google Search Console and Google Analytics for the articles that were performing well and doubled down on them. I tailored my SEO plan and keywords to match these trends.
Seeing Progress (Months 5-10)
Seeing this progress gave me motivation, so I went all in. Every day for the entire month of September 2020, I went to a coffee shop to write 1-2 articles before I worked my day job at 10 am.
It wasn’t perfect, and I missed a day here and there, but writing every day gave me a muscle memory for it and reduced the time to write an article to about 2-3 hours.
By the end of September, I increased the number of articles from 32 to 55.
At this point, I began hiring, training, and managing a team of writers and editors. With their help, the articles continued at a similar pace for the next 12 months.
Liftoff (Months 11-24)
In March 2021, the site had 146 articles, with about 100 of them being aged enough to rank properly. Combine this with the gardening season coming into full swing, and the site took off. That month it broke 10,000 pageviews and continued to climb.
| Timeline | Number of Articles | Results |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2021 | 146 | 13,000 Pageviews |
| Apr 2021 | 171 | 20,000 Pageviews |
| May 2021 | 187 | 36,000 Pageviews |
| Jun 2021 | 199 | 46,000 Pageviews |
My team and I kept publishing, and the site kept growing. I’d regularly check my SEO plan, making sure I was targeting the right keywords that both the readers and Google liked. I also kept the niche tight, trying my best not to stray from the topic. To do this, I focused on topic clusters.
At this point, since some posts were about 12 months old and properly aged, I began to review them to see if they needed to be updated or removed. I also checked for any broken links and redirected where needed.
Next Steps
Today, the website is still growing, peaking this year at 171,000 pageviews in May. It still has about 300 articles, as keeping all of them updated is enough work on its own.
I also recently ran Facebook and email campaigns, with promising results. Here are the highlights:
- Acquired Facebook Followers for 6¢ each
- Acquired Facebook Leads for 14¢ each
- Hit 5,000 Email Signups
- Achieved a 37% Email Open Rate
If you’d like to learn more, ask me about my “Double Infographic Method” for Facebook.
In the meantime, we’ve built other websites using these same SEO strategies, so make sure to check out our other case studies.
