6 Lessons Bloggers Can Learn from Billy Graham

As far as I know, Billy Graham has never owned a blog, and I’m pretty sure he’s never written a blog post. Regardless, there’s some lessons to be learned about blogging from Billy Graham, one of the most famous and well-liked people in the last hundred years. I’ve come up with a few here.

1. Bring It

In my opinion, the two words, “Bring It,” describe best Billy Graham’s ministry. He continually brought the message of Jesus to zillions of people for a ton of years. He didn’t sugar coat the message he shared, and he stood up for things in which he believed.

A blogger must do the same. Have a message, and share it. First, having the message is essential. A blogger must choose his subject matter intentionally. Second, get it out there unabashedly. If you are shy about your message, no one will hear it, period.

2. Don’t Back Down

After you’ve shared your message, don’t go and hide in a corner, hoping that someone might accept it. Stand by it, and keep at it.

BG preached for lots of years and wasn’t afraid of criticism. Think, for example, of the risks he took by supporting Martin Luther King, Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement. Stick up for your message.

3. Know the Big Guys

BG knew the important people. Check out the “Pastor to Presidents” section of his Wikipedia article. If you don’t think knowing the right people helped his popularity, you’re kidding yourself. Reach out to the big names in your niche. If they reject you, so be it. For example, here’s a great post by Josh Hanagarne about how to land interviews with the big guys. Do this.

4. Know the Little Guys

Although he was the friend of almost every president for the last 50 years, Billy Graham didn’t focus on those people. Instead, he targeted the common person. His crusades drew huge crowds of normal people, and it was to these normal people that he spoke. He specifically engineered his message to focus on his normal-people-audience, and it worked. Wikipedia claims that “as of 1993 more than 2.5 million people had ’stepped forward at his crusades to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior’.” Not bad, eh?

5. Be Genuine

“Sincerity is the biggest part of selling anything—including the Christian plan of salvation.”
- Billy Graham (Texas Monthly, March 1978, via Billyspot)

Think Billy Graham was faking it? Yeah right. As a blogger, be yourself. Be real with your audience. If you’re not, your readers will find out. So be real, even if you’re a jerk (and if you want to be a famous blogger, perhaps especially if you’re a jerk).

6. Be Likeable

Bigtime no-brainer here. Billy Graham finished among the top 10 in Gallop’s yearly Most Admired Man poll over 50 times, surpassing the number-2 Ronald Reagan by almost double. He’s far and above one of the most liked people today. And how did he get there? By being a great guy. He had a great message, and he shared it in a great way. If you want to be liked, be likable. It’s as simple as that.

So there you have it, 6 lessons for bloggers from Billy Graham himself. Share some additional thoughts on this topic with me in the comments of this post, below. Oh, and if you like this post, don’t forget to share it with others using one of the social media buttons below. Hope you enjoyed these tips!

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