I'm a firm believer in the idea that you need to make things work before you can make them work well.

This belief holds true across industries, but is especially pertinent to industries that allow for product iteration (think software development, digital art, writing, etc). When the cost of updating the initial product is close to nothing, you should hit the big "Publish" button early and often; early so you can start seeing traffic and often so the experience for new users is always improving. Internet traffic is the lifeblood of online businesses and without it, your venture could die before it sees its first sale.

In this article we'll be talking about writing blog posts with GPT-4 so you can publish early. A blog will instantly add credibility to any web business you're operating, whether that's a drop-shipping site, a digital marketplace, an online community, or something more obscure. Let's dive in 🏊

I want to emphasize up front that while ChatGPT articles are good, a human touch can make them great

The Prompt

Here is the tl;dr.

1. Decide on a post length.

2. Establish at least 2 sentences that explain the topic of your post. The more specific the better.

3. Add a sentence that gives the post structure.

4. Indicate the tone you'd like to use.

"Write me a (1) [1000-word] blog post about (2) [how human writing will become the new commodity in the world where everyone can write average blog posts with AI. Explain in the post why humans like authentic and unique writing styles.] (3) [Use a 5 part outline and leave placeholders for images.] (4) [Use a humorous tone.]"

The Recipe

The following section will explain the individual components of the prompt above and provide you with some context on why they were added. Each ingredient contributes to the overall value of the final article and altogether they comprise a recipe for literary success.

Ingredient 1: The Length Constraint

On average, a high quality blog post is between 1700 and 2500 words. Anything below 500 is dud. GPT-4 has a token limit of 8192 which is consumed by both the input and the response and while technically this should be more than enough to generate a full 2000 word blog post, it doesn't always work that way. To be safe, I usually go with a 1000 word article. You can update this value as you see fit.

"Write me a 1000-word blog about..."

If the chat response gets cut off, a simple "continue" will get the ball rolling again.

Ingredient 2: The Topic

When it comes to establishing a topic for your post, the more specific you can be the better. In the absence of deliberate direction, ChatGPT gravitates towards high-level generalities. To prove this, I prompted it with increasingly specific requests.

• "Write me a blog post about how AI will threaten human writers."

• "Write me a blog post about how AI will threaten the role of human writers in the blogosphere."

• "Write me a blog post about how AI will threaten the role of human writers in the blogosphere. Focus on how bloggers will need to become more authentic and engaging to retain readers."

• "Write me a blog post about how AI will threaten the role of human writers in the blogosphere. Focus on how bloggers will need to become more authentic and engaging to retain readers. There should be a common theme throughout the post that highlights the irony of this post being written by AI."

At the most general level, the bot created paragraphs outlining issues from a 30,000 foot perspective. In each iteration, it zoomed in a bit until I had something interesting and entertaining. Aim to write at least two sentences that focus GPT-4 on the objective.

Ingredient 3: The Structure

This part can be as simple or as detailed as you like. GPT-4 is very competent at filling in the gaps so even something as simple as "Use a 5 part outline" can be perfectly fine.

Nonetheless, if there's a message you want to communicate to your audience, adding a more granular outline will give you greater control over the blog's overall story.

Start small and build from there. GPT-4 also understands markdown so present it your custom outline using (#) headings, (##) subheadings, and (-) bullet points like this:

You can inform GPT-4 that the headings can be improved and that it should/should not include sections for each subheading. This gives you the freedom of not having to come up with the exact text.

Ingredient 4: The Tone

I see tone as the spice that pulls the meal together and it's incredible how adding "Use a ______ tone" can steer the post in drastically different directions. Below are a handful of tones you can mix and match.

• Formal: This tone is often used in academic or professional writing, where the language is more structured and objective.

• Informal: This tone is more casual and conversational, and may include slang or colloquial expressions.

• Humorous: This tone is used to entertain or amuse the reader, often through the use of sarcasm, irony, or wit.

• Serious: This tone is used to convey a sense of importance or urgency, often in news or editorial writing.

• Persuasive: This tone is used to convince the reader to take a certain action or agree with a certain viewpoint.

• Sarcastic: This tone is used to express irony or mockery, often through the use of exaggerated or opposite meanings.

• Optimistic: This tone is used to convey a positive and hopeful message, often in motivational or inspirational writing.

• Pessimistic: This tone is used to convey a negative or cynical message, often in critical or satirical writing.

• Objective: This tone is used to present information in an unbiased and neutral manner.

• Subjective: This tone is used to present information from a personal or emotional perspective, often in memoir or personal essay writing.

• 
  

Ingredient 5: GPT-4

This should go without saying given the title of this post, but GPT-4 is significantly better than GPT-3.5 at creating engaging content in the form of a blog. If GPT-3.5 is a highschooler, GPT-4 is a midlevel college student.

Optional Ingredient: Image Placeholders

You can make your job even easier (and admittedly more fun) by asking GPT-4 to include image placeholders in the generated output. During the final editing round you can simply scroll through the output and copy the placeholder text into an image generator like Microsoft's Image Creator or Midjourney.

Becoming the Editor

After GPT-4 has printed the initial draft, I encourage you to give it a pass and see where it went astray. If a paragraph sounds lackluster, copy and paste it back into the chat window with one of the prefixed prompts:

• "Add a real world example to this paragraph"

• "Rewrite this for a {describe your audience} audience"

• "Expand on this paragraph with more details/a bulleted list/a metaphor"

GPT-4 is a tool with little to no restrictions or rules on how it can be used so edit to your hearts content. Ask it to introduce jokes, insert quotes, take tangents. And try writing a paragraph yourself now and then 😅

Example

I used the following prompt to generate an entire post in the AI section of this blog.

"Write me a 1000-word blog post about how AI will threaten the role of human writers in the blogosphere. Focus on how bloggers will need to become more authentic and engaging to retain readers. There should be a common joke throughout the post that highlights the irony of this post being written by AI. Use a 5 part outline and leave placeholders for images. Use a nervous tone."