How to use AI to write blog posts

Introduction

AI is a powerful tool for creating content, including blog posts. New AI tools help you come up with content ideas, optimise for SEO, narrow your keyword focus and even create content. With the right approach, you can boost productivity, speed up your content output and improve quality.

A new approach to blogging

If you’re like most content marketers, you’re always looking for ways to speed up your content output while also improving quality. Keeping up with your company’s content production schedule is a never-ending task. That’s why so many marketers are now exploring content creation with artificial intelligence (AI). 

You’ve probably already heard a lot about this topic. Yet things are changing so rapidly, it’s sometimes hard to keep up. In this article, we’ll break down:

• What AI writing is
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• What AI content creation software can and can’t do
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• How you can use AI to enhance your content’s performance, so you can gain an advantage over your competitors.

How did we get here?

Just a few years ago, the idea of artificial intelligence seemed like something out of a science fiction movie. Back then, most of us thought about futuristic technologies, like self-driving cars, when we heard about AI. Or we thought of annoying customer service chatbots that didn’t work too well.

Now, that’s all changed. It seems like the new age of AI just happened overnight. But in fact, organisations like OpenAI, the research lab behind ChatGPT, have been working for years to train and perfect their technologies. In fact, it took OpenAI over seven years of development to bring ChatGPT to the market.

What is AI writing?

AI writing simply means using artificial intelligence software to create text. This software relies on large language models (LLMs), such as OpenAI’s GPT-4. Models like GPT-4 detect natural patterns of human language based on very large datasets.

Those datasets contain millions of online texts. AI tools are programmed to replicate language by predicting which word or phrase is most likely to fit within a specific context. This enables them to create text on any topic, as long as it’s included in their dataset.

Because of recent advances in AI development, today’s AI writing generators can create text that is impossible to distinguish from human-created text.

How does AI writing work?

All AI writing tools work in basically the same way. They consist of an interface, where the user types in a prompt. Once you type in your prompt, the AI tool quickly scans its dataset and generates an original text that contains all the elements you asked it for. Modern AI tools can generate basic texts within seconds.

Can you use AI to write blog posts?

Yes, AI tools like ChatGPT, Jasper.ai, RYTR or Frase are advanced enough that they can write complete blog posts. To get the best results, it’s crucial to start with a detailed prompt.

Say you want to create a blog post about the pros and cons of a learning management system for HR.

If you simply prompt an AI writer to “write a blog post about the pros and cons of a learning management system,” you’ll wind up with a very general text that probably won’t be very relevant to your readers.

To make your AI-generated text better, write a detailed prompt like this: “write a 1,000-word blog post with an SEO title and 6 subheadings about the pros and cons of learning management systems for HR professionals working in medium-sized organisations with up to 250 employees. Write in a friendly, confident tone and cite statistical information in each section from relevant sources with high engagement.”

Based on your prompt, the AI writing generator you’re using will create your blog post. It may not be perfect on the first attempt, but you can also refine your prompt or ask the tool to try again until you get closer to what you want.

Any time you use AI to generate text, it’s important to carefully post-edit, fact-check and align the text with your brand’s tone of voice. We’ll talk about this in more detail below.

Can AI tools write long-form content?

Yes, the same applies for long-form content as for blog posts: AI can quickly create basic text based on your prompt. Just remember that long-form content like ebooks and whitepapers have more complex structures. This means you’ll need to write a very detailed prompt if you want to get the most benefit out of using an AI writer.

You’ll also want to plan more time to post-edit a long-form piece of content that you generate using AI. These pieces of content usually contain more technical and factual information, so it’s important to carefully check to make sure everything is correct before you publish.

Benefits of using AI to write blog posts

The greatest benefits of using AI to write blog posts are by far the speed and frequency with which you can now produce text. 

AI writing tools can generate a basic text within seconds, significantly reducing the workload for your content creation team.

When you use AI to write blog posts, your focus shifts from content creation to content optimisation. 

This means: 

• Creating excellent prompts to get the best initial results from your AI writing software.
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• Carefully fact-checking and post-editing the AI-generated blog article to ensure accuracy.
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• Aligning the AI-generated text with your brand’s unique style and tone of voice.

This is a different skill set than traditional blogging. Yet the main benefit is that you save time with the actual writing, so you can devote more attention to optimisation. 

At the same time, you can create multiple blog posts in the amount of time that it used to take to create a single post. This is highly beneficial for raising your brand’s visibility and establishing your blog as an authoritative source of information: the more frequently you post high-quality content on your blog, the more traffic you will generate. 

Are there any good AI tools for blogging?

The market is thriving with innovative AI tools that can help you produce more blog posts, faster. You’ve probably given ChatGPT a spin, but you can also benefit from using tools like RYTR, Jasper.ai, Writesonic and ContentBot. 

Learn what tools like these can—and can’t—do for you in our blog post, “How to use an AI content generator for marketing.”

Best practices for using AI to write blog posts

It’s important to remember that AI content generators are like any other tool: they can enhance your performance, but they still require your creativity, experience and strategic thinking to achieve the best results.

A smart approach is to think of your AI tools as a way to quickly create rough drafts for your blog posts. The fine-tuning still needs to be done by human content creators though.

When using an AI writing tool to create blog posts, be sure to keep these best practices in mind:

Always double-check the facts

Large language models (LLMs) like GPT-4 are only capable of knowing what’s in their dataset. Some LLMs are trained using information that is not entirely up to date. That’s why you should always carefully check any facts they cite to ensure they are accurate. You might need to do additional research to incorporate more relevant facts into the AI-generated draft.

Protect your brand’s tone of voice

Your company’s blog content is the perfect place to showcase your brand’s unique perspective. That means it’s important to write in a distinctive tone of voice that sets you apart from competitors. 

When it comes to maintaining a consistent tone of voice, AI tools are limited at best. Remember that they are actually only imitating existing content. That’s why you’ll always want to post-edit to add an authentic, original touch to your AI-generated content.

Optimise for SEO

Most AI writing tools cannot automatically optimise your blog post for SEO. Be sure to conduct your own keyword research (there are AI-based research tools that can help with that too). Once you’ve identified the right keyword focus, follow the usual best practices to optimise your blog post for findability. 

For example, ensure that your blog post is structured to answer your readers’ real questions. Integrate keywords into your blog post’s title and subheadings. Be sure to distribute your target keywords and synonyms in a natural way throughout the text.

Step-by-step guide to writing a blog post with AI

Now that AI marketing technology has started to reach maturity, there are tools available to support you at every stage of creating a new article for your blog. (The tools mentioned below are available either for free or as a free trial version.)

Here’s a step-by-step guide to writing an AI-powered blog post.

1. Developing content ideas

Every good blog post starts with an idea. But coming up with new ideas isn’t always easy. Fortunately, AI can help. 

Content idea generators like BuzzSumo, StoryLab.ai and NeuralText analyse large datasets of existing blog posts and automatically suggest interesting ideas. Simply type in your niche market or general topic, and get the inspiration you need to start your new blog post.

2. Keyword research

Now that you’ve come up with a great blog post idea, it’s time to choose the right keywords to make sure your audience can find your content.

Use an AI-powered keyword generator like CopyAI, Twinword, ContextMinds or RYTR to choose competitive keywords based on your story idea and target audience. 

3. Creating a briefing

If you’re planning on outsourcing or delegating the writing to a human writer, you’re going to need a content briefing. To ensure the writer delivers exactly the kind of blog post you’re looking for, it will help to provide them with an outline.

AI content marketing tools like WriterZen automatically generate SEO-friendly outlines based on your content idea.

4. Writing your first draft

If you want to speed up your content creation even more, use AI to write the entire blog post. Of course, as mentioned above, it’s best to think of this as writing a rough draft. You’ll still want to work with human writers to post-edit and optimise the draft afterwards.

To create a strong first draft using AI, try using a tool like ChatGPT, Jasper.ai or RYTR.

5. Proofreading

Once you’ve got your first draft in place, it’s time to proofread it. This is true no matter if you’re working with human writers or AI to create the draft. There are many smart proofreading tools that can improve the text. They check for grammar and spelling mistakes, but also suggest ways to improve readability.

Some of our favourite AI-powered proofreading tools include Grammarly, Wordvice and Hemingway. 

6. Internal links

Keeping internal links on your blog up to date is vital to maintaining your website’s SEO. Links may be broken whenever you update or delete a page, or due to technical errors. There are several tools available for automatically monitoring and fixing broken internal links on your blog. These include LinkStorm and Link Whisper.

7. The final touch

No matter how many AI tools you use to create your blog post, the final touch should always be the human touch. After all, you’re trying to reach a human audience. Your content needs to make an authentic, emotional impact if you want it to resonate. 

Since using AI tools saves you a lot of time earlier in the process, you can now devote more attention to adding true value to your blog post. Look for ways to incorporate original storytelling. Ensure that the language is consistent with your brand’s style and values. Be sure that the text is skimmable and reader-friendly.

By adding the final human touches, you ensure that your AI-powered blog post stands out. And as the internet becomes increasingly crowded with low-quality content, those little details will make a big difference.

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AI has a lot to offer for content creation, but it’s not the whole answer. When used wisely, it can help you create more engaging content, but the creative direction and brand personality should still come from you. If you’re looking for more tips on getting the best out of AI for your content strategy, check out our blog about eight unique was to use AI for your content strategy!

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