One Simple Shift That Turned My Content Into Sales

12 Jan 2026 #writing

I tried the “proven” formula the big names swear by and it failed miserably.

I did what most people recommend to sell:

1. Write social media and long-form posts.
2. Offer a free email course or opt-in.
3. Take people to a newsletter.
4. Pitch your offer or products.

But after months of content, I realized something was broken.

The realization that changed everything

I packed my best career LinkedIn posts into a free 7-day email course.

I offered it as “pay what you want” and promoted it on LinkedIn. A few readers left a tip. It gave me momentum to keep promoting it.

But when I sent emails, almost nobody clicked my offers. After more than 30 emails, my products made just $1. OK, maybe my copywriting wasn’t strong or I was selling the wrong products.

The math doesn’t add up.

The change that brought the sales

Every step between your reader and your offer makes a sale harder.

It’s like walking people into your store, then sending them away for a course before selling what’s already on your shelves. By the time you follow up, they already bought somewhere else and forgot about you.

For my content strategy, I removed the intermediate steps. Social media and long-form posts -> products. Now I plug my book sales pages inside or at the end of posts.

With that simple fix, sales came in and I passed the $1 test. My first book, Street-Smart Coding, got two pre-sales within weeks of announcing it.

It wasn’t emails or “nurturing.” It was removing friction. A confused reader takes no action.

Remove the friction. Make action effortless. Let every piece of content be a sales representative.