Project 24 Income School Mid-December Update: How 4 Sites Are Actually Performing

A few months into running four separate blogging sites, the traffic data is already sorting itself out. This is a mid-December update on how each of my sites is performing following the Project 24 / Income School method from Jim and Ricky. Real pageview numbers, real traffic sources, real bounce rates, and the honest takeaways I did not expect when I launched.

The pattern that shows up clearly: organic search is doing its job on most sites, one niche landed in a category I did not anticipate, and a small ten-post site is proving that depth beats volume when the content is genuinely useful. Here is the full breakdown.

What You’ll Walk Out With

A clear picture of what Project 24 / Income School actually teaches and what the 60-step process looks like in practice
Real mid-December traffic numbers for four niche sites at different stages of growth
Why one site gets more traffic from Bing than from Google, and what that signals about niche timing
How a site with just 10 posts produces 1,685 pageviews per month and nearly five minutes on page
What the YMYL (your money or your life) category means for your niche growth ceiling
The Avocado WordPress theme: what it includes, who gets it free, and how to deploy it across multiple sites
Why starting now instead of waiting until January puts you weeks ahead of most new bloggers
Not sure what type of content you should be building? Find your answer at finder.platformproof.com

What Is Project 24 / Income School?

Project 24 is a content marketing course created by Jim and Ricky. The core premise is straightforward: build a content site the right way, meaning without black hat methods like aggressive backlinking schemes, and do it consistently enough to replace your full-time income within 24 months.

When I first joined on September 7, 2018, it was primarily a blogging-focused course. The curriculum included about 12 or 13 mini-courses, all centered on building a blog that earns passive income through organic search traffic. Since then, the course has expanded significantly. Jim and Ricky added a YouTube course, a Pinterest course, and a free WordPress theme called Avocado that members can install on as many of their own sites as they want. The goal throughout is the same: create high-quality content, get found organically, and build an audience that trusts you.

One of the things that drew me in was the 60-step process. When you are brand new to content marketing, the biggest problem is not knowing where to start. You see huge, established websites ranking everywhere and it is easy to feel like you have no shot. The 60-step process gave me a structured checklist — a clear sequence of actions to get a site launched correctly before the pressure of competition sets in. That structure turned out to be one of the most valuable parts of the course.

Site 1: The Largest Site — 1,778 Pageviews

This is the site I launched first, on September 7, 2018, the same day I joined the course. By mid-December I had built it up to somewhere between 95 and 100 blog posts and about 40 YouTube videos. I was uploading one YouTube video every single Monday for a stretch before pulling back on that schedule for a variety of reasons. The YouTube channel had around 80 subscribers at this point.

Here are the exact mid-December traffic numbers for this site: 1,778 pageviews, approximately 2 pages per session, 27 seconds on page, a bounce rate of 7.44%, and an exit percentage of 43.08%. Organic search is far and away the primary traffic channel, which is exactly what you want to see on a content site. The top traffic source is Bing, followed by Yahoo, then Direct, DuckDuckGo, YouTube with 31 sessions, and then Google. The visitor geography is strong: United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany — precisely the countries that produce solid affiliate marketing results.

This site uses the free Avocado WordPress theme that Income School provides. To answer a question I get frequently: yes, the Avocado theme is included with an active Income School membership. You do not pay extra for it, and you can apply it to as many sites as you own. Just verify you are following Income School’s specific policies so you stay compliant with their license terms before deploying it across multiple domains.

On the monetization side, I recently received a notification that my sites had reached a new threshold for paid display ads. That means I am now earning passively from both affiliate marketing and paid ads on this site simultaneously — two separate revenue streams working from the same content. That is a meaningful development at this stage of the build.

One challenge this site ran into was unexpected. It fell into the “your money or your life” category — a classification search engines use to flag content where the stakes for users are high, such as financial, health, legal, or safety topics. Sites in this category face higher scrutiny, which can slow ranking progress. On top of that, the niche turned out to be seasonal. I did not see that coming when I picked it, and when you combine a YMYL classification with seasonality, growth slows during off-peak periods. Business has picked up over the last month and a half, which confirms the seasonal pattern is real. This is something worth researching carefully before you commit to a niche.

Site 2: The Content Machine — 1,444 Pageviews With Google Organic Leading

Site two is my second largest by traffic. I launched it on October 24 or 25, 2018, about seven weeks after the first site. I completed the 60-step process on this one during the first week of January, which meant I had two sites running their foundational content before most January-starter bloggers had even registered their domains.

By mid-December this site had between 30 and 45 blog posts and a small YouTube channel with 10 videos. The traffic numbers: 1,444 pageviews, 1,348 unique views, 4 minutes and 4 seconds on page, a bounce rate of 89.75%, and an exit percentage of 89.13%.

What stands out about this site is the traffic source breakdown. Google organic leads the way, followed by Direct, Yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Facebook. Google organic at the top is exactly what you want on a content site because it signals that Google considers the content relevant and trustworthy for those search queries. That is a better traffic source mix than site one currently shows.

Traffic is coming from the United States, Canada, India, and the United Kingdom. The niche on this site is broader than site one, meaning more people globally have a need for what the content covers. I think that broader reach partly explains why site two is performing well despite having fewer posts than site one — there is a larger pool of people searching for what it covers.

One tool I use on this site is a plugin called Blog to Social. What it does is automatically schedule your blog posts to go out to social platforms — Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and possibly Pinterest — at whatever frequency you set. It is a simple way to get additional distribution without creating separate content for each platform. That subscription is ending soon, so I will decide then whether to renew it.

Looking forward, I am considering whether to “niche up” on site one rather than continuing to niche further down. Jim and Ricky have addressed the risk of niching too narrowly, and I think that may be part of what happened with site one. Broadening the focus slightly might open a larger audience and provide more content territory to cover. It is something I will explore rather than commit to blindly.

Site 3: The Local Travel Site — 83 Pageviews for Kenosha, Wisconsin

This is what I call my travel site. It is a hyper-local content site about Kenosha, Wisconsin, a city that draws visitors because of its location and tourist attractions. The site is called Learn Kenosha.

The mid-December numbers: 83 pageviews, 78 unique views, 1 minute and 35 seconds on page, and a bounce rate of 91.89%. The traffic source breakdown here is different from the other sites. Direct traffic leads, followed by Google organic, then social and referral. I would like to see Google organic higher than direct on a content site, but for a local site at this stage the pattern is not alarming. There is also a referral I noticed from a site called George Blogged Online, which caught my attention — I plan to spend some time figuring out what that source is.

The geographic breakdown shows the United States as the clear leader, followed by India, Belgium, China, Hong Kong, and North Macedonia. I take traffic from unexpected countries with a grain of salt on a hyper-local Wisconsin travel site — those sessions may not represent genuine intent from people who are planning to visit Kenosha. Until I see engagement data that confirms real interest, I focus on the US traffic numbers for evaluation.

This site is earlier stage and smaller in scope than the others. Hyper-local sites can perform very well if the content genuinely serves people looking for specific information about that location. The key is building out enough coverage that the site becomes the go-to resource for Kenosha-related searches.

Site 4: 10 Posts, 1,685 Pageviews — The Pound-for-Pound Leader

This is the one that surprised me the most. Site four is my smallest site by post count — just 10 blog posts — and it is the most efficient site I have by a significant margin. I call it the pound-for-pound leader because of how much traffic it generates relative to how little content it has.

The mid-December numbers: 1,685 pageviews, 1,557 unique views, 4 minutes and 58 seconds on page, a bounce rate of 87.95%, and an exit percentage of 89.50%. All of that from 10 posts.

Compare that to site one, which has between 95 and 100 posts and is pulling 1,778 pageviews. Site four is within 100 pageviews of site one while having roughly 90% fewer posts. On a per-post basis it is not close — site four is outperforming everything else I have built. And the nearly five minutes on page tells you those visitors are not bouncing after 30 seconds. They are reading.

The traffic source breakdown confirms the pattern: organic search leads the way, followed by Direct, Referral, and Social. The search engine order is Google first, then Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and Facebook. The geographic distribution is exactly what you want to see for a monetizable English-language content site.

What this site is teaching me is that niche selection and content quality matter more than raw post count. Those 10 posts are landing in front of the right people, and those people are spending nearly five minutes on each visit. That is the signal you want to build toward, not just a high post count.

Not sure which type of site, content strategy, or online income path fits where you are right now?

Answer a few questions at finder.platformproof.com and get a clear direction based on what you already have.

All Four Sites Side by Side: The Real Numbers

Here is a direct comparison of all four sites as of mid-December:

Site 1: 95 to 100 posts, 1,778 pageviews, 7.44% bounce rate, 43.08% exit rate, Bing leads traffic, USA / UK / Canada / Germany
Site 2: 30 to 45 posts, 1,444 pageviews, 89.75% bounce rate, 4 minutes 4 seconds on page, Google organic leads, USA / Canada / India / UK
Site 3: Local travel site (Kenosha, WI), 83 pageviews, 1 minute 35 seconds on page, Direct leads, Google second
Site 4: 10 posts, 1,685 pageviews, 87.95% bounce rate, 4 minutes 58 seconds on page, organic search leads

The clearest insight from comparing these four: post count does not determine traffic volume. Site four has one-tenth the posts of site one and nearly the same traffic. What determines traffic is whether your content matches what people are genuinely searching for, and whether it holds their attention once they arrive. Site four holds people for nearly five minutes. That is a content quality signal, not a volume signal.

What the Income School Method Actually Looks Like After Months of Work

After running four sites simultaneously through the Project 24 curriculum, here is what the method looks like from the inside:

The 60-step process is genuinely useful — it gives you a framework so you are not guessing what to do next when you are brand new to content marketing
Organic search builds slowly but it is the right foundation — when Google or Bing starts sending you consistent traffic, that compounds over time in a way paid traffic does not
The Avocado theme removes a decision — it is clean, it is built for content sites, and it is free with membership, so there is no reason to spend time or money on a different theme when you are starting out
Niche depth matters more than breadth at the start — niching too narrowly caps your audience before you reach it; niching too broadly puts you against massive established sites from day one
YMYL is a real classification with real consequences — if your content touches health, wealth, safety, or legal topics, expect a longer road to ranking because search engines hold that content to a higher standard
Seasonality is something to research before you commit — a site that peaks only a few months per year requires a different content and monetization plan than an evergreen niche
Multiple revenue streams compound from the same content — adding display ad income on top of affiliate commissions means two income sources running from posts you already wrote

Why Starting Now Beats Waiting Until January

Every year, a significant number of people decide January is the time to start a blog or content business. New year, fresh start. And that is fine. But here is what that decision costs you if you are considering it right now.

If you start in mid-December and spend two to three weeks getting your web hosting set up, picking your domain name, and publishing your first few pieces of content — all things you can do before January arrives — you are already weeks ahead of every person who waits for the first Monday of the new year and then spends another two weeks doing research before actually writing anything.

In content marketing, time is the primary asset. Every day that you do not have a post published is a day that post is not earning you traffic. There is no catch-up mechanism. A post published in December starts compounding in January. A post published in February starts compounding in February. The gap never closes on its own.

The people starting in January will be starting with zero posts, zero indexed content, and zero domain authority at the exact moment you already have several posts building momentum. That lead is real, it is measurable, and it grows over the following 24 months.

Find Your X

If this breakdown raised questions about what kind of content business makes sense for where you are — what niche, what format, what approach — the clearest next step is to get a specific answer rather than continuing to research in circles. The Platform Proof Finder asks you a few targeted questions about your skills, your time, and your goals, and gives you a direct recommendation. It is free and takes a few minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Project 24 / Income School?

Project 24 is a content marketing course created by Jim and Ricky of Income School. The core method focuses on building a blog or content site using high-quality original content — no black hat tactics like mass backlinking. The name refers to the goal of replacing your full-time income within 24 months through organic search traffic and passive monetization methods like affiliate marketing and display ads.

Is the Avocado WordPress theme free with Income School?

Yes. As long as you are an active Income School member, the Avocado theme is included at no additional cost. You can apply it to as many of your own sites as you want. Verify the specific terms with Income School to make sure you are following their policies correctly before deploying it across multiple domains, so you stay compliant with their license requirements.

What is the 60-step process in Project 24?

The 60-step process is the structured sequence Jim and Ricky laid out for launching a new blog correctly. It covers the foundational steps — from setting up hosting and choosing a niche to creating initial content — in a specific order designed to give new sites the best possible starting position. It is not the full journey, just the launch sequence that gets you started on the right foundation rather than figuring it out through trial and error.

What does YMYL mean and why does it matter for bloggers?

YMYL stands for “your money or your life.” It is a category search engines use to flag content where a wrong answer could cause real harm to a reader — topics like financial advice, health guidance, safety information, or legal content. Sites in this category face a higher bar before search engines rank them, because the stakes for readers are higher. If your niche touches these areas, plan for a longer timeline to ranking and put extra emphasis on demonstrating genuine expertise and trustworthiness in your content.

How long does it take to get organic search traffic from a new blog?

Timeline varies based on niche competition, content quality, and site age. Based on the Project 24 method and the sites in this update, you should expect to build content consistently for months before organic search becomes a dominant traffic driver. The consistent guidance from Income School is to treat the first year as building the foundation and not expect significant traffic in the first few months. Sites launched in September and October 2018 were already showing organic search as the primary source by mid-December — a solid early signal but not yet meaningful revenue numbers.

What is the Blog to Social plugin and should I use it?

Blog to Social is a WordPress plugin that automatically shares your blog posts to social media platforms — including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram — on a schedule you control. It is a practical way to get distribution without creating separate social content. For most early-stage content sites, organic search traffic matters more than social referral, but having automatic distribution running in the background does not hurt and keeps your social profiles active without extra effort on your part.

Can a 10-post blog compete with sites that have hundreds of posts?

Based on the data from site four in this update: yes, it can. Site four had just 10 posts and was generating 1,685 pageviews with nearly five minutes on page — traffic that is competitive with sites that have 10 times the post count. The key is choosing the right topics for your niche, writing content that genuinely answers the question at a depth that earns a long session, and giving each post enough time to build authority in search engines. Volume matters eventually, but quality and targeting matter more at the start.

Is Project 24 a good option for someone starting a blog today?

Project 24 / Income School provides a structured curriculum with a clear process, which is its biggest advantage for beginners who do not know where to start. The method prioritizes sustainable organic growth over shortcuts, which means results take time but tend to be more stable once they arrive. The addition of YouTube, Pinterest courses, and the Avocado theme shows the course has expanded beyond pure blogging. Whether it is the right fit depends on your goals and learning style — check their current course offering before purchasing since the curriculum has continued to evolve since the original launch in 2018.

Sources

Income School / Project 24 course by Jim and Ricky — incomeschool.com
Google Search Central documentation on YMYL (your money or your life) quality guidelines
Avocado WordPress theme, included in active Income School membership
Blog to Social WordPress plugin for automated social media distribution
Personal site analytics across four niche content sites, mid-December 2018