How we gained 20,000 visitors in 4 months without spending a dime on marketing

Ever dream of attracting over 20,000 visitors in 4 months without spending a dime on marketing? Sounds good, right?

Well, we did it, and we're here to share our story from bootstrapping newbies to SEO ninjas. Our journey wasn't exactly smooth sailing, with two product pivots, countless late nights, and enough self-doubt to fuel a rocket. But hey, the struggle is real, and we learned some epic lessons along the way.

I'm Berkay, and back in the day I was a brand manager at Unilever and L'Oreal, crafting campaigns that made heads turn. But the startup world turned the tables. Budgets vanished, and suddenly, SEO became my worst enemy — a confusing labyrinth with no map.

"Time is money," I grumbled, "SEO takes forever!" But then, fate intervened. A Product Hunt launch, some newsletter love, and boom! Traffic surged, proving the SEO wind could propel our startup sailboat after all.

Here's how we ditched the fear, embraced the grind, and unlocked the power of organic traffic:

The Free Tool Gambit:

Forget the MVP grind! We decided to unleash Adsby, our AI-powered Google Search Ads generator for marketing newbies. But before throwing it into the wild, we dropped a Free AI Keyword Generator.

This baby went toe-to-toe with the big boys like Ahrefs and Semrush, snagging the 22nd spot for "Keyword Generator", maybe the most difficult keywords in the world. This SEO win became our traffic magnet, fueled by backlinks and newsletter mentions.

Small Wins, Big Impact (and a Boost from OpenAI):

Remember, every win counts! We followed up with Marketing GPTs, a suite of AI tools tackling everyday marketing woes. While each launch didn't trigger a tidal wave of traffic like the Keyword Generator, they all contributed valuable data and insights, helping us refine our approach and understand user needs.

In a bonus twist, OpenAI's launch of their GPT Store proved serendipitous. Our GPTs were included, and not only did they send us traffic directly, but OpenAI's high domain authority provided powerful backlinks, further boosting our SEO efforts.

This experience solidified our belief in the power of targeting specific pain points. Even if a tool or product doesn't become a runaway success, it can still bring valuable lessons, data, and connections that contribute to your overall journey. And who knows, you might just find yourself benefitting from unexpected partnerships and opportunities along the way!

The Art of the Pivot (and Why We're Glad We Did):

We weren't always good at SEO. The Free AI Text Generator came a bit late to the party, facing steeper competition.

But we didn't sulk! We embraced the lesson, solved another pain point, and kept the traffic flowing.

Content is King (and Queen, and Google's Best Friend):

But our SEO journey didn't stop there. We realized the power of creating valuable content for our target audience. That's how our blog was born, launched alongside our first Product Hunt campaign.

We have spent very very little money, built a WordPress blog, boosted with Yoast SEO plugin. We focused on writing articles that addressed the specific pains and problems of our ideal customers, providing actionable solutions and helpful insights. We religiously followed SEO best practices, optimizing our content for relevant keywords and using tools like Google Search Console and Trends to track performance and identify new opportunities.

Consistency is Key (and We Write Every Night):

We didn't wait for inspiration to strike. We knew that regularly publishing high-quality content was crucial for building trust and authority with our audience, and for ranking higher in search results.

So, we made a commitment to write and publish new content every night. It wasn't always easy, but the results spoke for themselves: Google loves content creators, and our consistent efforts fueled our organic traffic growth.

Adsby Awaits: The Main Event is Here!

Now, in low season, 300-400 weekly visitors buzzing around our free tools and blog, we're ready to unleash the beast — Adsby.co! This bad boy empowers marketing newbies to generate killer keywords, write catchy ad copy, and optimize their campaigns with AI.

But the story doesn't end here!

We're gearing up for another Pruct Hunt launch, and we'd love for you to join the ride. Wish us luck, Indiehackers! And hey, if you have any SEO wisdom to share, hit us up in the comments!

P.S. We're still polishing Adsby, so if you're an early adopter, we'd love your feedback!