7 of my blog secrets
I love this post from Brian Gardner 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:
- Blogging daily (540 posts)
- Limiting my focus to a small set of topics (WordPress, Business/Freelancers, Presentations, Building New Products)
- Shining the light on others, rather than navel-gazing
- Writing posts where I try to help others
- Telling good stories (and bringing my own voice into posts)
- Keeping a tight focus on each single post
- 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 and see if it could help me write better. Man, did it.
I already referenced Brian Gardner, but for years I silently watched all his posts.
I met Dino Dogan and he introduced me to Triberr – which helps me share my posts.
I watched daily bloggers like Tom McFarlin and John Saddington (long before they knew I was watching).
Product creators like Pippin, Blair, Erik, Jason, Lee and Cory would send people to my posts.
Friends like Suzette and Jason would retweet every article I ever wrote.
I was interviewed on shows like the Matt Report, the Tavern, and profiled by WP Engine.
I was invited to write for WP Daily, Torque, and even a guest post on WooThemes.
And I was invited to speak at WordCamps, 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.