Can I use AI to write blogs for my website?
People have asked about the impact of AI on my copywriting work SO many times in the last 18 months. If I got paid for every time I answered an AI-related content question, I’d be a very rich woman.
My most memorable conversation was with the owner of a web development agency. Once we set off discussing the pros and cons of using AI to generate content, we couldn’t stop. I found a kindred spirit that day, for sure.
The AI question appears in many forms:
How is AI impacting your business?
Have you lost clients because they’ve switched to using AI for their blogs?
Do you fear AI will take over the role of a human copywriter?
Have you ever used AI to write a blog?
Would you ever use AI to write a client blog?
Let’s start with the first one...
Is the introduction of AI impacting my copywriting business?
When it first appeared on the scene, I admit I was a little fearful of content automation. Like any unknown quantity, I had no idea what to expect or how it would impact my business. So, like you do when you’re scared of something, I decided to ignore it. After all, I ignored Clubhouse and that went away pretty quickly!
Then a year ago, through my involvement with TEDxWarrington, I crossed paths with an AI expert. There were two key messages I took from his talk:
“AI is here to stay”, and
“You get out of ChatGPT what you put into it”.
I decided that if AI really was here to stay, I had to do a little experiment. Looking for inspiration on how to begin a new blog post, I asked AI software to give me some structural pointers and suggested headings for the topic. It came back with a very formal, information-driven, American-style blog post. It did give me a few ideas, but it also clarified the type of content I didn’t want to produce.
The result of my experiment was confidence. I know I can produce better than that. My clients expect content of a much higher quality and a lot more engaging and thoughtful than what the software suggested. These learnings have crystallised my approach to blogging. I like my posts to have soul, emotion and storytelling.
As for business impact, clients that value the quality of my writing and the positive impact it has on their business are loyal to me. These are the people and businesses I want to work with. If you are looking to churn out words without meaning, I’m not the copywriter for you.
Isn’t AI cheaper than a human copywriter?
If you think using AI is going to save you time and money, think again.
First you have to invest in the software. Next you have to spend time training it to understand your audience, voice, tone, values and core messaging. Once it produces your blog content, you have to fact-check, proofread and tweak the style and tone. It’s important to do this to ensure the blog post is legal, compliant and not misleading.
One false fact could bring the reputation of your business into disrepute, then all that time and money you’ve saved goes down the drain.
What are telltale signs of an AI generated blog?
The differences between a human-penned and an AI generated blog are vast. As a copywriter I can spot an AI generated blog post instantly. They usually open with sentences like ‘this is a popular theme’, or ‘a subject lots of people are talking about right now is…’. In tone and style they are full of corporate jargon and facts scrapped from other places on the web, which may or may not be true and need to be fact-checked. They also lack emotion, personal stories and real-life examples to bring the subject to life.
Some other telltale signs:
Paragraphs begin with words like ‘Additionally’ and ‘Moreover’. Words most of us last used in an exam!
They contain buzzwords like ‘synergy’ or ‘leverage’, and lots of US English (organization is a classic)
The final paragraph starts with ‘In conclusion’ or ‘In summary’
Carelessness like spelling and grammar errors, missing spaces and full stops
A general lack of proofing and concern for the end user’s experience.
Going back to that TEDx talk and “you get out of ChatGPT what you put into it”, the speaker was right. Over time, AI probably can learn your tone of voice, style of writing and the words you prefer to use. But does it actually care about the clients you serve? Can you trust it to speak for your brand? Does it have unique personal experiences and original opinions that add value and relevance for your readers?
Keen AI users might say it will be able to tackle all these hurdles in the near or distant future, but I believe the technology can’t yet compete with the high standards of a human copywriter.
The impact of AI on blog engagement
If I can spot an AI generated blog post, the Google algorithm probably can too. Google wants us to provide original, authentic, useful and relevant content to serve up to its users, and I’m sure you want to provide this to your customers too. The impact of AI on engagement concerns me. Here are a couple of examples...
Last year I wrote a trial blog for an organisation that was looking to get more eyes on its website. I visited the organisation and carried out telephone interviews to carefully research the content, optimise the post for search, and get the tone of voice correct. My post received over 130 views. The client already had several AI generated posts on their website and their views were all in single figures. My human generated blog content achieved its engagement objective.
My husband decided to use ChatGPT to create some new social posts for his business page. He tweaked the words before publishing, but the posts were formulaic and the tone felt forced and overly excited. His audience didn’t engage (like and comment) with those posts in the way they normally would. The stats were down because the content wasn’t written to connect with his audience.
When people engage with your content it’s a sign that they have read, understood and reacted to it. Something within the words has triggered them to respond and made a lasting connection.
Just this week I received a sales email offering me a trial of an “AI sales agent capable of having phone calls that sound like a real human”. Pardon me but don’t humans want to deal with humans? Isn’t getting stuck in an automated telephone system one of the most frustrating customer experiences ever? It is for me.
Do I use AI to write client blogs?
Absolutely not. Integrity is core to my blog copywriting services. Every word is carefully researched and chosen for a good reason. While I would never use AI to draft a blog, I have dabbled with it to generate ideas. For example, if I’m stuck for inspiration on a subject I might use AI as part of my research. Most of the time I’m quite horrified by the suggestions it comes up with! I know I can produce a blog that’s WAY more interesting. I think like a client and put myself in the audience’s shoes, asking and responding to their questions. I bring life experience to my writing and write blogs with soul.
Back to the original question...
You can use AI to write blogs for your website, but I believe it’s currently not the best option if you’re aiming to make emotional connections with real-life people through your posts. If you care about the quality of content you publish and the value this adds to your business, stick with human blog writers.
Emotive, helpful and relevant content will always trump robotic structure and business buzzwords, no matter how advanced AI gets.