Happy 2026: Blog #376 YTD — How We Grew From 48 to 1,937 Monthly Website Visitors With Zero Ads
At the start of the year, we set a goal that felt unrealistic: publish 400 blogs with zero ad spend. In January, our website had just 48 unique visitors, no leads, and no online sales. This post marks blog #376 YTD as we close the year at 1,937 monthly visitors, 26 leads in December, and $6,200 in online sales—purely from SEO. Growth didn’t come quickly. The first six months generated no revenue and little validation. We said yes to unpaid collaborations, built content quietly behind the scenes, and published relentlessly. By August, traffic crossed 1,000 visitors. By October, SEO turned into real bookings. By November, we were converting 40–50% of inbound leads and booking 2–3 weeks out. This journey was shaped not just by discipline, but by resilience. Even in the face of personal loss—losing a parent after a long battle with Parkinson’s—we honored every commitment. This blog is about consistency, keeping your word, and continuing forward even when quitting would be understandable.
At the beginning of the year, we set a goal that felt slightly unreasonable: publish 400 blogs in one year.
Not because it was easy.
Not because there was a guarantee.
But because consistency was the only variable fully within our control.
There’s a quote by Les Brown that stayed with us all year:
Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.
In January, we had 4 blogs published.
This post marks blog #376 — just 24 shy of that original goal.
We didn’t miss the moon.
We landed on it.
Now the next target is clear: 1,000 total blogs by the end of 2026.
The Numbers (January → December)
This year didn’t begin with momentum. It began quietly.
Website traffic
January: 48 unique visitors
December: 1,937 unique visitors
Leads
January: 0
December: 26
Online sales
January–June: $0
July: $300 (our first official booking through the website)
December: $6,200
No ads.
No viral moment.
Just repetition, patience, and long-term belief.
The Early Reality No One Talks About
For the first half of the year, we didn’t even have packages.
We weren’t positioned as proposal specialists.
We weren’t niche.
We weren’t refined.
We said yes to anything and everything—collabs, portraits, events, free shoots—mostly to build brand awareness. Many of those bookings paid nothing.
But behind closed doors, we were doing the real work.
One blog after another.
Quietly.
Consistently.
By August, we finally crossed 1,000 monthly visitors.
Leads began trickling in. We weren’t converting yet—but silence was gone. And that alone was proof we were moving in the right direction.
The Backlink Wall (And Breaking Through It)
For months, backlinks were our weakest link.
Cold emails.
DMs.
Calls.
Partnering with vendors in our field was harder than expected. Early September, we had fewer than 10 backlinks.
That month, we made a difficult but necessary decision: we hired SEO help and invested in backlink-building platforms—earlier than our budget comfortably allowed.
Today, we’re sitting just under 200 backlinks.
By early October, the shift was undeniable.
Traffic climbed faster.
Leads increased.
And conversions finally followed.
When SEO Turned Into Bookings
By October, SEO stopped feeling theoretical and started producing real results.
At that point, we were converting roughly 1 out of every 4–5 leads, an approximate 20–25% conversion rate. It wasn’t perfect—but it was real progress after months of trial, error, and silence.
By November, that momentum accelerated.
We moved from simply receiving inquiries to consistently converting them, booking 4–5 out of every 10 leads, a 40–50% conversion rate. That jump wasn’t accidental—it came from clearer positioning, stronger intent-driven traffic, and trust built long before anyone filled out our contact form.
By then, we were booked 2–3 weeks in advance, shooting surprise proposals every week—sometimes two or three in a single week—and carrying that momentum straight into the new year.
From $300 to $6,200 — In Five Months
In July, our total online sales were $300.
By December, we closed the month at $6,200, all generated directly through our website.
We ended the year booking:
A proposal picnic
A courthouse wedding
What once felt impossible now feels repeatable.
Final Thoughts: Knowing When to Pause — And When to Keep Your Word
There were countless moments this year when quitting would have been understandable.
When there were no leads.
When there was no revenue.
When months of effort showed little outward validation.
And there was one moment when stopping would have been more than understandable—it would have been expected.
This month, I lost my mom after a six-year battle with Parkinson’s disease.
Grief doesn’t pause life. It doesn’t wait for obligations to disappear. And yet, even in the middle of that loss, we kept every appointment. We showed up. We didn’t let anyone down.
Not because it was easy—but because I could hear my mom’s voice clearly:
If you have work, go take care of it. Fulfill your promises.
That mindset carried us through the hardest season of this year.
There’s a line by Alex Hormozi that perfectly describes how we approached this journey:
Do so much volume that it becomes unreasonable for you to fail.
That’s what this year was about.
Not shortcuts.
Not hacks.
Not motivation.
Just volume, repetition, and integrity—done quietly, consistently, and long before results showed up.
This isn’t a message about pushing through pain at all costs. There are moments when stepping back is necessary. But there is also something grounding about honoring your word—especially when life is heavy.
If you’re in a season where quitting feels justified, where everyone around you would understand, ask yourself one honest question:
Have you truly done enough volume to make failure unreasonable?
Keep publishing.
Keep refining.
Keep showing up when no one is watching.
Because momentum rarely announces itself while it’s being built.
And one day, when the results are undeniable, you’ll know exactly why you didn’t stop—especially during the season when everyone would have understood if you did.