Read this article first. The 5 prompts below are based on the article and will help you apply the concept and help you move a reader from interest to inquiry.

You may already have plenty of content.

The first step is to study whether your content helps someone move from interest to inquiry. The following prompts will help you review what is happening now and decide what deserves your attention next.

Read more

A client recently asked me which channel deserved more of her attention: her website, social media, or an email newsletter.

She had all three. She posted on a social platform, published articles on her site, and sent an email when she had something to announce.

Each channel existed, and none had a clear job.

That is where experienced business owners can get stuck. They try to choose the best platform without asking what a prospective client needs to learn, believe, or decide before hiring them.

Your choice should come from your client’s decision process.

A website, social media, and an email newsletter support different parts of that process:

• Social media lets people observe your judgment.

• Your website lets them verify your expertise.

• Your newsletter lets them spend enough time with your thinking to decide whether they trust you.

Your social channel might be LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Threads, or another place where your prospective clients already spend time.

You may use all three channels, and one should take the lead based on where prospective clients lose momentum.

Find Where Prospective Clients Lose Momentum

Think about the inquiries you received during the past year.

Where did those people come from? What did they read? How long had they known you? What happened before they contacted you?

Then look at the people who showed interest and disappeared.

Their behavior tells you more than a list of platform features ever could.

Maybe people discover you on social media, visit your profile, and never take another step. Your website may lack a clear page that explains how you think and how someone can work with you.

Maybe people find your website through search and read an article. They leave without subscribing or contacting you. Your site may answer the immediate question without giving them a reason to continue the relationship.

Maybe people subscribe to your newsletter and read for months. They rarely reply, click, or ask about your services. Your emails may be useful, yet they leave your paid work out of the conversation.

Choose the channel that can repair the weakest part of your client decision process.

Use Social Media to Show Your Judgment

A social platform is useful when your prospective clients need to become familiar with you.

They can see the topics you return to, the opinions you hold, and the advice you give. Depending on the platform, they may read your comments, watch your videos, listen to your podcast, join a discussion, or see how you respond to other people’s ideas.

This gives them a public view of your judgment.

For an experienced consultant, coach, or service provider, judgment carries more weight than a long list of tips. Clients want to know how you assess a situation. They want to see what you notice, what you question, and what you would tell someone to do next.

A useful social post, video, or discussion shows one decision.

You might share:

• A recommendation you gave a client and why

• A marketing tactic you chose to skip

• A pattern you noticed across several client projects

• A choice that saved time or prevented wasted work

• A commonly repeated recommendation that lacks context

The content should give the reader enough information to judge your thinking. It should lead somewhere too.

That next step could be a related article, a short assessment, an email series, or a service page. Without that next step, social media can create recognition without creating a client path.

Research from LinkedIn gives us one example of how public thought leadership can influence buying decisions.

The 2025 Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report found that 91% of behind-the-scenes buyers become more receptive to sales and marketing outreach after reading strong thought leadership. And 79% are more likely to speak up for that company during an internal buying discussion.

A social post may influence someone who never likes, comments, or contacts you. Your ideas still need to give that person a clear reason to remember you and somewhere to learn more.

Use Your Website to Prove Your Expertise

Once someone becomes interested in you, they often look for proof.

They visit your website to answer practical questions:

• Does this person work with people in my situation?

• Have they handled this type of problem before?

• Can I understand their process?

• What do they sell?

• What might happen after I contact them?

Your website needs to support that review.

A polished homepage alone cannot do the whole job. A prospective client needs pages that show how you think and what your work looks like in practice.

This may include:

• Articles that answer questions clients ask before hiring you

• Case examples that explain the decisions behind the result

• Service pages built around client situations

• A clear description of your process

• Proof tied to the type of work you want to sell

• A next step that fits the reader’s level of interest

The 2025 6sense Buyer Experience Report found that 94% of B2B buying groups rank their preferred vendors before contacting a seller. They buy from the early favorite in nearly 80% of cases.

Your prospective client may review your website long before you know they exist. They may be comparing your articles, services, examples, and point of view with several other people.

Your website needs to give them enough information to decide you belong near the top of their list.

I would focus on the website when people know your name, yet your inquiries are vague, inconsistent, or poorly matched. That often points to missing information during the research stage.

Your Email Newsletter Helps Prospective Clients Assess the Fit

Some services require more trust than one website visit can create.

The client may be considering a long engagement, sharing private business information, changing a process they have used for years, or paying for advice they cannot fully evaluate in advance.

A newsletter gives that person repeated contact with your judgment.

Over time, the reader learns:

• Which problems you take seriously

• How you make recommendations

• How you treat clients

• Whether your advice fits their working style

• What you believe produces a good result

• What kind of work you are available to do

This creates a record of your thinking.

Litmus reports an average return of $36 for every $1 spent on email marketing in its report, Email Marketing ROI: What Leads to Better Returns?

That number does not mean sending more emails will bring more clients. The content needs to help readers connect what you know with the work they can hire you to do.

A reader can enjoy your newsletter for months without realizing you sell a service that addresses the problem you write about. Your offers need to appear often enough that the connection becomes clear.

You can mention a client question, explain part of your process, share what you are seeing in your work, or invite readers to get help with the decision covered in the article.

I would focus on the newsletter when people need time before hiring you, referrals matter to your business, or your best clients tend to follow your work for several months before getting in touch.

Give Your Website, Social Media, and Newsletter Different Jobs

You can keep this simple.

Choose one job for each channel you plan to maintain.

Social media: Show how I think about a current client problem.

Website: Give a prospective client the proof and details needed to consider hiring me.

Newsletter: Continue the conversation and connect my ideas to my paid work.

Then choose a lead channel for the next 30 days.

Your lead channel gets your strongest thinking, your clearest invitation, and most of your attention. The other channels support it.

For example, you might publish the full article on your website, share one decision from it on your primary social platform, and send the article to your newsletter subscribers with a short story and an invitation to reply.

Or your newsletter may contain the full article. Your social platform introduces the central idea, and your website holds the service page, case examples, and related resources.

My own newsletter data has shown why these roles matter. Posts with a clear stance and a practical plan brought stronger subscriber growth. Content about LinkedIn and Substack drew broad attention and high engagement, yet produced weak conversion when the next step lacked a clear connection to the topic.

Attention needs direction.

Connect Each Piece of Content to a Client Decision

A good piece of content should change something for the reader.

It may help them:

• Name the problem

• See why the problem persists

• Compare possible choices

• Rule out a poor fit

• Decide what to do next

• Decide who they trust to help

Before you publish, ask:

What decision can the reader make after reading this?

Then ask:

What decision comes after that?

Your call to action should match the second answer.

An article that helps someone diagnose a website problem might lead to a website review service.

A social post about choosing a content channel might lead to a detailed article or a planning session.

A newsletter about inconsistent inquiries might lead to a reply, an assessment, or a consultation.

The connection should feel natural. The paid offer continues the work started by the content.

How to Choose Your Primary Content Channel

Focus on the channel closest to the gap in your client’s decision process.

Choose a social platform when qualified people need to discover your thinking and become familiar with your name.

Choose your website when interested people need stronger proof, clearer information, and a better view of how you work.

Choose an email newsletter when your service requires trust, repeated contact, and time.

Since my Substack newsletter is my primary channel, I use it to publish my strongest ideas and stay in regular contact with readers.

Social media can introduce an idea. My website can answer questions and document my work. The newsletter gives me the space to develop an idea, show my judgment, and connect it to a way someone can work with me.

Useful content may earn attention and trust. It still needs to help the reader see when personal support would make sense.

Turn the Channel Decision Into a 30-Day Plan

Choosing a lead channel is one decision. The harder work comes next.

• What should you publish there?

• Which client decision should the content support?

• How will each article, post, email, or video connect with your paid work?

• What can you maintain for the next 30 days?

These are the types of questions I work through with clients during Clarity & Action: Your 30-Day Marketing Plan.

We meet for 90 minutes, choose the marketing priorities that fit your business, and create a plan you can carry out. You then receive 30 days of email coaching to help you keep moving and make adjustments as you work.

Your plan may center on social media, your website, your newsletter, or a small combination of channels. The choice comes from your clients, your offer, and the decisions that lead someone to hire you.

Learn more about Clarity & Action

Build Your 30-Day Client Decision Content Plan

The next step is to review your current content before choosing a channel or adding more work to your schedule.

In the paid section, you will use advanced AI prompts to find:

• Where prospective clients lose momentum

• Which channel should lead for the next 90 days

• Which client questions deserve content

• How your free content connects to your paid offer

• What belongs in a workable 30-day plan

You will finish with a decision you can use and a plan based on how your prospective clients decide to hire.

You may already have plenty of content.

The first step is to study whether that content helps someone move from interest to inquiry. The following prompts will help you review what is happening now and decide what deserves your attention next.

And when you want personal help making these decisions, Clarity & Action: Your 30-Day Marketing Plan gives us 90 minutes to sort through your options and create the plan together.

The following 30 days of email coaching give you a place to ask questions, report what is happening, and adjust the plan as you put it into practice.

Get Clarity, Take Action

Got questions, comments, ideas, feedback? Please share in the comments.

Leave a comment

Recommended Reading

Read this article first: the 5 prompts below are based on the article and will help you apply that process across your full archive.

You’ll use AI to select stronger search questions, revise existing posts, plan internal links, and decide what belongs in public and paid content.

Start with one question your ideal client is asking. Give the best answer you can. Then publish the next useful answer when the reader is ready.

Read more

I’ve published enough content to know how easily one article can grow beyond its original purpose.

You start with one idea. Then you add background, examples, a related lesson, several tips, and a few thoughts you didn’t want to leave out.

By the end, the article covers a lot of ground. The reader may enjoy it. Search engines may index it. An AI search tool may still have trouble deciding which question the article answers best.

Current research points to a simpler approach.

Choose one question for each post and answer it clearly.

That decision can make your Substack archive easier for readers, Google, and AI search tools to interpret.

The quick answer

Substack articles can appear in AI search results when the content is public, focused, clearly structured, and relevant to the user’s question.

A publication with a consistent archive on one subject may have a better chance of being recognized as a useful source. Paid posts are harder for crawlers to access, so keep some of your strongest teaching content open.

In Britopian’s analysis of 1.7 million unbranded prompts, Substack received 1,140 citations, about 0.07% of the citations found in that dataset. Source

That number is small. It still shows that Substack content is being cited.

Why clear, focused Substack articles are easier to cite

A 2026 Semrush study compared hundreds of thousands of pages cited by AI platforms with pages ranking in Google.

The researchers reviewed 11,882 prompts across ChatGPT Search, Google AI Mode, and Perplexity. They found several content traits that appeared more often on cited pages:

• Clear summaries

• Visible experience and authority

• Question-and-answer sections

• Descriptive headings and clear section structure

• Lists, tables, and other structured elements

Clear summaries showed the strongest positive relationship with AI citations at 32.83%. Question-and-answer formatting showed a 25.45% difference, and clear section structure showed a 22.91% difference. Source

The study does not prove that these changes will earn a citation. It shows that clear, well-organized pages appeared more often in the cited group.

That gives solo publishers a useful rule:

Build each article around one clear question and make the answer easy to find.

The title identifies the subject. The opening gives the main answer. The headings separate the related points. Examples and sources add support.

How a focused Substack archive shows your expertise

You’ve probably built up years of useful knowledge.

Your knowledge may be spread across newsletter posts, website pages, interviews, social posts, videos, and client conversations. Each item makes sense on its own. The full body of work may be harder for search systems to connect.

A focused publishing habit can make those connections clearer.

For example, a business coach might publish separate articles that answer:

• How do I choose a coaching niche?

• What belongs in a coaching package?

• How do I explain the value of coaching?

• How can a coach get referrals?

• How should a coach follow up after a discovery call?

Each article answers one question. Together, the articles show depth across one area of expertise.

Over time, the archive gives readers and search tools repeated evidence about what the coach knows.

A 2026 practitioner analysis of Substack citations found that archive depth, topic consistency, open access, and clear article structure were common traits among publications earning AI citations. Source

I’ve seen a similar pattern in my own newsletter.

My strongest subscriber-growth articles tend to make one clear promise and give readers a plan they can use. Posts that cover a broad concern without an easy starting point get attention, but they are less likely to turn that attention into subscriptions.

That experience has made me more selective about how much I ask of one article.

Start with the question your client is already asking

A strong AI SEO article often begins before you write the first sentence.

Start by choosing the exact question the post will answer.

Look at:

• Questions clients ask during calls

• Questions that appear in your inbox

• Phrases people use before buying

• Questions raised by an earlier article

• Search suggestions in Google

• Questions appearing in AI search answers

• Comments on LinkedIn, YouTube, or Substack

The wording matters.

A topic such as Substack marketing could lead to dozens of different articles.

A question such as How can I make my Substack articles easier for AI search to cite? gives you a clear assignment.

You know what belongs in the article. You can spot material that belongs somewhere else. The reader knows what answer to expect.

Put the question where search systems can see it

Once you choose the question, repeat its language in the places that describe the page.

Use it in:

1. The title

2. The opening paragraph

3. At least one subheading

4. The page description

5. The URL, when you control it

6. The answer near the top of the article

The wording does not need to match each time perfectly. It should stay close enough that the subject remains clear.

A title such as:

How to Make Your Substack Posts Easier for AI Search to Cite

could include headings such as:

• Why do focused Substack posts earn more AI citations?

• Do paywalls affect Substack AI search visibility?

• How should you structure a Substack post for AI search?

• How can you improve an existing Substack post?

Those headings answer related parts of the same main question.

Give the answer early

Many writers spend several paragraphs setting up the subject before giving the answer.

For an AI SEO article, place a direct answer near the top.

Aim for 2 to 4 sentences that could stand on their own.

Example:

Substack posts can appear in AI search results when the content is public, focused, clearly structured, and relevant to the user’s question. A publication with a consistent archive on one subject may have a better chance of being recognized as a useful source. Paid posts are harder for crawlers to access, so keep some of your strongest teaching content open.

A reader gets the answer right away. An AI tool gets a clean passage it can interpret.

You can spend the rest of the article adding context, proof, examples, and steps.

Use headings that answer related questions

Headings help readers scan. They give search systems clues about the topics covered on the page.

Write headings in plain language. Use questions people might type or say.

For example:

• What is Substack AI search visibility?

• Can AI tools read paid Substack posts?

• How long should a Substack article be?

• Do source links affect AI citations?

• Should you add an FAQ section?

Each heading should lead to a useful answer.

Skip headings written only to add personality or create suspense. A heading such as “What else should you know?” says very little about the content below it.

Choose the related questions that help the reader act. Save the rest for future posts.

Keep some of your strongest articles public

Paid subscriptions matter. Public access matters too.

Content behind a login or subscription wall is harder for crawlers to access. Keep selected teaching articles public when search visibility is part of their job.

Source | Source

A practical free and paid structure could look like this:

Free public article

• Clear answer to a searchable question

• Explanation of the topic

• A few implementation steps

• Examples or evidence

• Links to related public articles

Paid companion content

• Detailed workflow

• Templates

• Worksheets

• Advanced AI prompts

• Reviews or feedback

• Client examples

• Personal support

The public article shows what you know. The paid section helps the reader apply it to their business.

Connect related articles in your archive

A group of connected articles gives readers and search systems more pages through which to identify your recurring subject matter.

Say your main subject is online visibility for solo business owners.

You might publish:

• How can I stay visible without posting every day?

• How does online visibility lead to client inquiries?

• What evidence does AI need to view content as expert?

• How can I turn one article into several useful posts?

• Which website questions should I answer first?

• How can I make my Substack posts easier for AI search to cite?

Each post has a narrow focus. Internal links connect them.

That connected archive shows a pattern. You keep answering related questions for the same type of reader.

Source:

Substack Coach Community

Will Your Substack Rank in Google Search?

One of the questions I’ve been hearing more often lately is this…

Read more

a month ago · 24 likes · 14 comments · Adrienne J Clarke

Add proof that supports your answer

AI search visibility depends in part on trust.

Link to original research, official documents, expert analysis, or clear examples. Name your sources. Explain what the evidence means for your reader.

For this topic, two useful research findings are:

• Britopian found 1,140 Substack citations in its analysis of 1.7 million unbranded prompts. That was about 0.07% of the citations in the dataset. Source

• Semrush compared pages cited by AI platforms with pages ranking in Google. Clear summaries appeared 32.83% more often in its positive citation scores, question-and-answer formatting showed a 25.45% difference, and clear section structure showed a 22.91% difference. Source

These numbers give the article substance. They show why the recommendation exists.

Your own experience adds another type of proof. Include what you tested, what changed, what surprised you, and what the reader can learn from it.

How to improve a Substack article for AI search in 20 minutes

Take one article from your archive and review it with these 4 steps.

Minutes 1 to 5: Identify the main question

Write down the single question the article answers.

If you come up with 3 or 4 questions, choose the strongest one.

Minutes 6 to 10: Check the opening

Does the first section answer the question?

Add a short answer near the top if the reader has to search for it.

Minutes 11 to 15: Review the headings

Do the headings use clear language?

Do they stay connected to the main question?

Cut or move any section that takes the article into a different topic.

Minutes 16 to 20: Add proof and links

Add a credible source where one is needed.

Link to 1 or 2 related posts from your archive.

Check that the article is public if you want it to be found and cited.

An AI prompt to help you focus one article

Copy this prompt and add your draft.

You are reviewing an article for AI search visibility.

My audience is [describe your audience]. They want clear, practical advice that respects what they already know.

Read the article and identify:

1. The single main question it answers
2. The clearest one-sentence answer to that question
3. Any sections that move away from the main question
4. The 4 to 7 related questions that deserve their own headings
5. Any claims that need a source, example, or explanation
6. A revised title that closely matches the main question
7. A 2-to-4-sentence answer for the opening section
8. Two related follow-up articles I could publish later

Do not rewrite the full article yet.

Keep the recommendations specific. Use plain language. Do not add topics that are missing from the draft.

Article:
[Paste the article]

Read the AI review as advice. Keep the decisions that fit your reader, your experience, and the purpose of the article.

Frequently asked questions about Substack AI search visibility

Can ChatGPT cite a Substack article?

ChatGPT can cite public Substack posts when its search or retrieval system finds the page relevant to a question. Citation results vary by query, platform, topic, and the sources available at the time.

Do paid Substack articles appear in AI search?

Content behind a login or subscription wall is harder for crawlers to access. Keep selected teaching articles public when search visibility is part of their purpose.

Does a custom Substack domain improve AI visibility?

A custom domain gives your publication a clearer branded address. It does not remove Substack’s formatting or paywall limits. Content quality, access, relevance, external mentions, and article structure still affect whether a page is retrieved.

How long should a Substack post be for AI search?

There is no ideal word count for AI citations. An Ahrefs study of 174,048 cited pages found almost no relationship between article length and citation position. Write enough to answer the question clearly, then stop. Source

Build a stronger AI search article system

The public article outlines the core process: choose one question, answer it early, use clear headings, add evidence, and connect related posts.

• The section for paid subscribers helps you apply that process across your full archive with 5 advanced prompts.

• You’ll use AI to select stronger search questions, revise existing posts, plan internal links, and decide what belongs in public and paid content.

• Start with one question your ideal client is asking. Give the best answer you can. Then publish the next useful answer when the reader is ready.

After you use the prompt above, let me know what you discovered!

Leave a comment

Related Articles

Google Search looks very different this week.

AI-generated responses now take a much bigger role in how people find information. In many searches, the answer appears before the familiar list of website links. People can ask follow-up questions and continue searching without leaving Google.

For a solo business owner who depends on search traffic, this raises a fair question:

Will people still visit my website?

Some will. Many may get what they need from the AI response and move on.

That makes the content inside the answer more important than its old ranking position.

What changed in Google Search

Google announced a new AI-powered Search box in May 2026. Gemini 3.5 Flash is now the default model in AI Mode across the countries and languages where the feature is available.

The search box accepts longer questions, images, files, videos, and open Chrome tabs. A person can move from an AI Overview into a longer conversation without starting a new search. Google says users will continue to see links and other types of results.

TechTimes reported that the AI response now takes the primary position in search results, with traditional results farther down the page. Classic links remain available through Google’s Web filter.

The exact search screen may vary by user, location, account, and query. The bigger change is harder to miss:

Google is becoming an answer system, not simply a list of pages.

What this means for your website traffic

An AI response may give the searcher enough information to skip the website visit.

TechTimes cited research showing lower click-through rates when an AI answer appears.

An Ahrefs study found that the presence of an AI Overview correlated with a 58% lower average click-through rate for the top-ranking page.

A separate 2026 study found that Google AI Overviews reduced traffic to matched English-language Wikipedia pages by about 15%. The largest declines appeared on topics where a short answer could satisfy the search.

Traffic reports may start telling a different story. A page could influence a buyer’s decision without earning a click. Your expertise may appear in a summary, comparison, recommendation, or follow-up answer.

This makes traditional traffic numbers less complete.

Keep tracking visits, email signups, inquiries, and sales. Add a few other checks:

• Search your main topics in Google AI Mode, ChatGPT, and Perplexity.

• Look for your business name, website, ideas, and examples.

• Note which pages get cited.

• Watch for inquiries from people who say they found you through an AI tool.

• Ask new clients how they first heard about you.

This gives you a better view of how your content is being found.

Your old SEO work still matters

You don’t need to rewrite your website for every Google announcement.

Clear pages, descriptive titles, useful headings, internal links, original examples, and accurate information still help search systems read your work. Google’s AI features rely on web sources. The system needs pages it can find, interpret, and quote.

Your content now has 2 related jobs:

1. Give a person a useful reason to visit your site.

2. Give AI systems clear information they can connect to your name and business.

I’ve written about several parts of this process in my AI SEO article collection, including how ChatGPT cites content, how AI recognizes expertise, and how answering the next reader question adds useful context.

This Google update adds urgency to that work. It doesn’t change the basic approach.

Write the part only you can provide

Short factual answers are easy for AI to summarize.

Your experience gives your content more value.

Add details drawn from your work:

• What have you seen happen with clients?

• What mistakes come up again and again?

• How do you decide which approach fits?

• What conditions change your advice?

• What steps do you follow?

• What happened when you tested the idea yourself?

A generic article may give AI a definition. An experience-based article gives it a source worth naming.

For example, a marketing consultant could write a basic article explaining how to choose a social platform. The same consultant could add the 5 questions she asks clients, the signs that a platform is taking too much time, and a story about a client who chose email over Instagram.

The second version carries more evidence of expertise. It gives a reader a reason to visit the source and learn more.

Connect each topic to your business

Getting mentioned in an AI answer has limited value when the topic has no connection to your services.

Review your recent content and ask:

• Which offer does this support?

• Which buyer question does it answer?

• What experience does it show?

• What useful next step can the reader take?

• Where can someone learn more from me?

This connection matters more as clicks become harder to earn.

A person who visits your site after reading an AI summary may arrive with a specific question. Make the next step easy to spot.

That next step could be:

• Read a related article.

• Download a checklist.

• Join your email list.

• Review a service.

• Submit an inquiry.

• Book a consultation.

One clear invitation is enough.

Build topic depth one useful question at a time

AI search often turns one question into a conversation.

Someone may start with:

How can a consultant get more clients?

Then ask:

Which marketing method works with a small audience?

How long should it take?

What can I do each week?

How do I know whether it’s working?

A single article rarely answers the full set.

You can build stronger coverage by publishing connected articles that answer the next useful question. Link them together. Keep each page focused. Give readers a clear way to continue.

This helps people. It gives search systems more context about your work, your point of view, and the topics connected to your name.

Your website becomes a stronger source when several pages show consistent expertise.

Don’t depend on Google to keep the relationship

Search platforms control what people see before they reach you.

Your email list gives you a direct way to stay connected after they arrive.

Review the pages that receive the most search traffic. Check whether each page has a clear invitation to subscribe. The invitation should match the article.

An AI SEO article could provide a visibility checklist. A content planning article could offer a weekly planning template. A client-attraction article could lead to a visibility assessment.

The offer should continue the same conversation.

This gives the visit somewhere useful to go, especially when search traffic becomes less predictable.

A 30-minute visibility check

You can respond to this Google change without spending a week rebuilding your site.

Choose 1 page connected to an offer you want to sell.

1. Search the main question

Run the question through Google, Google AI Mode, ChatGPT, and Perplexity.

Write down:

• Which sources appear

• What the answer covers

• What it leaves out

• Whether your page appears

• Which follow-up questions the tool suggests

2. Review your page

Look for:

• A direct answer near the top

• Clear headings

• Your own process

• An example from your work

• Your point of view

• Links to related pages

• A clear next step

3. Add one missing piece

Choose the strongest gap.

You might add a client example, a short process, a comparison, a common mistake, or a question the current page does not answer.

4. Connect the page to another useful resource

Add a link to a related article or service page. Give the reader somewhere logical to go next.

5. Track what happens

Check the search again in a few weeks. Note any new citations, changes in wording, traffic shifts, and inquiries.

AI answers change often. One search is a snapshot.

What I’m doing next

I’m paying less attention to the idea of holding one fixed search position.

AI-generated answers can use different sources for similar versions of the same question. Citations may change from one search to the next. A page can appear in an answer without ranking first in the traditional results.

I’m focusing on work I can control:

• Publishing clear answers

• Showing how I think

• Adding firsthand examples

• Connecting related questions

• Giving visitors a reason to subscribe

• Tracking inquiries along with traffic

For paid subscribers, I’ve included an AI prompt that reviews a web page and identifies 5 ways to improve the page/article so it appears as a useful source in Google AI mode, ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and other answer based search tools.

Read more

TL;DR: makes a strong case for proximity as one of the most practical ways to build trust, visibility, and collaboration. Instead of relying only on cold pitches or more content, look for the people already connected to your audience, your values, and your work. Start by getting clear on what you want from collaboration, choose partners who know how to follow through, and create a win for you, your partner, and the audience.

Conversation with Melanie Benson

I’ve known Melanie Benson for more than 20 years, so talking with her about proximity felt very fitting.

Proximity is defined as the state or condition of being near or close. In business, Melanie described it as much more practical.

It’s about being in the right conversations with the right people, so your work can be seen, trusted, and referred.

Melanie describes herself as an authority amplifier. Her work is with thought leaders, coaches, and consultants who are tired of being “the best kept secret” in their market. She’s been podcasting for more than 10 years, is close to 500 episodes, and her podcast ranks in the top 1% using the Listen Notes score.

That long view matters. Melanie has seen what worked years ago and what is working now. Her take is clear: cold pitches are getting harder. Trust matters more. Real connection carries more weight.

As Melanie said,

“The people who were landing the best podcasts were landing it through the power of proximity.”

Visibility is changing

Melanie talked about how podcast hosts used to welcome pitches. Then the shift started.

Hosts became more selective. They ignored pitches. They felt annoyed by people who clearly had not done their homework. Many were being pitched by people who wanted access to their audience, with little regard for the host, the topic, or the listeners.

If you host a podcast, a Substack Live, a summit, or any kind of interview platform, you know what she means. Your audience trusts you. You don’t want to put just anyone in front of them.

That’s where proximity changes the conversation. When someone knows you, has experienced your work, or has been referred by someone they trust, the door opens faster.

“When you’re in proximity, people get to know you at an accelerated pace.”

For solo business owners, that matters. You can create content every week and still feel unseen. Proximity gives people a way to experience your voice, your thinking, your values, and your follow-through.

Start with what you want from collaboration

One of Melanie’s strongest points was about clarity.

Before you start reaching out to people, get clear about what you want from collaboration. More clients? More podcast guests? More visibility for your Substack? More speaking opportunities?

“You have to get really clear. What do you want from collaboration?”

She called this your “collaboration compass.” I know that phrase will land for a lot of people because it gives you a way to make better decisions. If an opportunity does not support the outcome you’re working toward, it may not be the right opportunity right now.

That does not mean the person is wrong. It means the timing, audience, or offer may not fit what you’re building.

Melanie gave a good example. Someone invited her into a bundle or toolkit giveaway, and she turned it down. It didn’t support her current collaboration goal.

As she said,

“When we know what we’re focused on, it’s easier to discern what do I say yes to, what do I say no to.”

That’s a useful filter.

Choose partners with care

Melanie gave 3 questions to help you decide who might be a good collaborator.

First, do you share an audience?

In her words: “Do we both speak to people who need and want what we both do?”

That’s the first filter. If the audience is too far apart, the collaboration may feel good in the moment, but it probably won’t create the result you want.

Second, do your offers work well together?

Melanie called this “offer synergy.” If you both serve the same audience in different ways, the partnership can feel natural. You’re giving the audience more context and support without competing for the same exact sale.

Third, does the other person know how to collaborate?

This is where a lot of people get burned. One person promotes, follows through, shares the content, and creates a good experience. The other person does the bare minimum.

Melanie said, “I like to partner with people that they’ve kind of established collaboration as part of the model they do.”

That’s practical. Look for signs. Do they share other people’s work? Do they promote interviews they’ve been part of? Do they show up prepared? Do they make the experience better for the host and the audience?

Make it easy to say yes

If you want to ask someone to collaborate, Melanie’s advice was simple: make a clear, low-risk ask.

You might say:

I see we share a similar audience, and I think our topics would work well together. Would you be open to exploring a collaboration?

You don’t need to overcomplicate it.

“Just make the ask. What’s the worst that happens? They say no.”

That’s the part many of us need to hear. A no is information. It may be about timing, fit, capacity, or priority. It does not need to become a personal story.

Give before you ask

One of my favorite parts of the conversation came near the end, when we talked about untapped collaboration opportunities.

Melanie suggested starting with what is already close to you. Feature other people. Share their work. Restack their posts. Invite clients or partners into conversations. Look for people in your network who would benefit from being seen by your audience.

As Melanie said, “Find a way to be nice. Give visibility.”

You don’t have to start with a huge partnership. You can start by being generous in a specific way. Feature someone in an article. Invite them to a short live conversation. Share one of their posts with a thoughtful comment. Introduce 2 people who should know each other.

This is especially easy on Substack. Restacks, Notes, comments, recommendations, Lives, and guest posts all create simple ways to build connection.

Make the collaboration a win for everyone

Melanie talked about the difference between collaborations that look good on paper and collaborations that work for the host, the guest, and the audience.

She used virtual summits as an example. Many have become less useful because they often give the audience more information without a clear result.

Her standard is a “win-win-win.”

The host wins. The guest wins. The audience wins.

“People don’t really need more information. They want transformation.”

If you invite someone to your audience, what will your people walk away with? If you say yes to someone else’s event, what will their people be able to use?

The best collaborations are designed with the audience in mind from the start.

Your message has to be clear first

Melanie closed with a point every solo business owner needs to hear.

Before someone can refer you, promote you, interview you, or partner with you, they need to understand what you do.

She said, “If we make people work too hard to figure it out, we’ve lost their attention.”

That applies to your website, your Substack, your social profiles, your podcast bio, your speaker page, and your offers. If someone lands on your page and can’t tell what you’re known for, it becomes harder to collaborate.

The same is true for clients. People need to recognize your work quickly. They need to see who you help, what you help them do, and why it matters.

Melanie’s reminder was direct:

“Can somebody go to your page and go, yeah, I get it. I see what they’re doing. I know what they’re known for?”

That’s where many people need to start.

Key takeaways

• Proximity can help people know, trust, and refer you faster. It works best when you are clear about your goal, selective about your partners, and generous in how you show up.

• A good collaboration partner shares your audience, brings a related offer, and knows how to follow through.

• A good collaboration gives the host, guest, and audience a real win.

• A simple first step is to feature someone you already know and respect. Invite them into a conversation, share their work, or give them visibility with your audience.

• Before you reach out, check your own visibility. Make sure your message is clear enough for someone to understand what you do, who you help, and why they should introduce you to someone else.

Looking back, the biggest reminder from this conversation is that visibility is still human. Tools change. Platforms change. Trust still grows through real conversations, shared values, and consistent follow-through.

What’s next?

Get your complimentary copy of Melanie Benson’s 7 Step Framework to be the Un-Ignorable Expert:

Download Melanie's Framework

You’ve probably tested your name or business in ChatGPT.

You asked a question related to your work. You scanned the answer for your name. Maybe you checked the links to see whether your website appeared.

That kind of test can satisfy your curiosity. It doesn’t tell you much about where your best opportunities are.

A stronger AI visibility check starts with the questions your ideal clients ask before they hire someone. Then you study which sources AI cites when answering those questions.

That is where citation research becomes useful.

What an AI citation can tell you

A citation appears when an AI answer links to a source that supports a claim, recommendation, definition, example, or instruction.

A mention works differently. The AI may name you or your business without linking to your content.

A citation gives the reader a path to your website. It can introduce your ideas to someone who has never heard of you.

That still doesn’t make every citation worth chasing.

A citation attached to a broad question such as “What is digital marketing?” may bring little business value to a visibility consultant. A citation attached to “How can a solo consultant stay visible without posting every day?” is much closer to a client problem.

The question behind the citation matters as much as the citation itself.

What I mean by a citation slot

A citation slot is the part of an AI answer where the system uses an outside source to support one point.

One answer may contain several slots.

For example, someone asks:

How can a solo consultant stay visible without spending hours on social media?

The AI answer might cover:

• Choosing one primary platform

• Publishing on a steady schedule

• Reusing one idea in several formats

• Tracking which content brings inquiries

Each point may cite a different source.

Those are 4 separate citation slots. Each source earns its place by supporting one part of the answer. This changes how you study AI visibility. You’re no longer looking at a list of websites and wondering why they appeared. You’re looking at the job each cited page performed.

The citation slot method

I use 4 questions to study each slot.

1. What buyer question triggered the answer?

Start with a question connected to a real client concern.

A travel advisor might study:

Is it worth using a travel advisor for a complicated European trip?

A web designer might study:

How much should a small business website cost?

A business coach might study:

How do I know whether I need a coach or a consultant?

These questions sit close to a decision. The person asking may be comparing choices, checking costs, or deciding whom to trust.

That makes the citation more relevant to the business.

2. What claim did the citation support?

Open the cited source and find the part that relates to the AI answer.

The citation may support:

• a definition

• a price range

• a step in a process

• a warning

• a recommendation

• a comparison

• an example

• a result

Write down the exact purpose of the citation.

“HubSpot was cited” tells you very little.

“HubSpot was cited to support the recommended posting frequency” gives you something you can study.

3. Where does the question sit in the buyer’s decision?

I sort questions into 4 groups.

Early interest

The person is learning about the problem.

Examples:

What is AI visibility?

Why does online visibility matter?

How often should a small business publish content?

Problem recognition

The person knows something is wrong and wants an explanation.

Examples:

Why is my content getting views without inquiries?

Why doesn’t ChatGPT cite my website?

Why am I posting regularly without getting clients?

Option comparison

The person is comparing approaches, providers, costs, or tools.

Examples:

Should I hire a consultant or join a group program?

Is a custom website worth the cost?

Is it better to use a travel advisor or book everything myself?

Action decision

The person is close to taking the next step.

Examples:

What should I ask before hiring a visibility consultant?

How much should I budget for a brand website?

What information does a travel advisor need before planning my trip?

Citation slots tied to comparison and action questions often deserve more attention. They sit closer to a purchase.

Your business model still matters. An early-interest question may be useful when it brings the right people onto your email list. The point is to know why you want the citation.

4. What earned the source its place?

Study the cited page for evidence.

Look for:

• a direct answer near the top

• first-hand experience

• original examples

• a clear process

• current facts

• useful comparisons

• stated limits or conditions

• proof that supports the claim

• This step keeps you from copying a competitor’s headline or article structure.

You’re trying to see what made the source useful to the answer.

How to run a citation check

Start with 5 questions tied to your offer.

Choose questions your ideal client asks before making a decision. Client emails, sales calls, discovery calls, comments, and search queries are better sources than a generic keyword list.

Run each question in the AI platforms your audience is most likely to use. Record the date, platform, question, answer, and cited sources.

AI answers can change. One test is a snapshot, so repeat your highest-priority questions on another day before making a major content decision.

For every citation, record:

• the cited page

• the claim it supported

• where it appeared in the answer

• the buyer-intent group

• what evidence the source provided

• whether the citation connects to your offer

A simple spreadsheet is enough.

Which citation slots are worth pursuing?

Use this 5-point check:

• My ideal client asks this question.

• The question relates to a service or product I sell.

• I have real experience or evidence to add.

• The current AI answer leaves out something useful.

• A reader who clicks could take a sensible next step with me.

A slot that meets 4 or 5 points is worth serious attention.

A slot that meets 1 or 2 points may be interesting without supporting a business goal.

Seeing a competitor’s name can trigger the urge to create content around every topic they cover. That spreads your effort across questions that may never lead to a subscriber, inquiry, or sale.

Find the weakness in the current answer

Your opportunity comes from improving the answer.

Read the cited sources and ask:

• Is the advice too broad?

• Is the information old?

• Does the answer ignore solo business owners?

• Does it leave out cost, time, risk, or conditions?

• Is the recommendation based on theory?

• Is first-hand experience missing?

• Does the answer tell the reader what to do next?

A missing perspective can give you a useful angle. So can stronger evidence.

Example: AI answers about content consistency may repeat the same advice about publishing on a schedule. Your experience may show that consistency depends on choosing a format the business owner can keep producing during busy client weeks.

That is a clear contribution. It adds judgment from real work.

Decide whether to update or create

Once you find a worthwhile citation slot, choose the right content response.

Update an existing article when it already answers the main question and needs a clearer section, stronger evidence, or a more direct explanation.

Add an FAQ when the question can be answered clearly in a few paragraphs and supports a service page or core article.

Create a new article when the question needs its own examples, process, comparison, or point of view.

Leave it alone when the question has little connection to your offer or you lack something distinct to add.

That last option matters. Your time has value. AI citation research should narrow your content choices.

Make your answer easier to cite

Once you select a slot, write for the reader first.

• State the answer early. Explain your reasoning. Add evidence from your experience, examples, client patterns, original research, or trusted sources.

• Include the conditions that change your advice.

For example, a useful answer to “How often should a consultant publish content?” would explain how the answer changes based on platform, sales cycle, audience size, available time, and content format.

That kind of answer gives an AI system more than a general statement. It gives the reader a better decision.

Track results that matter

A citation is one visibility signal.

Track whether the work leads to:

• referral traffic from AI platforms

• email subscribers

• visits to relevant service pages

• branded searches

• inquiries

• sales conversations

Citation patterns can change across platforms and over time. Review them as part of your visibility work.

The business result still counts most.

A prompt to build your first citation question list

Use this prompt to create a starting list:

I am a [profession] who works with [ideal client] and sells [offer].

Generate 15 questions this person may ask an AI assistant before deciding whether to hire someone, buy a service, or choose an approach related to [topic].

Sort the questions into these groups:

1. Early interest

2. Problem recognition

3. Option comparison

4. Action decision

Write each question in plain, conversational language.

For every question, explain:

- what decision the person is trying to make

- how closely the question connects to my offer

- what first-hand experience or evidence I would need to answer it well

Do not suggest questions that sit outside my services or experience.

Review the list using your own client experience. AI can help you draft the questions. Your sales conversations and client work tell you which ones deserve attention.

Build your citation slot plan

You now have a way to spot citation slots and judge which ones connect to a buyer’s decision.

The next step is choosing which opportunities deserve your time.

Paid subscribers can download the Citation Slot Plan, a step-by-step worksheet that helps you review cited sources, score each opportunity, and choose the right content response.

Read more

You may have years of experience, strong client results, and a clear way of solving problems.

AI cannot see any of that until you publish enough evidence.

That is the part of AI visibility that often gets missed. Your expertise exists in your work. An AI system needs to find it in your content.

A stream of short tips may show that you know the topic. A detailed explanation shows how you think, what you have learned, and how you make decisions.

That gives AI more reason to treat your work as a source.

I started blogging for my business in 2004. By early 2005, I was teaching other business owners how to use blogs to reach and serve their audiences.

From the beginning, I saw long-form content as one of the best ways to inform, educate, and entertain a reader. A blog post can be short, of course. The posts that stayed useful over time usually gave the reader enough context to follow the writer’s thinking.

That belief has stayed with me as the tools have changed. AI gives us another reason to publish the thinking behind our advice. It can only recognize the experience, judgment, and process we have made visible.

AI needs more than a conclusion

Consider a common visibility question:

“How often should I post on LinkedIn?”

A short answer might recommend posting 3 times a week.

That gives the reader a number. It gives an AI system one fact it can repeat.

A stronger source explains how the answer changes based on the person’s goals, available time, audience, and existing content. It may include examples, tradeoffs, and the reasoning behind the recommendation.

The second version contains evidence of judgment.

That evidence matters when someone asks AI a detailed question such as:

“I’m a consultant with limited time. How often should I post on LinkedIn if most of my business comes from referrals?”

The system needs more than a posting schedule. It needs a source that has considered the reader’s situation.

The 5 kinds of evidence AI can find in your content

AI systems look for information that helps them answer a question with confidence. Your content becomes more useful when it includes several forms of evidence.

1. A clear point of view

Your content should show what you believe about the topic.

A clear point of view goes further than stating a preference. It explains how you reached that position and what experience shaped it.

For example:

“Posting more often can help when each post supports a clear business goal. Frequency on its own gives you activity without a useful way to judge the result.”

This gives the reader a position and a reason behind it.

2. A decision process

Expertise often appears in the choices you make.

What do you look at first? Which factor carries the most weight? What would cause you to change your recommendation?

When you publish that process, AI has something it can apply to a new question.

A useful article might explain:

• Which factors you review

• The order you review them in

• How you make the final choice

• What conditions would change your answer

This turns advice into a method.

3. Examples from real work

Examples show how an idea holds up outside a clean explanation.

You can include a client situation, a project, your own experiment, or a pattern you have seen repeatedly.

The example does not need to reveal private details. It needs enough context for the reader to see what happened.

For instance:

“A consultant I worked with posted every weekday and received little response. We changed her plan to one detailed weekly post based on client questions. She had more useful conversations because the content showed how she approached the problem.”

That example gives the advice weight.

4. Limits and conditions

Experienced people know that advice changes with the situation.

State who the advice is for. Explain when it applies. Name the factors that could lead to a different result.

This gives AI a more accurate source to work from.

A recommendation for someone with an established referral network may differ from advice for someone building an audience from the beginning. Both can be true within the right conditions.

5. A repeatable structure

AI can work with a process more easily when the steps are clear.

You may already use a process with clients without having written it down. Publishing those steps makes your experience easier to find, explain, and cite.

A useful structure could include:

1. The problem you identify

2. The questions you ask

3. The factors you compare

4. The action you recommend

5. The result you review

A simple name can help readers recall the process when the name adds meaning.

Why many short posts fall short

Short posts can share a strong observation, useful tip, or timely response. They can keep you visible and give readers regular contact with your ideas.

Their limited space often leaves out the details that show judgment.

The reasoning may remain inside your head. The example may be reduced to one line. The conditions may disappear. The process may never be explained.

AI can quote the tip. It has less evidence for treating the creator as a source with a developed method.

This is one reason experienced professionals can publish often and still remain hard to identify through AI search. Their best thinking stays inside client calls, workshops, private notes, and years of practice.

Long-form gives your evidence a place to live

A detailed article gives you room to gather the evidence in one place.

The word count has little value by itself. The article becomes useful through the depth and quality of the information it contains.

A strong piece may include:

• The question readers ask

• Your direct answer

• The reasoning behind it

• An example from your work

• Conditions that shape the advice

• The process the reader can follow

• Related questions that come next

This creates a complete source an AI system can draw from.

Which idea should you develop first?

Choose a question where your answer depends on experience and judgment.

A good candidate often meets 4 of these conditions:

• Clients ask you about it regularly.

• Your answer includes “it depends,” followed by clear reasons.

• Your experience has changed how you think about it.

• You have seen a common approach fail.

• You use a repeatable process to solve it.

• The topic connects to work you want more clients to hire you for.

• You can include a useful example.

• You want your name connected with the subject.

The strongest topic may already be sitting in a client conversation you have had many times.

A useful test for your content

Choose one article or post you have already published.

Read it through these 5 questions:

1. Does this state what I believe?

2. Does it show how I reached that belief?

3. Does it include evidence from my work?

4. Does it explain when the advice applies?

5. Does it give the reader a process they can follow?

Count how many questions you can answer with a clear yes.

A piece that meets 4 or 5 gives readers and AI more evidence of your expertise.

A piece that meets 1 or 2 may still be useful. It may work better as a starting point for a more developed article.

Your experience needs to be documented

Years of experience matter. Published evidence helps other people find and use that experience.

This is where long-form content can support your visibility. It gives you space to document how you think, why you make certain choices, and what your work has taught you.

Dorie Clark explores a related idea in The Long Game. Recognition often grows from a body of work created over time. For this purpose, your body of work needs to contain enough substance for someone to recognize what belongs to you.

AI adds another reason to document that thinking. It can only work with what it can find.

Take one action today

Write down the question you explain most often to clients.

Under it, add 5 headings:

1. What I believe

2. How I reached this conclusion

3. What I have seen in my work

4. When this advice applies

5. The steps I recommend

Add 2 notes under each heading.

You now have the core material for a source that shows more than your answer. It shows the experience behind it.

Prompts to document your expertise

4 prompts + a SuperPrompt (download below) will help you find the evidence already present in your work and turn it into useful content.

Read more

In this Substack Live, I talked with about his new book, Refuse to Be Irrelevant: The New AI & Video System for Being Seen, Trusted, and Paid in the Age of AI, and his AI Video Authority System.

The big theme is simple: AI can help us create faster, but it does not replace trust. For solo business owners, coaches, consultants, and service providers, the real advantage still comes from your voice, your experience, your point of view, and your willingness to be seen.

Lou talked about the fear many experienced business owners are feeling right now. He calls it FOBO, or fear of becoming obsolete. It is that nagging worry that people may stop opening your emails, watching your videos, taking your calls, or seeing you as relevant.

The answer is not to panic or try to do everything. The answer is to build a simple visibility system that helps people see you, trust you, and remember why you are the person they want to work with.

Trust matters more when content is easy to create

AI has made it easier for anyone to produce content. That creates a lot more noise.

Lou’s point was that people now need to know who they can trust. A polished post, image, or video is no longer enough. Viewers want to know there is a real person behind the message.

That is where video still has an advantage. When people can see your face and hear your voice, they get a stronger sense of who you are. Video helps create familiarity faster than text alone.

AI should support your expertise, not replace it

Lou was clear AI is useful for speed and support. It can help with research, scripting, editing, repurposing, and distribution.

But AI should not take over your judgment.

One of the best uses Lou shared is using AI before you record. Ask it to help tighten your message, find a stronger way to frame your idea, or suggest a case study that supports your point.

Then use AI during editing or after recording to turn a single piece of content into a blog post, Substack article, LinkedIn post, YouTube description, or short clip.

The key is this: start with your real expertise. Let AI help you move faster.

Lou’s system has three parts

Lou described his AI Video Authority System around three engines:

Visibility
People need to see you. You cannot build trust if people never hear from you.

Authority
People need proof that you know what you are talking about. Your content should show your experience, ideas, examples, and point of view.

Relevance
People need to feel that your message fits what is happening now. What worked three years ago may no longer be enough.

Together, these three pieces help you stay visible, trusted, and useful.

Video does not have to be perfect

One of the best moments in the live video was Lou’s camera glitching while we were talking about video.

It made the point for us.

Perfection is not the goal. Showing up is the goal.

Lou said one of the biggest mistakes people make is creating video and then leaving it on the hard drive. They wait for it to be better, cleaner, or more polished.

His advice was to get it out there. A 20-second video is enough to start. A live video can work well since you do not have to edit it. If you already record audio interviews or podcasts, turn on the camera and give yourself more content to work with.

Repurposing makes video easier to sustain

Video becomes more useful when you do not treat it as one-and-done content.

Lou shared how AI can take a podcast, video, or interview and help turn it into several useful pieces of content. That might include a blog post, Substack article, LinkedIn post, YouTube short, or social clip.

This matters for solo business owners who do not have a large team. You can create one strong source piece, then use AI to help you reshape it for different platforms.

That makes video less of a heavy task and more of a repeatable content habit.

Start with one small action

If you are new to video, Lou’s advice is simple: start small.

You do not need a big studio setup. You can use your phone. You do not need a five-minute video. You can start with 20 seconds.

Now sure where you stand on the “impossible to ignore” spectrum? Take Lou’s quick assessment to get a detailed diagnosis of where you’re strong and where you could improve.

Are you impossible to ignore?

How to take action

Here are a few ways to put this conversation into practice.

Try this first

Record a short video answering one question your clients or readers ask often.

Keep it simple:

• State the question

• Give your answer

• Add one example

• Tell people what to do next

That could be enough for your first video.

Use AI before you record

Before you turn on the camera, ask AI:

“Help me tighten this idea for a short video. Keep my voice natural. Make the message clear and useful for [your audience].”

Then review what it gives you. Keep what sounds like you. Edit the rest.

Use AI after you record

After you record, use the transcript to create:

• A short summary

• A LinkedIn post

• A Substack note

• A YouTube description

• A few short clips or pull quotes

This is where AI can save time without taking over your message.

Keep the human layer visible

Use AI to help with the process, but keep your voice, point of view, and lived experience in the content.

That is what makes the content believable.

A simple prompt to use

Copy and paste this after you record a short video or live conversation:

“I’m going to give you a transcript from a video. Pull out the main idea, the 5 strongest takeaways, and 3 simple actions a [your ideal client] can take this week. Keep the language clear, practical, and conversational. Do not make it sound overly polished or generic.”

Final takeaway

AI can help you create faster, but trust still comes from you.

Your experience, your examples, your face, your voice, and your judgment are what make the content worth paying attention to. Video gives people a way to feel that faster.

Start small. Keep it useful. Let AI help with the parts that slow you down.

What are your questions about using AI and video about staying visible and impossible to ignore? Post them in the comments, and I’ll get Lou Bortone back to answer them!

Recommended

A few days ago, I had one of those “what if I tried this?” ideas.

June is my birthday month, and I wanted to do something fun for my community. I didn’t want to send a plain discount email. I didn’t want to create a big campaign that would take days to set up.

Something that gave people a reason to engage and helped grow my Your Visibility Edge subscriber list at the same time.

That’s how the Visibility Adventure Wheel started.

And here’s the part to pay attention to: I went from brainstorming ideas to a live AI-built promotion in about 3 to 4 hours.

Was every part perfect? No.

Did I get stuck on the tech? Yes. More on that in a minute.

But the promotion got built, branded, customized, and launched. That’s the useful part if you’ve been thinking about running a small campaign of your own and keep making it bigger than it needs to be.

Start with one clear reason

Before I opened WooBox or asked AI for ideas, I had to answer one question:

Why am I doing this?

For me, the reason was simple. I wanted to grow my newsletter audience and give people a fun way to interact with me during my birthday month.

Your reason might be different.

Maybe you want to:

• grow your email list

• bring attention to one offer

• re-engage people who haven’t heard from you in a bit

• promote a workshop

• get people to try a paid newsletter

• create a fun reason to reconnect with past clients

This is where a lot of promotions go sideways. The tool becomes the focus too soon. The wheel, quiz, giveaway, or landing page gets all your attention before you’ve decided what the promotion is supposed to do.

For me, the wheel was only the format. The real goal was list growth and engagement.

That made the next decisions easier.

The first idea probably won’t be the best idea

Most spin wheels look and feel generic.

Discounts. Coupons. Freebies. A basic spin-to-win setup.

Nothing wrong with that. But it could belong to almost anyone.

So, I discussed it with ChatGPT.

I explained the goal, the audience, the birthday-month angle, and the fact that I wanted the promotion to feel connected to my brand. I wanted it to be playful, but still useful. I wanted it to feel like me, not like a random promo template.

This is where you can use AI well.

Don’t ask it to “write a promotion.”

Ask it to help you think.

Give it your rough idea. Tell it what feels off. Tell it what you don’t want. Ask it to compare options. Ask it why one theme might work better than another.

That back-and-forth helped me land on the Visibility Adventure Wheel.

The theme made sense for my brand because I’ve used adventure language in my work for years. Once I had that idea, the wheel stopped feeling like a coupon dispenser and started feeling like a branded promotion.

That’s the shift you want in your own campaign.

Use a template, then make it yours

I did not build this from a blank page.

I started with a WooBox template.

That helped because the basic structure was already there. I didn’t have to figure out how to create a spin-to-win wheel from scratch. I could focus on the parts that mattered more: the names, prizes, branding, colors, copy, and flow.

Then I used the built-in WooBox AI builder (think vibe coding, like with Lovable) to customize the promotion.

That part surprised me a little. The built-in AI helped speed up the setup inside the tool, and ChatGPT helped me evaluate the bigger brand and content decisions outside the tool.

That combination worked well.

WooBox AI helped with the build.

ChatGPT helped with the thinking.

If you’re creating a promotion, that’s a useful distinction. Some AI tools are good at producing the thing inside the platform. ChatGPT is better for talking through the strategy, testing the idea, checking the copy, and deciding whether the promotion still sounds like you. You’ll also burn fewer AI tokens.

Your theme has to do some work

Once I had the Visibility Adventure Wheel idea, I needed each slice to feel connected.

The slice names became:

• Compass Point

• Scenic Shortcut

• Trail Map

• Discovery Route

• Adventure Map

• Guide’s Insight

• Summit Pass

• Treasure Chest

The names are simple. That’s good. A confused person doesn’t sign up. A confused person clicks away.

Your theme should make the promotion easier to understand, not harder. It should give the campaign a little personality and help the pieces feel connected.

For your business, that theme might come from:

• the language you already use

• the way your clients talk about the work

• a repeatable framework you teach

• a seasonal event

• a milestone

• a problem your audience wants to solve

• a small result you can help them get

The theme doesn’t need to be brilliant. It needs to fit.

Choose prizes you can deliver

This is where I had to slow myself down.

A promotion can look fun on the front end and become a hassle on the back end.

At one point, I considered offering a custom visibility audit. It sounded useful. It also would have created too much manual work if several people won.

So I changed it.

The final prize list included things I already had, could deliver easily, or could create without turning the promotion into a second job:

• Annual Your Visibility Edge subscription discounts

• A free month of paid Your Visibility Edge

• 50% off The Visibility Loop

• An AI Prompt Pack

• A Visibility Adventure Map worksheet

• Ask Denise One Question by Email

• Entry into a Visibility Accelerator Package grand prize drawing

That mix gave people something real without creating a delivery problem for me.

Use that as your filter.

Before you add a prize, ask:

• Would my audience care about this?

• Does it connect to my business?

• Can I deliver it easily?

• Will this create follow-up work I don’t want?

• Does it point people toward a next step?

A good promotion gives people value and protects your capacity.

Both matter.

Let AI help you make decisions

I used ChatGPT throughout the process, but not in a “write everything for me” way.

I used it to discuss and evaluate:

• design choices

• branding

• prize names

• copy

• theme fit

• whether an idea felt too generic

• whether a prize created too much work

• whether the promotion made sense for my audience

That’s the part I wish more solo business owners would try.

AI is useful when you need a first draft. But it may be even more useful when you need a thinking partner and you don’t have another person sitting next to you.

You can say:

“This feels too generic. Give me 5 stronger directions.”

Or:

“Which of these prizes creates too much manual work?”

Or:

“Does this promotion feel connected to my brand, or does it feel like a random giveaway?”

Or:

“Here’s my copy. Make it warmer and clearer without making it sound overdone.”

That kind of prompting saves time because you’re not staring at the same decision for 45 minutes.

The build took 3 to 4 hours

From brainstorming to live promotion, the whole thing took about 3 to 4 hours.

That included:

• choosing the promotion idea

• working through the theme

• naming the slices

• deciding on prizes

• customizing the WooBox template

• using the WooBox AI builder

• reviewing copy in ChatGPT

• adjusting the branding and design

• testing the wheel

• getting it live

That is the part I want you to sit with for a second.

This did not require a huge launch plan.

It did not require a designer.

It did not require a week of planning.

It did require decisions.

That’s usually where the time goes. The tech matters, but the bigger time drain is often deciding what the campaign is, who it is for, what it offers, and why anyone should care.

AI helped me move through those decisions faster.

The tech snag was Zapier

The hardest part was not the wheel.

The hardest part is (still) getting Zapier to send email addresses from WooBox to my MailerLite list.

That’s the unglamorous part of these projects. The idea is fun. The branding is fun. Watching the wheel work is fun.

Then you have to connect the tools.

This is where I’d give you one practical warning: before you spend too much time polishing the promotion, check the connection between your promo tool and your email platform.

Can you send new subscribers to the right list or group?

Can you tag them?

Can you test the form?

Can you confirm the email lands where it should?

That one step matters because the whole point of the promotion is to create a follow-up path. If the names and emails don’t go where they need to go, you have a pretty campaign with a broken handoff.

I still don’t have it working, but that part takes the most patience.

What I’d do differently next time

I’d test the email connection earlier.

That’s the big one.

Before I spent much time polishing the final copy, I’d make sure WooBox, Zapier, and MailerLite were talking to each other properly.

I’d also write the follow-up emails before launch. Not a long sequence. Just a few messages that welcome people, deliver the prize, and point them toward the next useful step.

The wheel gets people to enter.

The follow-up is where the relationship continues.

What this means for you

If you’ve been thinking about a small promotion, don’t start by asking, “What tool should I use?”

Start with:

What do I want people to do?

Then ask:

What would make that action feel easy, useful, and connected to my business?

That’s where the promotion starts to take shape.

You might not need a wheel. You might need a quiz, a giveaway, a short challenge, a coupon, a live session, or a simple email-only promotion.

The format can change.

The process stays pretty much the same:

• choose the goal

• pick the audience

• create a simple theme

• offer prizes or incentives you can deliver

• use AI to test your ideas

• build from a template when you can or create from scratch

• check the tech connection early

• launch before you overwork it

That’s the real lesson from my Visibility Adventure Wheel.

A small idea can become a live promotion faster than you think when you stop trying to figure out every piece alone.

The Visibility Adventure Wheel is live only during my birthday month. The process behind it is something I’ll use again, and it may be worth trying the next time you want to bring fresh attention to your work.

Take the Wheel for a Spin!

Maybe your next AI project isn’t a promo wheel.

Maybe it’s a simple app that helps your clients make a decision, complete a task, organize information, or get a useful result faster.

That’s what we’re working on inside the AI App Creation Lab. In 4 weeks, Ellen Britt and I will guide you through building a real app with AI, even if you don’t code and don’t have a finished idea yet.

You’ll get live weekly sessions, replays, support, and 3 custom GPTs to help you move from “I have an idea” to “I built this.”

The next small group cohort starts June 17.

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AI has changed the content game. Polished copy is no longer hard to produce, which means the value is shifting from speed and smoothness to judgment, originality, and the human experience behind the words.

is passionate about bridging the gap between technology and humanity. He explores voice preservation, AI humanization, and soul retrieval on his Substack, The Humanizers, and in his work with the AI Success Club.

More importantly, Andy’s fourth book dropped today (March 28), and our livestream was going to be a discussion about the issues addressed in the book, The Humanizers Strike Back.

You can learn more about Andy’s stance on AI and preserving your voice in this article:

The Humanizers

The Humanizers Strike Back

Back in late 2024, when the first Humanizers book landed, the conversation still felt manageable. AI was a tool you opened deliberately, wrestled with, and then edited heavily. The friction was obvious, almost reassuring. You knew you were the one doing the real work…

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2 months ago · 3 likes · 1 comment · Andy O'Bryan

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A strong article gives you a starting point. The next piece should prove you can answer the question that comes after it.

Last week, I wrote about how AI LLMs decide what to cite for AI Search and why clear, useful content gives AI tools something better to work with.

That article started with a question from a luxury travel advisor:

“If I answer the right questions on my site, will ChatGPT or Perplexity ever mention my business?”

My answer was yes, when your content is clear enough for AI tools to understand, connect, and reference.

This week, I want to take that idea one step further. Once you publish one strong article, the next move matters. A lot.

Repurposing can make good ideas smaller

You know the routine. You write a good article. Then you pull a quote for LinkedIn. Turn a section into a short post. Make a graphic. Create a Note. Maybe record a short video.

I’ve done all of that.

For a long time, it’s what other creators and I recommended for smart content marketing. One idea. Several formats. More chances for people to see it.

Then I started to notice something in my own work.

Some pieces were helping the reader. Others were just proving I could extract more content from the original article.

The article had the strongest thinking. The repurposed pieces were often smaller, thinner versions of the same point. They looked useful at a glance, but they didn’t answer anything new.

And if the follow-up piece doesn’t answer anything new, why should a reader spend time with it?

The better follow-up question

After I publish a strong article, I look for the next question it creates. That one question changes the work.

A strong article should make a reader think. It should help them connect the idea to their own business and wonder what to do next. That next question is where the useful follow-up content lives.

For example, if you write an article about how AI tools cite content, the next question might be:

“How do I make my existing content easier for AI tools to understand?”

That could become a checklist.

Another reader may ask:

“What kind of questions should I answer on my website?”

That could become an FAQ page.

Someone else may wonder:

“Where should I put these answers?”

That could become a short article about website structure.

Each follow-up makes the original article more useful.

AI visibility needs developed thinking

AI tools work better with clear answers, useful examples, and enough context to connect your ideas across several pieces.

That matters because AI search is starting to connect ideas across your body of work. One article may introduce your point of view. The follow-up pieces show whether you can keep answering useful questions around that topic.

This is where many creators weaken their own visibility. They publish one strong piece, then cut it into short posts that all say the same thing. A posting schedule can look consistent while the body of work stays thin.

Depth shows up when you answer the next question, give a real example, and name the tradeoffs your reader has to deal with. That’s the kind of content that gives readers a reason to trust you. It also gives AI tools more context to work with.

The authority test

Here’s the test I’m using more often now:

Does this follow-up piece prove I can answer the next question?

When the piece answers a real next question, I’ll consider creating it. When it doesn’t, I leave it in my notes.

• A quote can work when it clearly names the main idea.

• A checklist can work when it helps someone act.

• A Note can work when it gives one complete thought.

• An FAQ can work when it answers a question people are likely to search.

• A graphic can work when the idea is hard to understand in plain text.

I choose the job of the piece before I choose the format.

A simple example

Let’s say a business consultant writes an article called:

“How to Know When Your Offer Is Too Complicated”

That article may be strong on its own. It explains the problem. It gives signs to watch for. It makes the reader aware of something they may have been tolerating for too long.

The next question might be:

“How do I simplify my offer without losing the parts clients value?”

That could become a follow-up article.

Another question might be:

“What are the signs my clients are confused before they buy?”

That could become a checklist.

A third question might be:

“What should I change on my sales page first?”

That could become an FAQ answer or short website update.

Each piece earns its place because it answers something the original article brought up.

Where to put the next piece

Let the question guide where the content belongs.

• If someone would search for the answer, put it on your website.

• If the answer shows your point of view, LinkedIn may be a good fit.

• If it’s a short observation that can stand alone, use Substack Notes.

• If the idea needs context, examples, and your personal take, use your newsletter.

• If the answer helps someone take action, turn it into a checklist, prompt, or short worksheet for subscribers.

The right answer belongs where your reader is most likely to use it.

Your next step

Choose one article you’ve already published.

Read it like a client or reader who is smart, busy, and trying to apply the idea to their own business.

Then write down 3 questions they might ask next.

Choose the strongest question.

Create one follow-up piece that answers it clearly.

That’s it.

This is the kind of repurposing I trust more now because it keeps the original thinking intact and gives the reader somewhere useful to go next.

A strong article is worth more than one round of promotion.

It can start a trail of useful answers that help readers understand your thinking and apply it to their own business. That’s where repurposing gets more interesting to me now. The follow-up piece becomes proof you can keep answering the questions your work raises.

So before you turn your next article into a batch of smaller posts, pause and ask one question:

Answer that well, and your content starts doing a better job for your readers, your visibility, and the body of work you’re building over time.

For paid subscribers, I’m sharing the exact process I’d use to turn a long-form article into stronger follow-up content using AI.

You’ll get a step-by-step workflow and one detailed prompt that helps you find the next reader question, choose the right format, draft the follow-up piece, and check whether it sounds specific enough to publish.

Subscribe now

Read this first: The free article gives you the basic shift: after you publish a strong article, look for the next question it creates.

For you, I recommend taking it here after reading "After the Article, Then What?" - 5 Steps and a detailed prompt…

This process helps you use AI to find the strongest follow-up pieces from one long-form article. The goal is to create repurposed content that adds depth, answers a real reader question, and supports your visibility across search, AI tools, and the platforms where your readers pay attention.

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Last week, a luxury travel advisor asked me something interesting:

“If I answer the right questions on my site, will ChatGPT or Perplexity ever mention my business?”

That question applies way beyond travel.

You could be a coach, consultant, trainer, designer, wellness professional, or service provider. The issue is the same: AI tools are starting to shape who gets seen online. Most solo business owners still haven’t adjusted how they create content for that shift.

The answer I gave her was simple:

“Yes. But AI needs to understand your thinking clearly enough to quote it.”

This is part of the larger shift toward AI search optimization.

The mistake most solo business owners make

A lot of business websites still rely on broad service pages, generic blog posts, and keyword-heavy articles. AI tools tend to pull clearer, more direct answers that explain reasoning and experience.

That luxury travel advisor could write:

“Experience unforgettable luxury cruises and curated land journeys.”

Or she could answer:

“Is a luxury river cruise a good first Europe trip for travelers over 50?”

The second example gives AI a clearer structure for interpretation, reference, and quotation.

McKinsey recently reported that:

That’s a big change in how people discover businesses, research solutions, and make decisions.

Clear answers surface more often in AI search

I want you to think about the questions your clients already ask you over and over again.

Focus on the questions that keep showing up in calls, emails, and conversations.

For the luxury travel advisor, those questions might be:

• “Is a river cruise worth the price?”

• “Should I do a land tour or a cruise first?”

• “How far ahead should I book Europe travel?”

• “What’s included on a luxury cruise?”

• “Do I really need a travel advisor?”

For your business, the questions will be different. But the structure stays the same.

That’s the important part. Search behavior is changing fast.

Search Engine Land summed it up well:

That’s exactly what AI systems are trying to surface.

A content structure AI tools can understand

This is where most people overcomplicate things.

Clear, specific answers tend to surface more often in AI-generated responses than long general articles.

Here’s the format I’d recommend:

Question
Write it exactly how a client would ask it.

Short answer
Two or three sentences.

Your reasoning
Explain why you believe this based on your experience.

The nuance
Where does the answer change depending on the person or situation?

Here’s how that might look for the travel advisor:

Q: Is a luxury river cruise a good first trip to Europe?

Answer:
For many first-time Europe travelers, yes. A luxury river cruise removes a lot of the stress around transportation, hotels, unpacking, and logistics.

Why:
Clients who want a calmer pace usually enjoy the structure and convenience. They can see several cities without constantly changing hotels.

The nuance:
Travelers who want more independence or nightlife sometimes prefer a custom land itinerary instead.

That structure works because it sounds human. It reflects experience. It answers a real question clearly. Question-and-answer content is becoming easier for AI search systems to interpret and reference.

How this works across different businesses

The travel advisor example is easy to picture, but this applies almost everywhere.

A business coach could answer:

• “Do I need a course before I start coaching?”

• “How often should I email my list?”

A wellness professional could answer:

• “How long does it take to see results?”

• “What should I expect in the first session?”

A consultant could answer:

• “Should I hire before I automate?”

• “What’s the biggest mistake companies make here?”

Across industries, the pattern stays surprisingly consistent. AI tools respond well to content that reflects real expertise and clear thinking.

Where to publish AI-friendly FAQ content

I’d create a dedicated section on your website for these kinds of questions.

Something simple like:

• /client-questions/

• /faq/

• /common-questions/

Organize the questions by topic. Keep the formatting clean and easy to scan.

Short paragraphs help. Clear headings help. Specific answers help even more.

You’re making it easier for both people and AI systems to understand what you know and who you help.

AI search behavior is changing how people find businesses

More people are starting their research inside AI tools before they ever search Google.

That trend is growing quickly.

If your content helps AI understand:

• who you help

• what you believe

• how you think

• where your experience applies

you increase the chances of being surfaced in those conversations.

A lot of solo business owners are still early in adapting their content for AI-driven search behavior.

Your next step

Start small.

Pick five questions clients ask you all the time. Answer them clearly using this structure.

Then test them yourself inside ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity and see what comes back. Pay attention to the kinds of sources AI tools cite and how those answers are structured.

That’s where you start learning what AI systems can easily understand and reference.

And if you want help figuring out which questions are most worth answering for your business, that’s exactly the kind of work I help clients think through.

Recommended Reading

A few weeks ago, I reviewed a newsletter draft from a business owner who told me she was “being careful with AI” because she didn’t want to sound generic. The draft already sounded generic before AI touched it.

You may have done some version of this yourself.

You sit down to write about your work and suddenly everything starts sounding broad, polished, and strangely interchangeable. “Consistency matters.” “Relationships are important.” “Focus on providing value.”

None of those statements are wrong. The problem is that the internet already has millions of versions of them, and AI learned from all of them. So when you feed vague positioning into AI, the output usually becomes cleaner, faster, and even more generic.

The parts you remove are often the parts readers remember

One client pasted a draft into ChatGPT and asked it to “make this sound more professional.” The revised version removed the one thing that made the original interesting: a direct story about a client wasting six months chasing the wrong audience because they were afraid to narrow their positioning.

The new version sounded polished. It also sounded like hundreds of other marketing emails.

She looked at both drafts and said, “I think I’ve been editing myself out of my own content for years.”

That stayed with me because I often see this among experienced business owners. You built your reputation through client work, referrals, results, and years of experience. You learned how to sound credible, measured, and useful.

That approach worked well for a long time online.

The internet changed faster than most people expected

Now the volume of polished content has exploded. You can generate ten decent LinkedIn posts in minutes. You can summarize articles, rewrite emails, produce outlines, and spin one idea into twenty variations without much effort.

Readers see far more content every day that sounds informed, organized, and professionally written. A lot of it blends together fast.

The people who stand out tend to leave more evidence of their thinking behind.

You can see it in the examples they choose, the client situations they describe, and the tradeoffs they mention. You can feel it when someone explains where common advice breaks down in real client work, or why they made a decision that goes against the usual recommendation.

That kind of specificity carries more weight now because polished competence is easy to produce.

AI also exposes the ways you avoid visibility

I’ve noticed another pattern, too.

People say they want AI to save time. Then they spend hours organizing prompt libraries, testing workflows, rewriting outputs, building systems, and watching tutorials.

Meanwhile, their strongest ideas never make it onto the page.

Your best client stories stay trapped inside Zoom calls. The observations you almost said out loud get softened into “helpful tips.” Your marketing stays clean, reasonable, and forgettable.

I’ve done versions of this myself. 🤦‍♀️

I’ve spent an hour trying to improve a workflow when the harder and more useful move was writing the sentence I was avoiding because I knew some people would disagree with it.

You can feel the difference when you stop smoothing every edge off your thinking. Readers get a clearer sense of how you make decisions, what you’ve learned from experience, and where your perspective came from.

That creates more recognition than another polished summary.

Readers notice accumulated judgment

Some business owners are going to feel this shift more than others. If you built authority mainly through polished communication, you’re now competing with tools that produce polished communication instantly.

The harder thing to reproduce is accumulated judgment.

The decision pattern you noticed after working with fifty clients. The moment when you realized common advice broke down in practice. The client reaction you’ve seen often enough that you trust your read on it.

Those observations usually come from repetition, mistakes, conversations, and years of paying attention. Readers may not describe it that way, but they can feel the difference between recycled advice and earned conclusions.

A simple test for generic content

One of the simplest tests for generic content is removing your name from the piece and asking yourself how many other people in your industry could have written it with minor edits.

That doesn’t mean every post needs controversy or dramatic storytelling. Readers just need enough specificity to feel there’s a real person behind the words, making decisions, noticing patterns, and drawing conclusions from lived work.

One book that connects strongly to this is Obviously Awesome. One reason I recommend it is that it pushes you to define what makes your perspective distinct instead of relying on broad marketing language.

The strongest AI workflows start before the prompt

The business owners getting the best results with AI usually bring stronger raw material into the process before they ever write a prompt.

They save objections from sales calls. They collect examples. They pay attention to sentences that create reactions from clients.

They notice where they consistently disagree with standard advice. They keep track of moments where they almost softened the point, then decided to leave it in.

That gives AI something more useful to work with.

I’ve started paying closer attention to sentences I hesitate to publish. Those are often the parts connected to direct observation instead of performance.

Readers can feel the difference. You can feel it when someone writes from accumulated client work instead of recycling ideas already circulating online.

One thing to try this week

You probably already know more than you think you do. A lot of the value is sitting inside conversations, decisions, client patterns, frustrations, and observations you haven’t fully documented yet.

Open a recent post, email, or LinkedIn update. Highlight every sentence that sounds polished but could apply to almost anyone in your field.

Then add:

• One client pattern you’ve seen repeatedly

• One opinion you usually soften

• One decision you made that went against common advice

• One sentence you almost removed because it felt too direct

That’s usually where readers start seeing the person behind the expertise.

The hard part usually isn’t getting AI to write more content.

It’s getting clearer about what you already know, what patterns you’ve noticed, and where your experience shows up in your decisions. That takes more than a generic “write in my voice” prompt.

In the paid section below, I’m sharing the prompts I’d use to help you pull more lived experience, sharper observations, and stronger judgment into your content. These are built to help you spot generic thinking faster, surface patterns from client work, and turn real expertise into clearer visibility.

Prompts for making your expertise more visible

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TL;DR: Building a tool does something for your visibility that content alone can't. Content gets read once. A useful tool gets used again and again, inside someone's workflow. I've been building one for six weeks with no coding background, and the process taught me as much about consistent effort as anything I've done in 30 years of online marketing. The paid section walks you through three steps to find the tool hiding in your existing work and get a first version started.

Six weeks ago, at a colleague's suggestion, I started building a tool for travel agents.

I had a simple idea. Agents get a flood of supplier emails every week. Luxury resorts, cruise lines, tour operators. The content is polished. It’s also completely generic. Most agents copy and paste it straight to their clients, and it reads exactly like what it is: someone else’s brochure.

I wanted to build something that would take that content and rewrite it in the agent’s voice. Paste in the vendor copy, choose a tone, get a client-ready email.

One input. One output. How hard could it be?

What I didn’t account for

I am not a developer. I’ve never written production code. What I had was a clear picture of what the tool should do and an AI coding assistant willing to help me build it.

The approach is called vibe coding. You describe what you want. The AI writes the code. You test it, tell the AI what broke, it rewrites it. You repeat that loop until something works.

What I didn’t account for was how many loops that would take.

The first version had a backend that worked and a frontend that existed but they refused to talk to each other. A CORS error sat between them like a locked door. I spent time trying to fix it, didn’t get far, and had to step back.

A session was lost. Then another. I came back each time with just enough context to reconstruct where I’d left off, and we’d pick up the loop again.

The moment the loop became familiar

Somewhere around week three, something shifted.

The errors stopped feeling like failures. They started feeling like feedback.

I learned that when the AI ignored my length instructions and kept writing five-paragraph emails instead of two-sentence ones, the problem wasn’t the AI. The problem was my prompt. Vague instructions produce vague results. When I switched from “please keep it short” to “exactly two sentences, no bullet points, no greeting, no sign-off,” the output changed immediately.

I learned that when the backend kept running old code after I’d made changes, it meant old processes were still running in the background. One command clears them out. Now I run it automatically before every restart.

None of these were complicated once I understood them. But I had to hit each wall to learn what was on the other side.

What this has to do with visibility

I’ve been writing about visibility since 1996. I know what consistent effort looks like in content. You show up, you publish, you learn from what lands and what doesn’t, and you keep going.

Building a tool works exactly the same way.

Every session I came back to was a rep. Every bug I fixed was a data point. The six weeks weren’t six weeks of struggle. They were six weeks of compounding.

The app I have now is a real working MVP. It runs locally, connects front end to back end, produces three subject line options and a full email draft, and gives the user clear controls over tone and length. It doesn’t look like the thing I described in week one, because what I described in week one was a guess. What exists now is based on actual learning.

That’s the same thing that happens to a newsletter when you’ve written it for two years. It stops being what you imagined and starts being what your readers actually need.

The skill worth developing

A lot of people I talk to are sitting on tool ideas. They can describe exactly what they want. They know the problem it would solve. They’re just not sure they can build it.

What I want to tell you is that the building part is learnable. The barrier isn’t technical ability. It’s the willingness to stay in the loop long enough for things to click.

You don’t need to understand how the code works. You need to be able to describe what you want clearly, test what you get, and notice where it breaks. Those are the same skills you use to write clear content.

But here’s the part that surprised me: building a tool does something for your visibility that content alone can’t.

Content gets read once. A useful tool gets used again. It becomes part of someone’s weekly workflow. When an agent uses this to write 10 client emails a month, the tool shows up for them every time they open it. That’s a different kind of presence than a post in a feed.

Where the app is now

It’s still on localhost. No one can use it but me.

Deployment is the next step. Then a small beta group of travel agents who’ve agreed to test it.

After that: the things I’ve deliberately left out of version one. Saved tone preferences. Email history. Direct export to Gmail. But those come later. The version that exists now solves the original problem. That’s enough to move forward.

The pattern I suggest

If you have an idea for a simple tool, start with the smallest version of it.

Define one input and one output. Describe what you want to an AI coding assistant and let it write the code. Run it, see what breaks, tell the AI what you found.

Stay in the loop.

The app doesn’t have to be live to teach you something. The build itself changes how you think about your work, your audience, and what visibility can look like when it’s something people use instead of just something they read.

Six weeks in, I’m still in the loop. The door is open now.

Below are three steps I use to move from idea to working tool. Each one includes the exact prompt I’d run first.

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For the last few weeks, this project has been hidden behind a technical wall. I was focused on the “plumbing”, making sure the backend and frontend of my beta travel app were actually speaking the same language. It was a necessary phase, but it was also a comfortable one (once you learn what to do!). It’s easy to stay buried in the logic of a tool where things are either “broken” or “fixed.”

When the code finally worked, I had to shift and look at what I’d actually built. I realized a tool can be technically perfect and still be a failure if the person standing in front of it hesitates for a moment.

I have officially reached Version 1 of the Travel Email CoPilot. The “plumbing” is stable, but the most significant progress came from an audit of the flow. In marketing, we often think visibility is about being seen. My experience building this tool has reinforced a different truth: visibility is about being understood the moment someone lands on your page.

The Cost of Friction

If a user has to pause to figure out what a button does, you’ve lost them. I saw this clearly as I refined the interface. I had to move beyond functional and get to “seamless.”

To move this from a rough experiment to a presentable tool, I focused on several high-impact adjustments:

• Establishing Instant Context: I added a clear tagline and hero image (created with ChatGPT’s upgraded image creator). Within two seconds, a visitor knows they are in a place designed to turn vendor content into client-ready emails.

• Visual Authority: I moved the form into a card layout and upgraded the typography to Poppins and Inter. Clean design is more than aesthetics; it signals to the user that the tool is reliable and professional.

• Descriptive Direction: I replaced generic labels like “Tone” with specific examples like “warm, personal, polished.” This removes the “blank page” syndrome and tells the user exactly how to succeed.

• A Four-Step Path: I mapped out the entire process into four distinct actions: paste, choose, generate, and copy.

Your Content is an Interface

We often treat our emails and LinkedIn posts as static text, but they are actually interfaces. Your reader is “using” your content to get to an insight or a solution. If your message is cluttered or your call to action is buried, you are creating a high-friction experience.

Expertise shows up in the details. It’s the difference between a rambling update and a streamlined system that respects the reader’s time. When you remove the friction from your communication, you aren’t just “marketing” you are providing a service.

I’m finalizing the visual touches before learning how to deploy the CoPilot for testing. This project is a reminder the systems we build, whether they are apps or newsletters, only work if we design them for the human on the other side of the screen.

If you’ve ever wondered why some of your best content doesn’t get the engagement it deserves, the answer usually lies in the “hidden friction” of your delivery.

Previous Articles From My AI Building Experiment

How to Audit Your Content for Flow Friction

Most business owners are too close to their own work to see where it breaks down. We fill in the gaps with our own knowledge, forgetting our audience is seeing it for the first time. To fix this, you have to look at your writing through a “UX lens.”

Read more

I sent this out to my non-Substack list and then realized later you could benefit from the two curated articles as well. My crazy week left me without the mental capacity to write a full article. However, these two articles showed up in my feeds, and they both reveal important ways to create visibility without churning out more content.

2 curated for you...

Visibility gets talked about like it’s a distribution problem1. Be on more platforms. Post more often. Show up everywhere.

But that’s not what people remember.

What sticks is how you show up. The look, the tone, the way your ideas come across in a quick scroll or a short email. That’s what makes someone pause, recognize you, and come back for more.

No article from me this week, so I’m sharing two articles focused on how you show up online: visually and in your newsletter...

What’s changing now, especially with tools like Claude’s new design feature, is how quickly you can turn an idea into something visual. A layout, a simple app, a working interface. And that shifts the focus. It’s not only about showing up. It’s about how clearly and quickly someone understands who you are from what they see. has the steps to help you create a visual brand system.

→ Read the full article and see what this could open up for you

From Inbox Collective, you get simple ways to make your newsletter feel more like you, not just another stream of content. It focuses on small shifts in voice, structure, and recurring elements that help readers recognize and connect with your emails faster.

If your emails feel flat or easy to ignore, this gives you practical ways to make them more memorable without adding more work.

→ Read the full article and get ideas you can use in your next send

From the AI Success Club...

If you’re using AI but it’s not leading to more sales or better client conversations, that’s a signal something’s off. The Prompt Less. Sell More masterclass shows you how to guide AI so the output is clearer, more focused, and easier to turn into offers, emails, and content that move people to act.

You’ll learn how to shape your prompts so your message lands, reflects your voice, and leads to stronger responses from the right people. Taught by , a master copywriter with more than 20 years of copy under his belt! 🤩

→ Check out the masterclass and see how to turn your AI output into work that brings in clients

Wishing you a beautiful weekend!

Peace ✌️

Last time I wrote about this, I was stuck.

The backend worked. The interface existed. But they weren’t talking to each other. A CORS error had me at 80% and unable to move forward. I spent a bit of time trying to fix it, then stepped back and looked at something else.

I kept coming back to what someone would see if they landed on the page. Not the architecture. The experience. That’s where my attention shifted.

What I started changing

I went back to the interface and looked at how someone would move through it for the first time. I rewrote the instructions, moved the steps into a clearer order, added examples inside the fields, and changed the button labels so they describe what happens next.

These are small changes, but they change how quickly someone settles in and starts using it.

The moment it became clearer

I added a short box at the top:

“How to use this”

1. Paste your content

2. Select a tone

3. Click generate

4. Choose and copy

Writing those four steps slowed me down. I had to walk through it as if I hadn’t built it, as if I didn’t already know what each part did.

Where hesitation shows up

One field made this obvious.

The tone input originally said, “Choose a preset or enter your own.” It read fine, but there was a pause there.

I changed it to “Select a tone or type your own” and added an example: “warm, personal, polished, not too salesy.” That example does more than the label because it shows what to do without extra explanation.

What this changed for me

Working on the interface started to shape how I think about the tool. Each word, each step, each example plays a role in whether someone continues or stops. You don’t see that in the structure behind the scenes. You see it in how the experience feels.

And, this where expertise comes into play. I’ve been marketing online since 1996. I know what works and what doesn’t. I don’t rely on the AI to make the decisions. Those are mine, based on experience.

How this connects to your visibility

The same pattern shows up in content. Someone lands on a post, a page, or an email without context and decides quickly whether to keep going. Clarity and flow carry more weight than we expect.

The question that usually comes next is: how do I know where people are getting stuck?

Read your content after a day or two, or read it out loud. The spots where you slow down or feel unsure are often the same spots your reader will hit.

What to look at this week

Take one piece of your content and read it straight through. Notice where you pause, reread, or feel unsure what comes next. That’s where the work is.

What I’ve shared here is the shift in how I think about this.

Below, I break down how to do this with your own content with a simple prompt to test where people hesitate and what to change first.

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But… technology had other plans.

After a few attempts to get things working smoothly, we moved over to Zoom so we could deliver the conversation without more delays.

We talked about how Ellen’s clinical background shapes her approach to building with AI, what “vibe coding” actually looks like in real life (not the hype version), and how non-coders can start building in a way that actually feels doable.

Show notes are below…

If you prefer audio:

Ellen’s Story

My conversation with Ellen Britt traces her path from working for nearly two decades in emergency medicine to building AI-powered applications without a technical background. Her experience in the ER shaped how she approaches AI: making decisions with incomplete information, relying on structured thinking, and iterating quickly rather than waiting for perfect clarity.

A key shift came when she stopped chasing the “perfect prompt” and instead focused on problem-solving. By applying the clinical SOAP framework—Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan—she was able to break down complex AI-building tasks into manageable steps and make steady progress.

Rather than using done-for-you platforms, Ellen chose to build locally with AI guidance, which gave her a deeper understanding of how things work. This process not only resulted in a functional app but also built confidence and opened up new possibilities for what she could create.

The broader takeaway is that AI is not about tools or prompts alone. It’s about how you think. When you bring structure, clarity, and iteration into the process, AI becomes a powerful partner rather than a source of frustration.

Key Takeaways

1. AI amplifies your thinking, not your prompts
The biggest shift was moving away from trying to “get the prompt right” and focusing instead on clear problem definition. Vague input leads to inconsistent output, while structured thinking produces better results.

2. Incomplete information is not a blocker
Ellen’s ER background trained her to act without having the full picture. That same mindset applies to AI building. You start with what you know, test, and refine as new information appears.

3. The SOAP framework simplifies complex work
Breaking problems into Subjective, Objective, Assessment, and Plan creates a repeatable process. It keeps you grounded, reduces overwhelm, and gives you a clear next step every time.

4. Start small and build in layers
The first version of the app was intentionally simple. No extra features, just something functional. From there, improvements were added step by step. This prevented overload and made progress visible.

5. Iteration beats perfection
Nothing worked perfectly the first time. Progress came from cycles of testing, diagnosing issues, and refining. Each loop improved both the app and her understanding.

6. Treat AI like a collaborator, not a tool
Instead of issuing commands, Ellen had ongoing conversations with AI. She asked questions, challenged responses, and guided the process. That back-and-forth made the work more effective.

7. Control improves confidence
Building locally, rather than relying on platforms, gave her ownership of the code and a clearer view of how everything worked. That visibility reduced intimidation and increased capability.

8. Constraints improve results
Limiting AI to one step at a time and asking for complete code updates (instead of partial edits) reduced errors and confusion. Clear instructions produced cleaner outcomes.

9. Real value is in useful tools, not more content
The conversation highlights a shift from creating content to building tools people can use repeatedly. Practical, problem-solving apps have more value than static resources.

10. The biggest outcome is confidence, not the app
Building something from scratch changed how Ellen sees herself. The process removed the feeling of being “locked out” of AI and replaced it with curiosity about what else is possible.

The Next Step…

Ellen Britt and I are putting together a small beta group of people interested in learning to build AI-powered apps from scratch. We’re working on the details, and if you’re interested in learning more, get on our “first to know” list here. No obligation, just info so you can see if it’s something you’d like to learn.

Recommended Reading

AI Case Notes

The Day I Realized I’d Been “Vibe Coding” for 20 Years

I’ve been doing a version of it for over two decades…just not with code. In the ER, you don’t wait for perfect information before you act. You think in structured bursts, make decisions with incomplete data, and adapt in real time. You develop a clinical instinct that’s less about knowing everything and more about knowing how to think when things get me…

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4 months ago · 2 likes · 2 comments · Ellen Britt, PA, Ed.D., PHom

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