How I built CoachAutomate — 33 posts, Google sandbox, and 0 clicks (6 week update)
Six weeks ago I launched CoachAutomate.com — a free resource site helping coaches automate their business with Make.com, Kit, and other tools.
Here's where things stand:
What I shipped:
- 33 blog posts covering automation workflows, tool reviews, comparisons
- AutoResearch Loop — Node.js system that monitors GSC and tests title/meta changes automatically
- /go/ affiliate redirect system for clean tracking
- ROI calculator and automation playbook
Current reality:
- 1,588 impressions in GSC, 0 clicks
- Classic Google sandbox pattern — impressions appear then positions drop
- Working on backlinks to exit: Product Hunt launched today, AlternativeTo submitted, Indie Hackers active
Stack: Astro SSR + Sanity CMS + Cloudflare Pages + Hetzner VPS for automation
One honest question for anyone who's been through sandbox: what actually moved the needle for you — was it backlinks, time, or something else?
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distribution is 10x harder than building. i have a working SEO scanner and a 798-agency contact list and still havent made my first dollar. what helped was writing about the journey itself — the build-in-public content gets way more traction than the product pages. are you documenting your process anywhere?
this hits home. i went from zero to 40 IH posts trying to find product-market fit. the biggest lesson: your first 10 users teach you more than your first 10 features. what has surprised you most about how people actually use it vs how you expected?
nice work getting this out there. early-stage products live or die by feedback loops — the faster you can talk to users the better. when i was building my outreach tools i spent too long coding and not enough time talking to potential buyers. are you doing any user interviews alongside the build?