App founders lose customers to copy mistakes they can't see. I ghostwrite newsletters/founder stories to build trust pre & post-launch. 4x Emmy. 25M+ downloads
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Joined May 2009
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I'm a 4-time Emmy Winning Creative Director and Copywriter.
I've interviewed 100s in my career and I know in the first 10 minutes if a candidate has what it takes to succeed as a writer.
Here are 10 things that'll get you hired for that next money-making writing gig:
Jeff Funk | App Ghostwriter And Copywriter retweeted
X AI ALGORITHM UPDATE 🚨
X updated their open source algorithm yesterday and the early likes matter even more now. Small accounts should focus on: writing posts people hit like on and read till the end (so write to be read)
tl;dr:
- X's open source code got new scores on Nov 5, the first change in 3 weeks
- likes: 0.66 → 0.708 (highest yet)
- time spent on a post: 0.006 → 0.0075
- tapping into a post: 0.3 → 0.274
- opening a video: 0.02 → 0
- new rule: AI replies may get flagged under big accounts as "llm slop" and may not reach the person's notifications
lesson learned: a tap isn't the win anymore. Someone staying and liking is.
full details:
- The new numbers
Up: likes 0.66 → 0.708, time spent on a post 0.006 → 0.0075, shares 2 → 2.118.
Down: tapping into a post 0.3 → 0.274, staying 10+ seconds after a tap 0.4 → 0.385, opening a video 0.02 → 0.
"Not interested" got a bit harsher, -52.27 → -53.07.
Copy link, replies, quotes, DM shares and follows didn't move.
X didn't explain any of this. It's just what the code says now.
(I check the open source algo daily with Claude and share updates with you)
- Look at where this has gone in a month
In early October a like was worth 0.5. Now it's 0.708.
Time spent was 0.004. Now it's 0.0075, nearly double.
A tap was 0.3 and it's going down.
Every change points the same way. X keeps paying more for people who stay.
- Why that matters if you're small
My read: you can't win on big numbers, but you can win on the people who do see your post. If they stay and like it, that counts for more today than it did last week. And those early likes also decide which new post gets the extra push.
- Video and your profile
X also switched on two new guesses in its ranking: how long someone keeps watching after they open a video, and how long they spend on a profile after tapping it.
I can't tell you what those are worth. The only file that lists them is out of date, so I won't guess a number.
My read: opening a video dropped to 0 the same day because X cares more about people who keep watching. So make the first seconds count, and make your profile worth sticking around on.
- A new rule for replies under big accounts
X runs an AI check on replies under accounts with over 250K followers. Flagged replies can get a label that lasts 14 to 30 days. One of the flags is literally called "llm slop" (AI slop, as I read it).
That part isn't new. This is: X's rules now say a labeled reply or mention doesn't reach the person's notifications unless they follow you.
Grey badge accounts and accounts X rates as highly credible skip this label. Small accounts get no such pass.
I can see the rule, I can't see if every notification goes through it yet. Either way, write your own replies.
- What didn't change
Your new posts still get their extra push in the first 2 hours and first 200 views, and they still don't get cut first.
Here's a recap of what you should be doing:
- likes just hit 0.708, the most they've ever been worth
- each second someone spends on your post is worth 25% more than last week
- staying 10+ seconds after a tap earns 0.385 on top of the tap
- reply in your own words, under big accounts especially
- make your profile worth a visit, X now guesses how long people spend there
- for video, hold attention early, just getting the open now scores 0
- being read to the end also helps X find you new readers
- originals from accounts below 50K can jump to around spot 16
- early viewers liking it is what wins that lift
- your first 2 hours and 200 views are the window, so publish when your people are online
- the biggest single number is still 20, for someone copying your link
- quotes, DM shares and replies earn 5 apiece
- back and forth between mutuals is worth 20, so follow back your regulars
- strangers only get shown your originals
- the 1st like and the 32nd like each open another route to new people
- a second post of yours in the same feed drops to 62%, so make one count
- the video lists want clips over 10 seconds
- +4 when a post is likely to earn you a new follower
- your pinned post can affect the whole account, so take a look at it
What you should NOT be doing:
- pasting AI replies under big accounts, "llm slop" is a real flag at X
- copy-paste replies, a duplicate label means they never get notified
- chasing the tap, it's down to 0.274 and falling
- off-topic posts, one likely "not interested" costs -53.07
- a video that only gets opened earns nothing for the open
- publishing at 3am burns your 2 hour window
- relying on replies and reposts to reach new people, they stay with your followers
- getting an insult label, non-followers won't see that post at all
- low quality and misinfo labels bring a warning, and non-followers can't like or share
- adult media in 3 of your last 5 posts gets the whole account labeled
- X rechecks videos for hidden content at 64 and 512 likes
- piling your replies under a big account's post can sink your own score
- one label on the account and non-followers stop seeing you
- a link to a badly rated site in your pinned post risks a 7 day label
- reusing your own wording word for word risks the copypasta flag
- pairing a low quality link with tags of strangers looks like spam to X
- engagement bait gets labeled no matter how big you are
- posting several in a row, they fight each other for the same feed
- hashtag stuffing does nothing
- counting on bookmarks, they're worth 0
- expecting For You to show a post past 48 hours
Jeff Funk | App Ghostwriter And Copywriter retweeted
Someone built an email newsletter with 50,000 dog owners as subscribers.
And it's generated over $155K in affiliate revenue selling dog-training products.
Seriously. Just an email newsletter about dogs.
The founder sends one email a week, which takes about an hour to create using AI.
And the audience is pretty incredible.
> 50,645 email subscribers
> 46–55% open rates
> 30K–43K views per issue
> $155K+ historical affiliate revenue
> 96% US audience
All built without writing a single line of code.
Current revenue is minimal, but imagine owning an audience of 50,000 people who all love dogs.
Pretty cool little internet business.
Now live on @acquiredotcom.
Full listing: app.acquire.com/startup/OPXc…
X just gave smaller creators a GIGANTIC opportunity.
And if you have fewer than 50,000 followers, you need to pay attention.
X’s updated algorithm now gives qualifying posts from smaller accounts an extra shot at reaching people who don’t follow them.
The catch?
Your first 2 hours matter. So does how people react to your content.
Translation: Your follower count matters less than your ability to make people care.
Here are 5 simple changes you can make TONIGHT:
1. Rewrite your bio.
Make it immediately clear who you are, what you do, and why someone should follow you.
More exposure means nothing if visitors don’t convert into followers.
2. Upgrade your pinned post.
Pin your strongest insight, best result, or most valuable piece of content.
Give new visitors an immediate reason to stick around.
3. Prioritize ORIGINAL content.
X’s small-account boost targets original posts, not reposts or replies.
Share a useful insight, strong opinion, or lesson from personal experience.
Quality beats recycled noise.
4. Make your posts worth sharing.
Lead with a compelling hook.
Deliver one clear takeaway.
Give people something worth liking, discussing, or sending to someone else.
5. Own your first 2 hours.
Post when your audience is active. Respond to comments.
Start genuine conversations. Don’t publish and disappear.
Here’s the EVEREST takeaway:
You don’t need 100K followers to get noticed.
You need relevant content that gets the right people to pay attention.
X is creating more opportunities for smaller accounts to earn visibility.
Don’t spend tonight chasing more followers.
Spend it making your account worth following.
Tomorrow, give the algorithm something worth recommending.
Alleluia.
how X ranks your posts (breakdown of the new algo update)
the X algo predicts how each person will react to your post, and that then decides if and where it shows up in their feed
here's how much each reaction counts, compared with a like:
> someone copies the link: 30x
> someone you follow back replies: 30x
> a reply, a quote or a DM share: 7.6x
> a follow from the post: 6x
> a repost: 1.5x
> a like: 1x
> a bookmark: 0
the negative actions weigh far more, a report is -355x a like, a mute -89x, "not interested" -79x and a block -47x
if X predicts someone is likely to mute or report your post, it ranks lower in their feed
reports get a big weight because they are rare, a report is over 1,000x less likely than a like
these rules decide how far a post can reach:
> if you have 50,000 followers or fewer, X can boost a new original post up to about 16th place in someone's feed
> the boost only works in the post's first 2 hours, and stops once the post has 200 views in the Home feed
> X boosts one post each time a feed loads, and it prefers posts that got the most likes per view from their first viewers
> after 48 hours, X stops putting your post in people's feeds
> your replies and reposts only show up in the feeds of people who follow you
> original posts can also reach people who don't follow you, X scores them 25% lower for those people
> when several of your posts compete for one person's feed, the 2nd keeps 62.5% of its score and the 3rd keeps 43.75%
> replies, quotes, DM shares and copied links only count when people find your post in their feed, so engagement from a group chat link adds nothing
> if X labels your post low quality, it shows a notice on it and people can't like, reply, repost, bookmark or share it, misinformation labels can limit it too
what I'd do with it (my read of the weights):
> post when you can reply in the first 2 hours
> write posts people want to quote, reply to or send in a DM
> reply back to accounts that follow you
> post originals when you want to reach new people
Jeff Funk | App Ghostwriter And Copywriter retweeted
"I feel like I'm stuck in a never-ending loop of tutorials and webinars just to stay relevant."
That reply to one of my posts could have been written by half my readers.
My rule now: two tools, 90 days. Learn two AI tools properly and ignore every launch for three months. Depth beats keeping up.
Jeff Funk | App Ghostwriter And Copywriter retweeted
I’m 69.
I’m supposed to be thinking about retirement.
Instead I’m thinking about what I can build next.
AI has complicated the old life script:
Learn.
Work.
Retire.
What happens when technology gives you new capabilities at exactly the age society expects you to start surrendering them?
It’s shocking.
So many twenty something’s making millions annually.
But can’t put two cohesive sentences together during a meeting.
Not sure if I should congratulate them or bang my head in disbelief.
Anybody know someone like this?
Finally, being rewarded for effort.
X is completely nuking their revenue share program and replacing it with an 'original content rewards program'
This is by far the best change X has EVER made
Previously the incentives were 100% misaligned
People posting 1 liners, stolen memes, revenue 'coaches' were syphoning X dollars with slop
Now people who create original, valuable content will be rewarded
X isn't some sort of game to be played and beat. It's a place for value creators to better society
X should be a net positive on the world, and I think these new incentives are 100% aligned with that
My content strategy is finding new ways to use tech to better my life then share those experiences with others
I highly encourage you to steal this strategy from me
X is my main platform, and this decision 100% affirms that as the right move
Jeff Funk | App Ghostwriter And Copywriter retweeted
AI is now influencing 83% of final B2B vendor decisions.
97% of buyers using AI for work have discovered a new vendor through it, while 92% said it shaped which companies made their shortlist.
This has big implications for SaaS companies, agencies, professional services firms, financial services companies and pretty much anyone selling a high-ticket B2B product.
Let’s go through it.
By the way, you can see whether your business is appearing across Google AI, ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Grok here. It’s free:
seo-stuff.com/free-audit
Semrush published a really interesting study on how AI is changing the B2B buying process.
The findings were based on U.S. professionals who use AI for work.
54% were final decision-makers, while another 41% were involved in the decision-making group.
These were largely the people deciding which vendors actually receive the money, and AI is already involved throughout the process.
72% use it during early research or while defining what they need, 62% use it when comparing vendors, 48% use it to narrow the shortlist and 45% use it to support the final decision.
Overall, 97% said AI helped them discover vendors, 92% said it shaped their shortlist and 83% said it influenced the final choice.
That puts AI squarely inside the B2B sales process.
A buyer can ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or another platform which vendors fit a specific problem.
The AI can compare features, use cases, pricing, integrations and customer results before helping determine which companies deserve a closer look.
If your business does not appear during that process, your sales team may never know the opportunity had even existed.
And mind you, these are not tiny purchases.
84% were using AI to research purchases worth at least $1,000, 42% were evaluating purchases between $10,000 and $100,000 and 14% were researching purchases above $100,000.
The most interesting part of the study may be what makes a vendor stand out.
Only 7% said they noticed a company because they recognized the brand name.
Meanwhile, 53% paid attention because the vendor closely matched their specific use case, 50% noticed vendors described clearly and in detail and 38% noticed when the answer highlighted specific benefits or outcomes.
That creates a huge opportunity for smaller companies.
A lesser-known SaaS platform can beat a major incumbent if the AI understands that it is a better fit for a specific industry, team size or problem.
A regional agency can get recommended over a much larger firm if its specialty and customer results are easier to understand.
A newer financial services company can enter the shortlist if its qualifications, methodology, terms and outcomes are clearly explained and verified across the web.
Buyers are also giving AI a lot of context.
61% describe their specific problem or use case, 56% ask for direct vendor comparisons, 45% include constraints such as budget, required features or compatibility and 43% keep refining the request through follow-up questions.
These are the longer-tail commercial questions we have been talking about all year.
“Best payroll platform for a construction business with contractors in several states.”
“Best CRM for a 30-person agency that needs client reporting but cannot afford Salesforce.”
“Best business lender for a company with inconsistent monthly revenue.”
Those questions have a real buyer behind them.
There is a company, a use case, a budget, a problem and a decision.
The study also found that buyers usually verify what AI tells them.
When AI mentions a vendor, 71% visit the company’s website, 63% search for the company on Google, 46% compare it with alternatives and 38% check reviews on platforms like G2.
So getting mentioned can create real website traffic and branded search, but the rest of your digital presence still needs to support the recommendation.
If ChatGPT recommends your company and the buyer lands on a vague homepage, the opportunity can disappear.
If Gemini includes you in the shortlist but your pricing, integrations or use cases are impossible to understand, the buyer may choose someone else.
If the AI describes your company one way and third-party sources tell a different story, trust can fall apart quickly.
AI systems need enough information to understand who you help, what you sell, how you compare and why a buyer should trust you.
For SaaS, that means use-case pages, pricing, integrations, alternatives, comparisons, implementation guides, product documentation and customer results.
For agencies and professional services, that means clear specialties, industry pages, process information, pricing context, case studies, measurable outcomes and authority outside the company’s website.
For financial and legal services, that means real credentials, current information, transparent methodology, risk context, clear service pages and trusted third-party references.
This is where SEO Stuff (seo-stuff.com) can help.
The done-for-you package combines 10 AI-search-optimized articles with three DR50+ authority placements:
seo-stuff.com/gold-plan-pack…
The content helps your business cover the questions customers ask before buying, including problems, use cases, comparisons, pricing, alternatives, industries, objections, case studies, product details and implementation.
The authority placements help your business appear across trusted sources that search and AI systems use to understand categories.
B2B buyers are already using AI to discover vendors, compare options, build shortlists and make final decisions involving serious budgets.
Your business needs to appear before the buyer contacts sales, match the specific use case and have enough proof across the web to hold up when the buyer verifies the recommendation.
And again, you can see whether your business is appearing across Google AI, ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Grok here. It’s free:
seo-stuff.com/free-audit
An analysis of 129,000 websites, 216,524 pages and 100,000 prompts determined the #1 secret to getting traffic from ChatGPT.
It busts a lot of myths and lines up almost perfectly with what we’ve learned over the last few weeks about how AI search systems retrieve, evaluate and reuse information.
It also aligns closely with what SEO Stuff has been building over the past year:
seo-stuff.com
Let’s break the results down.
So, headline first: backlinks mattered more than anything else.
The SE Ranking study found that sites with 32,000+ referring domains were 3.5x more likely to be cited by ChatGPT.
If you want to see where your site stands across Google and AI search, start here:
seo-stuff.com/free-audit
Sites with very high domain trust also earned nearly 4x more citations than low-trust domains.
ChatGPT may ignore some traditional SEO tricks, but it absolutely recognizes authority.
This matches what we now understand about AI search more broadly.
AI systems inherit trust from the existing web graph.
High-authority domains are crawled more often, retrieved more often, passed into LLM context windows more often and ultimately reused and cited more often.
This is why authority builds on itself inside AI systems.
It is also why SEO Stuff's flagship package includes three contextually relevant DR50+ backlinks per package.
seo-stuff.com/gold-plan-pack…
Homepage traffic was another major trust signal.
Sites with 7,900+ homepage visitors had twice the citation likelihood, while domains with 190,000+ monthly visitors earned nearly twice as many citations as smaller sites.
This lines up with what we have seen recently.
Most AI systems are still page-first at the discovery layer, even when they are snippet-first at the answer layer.
If your domain has very little visibility across Google’s ecosystem, it is less likely to enter AI retrieval in the first place.
This is why SEO Stuff (seo-stuff.com) content is built for Google and LLMs at the same time.
Presence on Quora and Reddit mattered, too.
Domains with a lot of Quora and Reddit mentions had four times higher citation likelihood.
Even smaller brands saw measurable lifts from answering questions, participating in threads and being referenced organically.
That makes sense because AI systems look for evidence that a brand exists inside real conversations.
Discussion, co-mentions and social proof can reinforce the company’s identity, category and relevance.
Content depth also mattered more than word count alone.
Articles under 800 words averaged 3.2 citations, while articles over 2,900 words averaged 5.1.
But publishing more words is not enough.
The strongest content included semantic variety, multiple angles, examples, expert quotes, verifiable data and complete topic coverage.
This is the format used in the Premium Content Bundle:
seo-stuff.com/premium-conten…
It includes 60 long-form, comparison-driven articles built around the way LLMs retrieve and reuse information.
Structure made a major difference too.
Well-structured pages earned 70% more citations.
The strongest pages used clean headings, sections between roughly 120 and 180 words, logical progression, question-based H2s, lists where useful and clear answers.
Walls of text, creative rambling and vague brand storytelling give LLMs very little they can reliably extract.
Every SEO Stuff Gold Plan article is built around question-based headings, direct answers, supporting detail, TLDR sections and relevant internal links.
Also, freshness mattered more than age.
New content did not automatically win out, but pages updated within the previous three months nearly doubled their citations.
Outdated pages averaged 3.6 citations, while recently updated pages averaged 6.0.
Fresh content tends to be crawled more often, retrieved more often and passed into context windows more often.
That is one reason SEO Stuff customers often reorder monthly.
Question-based titles and FAQ sections helped smaller sites most.
FAQs alone did not magically create citations, but they produced stronger results when combined with depth, authority, clean structure and backlinks.
LLMs.txt, on the other hand, did almost nothing.
Its impact was negligible, and removing it slightly improved the study’s predictive accuracy.
Authority, structure and content quality matter far more.
Review platforms also had a major impact.
Brands listed on Trustpilot, Capterra, G2, Sitejabber and Yelp earned three to six times more citations than brands with no presence.
LLMs appear to use these platforms as external trust validators.
Core Web Vitals influenced citations as well.
Fast pages were cited three times more often than slow pages.
You do not need perfect scores, but you do need to avoid performance problems that make the site difficult to crawl, retrieve or use.
This is why SEO Stuff technical audits include speed recommendations.
So what actually drives ChatGPT visibility?
The study points to backlinks, domain trust, homepage authority, Quora and Reddit presence, in-depth content, clear structure, recent updates, review platform visibility and fast performance.
ChatGPT citations appear to follow many of the same fundamentals as Google, with additional social, structural and entity signals layered on top.
This is exactly what SEO Stuff was built for:
seo-stuff.com
The Done-For-You Gold Plan combines 10 long-form, extractable articles with question-based headings, TLDRs, FAQ-style answers, technical optimization and three DR50+ backlinks:
seo-stuff.com/gold-plan-pack…
The Premium Content Bundle includes 60 deep-dive articles built around semantic variety, strong topic coverage, useful section structure and expanding topical authority:
seo-stuff.com/premium-conten…
The Premium Backlink Bundle includes three authoritative DR50+ backlinks designed to strengthen domain trust, homepage authority and entity clarity:
seo-stuff.com/premium-backli…
Backlinks were the strongest factor in the entire study.
In the end, AI search visibility comes down to authority, clarity, depth, structure, trust and freshness.
And SEO Stuff was built to deliver exactly that.
Jeff Funk | App Ghostwriter And Copywriter retweeted
How to build a network (non-cringe way):
- if you see something you like, tell the creator
- if you think of someone, tell them
- if you come across a helpful resource, share it with a friend
- if you’re working on something, ask for feedback AND IMPLEMENT it
- connect friends with friends
- buy your friend’s products
- curate your favorite creator’s ideas
- host events
- start a group chat with a shared goal
- post content about what you’re learning and doing
- ask your friends “who’s someone you think I should meet?”
- start a podcast and interview people you admire
- TLDR: to get a friend, be a friend
Jeff Funk | App Ghostwriter And Copywriter retweeted
My app hit $8k/m in ~2 months.
I'm doing it again: Season 2.
• $0 to $1k/m.
• This time, fully in public.
• Last time it took 25 days.
• The app: Health & fitness, aimed at men.
• Perhaps aim to sell the app (if it makes sense).
Jeff Funk | App Ghostwriter And Copywriter retweeted
Your new app is already f*@^ed!
Doesn't matter how slick it is or "how it'll change the world."
Without trust, it's just another blip on the App Store.
You might as well piss your startup capital into a black hole.
Your new app is already f*@^ed!
Doesn't matter how slick it is or "how it'll change the world."
Without trust, it's just another blip on the App Store.
You might as well piss your startup capital into a black hole.
Jeff Funk | App Ghostwriter And Copywriter retweeted
99.9% of the products solo founders are building are useless.
They can’t compete on technology.
They can’t compete on distribution.
They can’t compete on marketing.
Because they’re product builders. Small ones. One-person product builders.
That has always been true.
Now it’s even more true with AI.
Your only way…
Is either have your own distribution or partner up with a crazy good marketer.
You won’t beat a funnel that was built by marketers using a developer’s brain. You won’t. Promise you.
People who aren’t into marketing…
You have NO IDEA how deep this rabbit hole goes. No idea.
Jeff Funk | App Ghostwriter And Copywriter retweeted
One of my gifts is being pretty good at predicting the future. I did a lot of that in this article, and here are some of the major ones:
1. There will soon be a proliferation of AI Studios producing films and TV Series.
2. They will increasingly turn to existing IP from authors and other creators.
3. This will result in more of those authors and creators selling the rights to their IP.
4. Those deals will often be smaller but will have more optionality for the authors (ie. selling the rights to first book for a period of time, vs. rights to a whole series forever).
5. This will mean more of that content gets turned into films and TV series that fans then get to see.
6. This will happen because the current economic model that streaming platforms run on will be turned upside down.
7. There will be more fiction authors and more works of fiction published than ever before.
8. There will be a whole class of agencies who help those authors gain readership and build a platform.
9. Major publishing houses will become less influential and important.
10. IP will become an increasingly valuable asset class
11. An increasing number of firms will start optinioning promising IP from authors and creators, starting now.
12. A new class of brokers will show up acting as middlemen between authors/creators and AI Film Studios
13. There will be more niche streaming platforms and some of them will be wildly profitable
14. Major streaming platforms will soon have 10x-100x the content they do now.
15. There will be an increase in lawsuits between authors/creators and fans who are using GenAI for fan fiction.
Changed one word in a client's App Store subtitle: "Easy" to "Instant."
Downloads jumped 22% that week.
Nothing else changed.
That one word just told a faster story and people wanted in.
