How We Grew From 48 to 1,700 Monthly Website Visitors With Zero Ads: Real Photography Business SEO Results
We started this year with 48 monthly visitors to our photography website and a simple goal: show up consistently and trust the long game. Fast-forward and we’re now averaging 1,700 monthly visitors, 309 blogs published, and a new booking every four days… all without ads. Our traffic didn't “spike.” It compounded. Month after month, we created content, optimized our pages, built local authority in Southern California, and improved our client journey. We noticed momentum toward the end of summer, then a real shift in fall as inbound leads and bookings surged. Today, we’re publicly committing to our next goals: 2–3 bookings per week, 400 blogs, and 30 submissions by year-end. Follow our journey and see if consistent effort beats everything else. Spoiler: it usually does.
A few months back, we wrote about growing our website from 48 monthly visitors to over 1,000. That was a milestone moment. It felt like the hard work was finally starting to talk back.
Today, we’re updating that story with something even better:
We just crossed 1,700 monthly visitors, booked more clients than ever before, and hit 309 blogs published this year.
This is what slow, steady, relentless effort looks like when it decides to show off a little.
No courses. No paid funnels. Just consistent effort, real learning, and a belief that small businesses can grow through value and community. If you're building your photography business (or any creative business) and want to talk real strategy — no fluff, no gatekeeping — we’d love to connect and grow together.
📅 Let’s Talk Business & SEO
Building From Zero Again
In January, we were staring at 48 visitors for the month. A tiny number on paper, but that number meant something: momentum had a pulse.
February: 72
March: 142
April: 396
Quiet numbers. Barely-there traction. But brick by brick, we kept pushing.
Then summer landed and the curve shifted.
June hit 730 visitors. July touched 899.
August crossed 1,005.
September reached 1,215.
And October… 1,700.
No shortcuts. No viral moment. Just patience stacked daily until it turned into something real.
Showing Up When Nobody’s Watching
We didn’t gain traffic by accident. We earned it by showing up.
One blog in February.
Eight in March.
Then 38 in April, 35 in May.
47 in June.
35 in July.
50 in August.
46 in September.
49 in October.
That brought us to 309 blogs published so far this year.
Content compounds. And the internet rewards persistence long before it rewards perfection.
Turning Visitors Into Real People
Traffic is cool, but impact is measured in humans. In June, we got two submissions — one booked. That alone felt like validation.
Then the flywheel warmed up.
July grew.
August dipped but taught us.
September hit 10 inquiries and 6 bookings.
October pushed 14 inquiries and 9 bookings.
We went from hoping for one booking a month…
to one every two weeks…
to now averaging a new client every 4 days.
When people start coming to you — without ads, without begging for attention — you realize the foundation was worth it.
The Inflection Point
By late summer, you could feel the shift. More search impressions. More couples and families discovering us on autopilot. More ROI on the hours we poured into making this site helpful, authentic, and fully ours.
Then in September, we added support to sharpen our optimization even more. Not out of desperation — but momentum. When the engine is running, you tune it.
What’s Next (And We're Saying It Out Loud)
We’re not interested in “playing safe” anymore. This next chapter is about stepping confidently into the results we’ve earned.
Here’s what we’re pushing to hit before year-end:
• Average 2–3 bookings per week
• Reaching 30 form submissions a month
• Publish 400 blogs by EOY
We’re already at one booking every four days and 309 blogs, so the path is clear — show up, keep serving, keep improving.
We used to say “hopefully one booking a month.”
Now we’re chasing volume, clarity, and momentum with intention.
Follow along and see if we hit every one of these goals.
We plan to.
Recap
– 48 monthly visitors to 1,700 and climbing
– 309 blogs published and counting
– Bookings now averaging every four days
– New public year-end goals to chase: 2–3 bookings per week, 400 blogs, 30 inquiries
The formula hasn’t changed:
Consistency + patience + serving people honestly.
We’re only getting started.
Final Thoughts
Curious how this story unfolds?
Follow our journey or inquire to work with us:
Website: LastMinutePhotoshoot.com
Contact: booking@lastminutephotoshoot.com
Serving Southern California + beyond
See you at the next update. The climb continues.
When You Find What Works, Do More of It: A Year of Growth with Last Minute Photoshoot
When we launched Last Minute Photoshoot in September 2024, we had no packages, no blogs, no business number—just ambition. We uploaded past work and waited for bookings that never came. Months of free shoots, cold messages, and no traction taught us something priceless: effort compounds. Early this year, we shifted our focus to SEO and blogging, building systems that would bring clients to us—just like Alex Hormozi says, “put your business in front of a hungry crowd.” That shift changed everything. Within months, we grew from crickets to consistent bookings every week. The lesson? When you find something that works, do more of it.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last year running Last Minute Photoshoot, it’s this: what works often hides behind months of what doesn’t. It sounds simple—“just do more of what works,” as Alex Hormozi says—but getting there? That’s the part no one talks about.
When we first launched in September 2024, we had nothing figured out. No packages. No blogs. No business number. No network. No social presence. Just a domain name and a dream that our photography would speak for itself.
So I did what most people do—I uploaded all of Stephanie’s best work from 2022–2023, hit publish, and waited for the flood of clients that never came. We thought being great photographers was enough. It wasn’t.
For months, we put ourselves out there.
Cold messages to local businesses offering free work.
Networking events hoping to meet the “right person.”
Family sessions, maternity shoots, couple portraits—all for free—thinking exposure would lead to opportunity.
Nothing stuck. No bookings, no return, just silence. But looking back now, it wasn’t wasted time. Every unpaid shoot made us sharper—better communicators, better photographers, better partners. We were unknowingly building the foundation that we’d later stand on.
Then came the pivot.
Earlier this year, we decided to do a full 180. Instead of waiting for opportunities, we built systems that would bring them to us.
Like Alex Hormozi says—put your business in front of a hungry crowd.
(Shout out to Alex Hormozi—your content, your books, and your mindset have seriously been a game changer for us.)
We went all in on SEO—optimizing every page, learning search intent, and most importantly—blogging.
At first, the goal was one blog per week. That quickly turned into three. Then ten. Before long, we were publishing 10–15 blogs a week, experimenting with topics, testing headlines, and tracking what worked.
Some posts flopped. Others brought in traffic overnight. That’s when it clicked—when you find something that works, do more of it.
Fast forward to today: we’re fully booked every week.
Nine bookings this month alone—courthouse weddings, surprise proposals, family milestones, and more.
The moral?
Do more.
Do one more.
When something works, double down.
The not-so-secret formula is to outwork yesterday—work more, work smarter, and work harder.
Because when you commit to showing up every day—even when it feels pointless—momentum will eventually meet you halfway.