The Prompts I Used to Get Better Content from ChatGPT
I was using ChatGPT today to put a blog post together. Right off the bat, it was a trainwreck.
I told it what I needed and it replied...
Here's a solid draft for your blog entry
"Solid" lol. I was like, I think I'll be judge of that!
The entire thing was done in seconds.
My response:
I'll keep that drafted. Use this as a skeleton for piecing this blog post together, bit by bit. Don't go right ahead from here on because I'm not going to ask you to write long blocks of text at a time. I would like for this piece to be built out section by section. Just keep in mind that the content above will be used, but it'll be polished up first and there'll be additional information being inserted, and some (most) sections reworded. I like my blog posts to start with a lead-in, or a standfirst. Something that's written to stick readers to the page making them feel like they need to read on and see what this blog post has in store. Let's start with a standfirst for this.
From there, I spent about 2 hours prompting it, sometimes, sentence by sentence to tighten the copy. Even once done, it was capable of proofreading and editing the content it spat out.
The one prompt that changed the game was this:
(Could be something to do with the free plan, me hitting a limit so having to start a new chat, so technically, it may not have known it was editing the content it created).
Help me to proofread this blog post and also, suggest any improvements that can be done for clarity, brevity, conciseness, or cohesion.
Then I pasted in the blog post.
It knocked off nearly 500 words of content leaving me still with a 1,500 word blog post, and as for the suggestions for improvement, suddenly, I found that I was the one being prompted to place images in specific parts of the post. It reversed the roles! I was like, well, okay then, I'll play along.
It was even able to give me the search suggestions to find suitable images in Canva, and suggest the text to put in an overlay to make the images more likely to be shared.
Like this one...
All in, I'd say, I have come around to AI, but it clearly needs some stiff steering to get quality output. I do not think any careers can be compromised by people pretending to be something they're not. If anything, it seems set up to play dumb until it's clear from the prompts that you're using it as an assistant and not as a tool.
For the first time, I was able to take a fully AI generated piece of content and post it as-is to my website. And it reads like I wrote it, even though I wrote about 4x as much as prompts to get the content. I still feel it created a tigther copy than I could have done in the same amount of time.
So I think my lesson for today is when using AI for content creation, use four keywords in the prompt: clarity, brevity, conciseness, or cohesion.
What's your go-to prompts to get good quality AI content?
Recent Comments
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Hi Robert!
I have found the AI writer within WA and using templates, for me, to be really good. The resulting text is great. The created images are very cool too!
Now, I do have tens of thousands of word credits each month which helps in using the WA AI writer.
I created a long form review of WA with images and it consumed thousands of word credits, but the resulting post was amazing.
It is now the leading post for my WA promotion site.
That's awesome, Howard. I've used the AI writer here a few times but always edited the output. I tend to use the AI here for outlining, then plug that into ChatGPT. Most times, I wind up changing the entire thing.
Were you able to prompt WA's AI writer for editing bits you weren't keen on, or was it a case of, here's what to post and you published it?
Cracking you were able to take a long-form post and get a leading promotional piece of content from it. 👍
Hi Robert!
Since the latest AI iteration, I have used some of Kyle's templates that I modified and added more images. In the additions area I add whatever I want and let it fly.
Once created I add my personal touch and it's good to go.
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To qualify my answer, I must tell you that before the WA writer updates, I quit using it altogether because of the heavy editing needed to make the output usable.
Since the update, I have seen and have been impressed by the improvement. Granted, it is imperfect and still requires heavy editing, but the workload has been lessened since the update.
One of the best improvements to the in-house writer was the structure. I will tell you I do not like any of the default templates. I have reworked every one of them to align with my style.
Below is the current prompt I use. I feed the AI guidelines, and it works well because it listens.
When writing, follow these writing guidelines:
– Don't blab.
– Keep sentences brief and clear. Limit to 10-20 words.
– Use everyday words that are easy to understand.
– Pick common words over complex ones. Use technical terms only when needed.
– Avoid words with 4+ syllables. If you must use them, keep the surrounding text simple.
– Write for an 8th-grade reading level.
– Skip overused business terms and jargon like delve, digital age, cutting-edge, leverage, proactive, pivotal, seamless, fast-paced, game-changer, quest, realm, landscape, evolve, resilient, thrill, unravel, embark, world.
– Make direct statements without hedging.
– Connect ideas naturally without forced transitions.
– Use standard punctuation.
– Vary sentence structure and punctuation naturally.
– Never use: indeed, furthermore, thus, moreover, notwithstanding, ostensibly, consequently, specifically, notably, alternatively, foster, resonate.
WOW, Michael. Is this in the WA AI writer? and when was this update? The last time I used the AI writer here was about 2 weeks ago (I think).
So, now, you can plug this into the AI writer here and it'll do that?
"When writing, follow these writing guidelines:
– Don't blab.
– Keep sentences brief and clear. Limit to 10-20 words.
– Use everyday words that are easy to understand.
– Pick common words over complex ones. Use technical terms only when needed.
– Avoid words with 4+ syllables. If you must use them, keep the surrounding text simple.
– Write for an 8th-grade reading level.
– Skip overused business terms and jargon like delve, digital age, cutting-edge, leverage, proactive, pivotal, seamless, fast-paced, game-changer, quest, realm, landscape, evolve, resilient, thrill, unravel, embark, world.
– Make direct statements without hedging.
– Connect ideas naturally without forced transitions.
– Use standard punctuation.
– Vary sentence structure and punctuation naturally.
– Never use: indeed, furthermore, thus, moreover, notwithstanding, ostensibly, consequently, specifically, notably, alternatively, foster, resonate."
I think recently I saw a post by @Kyle asking for feedback about the new core training but I can't find it now that I'm looking for it (typical lol). Your prompt ought to be integrated into WA's AI writer. Without even trying it, I can tell it's going to increase the quality of the output.
Thanks for that!
I add my prompt before I add the information I want to add to the article. Seems to work for me. I also use it on GPT and Rightblogger and sometimes even combine all 3 to make a single article.
I challenge you to try it on GPT and see the difference.
First, ask it to create an article, then tell it to follow these guidelines and rewrite it. See the difference and see if it aligns with your style. Compare the two articles.
This article was composed using this prompt. And my outline. Jeff Bezos’s Lessons for Aspiring Affiliate Marketers
I most certainly will! Never heard of rightblogger mind you. I'm using the core training for a niche site and I've 7 more posts to create before moving on. It'll be interesting to see the differences (and hopefully have to edit less) 😆
That's amazing!