Kamb attributes most of his organic search ranking to articles that other sites and readers linked to and shared on their own, rather than deliberate SEO tactics.

He frames his approach as writing content good enough to be shared, not as SEO technique.

An article on cheap round-the-world flights was picked up unsolicited by a Gizmodo editor within an hour of publishing, and republished with a link back.

“Within an hour of publishing it, I was contacted by a senior editor at”

The syndicated post sent a large one-time spike of new traffic and subscribers back to the site.

“Gizmodo sent over 50,000 new viewers to my site”

Kamb launched the site's message boards around a recurring 28-day accountability challenge, initially just to keep himself accountable before a vacation.

“I was getting ready to go on a Caribbean vacation exactly 28 days later, so I wanted to hold myself accountable”

The boards grew into an active community with no moderation problems, which Kamb calls one of his best decisions.

“we've run seven or eight successful 28-day challenges, and now have over 600 kick-ass members”

Kamb ran a test affiliate program letting other sites earn a 50% commission for referred guide sales before launching it officially.

“I've already paid out a few hundred bucks in commissions”

The commission rate was set high enough that, after payment fees, affiliates earned more per sale than Kamb did.

“you're actually making MORE money off my guide than I am”

As the community and Kamb's public profile grew, he was invited to speak at Google, Google Dublin, Facebook, and TEDxEmory.

“Over the past twelve months I've been fortunate enough to talk in some pretty cool places, including”