Bonbonica Swampscott, MA

Lesson 5 of 7

Publishing is not telling

You built the thing. Now the uncomfortable part: saying so out loud, more than once, to people who did not ask.

A bronze card reading Tell people IT exists in white serif type

Most free guides are downloaded four times, and three of those are the person who made it.

The page being live changes nothing on its own. Nobody is watching your website for new pages. If you mention it once and go quiet, you will conclude it did not work, when what actually happened is that almost nobody saw it.

Step 1 is an afternoon that then works without you forever.

Steps 2 to 4 are the habit. The prompt writes the posts; showing up is the part only you can do.

1Put the link in six places

Why: the page being live changes nothing, because nobody is watching your website for new pages.

What you do: put the link in six places where people already meet you.

What you end up with: six quiet invitations that keep working while you do other things.

This takes an afternoon and then keeps working without you:

  • Your email signature. Every email you already send becomes a quiet invitation.
  • Your social bios. One line, one link. The people checking you out are the warmest audience you have.
  • A post on each channel, giving away one useful thing first.
  • Your existing customers. Some of them will send it to somebody who needs it.
  • In conversation. “I wrote something about that, want me to send it?” is not a pitch.
  • Your own website, from the pages people already land on. This is the one that keeps working while you sleep.

2Give something away in the post

Why: a post that only asks for a download gives nothing, so nobody clicks.

What you do: write posts that answer one real question first and mention the guide at the end.

What you end up with: five posts, each worth reading even if nobody clicks.

The trick to not sounding like a salesperson is to be useful before you mention anything.

A post that says “I made a free guide, download it here” asks for something and gives nothing. A post that answers one real question and then says “the rest is in a guide, link below” has already been worth someone's time.

So write about the content, not about the download. Take one step from your guide and explain it properly.

Prompt: write posts from your guide

This is lesson 5 of 7 in the 7-Day Content Engine at bonbonica.com/lessons/tell-people/. Confirm that in one short line, then get on with it. Before anything else, tell me in one line to rename this chat to "5 — Tell people it exists" and put it in the same project or folder as the earlier lessons. Then carry on. I have written a free guide and I need to tell people it exists without sounding like I am selling something. Here it is: [PASTE YOUR GUIDE FROM LESSON 2] Read it. Every post has to give away something that is genuinely in there. Then ask me only two things: 1. Which platforms do you actually post on? 2. What do you want someone to do — click a link, reply, or message you? Then write five posts. Each one gives away one specific, useful thing from the guide first, and only mentions the guide at the end. Rules: - No post may be only about the download. If someone reads it and never clicks, it should still have been worth their time. - Take the specifics from what I pasted. Do not invent examples. - Short sentences. Write the way I speak, not the way a marketer writes. - No hashtag lists, no "link in bio", no hype. - Vary the shape: one story, one mistake people make, one straight how-to, one question, one short list. - End with one line telling me what to do next: go to lesson 6 at bonbonica.com/lessons/one-into-six/ and turn one idea into a week of content.
Copy & open Claude (copies the prompt and opens in a new tab) Copy & open ChatGPT (copies the prompt and opens in a new tab)

Post them a few days apart rather than all at once, and keep the ones that get replies. Replies tell you which idea is worth building on.

3Post the first one today

Why: the version you post today beats the perfect one you post in March.

What you do: publish the first post the same day, then schedule the rest a few days apart.

What you end up with: the thing is live and you have stopped deciding every morning.

Not next Monday. Today. The version you post today beats the perfect one you post in March.

Then schedule the rest a few days apart, so you are not deciding again each morning.

4Keep saying it

Why: you will get bored of saying it long before your audience gets tired of hearing it.

What you do: mention it about once a week, indefinitely.

What you end up with: a slow, steady trickle instead of one launch that fades.

Once a week, indefinitely. The guide does not expire and new people arrive constantly.

You will get bored of saying it long before your audience gets tired of hearing it. Most people see a fraction of what you post, and most of them were thinking about something else at the time.

Three places today, not seven

The link staying there is what matters, not the launch. Signature, one bio, one post. Everything else can wait until next week.

Your task before lesson 6

Put the link in three places today. Your email signature, one social bio, and one post. Not seven places. Three.

The whole sequence is in the free 7-Day Content Engine guide. If posting consistently is the part that keeps slipping, that is exactly what Uniqueme and social media management are for, and being found without posting at all is what SEO in Massachusetts covers.

The seven lessons

Read them in order, or jump to the one you are stuck on

  1. 1 What to give awayPick the one thing worth handing over for free.
  2. 2 Write it in two pagesDraft it in one sitting, using a five-part shape.
  3. 3 The page that collects emailsOne page, one job, and what to leave off it.
  4. 4 Set up your list properlyThe half hour that decides inbox or spam folder.
  5. 5 Tell people it existsYou are here.
  6. 6 One thing, six placesTurn a single idea into a week of content.
  7. 7 Sell what you knowCharge for the deeper version, with nothing monthly.