From 1k to 12k visits: all it took was one move.
Hey Indie Hackers!
I wanted to share a quick growth hack that recently moved the needle for my project.
Like many of you, I spent months obsessing over keywords, backlinks, and long-form blogs. My traffic was stuck at around 1,000 monthly visits. The bounce rate was high. Let’s be real: in 2025, people just don't have the patience to read walls of text anymore.
So, I ran an experiment: "The Video-First Pivot."
I decided to stop writing generic blog posts and started converting my content into high-fidelity AI videos.
The result? Traffic surged to 12k visits last month, and average time-on-site tripled.
The "Secret Sauce" (The Tech Part) 🛠️
I realized that "glitchy" AI videos actually hurt conversion. Users are smart; they hate the weird morphing artifacts typical of older models.
I integrated the latest Kling 2.6 model into my tool, Textideo, and the difference was night and day.
If you haven't played with Kling 2.6 yet, it's a beast. Unlike previous models, it handles:
- Complex Physics: Water flows correctly, reflections match the lighting.
- Prompt Adherence: It actually draws what you ask for without hallucinating weird extra limbs.
- 1080p Native: No more blurry messes.
I built a specific pipeline for this here:
Kling 2.6 Model
How I used it to grow
1. Visual Hooks
I replaced my static hero images with cinematic loops generated by Kling 2.6.
2. Social Seeding
Instead of posting text threads on X/Twitter, I posted raw video outputs.
The algorithm loved it.
A single video generated via Textideo got more reach than my last 20 tweets combined.
3. Programmatic Video
I used my own tool to batch-produce video content for long-tail keywords
(e.g., "Cyberpunk city aesthetics"), which ranked surprisingly fast in Google Video Search.
The Takeaway
If you are building a content site or a SaaS, try swapping your static assets for high-quality generative video.
The "Wait, is that real or AI?" factor is a huge engagement driver right now.
I'm still refining the UI and generation speed. I’d love for you guys to roast my implementation or give it a spin.
Main Tool: Textideo
Kling 2.6 Pipeline
Let me know what you think about the generation quality!
Cheers!
That’s awesome! I’ve built a tools website as well, but it’s not quite where I want it to be yet. Hopefully by 2026 mine will grow too. Let’s keep going and push forward together!
If you'd like to try AI-powered marketing, I recommend Amplift .ai. It can help solve problems you encounter in marketing, including SEO, AEO, writing, and more.
Thanks for the suggestion! I’ll definitely check out Amplift.ai. Always great to discover new tools that can help with marketing workflows.
Nice case study the video-first pivot seems like a really clever move given how attention spans have dropped. As someone who’s worked on SEO-heavy content for SaaS and clients in emerging markets, I’m curious: after the traffic jumped from 1 k → 12 k, did you also see an improvement in engagement depth (like session duration, scroll depth, conversions)? Or was it mostly top-of-funnel traffic? I’d love to hear if this growth was sustainable beyond the initial boost.
Thanks for the thoughtful question — really appreciate it.
After the traffic grew from 1k → 12k, we did see improvements beyond just top-of-funnel visits. Session duration and scroll depth both increased, mainly because the video-first format kept users engaged longer. Conversions also improved modestly, especially on pages where the video content was tied directly to intent.
That said, a portion of the spike was definitely top-of-funnel, so we focused on turning that initial boost into more sustainable, intent-driven traffic. Overall, the growth has held up pretty well so far.
Reading something short but clear… it honestly made me feel good.
I'm running a YouTube channel as well and I’ve been using Kling AI’s paid version—
and wow, it’s really impressive.
Seeing your visitor numbers grow is truly inspiring.
Congratulations, sincerely.
I’m currently building an AI counseling web service,
but I often feel lost about what to improve next
and how to actually attract users.
I wonder… did you ever feel this way too?
If you did, how did you overcome that stage?”
Thank you so much — your message really made my day.
Kling’s paid version is genuinely impressive, and it’s great to hear it’s helping your YouTube workflow too.
And yes, I’ve absolutely felt that “lost” stage. When you’re building something new, it’s really hard to know what to improve or where users will actually come from. What helped me most was focusing on two things:
Talking to users early, even before the product felt “ready.”
Shipping small improvements fast instead of waiting for one perfect solution.
Little by little, clarity starts to show up.
Your AI counseling service sounds meaningful — keep going. The uncertainty is part of the process, but it does get clearer as you continue to iterate.
Really cool shift, Andy — that video-first move makes total sense with how people browse now. I had a similar boost when I started using more interactive visuals on my projects. While experimenting with ideas, I stumbled on Jenny Mod and it actually inspired some fun ways to make content feel more alive. Nice work on the 12k jump!
Thanks a lot — really appreciate that!
And yes, the shift toward video-first content has been a big factor. People skim fast now, so anything dynamic tends to perform way better.
That’s interesting about Jenny Mod — I’ve seen people use it in creative ways. It’s cool how unexpected tools can spark new ideas.
And thanks for the shoutout on the 12k jump! Still experimenting, but the momentum feels good.
Wow, the video-first shift clearly paid off! Thanks for sharing the process, really helpful stuff!
Really appreciate it! The video-first approach surprised me too — it boosted engagement way more than expected.
Happy to share more details if you're testing similar ideas!