Getting together with people offline is valuable in itself.
Some directions are hard to judge on your own, no matter how long you think about them. But once you hear about other people’s real experiences, you can often reach your own conclusion much faster.
That is what happened this time. After a few conversations, I changed my mind on two things.
Moving Beyond Chasing New Keywords, Toward Subscription SaaS
I had been firmly set on spending this year only on game guide sites and tool sites, constantly chasing newly emerging keywords.
But after listening to the guy sitting next to me share his experience, I came to feel that this model takes too much effort for too little return. And relying purely on ad revenue is only going to get harder.
My earlier sites have already given me a taste of what it is like to get traffic. So now it makes sense to go a step further and build subscription-based SaaS tool sites.
That does not have to mean competing in the crowded space of general-purpose AI video or image sites. It is better to look for blue oceans—even in traditional industries.
I Wanted to Move into SEO, but SEM Turned Out to Be the Better Bet
There was one more thing. For the past six months, I had been thinking about switching from development to an SEO role.
But after talking with an SEO expert who has worked in the field for many years, I realized I should really be learning SEM. That is what the market actually needs.
It is hard to reach that kind of conclusion by thinking it over alone. Sometimes you need to hear from people who have spent years in the industry.
You Gradually Become Like the People You Talk With
The people you talk with over the long term gradually shape who you become.
If the people around you discuss demand, traffic, and SEO every day, you naturally start looking at problems from those angles, too.
That is also why I have stayed in Gefei’s community. Everyone there talks about this kind of hard, practical stuff. Spending a long time immersed in it has not only taught me a lot, but also made me more willing, and more determined, to keep building websites for global audiences.
Get out more and listen to other people’s real experiences. Your direction becomes clearer along the way.
