Only Recommend What You'd Buy Twice

Here's a simple filter for anything being considered for a recommendation.

Would I buy it again, with my own money, knowing what I know now?

Would I, personally, pay for it a second time?

If the answer is no, don't recommend it.

Whatever it would have earned, it costs more.

It costs more because every recommendation spends a bit of the reader's trust, and trust is the only thing in this business that's genuinely hard to replace.

A product that disappoints doesn't just fail to convert next time.

It makes the reader re-examine every previous recommendation and wonder whether those were honest either.

One bad call can quietly undo a year of good ones.

There's a practical side, too.

Things worth buying twice are easier to write about.

There's real experience to draw on, actual details, specific reasons.

The writing gets better because there's something true underneath it, and readers can tell the difference between a description and a review.

Recommending something half-believed in produces half-believed writing, and people feel it even when they can't say why.

This filter will rule out a lot.

That's the point.

A short list of things that are genuinely good is worth more than a long list of things that pay well.

The short list builds a reputation. A long list could do the reverse.