--- type: "Know post" title: "The Trust post in the Know - Trust - Love funnel" docType: "Concept" description: "The Trust post follows the Know post with small, hands-on steps, so readers make a result themselves and start to trust you." resource: "https://cuongthach.com/docs/content-system/know-trust-love/concepts/trust-post/" markdown: "https://cuongthach.com/docs/content-system/know-trust-love/concepts/trust-post/index.md" tags: - "docs" - "en" - "content-system" - "Concept" - "Content funnel" status: stable generated: by: "process:cuongthach-okf-export" at: "2026-10-29T09:05:45Z" --- # The Trust post in the Know - Trust - Love funnel By the [rule of the Know - Trust - Love content funnel](https://cuongthach.com/biet-tin-yeu/), a Trust post only works when **the result is made by the reader**, not announced by you. If you already have a post and don't know which stage it belongs to, [sort it into the right funnel stage](/docs/content-system/know-trust-love/guides/how-to/sort-post-by-stage) first. ## Trust comes from doing ![Trust comes from doing](https://cuongthach.com/docs/_astro/illus-docs-phep-thu-nho.en.hq7wLg08_ZTKTiY.svg "A Trust post is a small test") After a Know post, readers may understand and still doubt. Only a result they make themselves clears that doubt, and the writer's words do not. So a Trust post is built as a **small test**: a short action the reader does alone, with a result they can see. The post works when readers hold a result in their hands before they reach the invitation to the Love post. | When | The reader's state | | --- | --- | | While reading | Curious, wanting to try | | After finishing | Sure they can do it | A Trust post is for newcomers. Each one is split off from one idea of the Love post and removes exactly one obstacle on the road the Love post draws. ## What it needs ![What it needs](https://cuongthach.com/docs/_astro/illus-docs-mat-cat-minh-chung.en.CgeXjJWI_ZTKTiY.svg "Proof is the buried part holding it up") A good Trust post must have two things: a clear promise of a result, and steps that never leave the reader stuck. Behind those two things is proof: the work you really did yourself. ### A clear promise The promise is one sentence you can say aloud: follow these steps, get this result. By the site's writing standard it goes in the `description` and in the first 50 words of the post, **not in the title**. The title of a Trust post follows this pattern: | Item | Rule | | --- | --- | | Opening | "Guide" or "How to" | | Content | The job the reader will do | | Length | 45 to 60 characters | | Colon | No second half after it | Example: "How to turn a recording into a fully published post". ### Steps without dead ends Check with one question: does anyone following along have to look for information outside the post to get past a step? If so, that step lacks detail. The place where readers get stuck, especially on technical points, is called **friction**. The job of the Trust post is to cut friction as far as it can. ### Proof you did it The condition: before you write, you tried it yourself and got a real result, and only then packaged it as a guide. You are one step ahead of the reader. That real-world trial **cannot be handed to AI**, so AI cannot write the Trust post for you. A customer's proof belongs to the Trust layer of a sales page. When you have no customers yet, you can still [build a lean sales page](/docs/content-system/know-trust-love/guides/how-to/build-a-lean-sales-page). Writing a Trust post also helps you learn deeper and faster, because you learn from the work you do. The splitting rule: while you write the how-to, each foundation question, such as "what is this", "why is there this step", "why does this step come first", is moved out into a Know post of its own. That way the Trust post keeps one line of action, and each Know post already has a Trust post to lead to. :::caution[Don't stuff explanations into the Trust post] A Trust post that carries both "what is" and "why" gets watered down and slows the person doing the work. Split that part into a Know post. ::: ## Choosing a Trust or Know post Look at what the reader needs from the post: - **Write a Know post when** — The reader asks "what is this" or "why does it work this way". - **Write a Trust post when** — The reader needs to be shown how to do one job and make a result themselves. ## An example from one post The post [How to turn a recording into a fully published post](https://cuongthach.com/cach-bien-ghi-am-thanh-bai-viet/) is a Trust post of the Idea - Write - Edit process. The table lists its parts. | Part | In the post | | --- | --- | | Title | "How to" plus the job the reader will do | | Promise | About an hour of recording and 30 minutes of editing for a finished post | | Less friction | A section on three things to prepare before recording: a microphone, a recording app, a set of guiding questions | | Steps | Three steps: Idea, Write, Edit | | Stopping point | The post is on the website | | End of the post | A link to the Idea - Write - Edit Love post | | Relationship | Paired with the Know post on Talk to write, and the two lead to each other | This example meets all three conditions of a Trust post: - A promise you can measure. - A preparation step that removes friction before readers begin. - A last step that ends at a stopping point you can see. The table below puts it next to the old site's how-to posts, written for keywords with no funnel (about 300 posts since 2017, such as guides to Mailgun, Amazon SES and Stripe). | | Keyword how-to | Trust post in a funnel | | --- | --- | --- | | Why it was written | A keyword people were searching | A place in the funnel | | Promise | Not set | Recording time and editing time stated in the opening | | Less friction | Not set | Tools prepared before the first step | | End of the post | The guide ends, the post ends | Points to the Love post | | Result | Readers, but no sales. Only 11 posts kept when the site was rebuilt | Readers are led on to the solution | ## Related pages - A Trust post **doesn't carry the "what is" and "why" explanations**. That part belongs to the [Know stage](/docs/content-system/know-trust-love/know-layer). - A Trust post **doesn't solve the lasting pain**. That belongs to the Love post, and the Trust post only clears one snag on the road. Source: https://cuongthach.com/docs/content-system/know-trust-love/concepts/trust-post/index.mdx