# How I grew my blog to 1 million pageviews in 18 months (without tricks)
*Published: 2013-12-22*
*Tags: wordpress, marketing-communications*
*Source: https://chrislema.com/blog-1-million-pageviews*
---![UpAndToTheRight](https://cms.chrislema.com/api/media/file/UpAndToTheRight.png)## 7 of my blog secrets

I love this post from [Brian Gardner](https://briangardner.com/epic-posts/) that highlights posts don't have to be long to be epic.

So here are my secrets to getting to 1 million pageviews in 18 months without any tricks:

1. Blogging **daily** (540 posts)
2. Limiting my focus to a small set of **topics** ([WordPress](https://chrislema.com/category/wordpress/), [Business/Freelancers](https://chrislema.com/category/coach/), [Presentations](https://chrislema.com/category/presentations/), [Building New Products](https://chrislema.com/category/npd/))
3. Shining the light on **others**, rather than navel-gazing
4. Writing posts where I try to **help** others
5. Telling good **stories** (and bringing my own voice into posts)
6. Keeping a **tight focus** on each single post
7. Having an incredible group of friends **share** my posts

You can imagine that of all of these, **the last one powered most of the site visits**.

And you understand what that means, don't you? The answer is that ***I*** didn't grow the pageview/traffic to my site. ***My friends did.***

I read everywhere that blogging was dead. Turns out, it's still alive and doing well.

## The real secret was a bunch of other people. Not me.

I decided to take a course with [Chris Brogan](https://chrislema.com/blogtopics) and see if it could help me write better. Man, did it.

I already referenced [Brian Gardner](https://briangardner.com/), but for years I silently watched all his posts.

I met [Dino Dogan](http://dinodogan.com/) and he introduced me to [Triberr](https://triberr.com/) - which helps me share my posts.

I watched daily bloggers like [Tom McFarlin](https://tommcfarlin.com/) and [John Saddington](https://yen.io/) (long before they knew I was watching).

Product creators like [Pippin](https://chrislema.com/pippins), [Blair](https://chrislema.com/memberpress), [Erik](https://orbiterproject.org/), [Jason](https://www.paidmembershipspro.com/), [Lee](https://chrislema.com/cart66) and [Cory](https://chrislema.com/Toolkit) would send people to my posts.

Friends like [Suzette](https://suzettefranck.com/) and [Jason](http://wpmedia.pro/) would retweet every article I ever wrote.

I was interviewed on shows like the [Matt Report](https://mattreport.com/), [the Tavern](https://wptavern.com/), and profiled by [WP Engine](https://wpengine.com/).

I was invited to write for [WP Daily, Torque](https://torquemag.io/author/chrislema/), and even a guest post on [WooThemes](https://chrislema.com/woo).

And I was invited to speak at [WordCamps](https://central.wordcamp.org/), which introduced me to even more folks.

## Daily discipline pays off.

When I was a young kid I learned that reading more would improve my vocabulary. I wanted that so bad. So I started reading piles of books (as early as 5). It grew into a habit of carrying books around with me everywhere I went. And I would read at least 15 minutes every single day.

Now, after 15 months of daily posts and 18 months of relaunching my site, I can say that daily writing is also a part of me. And when I miss a day, I just step back to the computer and start again.

Could I (or would I) have guessed that a site that sells very little, isn't connected to a product or company, and puts out daily articles would have ever gotten to a million pageviews? No way.

But blogging daily became a discipline, without an objective. And then one day (today), I woke up and realized I was about to cross that little milestone.

**All I can say is thank you.**