Today I read one of those brilliant posts that left me sobbing. You know the ones, the kind that take you on an emotional roller coaster and leave you wanting more, wishing that you could reach through your computer screen and physically touch the author who moved your heart and soul.
Honestly, these posts are rare. I’ll dare say they cross the line into the “Zen” of blogging in which you feel like you and your readers are one (or vice versa), and that the story being told is the glue connecting us to a higher purpose in life.
I too have opened myself up in my posts in ways that you would think would ruin my credibility as a business blogger. In fact, these posts are among the most popular I’ve ever written. But it is a fine line to walk, to be sure.
So I got to thinking,
How do you bring up touchy subjects and deeply emotional content and pull it off while staying professional and without losing street cred?
I came up with 5 tips and share 5 heart-warming, inspiring, and tear-jerking examples from some of my favorite bloggers (and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that these individuals are both favorites of mine and appear in this post).
Keep it Relevant
One of the keys to weaving personal topics into a business setting is to keep it relevant. Don’t flaunt problems or get personal for the sake of mentioning them – there has to be a reason and a purpose for bringing it up.
Whatever your main topic is, always, always tie your personal material into your core mission. Your readers come to you because they are interested in your topic. You need to tell them how your personal stories relate to their lives, or their business. Without doing that, dropping emotional content is self-serving and will drive people away rather than drawing them in.
Perfect example:
5 Things You Should Know about My Dad the ProBlogger by Darren Rowse. This has got to be one of my favorite posts on ProBlogger of all time. Check the comments and you’ll find that many other readers agree.
Use Stories to Create Intimacy & Trust
At this point, the internet is filled with how-to’s on creating templates or fixing your car. These readers come and they go. Loyal visitors return because of one of a handful of very big reasons :: they like YOU.
Creating relationships with your visitors is done in many ways, but one of the key ways is through your content, by sharing who you are as a person and letting your personality shine through. While keeping all the other tips in mind, get as personal as you possibly can on your blog – because readers don’t just want to read about news – they want to consider you a friend.
Perfect example (and get your tissues ready before you go):
A Birthday; A Day to Celebrate and to Give Tribute… by Lisa Lam on her purse-making business blog U-Handblog, in which she shares a tragic story as a tribute to both her own business success and to her family. It was also the inspiration for this post as mentioned in the beginning. 
Use Problems as a Teaching Tool
Many people have lived through a challenging past, some more difficult than others. Those who use it for sympathy or as justification for entitlement tend to get quickly dismissed.
But those who use their past challenges to propel themselves and their readers forward use their stories in a completely different way – as a tool to inspire and help others to achieve more. By writing about overcoming your own obstacles in a dignified manner, you can usually help others do the same.
Perfect example:
The Pursuit of Happyness by Jeremy “Shoemoney” Schoemaker. Although Jeremy says at the beginning of the post that “Warning: This post contains no information about making money online.“, you will find that indeed he does tie it in to his own financial success, and his readers are visibly inspired to do more and be more successful after they read about Jeremy’s past.
Keep it Appropriate
There’s nothing worse than someone dredging up a sob story and handing out the gory details. It reeks of an author who is feeling sorry for him/herself, which as we all know, turns people off faster than spamming them.
Share the minimum amount of detail of any personal experience that will enable you to get your point across. Don’t wallow, whine, or complain, and certainly don’t point fingers at others or blame, which will destroy your credibility in a heartbeat.
Perfect example:
Betrayed the Update by IzzyMom, in which she shares some deeply personal martial problems yet is able to convey both empowerment and compassion. I don’t know that I could have done the same in her situation. (Note :: though IzzyMom is generally a personal blog, she goes far beyond what you would consider normal ‘personal life’ material in this post).
Use the Power Wisely
As you can see from the amount of comments on the above posts, emotional posts are powerful. They create sticky blogs, loyal readers, and lots of conversation and traffic. But if you get personal just for the sake of the aforementioned benefits, people will see right through you.
I can’t tell you how many times I have started out a post with a lot of personal information and then before hitting publish I cut most or all of it out. Being personal for the sake of being personal isn’t my point in this article.
Use emotions to help others, to empower readers, to create beautifully written stories, and to connect intimately your community. And remember the golden rule of blogging – always let the reader know “What is in it for them”.
Perfect example:
One of the most popular posts on this blog is “The Biggest Blog Post of My Life“, in which I share some of the best news of my career, but in a way that helps my readers identify with the story in the hopes that they could write a post like that themselves someday. The ‘great news’ was indeed great, but the post was popular because I shifted the focus off of me and back onto the readers, where it should be.
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