How do you grow free tools sites for ad monetization?

TL;DR: How do you go about growing traffic for a free tool site, especially if it is more consumer than business-focused? Are there any communities that focus on building these types of tools and not just SaaS?

Hello! I've recently started building out some free tool sites that solve one problem with the hope of getting enough traffic that I could then monetize them with ads. I originally wanted to create a B2B SaaS product but then after a few months, and some serious self-reflection, I realized that path wasn't really for me. Even though I had some great ideas, that I even did customer validation for, I found that I didn't have the motivation to work on a SaaS project, and that, of course, is not going to be sustainable. So I've pivoted. I've always enjoyed building small helpful web apps for myself and my friends anyway, so why not just polish them up and slap some ads on them!? After making this pivot, I've successfully made two new tools in the last two weeks and I'm feeling extremely motivated to keep it going. Now that I feel like I can actually sustain development on these types of projects I'm looking for help in terms of methods or places to market them. I see a lot of posts on ways or sites to promote your SaaS product, but not much is said about other types of business models. I'm curious if anyone has any tips on how to grow traffic for free tools sites. I'm especially curious for advice on marketing consumer-facing tools since most of my ideas aren't really for businesses. I haven't been able to find much discussion on profiting from free tools so I'd love to know if there is an indie hackers group or an external community that talks about these types of projects, as well!

Thanks for any info you can share!