Why Personal Taste Can Mislead You
One of the classic errors in both property development and online publishing is assuming that what appeals to you will automatically appeal to everyone else. In real estate, the example is obvious: you may love a particular style of decoration or a quirky design choice, but a buyer looking for a home will prioritize neutral, broadly appealing features. A house plastered with your favorite band’s posters might feel personal and meaningful to you, but to the wider market it narrows the pool of interested buyers.
The same principle applies when you set up websites and hope to earn revenue. Your personal enthusiasm is valuable, but it does not guarantee that the wider audience will share it. If you design with only yourself in mind, you risk limiting your reach before you even begin.
The Difference Between Passion and Profit
Running a site around something you love can be rewarding. It keeps you motivated, makes content creation easier, and helps you produce genuine, engaging writing. But passion alone doesn’t automatically translate into revenue. A niche subject can generate clicks from people who share the same interest, but if the audience is small, the total return will also be small.
This doesn’t mean passion projects have no value. They can build loyal communities, improve your skills, and provide a long-term outlet for creativity. The mistake is treating them as guaranteed moneymakers. If you want serious revenue, you need to consider subjects with broader reach and design your content for a market beyond yourself. Passion sites can still run ads and generate income, but the realistic expectation is that they provide bonus revenue, not the foundation of your publishing strategy.
Thinking in Terms of Mass Appeal
When advertisers buy placement, they are looking for traffic and visibility. A site that attracts thousands of visitors across a wide demographic has more value than one that serves only a handful of superfans. This doesn’t mean you have to choose topics that bore you—it means balancing personal interest with audience demand. Research trending subjects, look at what readers are actually searching for, and build around that demand.
Successful publishers often separate their projects into two categories: sites built for reach, and sites built for passion. The first category provides the bulk of their earnings, while the second keeps them creatively fulfilled. This separation prevents emotional attachment from clouding financial strategy.
Avoiding Emotional Decision-Making
It’s easy to fall in love with your own ideas. The challenge is recognizing when those ideas belong in the “hobby” column versus the “business” column. If you find yourself saying, “I’d love this site, so everyone else will too,” stop and consider whether the data supports that assumption. Market research, keyword analysis, and trend observation provide a clearer picture of what audiences want. By relying on evidence rather than emotion, you avoid building entire projects that only ever appeal to yourself.
Liking your own site is important—it keeps you engaged and motivated. But assuming that your tastes represent the tastes of the market is a mistake that leads to disappointment. Build passion projects because you enjoy them, and treat the income they generate as a bonus. For larger, sustainable earnings, develop sites with mass appeal and design them to attract the widest audience possible. This balance between personal enthusiasm and practical strategy is the difference between a hobby that costs you time and a publishing business that grows.
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