Business Blog Ally #3: How to Develop Hope
July 16th, 2008 by
This is part 6 of a 24-part series on good and bad business blogging attributes. Subscribe now to get updates for free. Thank you for supporting Visionary Blogging!
Do you ever lose hope regarding your business blog? Ever worry that business blogging may be wasting your time and money? Terrified of blog failure?
If so, you’re not alone. Many business bloggers experience despair to some degree. I sure have.
Here are some tips on how to develop hope in your professional blogging efforts and boost your blogging success.
What is hope?
Hope is a feeling that you can achieve your goals. It’s waiting with excitement and confidence for the future.
3 Ways Hope Can Help Your Business Blog
1. Business Blog Content - Your personality comes through naturally in your writing. So does your hope (or lack of it). If you’re a hopeful person, your blog will become more interesting and appealing.
2. Business Blog Community Building - The more hope you instill in your blog community of readers, commenters, subscribers and participants, the easier it will be to make that community grow.
3. Business Blog Monetization - People do business with people. And it’s much easier to want to do business with a person who’s positive and full of hope than with one of these.
7 Ways to Develop Hope in Your Business Blogging
1. Hopeful Learning - See Awareness. Approach each blogging day with a positive outlook. Thirst for knowledge and wisdom and resolve to use it to benefit your blog visitors. Set aside a few minutes each day to learn things that will make you feel more hopeful about your blog’s future. Read some good quotations about hope.
2. Hopeful Planning - See Focus and Discernment. Always have something to look forward to. Have a publishing calendar and stick to it. Spend a few minutes per day and/or per week to plan enjoyable and rewarding blog-related activities.
3. Hopeful Social Networking - Every day or week, take a little time to network with other bloggers in an uplifting way. Approach it not like it’s a chore, but like it’s a great opportunity to grow and connect.
4. Hopeful Music - See Imagination. Listen to encouraging music while you’re blogging. Maybe it will help you come up with excellent blog post ideas.
5. Hopeful Humor - Again, see Imagination. Nothin’ like a little laughter to spice up a blog (or its blogger). Get out there and get some laughs in you. Then get back to your blogging with a smile on your face. You’ll work harder.
6. Hopeful Content Promotion - Believe in your ability to promote your awesome blog content. Trust that people will enjoy it and talk about it and want more of it.
7. Hopeful Sales/Marketing - Make sure your calls to action for product/service purchases, or your blog advertising on display, are hope-compatible. Anything monetary ought to involve a touch of hope - that human spark that draws customers like bees to honey. So keep your language positive and confident when asking people to buy from you.
Why I Personally Care About Hope in My Pro Blogging
Visionary Blogging is all about working with hope. Without hope, you may as well blog with your eyes and ears closed. So it is with life.
Halfway through my senior year of high school, I almost gave up on life.
I almost lost hope.
Without good friends, I never would have recovered.
I am here right now because of hope.
What 3 Business Bloggers Say About Hope
Deb Ng: “Hope is watching my son care for nature and all living things and passing on the values passed to me gives me hope for the future.”
Kristen King: “My faith in God’s Kingdom gives me hope. Prayer, personal Bible study, and regular attendance at Christian meetings strengthen it.”
Robert Hruzek: “Hope is the anchor for the soul.” (see Hebrews 6:19)
Thanks to these fine folks for answering my Twitter request for thoughts on hope.
3 Exemplary Hopeful Business Bloggers
1. Terry Starbucker - Mr. Glass Half Full himself.
2. Liz Strauss - Liz is hope.
3. Wendy Piersall - Wendy’s story is amazing.
Watch This Video About Hope
I I can make it across the border. I to see my friend, and shake his hand. I the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I . - Red
You don’t have to consider yourself religious in order to have hope.
But you do need to have faith in order to have hope.
Ya gotta have a twinkle of hope, a flicker, at least. Let it grow into a flame.
You need to believe that somehow, things can get better. That somehow, you can get better.
That somehow, your professional blog can get better.
And make things better for others.
Thank you for visiting and for adding to my hope for this blog. I hope that this article helps you succeed as a professional blogger.
What helps you develop hope as a blogger? Got any advice to share?
photo credit: Unhindered by Talent
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12 Comments
Easton,
We all need that that vision to look forward to and that new day dawning. It’s believing and hoping that we can make a difference that keeps going on when things get rough. Hope gets hard to find sometimes, but if you’re a strong one. Hope never really is lost.
Thank you, Liz. A vision without hope isn’t much of a vision at all. We all need a helping hand and healing words sometimes. I hope this post helps someone out there feel more hopeful.
One of the things I love about the apostle Paul’s definition of hope is that it’s no namby-pamby wishful thinking dream. It’s real, it’s substantive, and it’s something you can count on.
You said it right, Easton; FAITH (which we need for action) is built on HOPE (which we need for faith).
Yup. Thanks, Robert.
And I know these are abstract things. But they have concrete applications in professional blogging. I believe the best way to become a successful blogger is become a complete blogger - and that means constantly working on your character as well as your skills.
Hi Easton- I’m truly honored to be on the same list as Liz and Wendy. Hope is the real “Secret”, and I’m glad you’ve chosen to write about it as you have. I’m sure this will prove inspiring for more than a few fellow bloggers!
Thanks, and keep the faith!
Terry
I will, Terry. You deserve a place on any list with those two great gals.
Hope is one of those things that makes me cry.
Great post Easton!
Hope plays an often forgotten, but very important, role in business.
[...] Over at Visionary Blogging, Easton Ellsworth continues to examine blogging allies (traits and characteristics that make your blog better). What is Easton’s latest blogging ally? Hope! Read all about it in Easton’s post, Business Blog Ally #3: How to Develop Hope. [...]
Thank you Laura!
Hope is something that gives you the energy to keep going. Your post has certainly filled me with hope! Thanks for making my day, Easton
Maria, thank you very much. This means I met one of my goals for this article.
[...] don’t matter murders your faith, your hope, your [...]
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