Week 1: Audio, Seasonal Content, and Waiting on Google | Best or Worst Idea

Week 1: Audio, Seasonal Content, and Waiting on Google

February 8, 2026 · Week 1

Following along? Subscribe to Golf Spa Escapes and watch this experiment unfold.

What Happened This Week

First real week of the experiment. No dramatic changes in the numbers yet — this is a long game. But I made two moves worth tracking.

What I Tried

✓ Published this week's resort review — Mount Juliet Estate, Ireland. I usually write these Sunday evenings — it's become a nice, relaxing ritual.
✓ Audio content via ElevenLabs → Spotify — I started converting resort summaries into audio using ElevenLabs, then uploading to Spotify with links back to golfspaescapes.com. The idea: use Spotify as a discovery channel to drive traffic back to the site. We'll see if it gains traction.
✓ Shifted to summer destinations — It's February. People are starting to plan summer vacations. So I pivoted my recent posts to focus on places people can visit in mid-summer. Seasonal timing matters for this kind of content.

Blockers

🚧 Google AdSense — Still Waiting

Still waiting on Google AdSense to approve the site so I can start running ads. Their review process does not move fast. At this point I'm contemplating alternative ad monetization options if this drags on much longer.

The Numbers

No meaningful changes yet. The audio content just went live, and SEO takes time. Tracking the baseline for now.

Metric This Week Change
Destinations Reviewed 61 —
Monthly Traffic ~1,000 —
Newsletter Subscribers 😬 —
Google Ads Revenue $0 Pending

Week 1 Scoreboard

📊 Current Status

1 Week
61 Destinations
~1K Monthly Traffic
TBD Subscribers
$0 Revenue
Pending Google Ads

What's Next

Keep publishing summer destination content. See if the Spotify/audio play starts showing any referral traffic. And keep refreshing my inbox waiting for Google to get back to me.

If AdSense doesn't come through soon, I'll start researching alternatives.

See you next Sunday.

Disclaimer: This is a personal experiment for entertainment and educational purposes. Results will vary. I'm documenting my actual experience growing a content site and newsletter — your results may be completely different. This is not business or financial advice.