Free tools site after 2 months: one Hacker News post beat all SEO work combined
One developer built ToolPalace, a site with 25 free tools, and ran it solo for two months. The first month brought almost no visitors.
A missed identity-verification email from Namecheap caused the domain to be suspended, wiping out all accumulated visibility overnight. After posting on Hacker News — a popular community for developers and founders — 86 people visited in a single day, far outperforming two months of search-optimization work.
Google AdSense (ad revenue) approval is still pending. The main lesson: SEO takes far longer than expected, and a single well-placed community post can deliver more short-term traffic than months of optimization.
Key points
- Expect zero traffic in the first weeks after launch — this is normal
- Always check domain registration verification emails; missing one can suspend your site
- A single Hacker News post delivered more traffic in one day than two months of SEO
- Treat SEO as a long-term investment, not a quick traffic source
- AdSense approval takes time — plan your timeline with a buffer