Project 24 December 2019 Update on 4 sites

Alston has been running four separate sites through Income School’s Project 24 course since September 2018, and in December 2019 he pulled back the curtain on all of them at once. Real pageview numbers. Real bounce rates. One site with 100 blog posts. Another site with just 10 posts and nearly the same traffic. All of them profitable.

This post walks through every site Alston covered in the December 2019 update, what the numbers actually mean, and what he says he would do differently if he were starting over. If you are considering Project 24 or already using it, this is one of the most honest looks at what the course produces after more than a year of real effort.

What You’ll Walk Out With

The actual December 2019 traffic numbers for all four of Alston’s Project 24 sites
Why one site with only 10 blog posts is outperforming a site with 100 posts on a per-post basis
How the Avocado WordPress theme from Project 24 dropped one site’s bounce rate to under 7%
Why Google was fifth in organic traffic for Site 1 and what that tells you about niche selection
What Alston says he would change if he were building Site 1 from scratch today
Whether Alston still recommends Project 24 after running it across four sites for over a year
A realistic view of how long it takes to see traffic from content marketing using this method
Not sure blogging is the right model for you? Find your starting point at finder.platformproof.com

What Project 24 Is

Project 24 is a content marketing course created by Jim and Ricky from Income School. The concept is simple: follow 60 steps to build a blog that gets found through organic search traffic, primarily on Google. When Alston started in September 2018, the course was focused primarily on blogging. By December 2019, it had expanded to include a YouTube course, a Pinterest course, and a free WordPress theme called Avocado available exclusively to students.

The 60-step structure is designed to hold your hand through everything from registering a domain and setting up web hosting to writing your first posts and optimizing for search. Alston completed the first 60 steps on his second site in the first week of January 2019. By December 2019, he was running four separate sites at various stages of development.

The name “Project 24” is a reference to the goal of replacing your income within 24 months using content marketing. Alston’s December update is a real look at what those months of work produce for someone who is serious about following the process.

Site 1: The Largest Site (100 Posts, 3,616 Pageviews)

Alston’s largest site had somewhere between 95 and 100 blog posts and about 40 YouTube videos attached to it at the time of this update. The YouTube channel connected to that site had between 80 and 90 subscribers. In December 2019, the site received 3,616 pageviews.

The standout number on this site is the bounce rate: 6.5 to 7 percent. That is extremely low. A typical website sees bounce rates between 50 and 80 percent. Alston credits this entirely to the Avocado WordPress theme from Project 24, which is built to keep readers moving through the site rather than bouncing after one page. Project 24 students can use the Avocado theme on any number of their own sites. You cannot resell it or give it to someone else, but for students it is free.

The problem with Site 1 is where the organic traffic is coming from. Alston’s top three organic sources were Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo. Google was in fifth place. That is not where you want to be. Google is the dominant search engine by a wide margin, and if your site is not showing up in Google results near the top, the organic traffic ceiling is much lower than it could be.

Alston also noticed the site is seasonal. He saw a clear uptick during the holiday season, which tells him to expect a drop in traffic in the weeks after the holidays end. A seasonal spike is not a bad thing, but it does suggest the site’s niche is tied to specific times of year, which limits the consistency of income.

His honest assessment: for a site that had been running for about a year and a half with nearly 100 blog posts, Site 1 is not performing where he wants it to be. He says the niche selection on that site was probably too narrow in the wrong ways, and that expanding the content into related topics could improve the seasonality problem. More YouTube videos and more blog posts are on the to-do list.

Site 2: The Profitable Workhorse (50-60 Posts, 3,623 Pageviews)

Site 2 had between 50 and 60 blog posts at the time of the update. Alston started it on October 25, 2018, and completed the first 60 Project 24 steps on it in the first week of January 2019. In December 2019, it had 3,623 pageviews and 3,396 unique views. The average time on page was 4 minutes and 19 seconds.

The bounce rate on Site 2 was 89.93 percent, which is the opposite of Site 1. The reason is the theme. Site 2 was running the older X theme that Jim and Ricky used to recommend before they developed Avocado. The theme difference alone explains almost all of the bounce rate gap between the two sites. Avocado keeps people reading. The X theme does not hold them the same way.

Despite the high bounce rate, Site 2’s organic performance is strong. Google leads the organic traffic for this site, which is exactly what you want to see for a content marketing business built on search. The site operates in a larger, more broadly appealing niche than Site 1, which shows in the traffic geography: United States, Canada, India, and the United Kingdom are all well-represented. A broader niche with more global appeal means more potential readers.

Most importantly, Alston confirmed that all of his sites are profitable at this point. Site 2 is making money. He did not give exact monthly income figures, but the statement that all four sites are in the black after roughly a year of work is meaningful for anyone wondering if this method actually produces results.

Site 3: The Local Travel Site (Kenosha, 153 Pageviews)

Site 3 is different from the others. Alston built this one in July 2018, before he ever started Project 24, and its original purpose was to attract advertising revenue from local businesses and restaurants in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He did not start adding blog posts to it until January 2019.

By December 2019, the site had between 10 and 20 blog posts and was pulling 153 pageviews and 147 unique views per month. The average time on page was 1 minute and 29 seconds, with a bounce rate of 93.53 percent. The site runs a plugin called Listing Directory Pro, which is built for local business directories.

The traffic for Site 3 is coming from Google organic and direct, with Facebook adding some visits. Alston notes that any traffic appearing to come from outside the United States on this site is likely spam or bot traffic rather than real visitors, since the site is focused entirely on a local Wisconsin geography.

Site 3 is clearly the weakest performer in this update, and the numbers reflect the reality of local niche sites. A hyper-local site about one county in Wisconsin has a very small total addressable audience. If someone is not in or visiting Kenosha County, there is almost no reason to visit the site. The low pageview count is not surprising given that constraint.

Site 4: Ten Posts, Three Thousand Four Hundred Ninety One Pageviews

Site 4 is the one that gets attention. Alston calls it his smallest site and his pound-for-pound most successful site. It had only 10 blog posts at the time of this update. It had no images beyond a logo. No ads. Just text and a logo. And in December 2019 it had 3,491 pageviews and 3,175 unique views. Average time on page was 4 minutes and 20 seconds. Bounce rate was 86.89 percent.

Compare that to Site 1, which had 95 to 100 blog posts and 3,616 pageviews. Site 4 produced nearly the same monthly traffic with one-tenth the content. That is a dramatic difference in efficiency.

Google is the dominant traffic source for Site 4, leading by a wide margin over direct, Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo. The traffic comes from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and India, suggesting this site operates in a niche with genuinely international appeal.

Alston’s comment on this site is pointed: he should probably add some ads to it because with just 10 posts it is already successful and not yet monetized to its potential. He says that out loud in the video as if it surprises even him. Ten posts. No ads. Nearly 3,500 pageviews. The keyword research and niche selection on this site clearly worked in a way that Site 1’s did not.

This comparison between Site 1 and Site 4 is one of the most instructive parts of the entire update. It is not always about how much content you produce. It is about whether the right people can find that content. A smaller site in a well-researched niche with strong keyword targeting can keep up with or outperform a much larger site that got the niche or keyword strategy wrong.

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What the Numbers Are Actually Telling You

Looking across all four sites together, a few patterns stand out that Alston mentions directly or that you can read from the data.

Niche selection matters more than post count. Site 4 proves this. Ten posts and nearly 3,500 pageviews per month. Site 1 has ten times the content and the same traffic. The difference is almost certainly in keyword research and niche targeting. Getting the niche right at the start saves months of effort later.

Theme choice has a measurable impact on bounce rate. The Avocado theme brought Site 1’s bounce rate to 6.5 to 7 percent. The X theme left Site 2 at 89.93 percent. Both sites had similar traffic numbers. But visitors on Site 1 were reading far more pages per visit, which means more opportunities for affiliate clicks and more time for trust to build. The theme is not a minor design decision. It affects behavior.

Google should be your top organic source. When Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo are all ranking your site ahead of Google, something is off. It may be the niche, the keyword targeting, or the overall domain authority in Google’s index. Alston acknowledges Site 1 needs to fix this and that more content and a broader approach to the niche would help.

Seasonality is a signal worth taking seriously. If your traffic spikes in November and December and drops in January, you have a seasonal site. That is fine, but it changes your income expectations for slower months. Planning for that reality matters. Alston notes he probably should have created content that extends beyond the seasonal peak to smooth out the curve.

All four sites are profitable. That is the bottom line. Alston is clear about this. Every site is in the black. Three of the four are generating meaningful traffic. One site with only 10 posts is competing with a site that has 100 posts. The course is working. The results vary based on execution, but the underlying method is producing income.

Does Alston Still Recommend Project 24?

Yes, without hesitation. He answers this directly in the video because people ask him via email even when his largest site has not hit the growth targets he wanted. His reasoning breaks down into a few specific points.

First, the YouTube course that was added to Project 24 after the initial launch is genuinely good. He references it as a strong addition to the curriculum. Second, the blogging course works. His own results across three of his four sites confirm this. The site that is underperforming is underperforming because of decisions he made, not because the course failed him. He is honest about that.

Third, and most directly: if he had chosen a different niche for Site 1, it would be doing much better right now. He addressed this in a separate video. He made some specific early decisions on that site that he would reverse if starting over. Those were his choices, not course failures. The method works. Execution and niche selection are the variables that determine how well.

The clearest argument for Project 24 in this update is Site 4. Ten posts. No ads. No images. Nearly 3,500 monthly pageviews and profitable. That result comes from following the course process and picking the right niche. If one small site with ten posts can do that, there is no question the underlying method is valid.

Find Your X

Blogging through a course like Project 24 is one path to online income, and as Alston’s December 2019 update shows, it can work on multiple sites at once if you stay consistent. But blogging is not the right starting point for everyone. If you are trying to figure out whether content marketing, affiliate work, freelancing, or something else fits your skills and the time you actually have, the Platform Proof Finder can point you in the right direction. Five questions, five minutes, a clear recommendation. Start at finder.platformproof.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Project 24 by Income School?

Project 24 is a content marketing course created by Jim and Ricky from Income School. It guides students through 60 steps to build a blog that attracts organic search traffic. By December 2019 it had expanded to include a YouTube course, a Pinterest course, and the Avocado WordPress theme available free to enrolled students. The goal is to replace your income through blogging and content marketing within 24 months.

How much traffic did Alston’s Project 24 sites get in December 2019?

Across four sites: Site 1 had 3,616 pageviews, Site 2 had 3,623 pageviews, Site 3 had 153 pageviews, and Site 4 had 3,491 pageviews. The combined total was over 10,800 pageviews for that single month. Three of the four sites were producing meaningful organic traffic, and all four sites were profitable at the time of the update.

Why was Site 4 so successful with only 10 blog posts?

Alston does not spell out the exact niche for Site 4 in the video, but the implication is clear: the keyword research and niche selection were right. When Google is your top traffic source and you are getting 3,491 pageviews with 10 posts and no ads, it means the content is ranking for searches people are actually making. Niche selection and keyword targeting at the start matter far more than raw post count.

What is the Avocado WordPress theme from Project 24?

Avocado is a free WordPress theme developed by Income School and made available exclusively to Project 24 students. It is designed to reduce bounce rates and keep visitors reading more pages per session. Alston’s Site 1 used the Avocado theme and had a bounce rate of 6.5 to 7 percent. His Site 2 used the older X theme and had a bounce rate of 89.93 percent. Students can use Avocado on any number of their own sites.

How long did it take Alston’s sites to become profitable?

Alston started Project 24 in September 2018. By December 2019, all four of his sites were profitable. That is roughly 15 months from the start of the course to profitability across the board. The timeline varied by site since each was started at a different time, but none of them generated income immediately. Content marketing is a long-game strategy that requires consistent publishing before traffic and income build.

Why was Google ranked fifth in organic traffic for Site 1?

Alston points to this as a problem in the video. When Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo are all sending more traffic than Google, it usually means the site is not ranking well in Google’s index despite ranking on smaller search engines. This can result from the niche being too narrow, keyword targeting that does not match how Google evaluates relevance, or domain authority being lower than the competition in Google specifically. Alston acknowledges he needs to expand the content on this site to improve Google performance.

What is the X theme and how does it compare to Avocado?

The X theme was the WordPress theme Jim and Ricky from Income School recommended before they developed Avocado. It is a general-purpose commercial theme. Site 2 in Alston’s update used the X theme and had a bounce rate of 89.93 percent. Site 1, using the Avocado theme, had a bounce rate of 6.5 to 7 percent despite similar traffic levels. The Avocado theme appears to be significantly better at keeping visitors engaged and reading additional pages.

Is Project 24 worth it for beginners?

Alston says yes, even when his best-resourced site is not performing at the level he hoped. His reasoning: the course works when you follow it correctly and choose the right niche. His own Site 4 with just 10 posts and no ads is pulling nearly 3,500 monthly pageviews and is profitable. The YouTube course addition makes the investment even stronger for anyone interested in video alongside blogging. The main variable is niche selection and consistency of publishing, not course quality.

Sources

Alston Godbolt, “Project 24 December 2019 Update on 4 sites,” YouTube, https://youtu.be/-NXK26tgETM
Income School Project 24 course: https://incomeschool.com/project24/
Avocado WordPress theme (available to Project 24 students through Income School)