# My YoastCon Talk: Hope is not a Strategy
*Published: 2015-06-28*
*Tags: coaching, business-advice*
*Source: https://chrislema.com/hope-is-not-a-strategy*
---### The First Annual YoastCon

Earlier this year I spoke at the first annual YoastCon. If you've ever thought about SEO and WordPress, then it's likely someone may have recommended the market leader - a product [Yoast](https://yoast.com/) makes ([WordPress SEO by Yoast](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/)).

Over the last year I've gotten to know the [Yoast](https://yoast.com/) team and they're an incredible bunch - not just the smartest SEO folks around, but well-versed in optimization and more.

So when they asked if I'd come out to speak to a crowd that would be partially WordPress folks, partially SEO folks, and partially other friends, I said sure. But giving a talk to three audiences is harder than to a single audience.

Thankfully I went last - which meant (as you'll hear), that I didn't really have to say anything special as the other speakers were seriously phenomenal.

I had one main point - that **hope isn't an effective strategy** for owners (or even developers) because there's so much we don't know.

You can't just throw stuff together and *hope* that it will all work out!

Our only hope (see what I did there?) is to keep staying engaged with people, to keep learning and keep talking - so that we don't make silly and avoidable mistakes.

### We all make mistakes

Here's the reality. We all make mistakes. The goal isn't to eliminate mistake-making. But our goal should be to eliminate those which we can, especially if they're easy. And to that end, I thought I'd share five stories that are quick and easy mistakes to skip past, once you hear them.

If you know me, you know I start with a story. In this talk, I start with a story that (upon watching it again) clearly goes too long. I normally have intro stories that get to the point faster. I can't tell if it's just that I was lazy (in terms of not tightening it up), or jet-lagged and tired.

Either way, let me apologize for how long it takes me to get to the point that information asymmetry is a real and serious thing.

So without further notes or interruptions, here are my five web stories with the reminder:

### Hope is not a strategy.

By the way, if you don't have time for the talk, or just want to get to the good stuff, [check out all of Yoast's eBooks.](https://yoast.com/academy/)