Real SEO success stories, from 100 to 100K monthly visitors, that’s exactly what Adam, founder of Viewership.com, set out to do. His goal? Reach 100,000 monthly visitors within 12 months using only organic traffic. In a candid conversation with digital marketing legend Neil Patel, they outlined a practical, grind-it-out strategy to make it happen. Whether you’re launching an agency, a content site, or a personal brand, this step-by-step game plan will show you how to build serious traffic the smart way.
Define the Business Goal Behind the Traffic
Before chasing traffic numbers, Neil challenged Adam with a fundamental question:
- “What’s the real purpose behind your 100,000 monthly visitor goal?”
- Adam’s answer: To build trust and win clients for his YouTube marketing agency.
- Neil emphasized that traffic for traffic’s sake is a mistake. You need to know how that traffic will convert into leads, sales, or brand trust.
Pro Tip:
Don’t just aim for 100k visitors—aim for revenue, influence, or authority. Traffic should serve the business, not the other way around, with real SEO.
Give Away Your “Secret Sauce” – Freely Real SEO
- Adam planned to publish all his YouTube growth strategies publicly, even though he runs an agency.
- Some marketers fear that giving away their best insights will stop clients from paying them.
Neil’s take?
“The people who can afford to pay you don’t want to do it themselves. They’d rather just hire you.”
Pro Tip:
- Show your expertise publicly. The right clients will be impressed and hire you because of it, not despite it.
Partner with Influencers (The Smart Way)
Neil’s next big tip: work with influencers who already have traffic, but aren’t using YouTube effectively.
For example:
- Popular blogs with high Google rankings and real SEO
- Brands in verticals like fitness, finance, and SaaS
- Businesses doing $10M+/year but no serious video strategy
Pitch them something like:
“You’re crushing it with written content. Let me help you turn that into high-performing YouTube videos and expand your traffic.”
This is a shortcut to:
- Client acquisition
- Referral traffic
- Backlinks from high-authority domains
Create World-Class, In-Depth Content
The foundation of this entire strategy? Content. Great content. Neil recommends publishing deep, valuable guides on YouTube growth, YouTube SEO, and content strategy. Then:
- Go to BuzzSumo – Find the most shared content on YouTube marketing.
- Use Ahrefs or Ubersuggest – Find the websites linking to those articles.
- Create better content than what’s already out there.
- Reach out to those linkers and ask them to link to your improved version.
This is how you earn quality backlinks, which are essential to ranking in Google.
Master the Outreach Game
- Link building is manual. Time-consuming. But powerful with real SEO.
Here’s Neil’s exact 3-step outreach strategy:
1. Link Building Outreach
- Use BuzzSumo & Ahrefs to find backlink targets.
- Send them a friendly email:
- “Hey, I loved your article. I’ve built something even more in-depth—would you consider linking to it?”
2. Social Share Outreach
- Ask people who shared similar articles to share yours too.
3. Mention Competitors
- Link to your competitors when appropriate.
Then message them:
- “I liked your content so much, I linked to it in my article! Feel free to share mine if you enjoy it.”
- “Even competitors will often share your work if it’s genuinely helpful.” – Neil
Systematize & Scale with Outsourcing
Doing all of this alone? Not scalable.
Neil’s advice: outsource your outreach using platforms like Upwork. Here’s his process:
- Hire a smart, affordable freelancer with real SEO.
- Have them draft outreach emails in your Gmail (connected to your domain).
- You approve emails → they click send.
- Rinse and repeat at scale.
Pro Tip:
Create templates, checklists, and SOPs to make this process repeatable and manageable. Be Patient—Traffic Takes Time. Neil breaks down the timeline with real SEO:
Months What to Expect
- 0–3 Impressions in Google Search Console, very little traffic
- 4–6 Some rankings and a trickle of traffic
- 10–12 Traffic snowballs if you’ve stayed consistent and targeted the right keywords
Keyword Strategy Tip:
- Use Google Keyword Planner or Ubersuggest. Focus on keywords with 30k+ monthly searches. You’ll only rank for a portion, so aim high.
Conclusion
“It’s a grind, but it works.” – Neil Patel. To grow a blog from zero to 100,000 monthly visitors without paid ads, you don’t need luck. You need a repeatable strategy, commitment to quality, and the grit to keep going. Adam’s plan for Viewership.com is the perfect example of how to start strong, even from zero, with real SEO.
