Passionate Blogging Inspires Passionate Readers

This is a guest post from ‘Wild’ Bill. This might seem to be a little off-topic, but read it and you’ll see it’s bullseye

Is blogging a chore for you? If you are not passionate about the topics you write it shows and your blog readers (if you have any) will catch on. If you want dedicated returning blog readers, express your passion for your topic through your writing. Passionate blogging inspires passionate readers and I’ll show you how your inspiration can infect your readers.

Adding a personal touch

There are so many blogs on the internet, but what is it that gets readers more interested in one blog over another? I don’t know about you but the blogs I read on a daily basis have personality and I feel more connected to those bloggers because of the personal touch that they give to their sites.

Readers become emotionally invested and feel a closer bond to you when you share personal stories that they can relate to. Let me give you an example.

Who is this guy and why do I care what he has to say?

My name is Wild Bill, nice to meet you. Now that is not the name on my birth certificate but my friends and even members of my family call me Wild Bill (my mom still calls me Willie, I need to talk to her about that.) I started reading blogs in 2004 and was so hooked by some of the interesting people that I met that it wasn’t long before I decided I just had to get in on this blogging thing.

Nothing starts an avalanche of comments quicker than a passionate post that starts a controversy in the comments section of your blog then spreads throughout the internet.

My first blog PassionateAmerica.com started as a free blogger.com site until that fateful day in October 2006 that I broke a national news story. Overnight my blog was linked by the Drudge Report, New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and about 1000 blogs. The next morning the emails and phone calls started. In less than 5 hours I had over 3000+ emails in my inbox and had already done 7 radio interviews. My local newspaper here in Oklahoma called and setup a one-on-one interview and The Wall Street Journal was flying a reporter to Oklahoma City to do a front page story on me.

The Oklahoman newspaper ran two front page stories about me and The Wall Street Journal featured me on the front page of their publication. The responses were good and bad even including some death threats. When a lawyer sent me a cease-and-desist letter threatening me so that I would remove the story about his client from my blog the emails and donations from readers that supported what I had done was overwhelming. In less than a week I had received over $2,500 in donations and 4 lawyers had contacted me to defend me pro-bono.

Over the next few years PassionateAmerica.com moved to a self host WordPress blog, my website traffic increased dramatically, I hosted a weekly internet talk radio show, and for the first time since I had started blogging I was making money doing what I love.

I don’t tell you this stuff about me to brag, we all have personal stories that are interesting and can clue our readers into who we are and what makes you different from other bloggers. It’s the personal touches you add to your stories that can mean the difference between a onetime reader and a possible best friend. Give your readers a story they can relate to, that entertains, and is a window into your soul and your passion for your blogging.

Attract friends instead of just readers

I love readers and looking at my blog traffic and seeing a surge in traffic, but what inspires me even more than that are those few new readers that take the time to leave a comment, send an email, or contact me through one of the social media sites that I use and strike up a long term friendship.

I just met Muhammad Siyab (the fabulous owner of this blog) and we are becoming good friends. He asked me to guest blog here at his blog, your reading that guest post right now. I love helping out friends so when he asked if I would like to guest post I jumped at the offer. I get hundreds to thousands of readers to my website each day, but what stood out about Muhammad’s guest blogging invitation was that he spent the time to send me an email, read my blog, and joined in on the conversation in the comments section. I’m not sure what criteria needs to be met before you classify someone you have met as a friend, but in my book Muhammad Siyab is someone I’d love to call a close friend.

If you spend all of your time writing and marketing your blog you might do well. If you want a more fulfilling blogging experience then take the time to turn your blog readers into friends. You never know you might meet someone as cool as Muhammad.

Don’t be scared, say something controversial

Being passionate means having strong opinions on a subject that more than likely will not be shared with the majority of readers. Nothing starts an avalanche of comments quicker than a passionate post that starts a controversy in the comments section of your blog then spreads throughout the internet.

Don’t be controversial just for the sake of stirring up a hornets’ nest. I’m talking about being real with how you feel and expressing your opinion in a passionate way that will leave no doubt where you stand on a topic.

Facial tattoos and cop killers

I was catching up on news stories one day when I came across a story of a white supremacist that has racist tattoos all over his body including almost every square inch of his face. I’m not really big on tattoos especially when they are racist or all over your face so when I read that this loser had killed a cop while he was in jail I went to work writing a post about this psychopath.

I decided that all the tattoos on this guys face could have made him some money if he had monetized his face properly. My post, Monetize Your Face, has over 250,000+ views and I have to moderate over 10 comments on that post each day (this is one of the very few posts I delete comments on, but if you could see some of the racist trash that people try to post in the comments section I’m sure you would delete them too.)

This is an extreme example of how writing something controversial can expose you to passionate readers; you will have to decide for yourself how far you want to take your opinions and how far you want to stick your neck out to express your passionate opinions. Like I said don’t be scared most people read blogs to see thoughts and opinions that they are not usually exposed to offline.

Once again I want to thank my new friend Muhammad Siyab for giving me this opportunity to express my ideas to his readers. I’d love to hear your comments on how you believe passionate blogging inspires passionate readers. It you want to read more of my views and opinions on life and blogging you can visit PassionateAmerica.com and PassionateBlogger.com.