Ask HN: Building a simple utility site to build pre-launch traffic?

I have two different applications that I've been developing part-time. One application is for managing Apache authentication across multiple sites on the same server and the other is a replacement for both the browser popup authentication window and backend user authentication on Apache.

To build some pre-launch traffic and gauge interest in the market I've built a simple website aimed at the same type of user:

http://www.htpasswdmaker.com/

I've left it as a stand-alone site for now with the plan to add links to the applications I have in development once they mature to a release point. I'm also thinking about using it as a test bed for SEO testing and potentially adwords testing.

With that in mind, what does everyone think of building independent traffic drivers like this? Do simple applications like this work better for "evergreen content" than for example a howto site about Apache authentication?

BTW, I've had a similar sort of site up for a few years for generating personal passwords, http://passwordchart.com/ (same design), it gets around 8,000 uniques a month with peaks and troughs around reviews in blogs.