How to Write a Blog Using AI (Step-by-Step Guide)
Reading Time: 16 minutes Technology is ever-changing, especially in the world of marketing. Recently, artificial intelligence (AI) has permanently changed the game. From blog writing to social media posts, content creation has never been easier with AI writing apps.
Table of Contents
What is AI Copywriting and How Does It Work?
AI copywriting is the process of using various AI tools to help generate your marketing materials. AI works by browsing existing content and returning this information to you based on the prompts you provide it.
Writing a blog using AI technology will produce unique content in half the time and effort, but it also has its downfalls. In this article, we’ll give you a step-by-step guide to writing a blog using this cutting-edge technology to maximize your potential while avoiding some common AI writing mistakes.
You’ll be able to write blog posts using these innovative new tools in no time!
AI Use Cases
AI has several different applications when it comes to blog writing, from research and planning to writing itself. You can use AI to:
- Create blog content
- Keep your content up-to-date
- Speed up content production
- Conduct keyword research and gather ideas
- Blanket your niche and build topical authority
- Create outreach messages to foster collaboration with other brands and creators
We are here to show you exactly how! With an AI writer at your disposal, you’ll be unstoppable.
Terms You Need To Know
First, let’s get familiar with some terms that go into a bit more detail about how AI works.
Bias
In the world of AI, bias refers to the assumptions caused by the data that the model is trained on, which can lead to incorrect data
Chatbot
A program that is designed to communicate to humans like a human would
Generative AI
A type of Artificial Intelligence capable of performing any intellectual task that a human can do
Intent
A type of label typically used in natural language processing tasks like chatbot training; it specifies the purpose or goal of what is said
Linguistic annotation
The process of reviewing text or recordings and tagging the language data
Model
AI training, created by running a machine learning algorithm on training data
Natural language generation (NLG)
The process of transforming structured data into human-readable text or speech
Natural language processing (NLP)
AI’s ability to understand the intended meaning of words and respond intelligibly
Natural language understanding (NLU)
A part of natural language processing; AI’s ability to understand grammar and different meanings of words given their context
AI is undoubtedly a very powerful tool that can elevate your marketing. However, due to limited, sometimes outdated, information in training models, any AI-generated content needs to be closely checked and edited.
By editing any AI outputs, you can remove any biases, fact-check information, fix grammar, and ensure your content stays valuable.
In its current state, AI will not replace marketing jobs, but it will change them. Marketing is an ever-evolving landscape, and by integrating AI into your strategy, you’ll be staying ahead of the game. However, it’s crucial to make sure the information you’re getting from AI is accurate.
Search Intent
Before you begin generating content, you’ll need to define the main goals you want to achieve. As users are searching for content, they have several established “search intents.” The search intent is the goal of the search.
You need to provide value to the searcher by determining which search intent your content best falls under.
Informational Intent
Informational intent is when the user is searching for an answer to a specific question or a specific piece of information.
Navigational Intent
This is when the searcher is looking for a specific page.
Commercial Investigation/Transactional Intent
This type of search occurs when the searcher is looking to make a purchase. Commercial investigation is for more general research, such as product reviews and demos.
Transactional intent is when they have already decided on a specific product or brand and are looking to purchase within that search.
Research Your Topic
Before creating any content (AI-generated, or not), start with research. Research can shape the topic, messaging, and even the keywords.
It can help prevent costly mistakes by focusing on target audiences that are likely to convert rather than an audience that is too broad or a keyword that is saturated with competitors.
Conducting research ensures a better ROI while building an engaged audience. There are a ton of tools and plugins to help your research. You can start with competitor research to formulate content ideas, then get into keyword research to find your niche, or vice versa.
Let’s get into best practices and our favorite tools to start your research.
Keyword Research
Keyword research helps you identify the words and phrases that people use to find products, services, and information online. This step in research is crucial before creating a marketing campaign. It allows you to develop the right content, optimize it for search engines and ensure that you’re targeting the right audience.
By narrowing down your keywords, you can easily create content that resonates with your target audience and gets results for your business!
Best Practices
Use primary keywords in the title, subheadings and body text of your content, but don’t overuse them.
Optimize your content for the search engine by using the right keywords, Natural Language Processing (NLP), relevant images, and metadata.
Be natural and write content to provide value to the reader, don’t force too many keywords into the content, or rely solely on AI written content.
Forcing too many keywords could actually hurt your rankings!
Focus on searcher intent.
Best Keyword Research Tools
Strong content creation begins with strong research. These keyword research tools will help you find the keywords to target for ranking highly and growing within your niche.
Best Free Tools
Developing a winning SEO strategy doesn’t always have to cost you an arm and a leg! These tools offer a lot of the same features and metrics and are a great place to start.
Finding keywords with Google is relatively easy. Perform a basic search related to your topic. You’ll see “People Also Searched” to help guide you in the right direction.
Google Keyword Planner
Although it is mostly used for PPC ads, Google Keyword Planner can help you plan your SEO keywords, as well. You will need to create a free Google Ads account to access this tool. You can then input a URL or keyword you’ve already found and receive keyword suggestions.
Google Trends
Google Trends allows you to monitor the popularity of different searches over time. Enter a search into Google Trends and you’ll receive a host of valuable insights related to that search. This can give you an idea of searches you’d like to target or just a general view of what people are looking for.
Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest is a free Chrome extension that can help take your SEO game to the next level. You can enter any domain name and gain valuable insights into the SEO strategy being used on that site. Use it to analyze your competitors and see what’s working for them and what they’re doing that you might not be.
What makes Ubersuggest particularly handy is that it’s just a Chrome extension – no need to open a separate tab. Your SEO insights are at your fingertips in seconds.
ChatGPT
ChatGPT is one of the most well-known and popular AI tools, but did you know it can be used for keyword research? Simply enter a prompt such as “List the most popular keywords for topic” or “What are some subtopics related to topic?” and ChatGPT will do the heavy lifting for you.
Best Paid Tools
Although there are a host of free keyword research options out there, sometimes you just want a bit more. These paid options offer a ton of useful features all in one place and will help elevate your SEO game even more.
SEMRush
SEMRush is your “one-stop shop” for building an SEO strategy. Here, you can find in-depth analytics on any keywords you want. Not only that, but SEMRush will help you with your link-building strategy, site auditing, and more. If you’re looking to build up your SEO strategy as a whole, SEMRush has it all.
Surfer SEO
Surfer SEO is great for conducting keyword and competitor research – we have an in-depth guide to get you started. One big advantage of Surfer SEO is that you can write your content directly within it and get an estimate of how you’d rank in real time.
Surfer SEO also has an integrated AI writing tool that can create optimized content for you. This content will need to be edited and fact-checked, of course, but this tool is a huge timesaver.
Competitor Research
Competitor research will help you understand what works and what doesn’t work in your industry. Ideally, research will allow you to see gaps in content that consumers look for and niches that differentiate you from your competitors.
By examining your competitors, you can learn a lot about their content strategies, target audience, keywords, and more – all of which can inform your own content strategy.
Looking at your competitors can point you in the right direction, but it’s important to create your own original content. These best practices will help you stay on track while examining your competitors.
Best Practices
- Identify what your competitors are doing: Look at competitor content that performs well, and take note of the format (long-form vs. short-form), the topic, and tone.
- Identify gaps in content: look for opportunities that your competitors haven’t taken advantage of. Try to fill those gaps and offer something unique for your target audience.
- Keep track of your competitor’s keywords: low rankings can provide an opportunity to outperform them for more traffic.
Best Competitor Analysis Tools
Some of the tools available for keyword research can also offer some valuable insights into your competitors! Here are a few tools that will offer you a valuable look at your competitors’ strategies.
Google is a very straightforward starting point. In most cases, typing your topic ideas into the search engine will give you your topic or at least lead you in the right direction.
Mix and match your keywords and let Google’s out-complete feature (often referred to as Google Suggest) fill in the blanks with the most relevant keywords and trends.
Then, you can conduct a search and see who’s ranking.
SEMRush
By inputting a domain in SEMRush, you can gain some valuable insights on their SEO strategy. SEMRush has an entire “competitive research” panel to give you some valuable insights on your competition.
Surfer SEO
Surfer SEO is another great tool for competitor research. Surfer can do a lot of things for your content, from research, to writing, to optimization. Their SERP Analyzer tool provides the top 50 pages ranking for a specific keyword.
The chart shows the position of the content and how many words are on that specific page. This provides clear data on how many words your content will need to rank highly for a specific keyword.
Below the chart is the list of pages that rank, and you’ll be able to see their ranking score (assigned by Surfer’s algorithm), and their domain authority (DA).
If the score is high and the domain authority is above 5 out of 10, then it might indicate that the keyword will be difficult to rank for. Pages that show a low score and low DA are a good competition that you could outrank!
Microsoft Bing AI & Google Bard
Similar to other AI chatbots, Microsoft Bing AI and Google Bard can give you relevant information based on the prompts you give them. However, one thing that sets these programs apart is the sheer amount of knowledge they have at their disposal.
Microsoft Bing AI and Google Bard are both very powerful research tools and can significantly reduce the amount of time it takes you to dig.
Choose your AI Writing Tools
Now that you have a idea of the direction you want your content to head, it’s time to start writing. AI can help, from rewording your current content to generating entire articles. Here are some AI writing tools to get you started on your blog writing journey.
Best Free Tools
ChatGPT
You might already be familiar with ChatGPT – this well-known, easy to use AI chat tool is a great place to start for written content. Not only can ChatGPT be a part of your planning process (for example, “generate a blog post outline on topic“), but ChatGPT can be a writer itself.
These prompts can help you get started and unlock ChatGPT’s full potential.
Copy.ai
Although you can use this tool for free, it does offer a paid version with more features. Copy.ai is great for shorter content. Copy.ai has several templates to get you started and an option to input brand voice, which sets it apart from many other free choices on the market.
Best Paid Tools
Jasper
Jasper is a powerful writing tool that can generate short form and long form content, research for you, rewrite content you already have, and more. One big advantage of Jasper is that it gives you the option to input brand voice so that your content sounds natural and consistent.
Surfer SEO
Surfer SEO contains an AI writing tool that can write entire articles for you. Simply provide a keyword (or multiple) and Surfer will do the rest, creating search engine optimized long-form content in minutes.
Content at Scale
Similar to other paid AI writing tools, Content at Scale will streamline your writing process. However, one thing that sets Content at Scale apart is its ability to bypass most AI-written content detection.
Content at Scale is the ideal AI writing software for managing multiple blogs at once – it has a very simple, organized dashboard which makes it a breeze to use.
Best Practices
Although it may be tempting to publish your AI written content immediately, it’s important to keep a few best practices in mind to ensure that the content you’re putting out is valuable.
Always remember to:
- Edit your AI-written content. Some of it might not match your brand voice or sound natural. You can even take it a step further and run it through an AI-written content detector such as Copyleaks.
- Fact-check. Some AI may be trained on out-of-date information.
- Run it through a plagiarism detector. Most AI writing tools have one built in, but it never hurts to check. Grammarly’s plagiarism detector is free and widely trusted.
Content Writing: Start Writing Your Blog Post
Although everyone has a different writing process and workflow, this breakdown of steps can serve as a starting point before you find what works best for you on your blog writing journey!
Develop an Outline
The first step in writing a blog is developing an outline and establishing the direction that you want to take. A great feature of these AI writing tools is they often have templates specifically for generating blog outlines.
Figuring out what each of your headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.) will be titled and the topic of each section is key. AI writing tools can help spark ideas for content or even generate the entire flow of your blog.
Draft Copy Using Your Chosen AI Tool
Time for the fun part! When using AI tools, users can either have AI write an entire blog post or choose to go paragraph by paragraph, changing the content brief, keywords, and tone of voice in order to gain more control over the content being produced.
You can also manually write certain aspects of your blog and have AI enhance it or rewrite the content. There is no right or wrong way to use AI writing tools as long as you’re remembering to edit and fact-check.
No matter how you go about writing with AI, the AI tool you chose can quickly generate a great first draft of a blog within a few clicks. Take the time and find out what writing workflow works best for you to help speed up the writing process.
Keyword Optimization
Now that you have a rough draft of your blog, it’s time to transfer the blog over to Surfer SEO to do some optimization. A great process for adding in keywords without spamming is to read through the entire blog and seek out content that is generic and can be easily rewritten.
Once these spots are located, you should go back and look at the top keywords and try and fit them in where it makes sense. Adding image placeholders and paying attention to keywords that should be in your headers is important as it will help your content rank higher.
Please note that keyword stuffing is a bad marketing strategy and will make you rank lower on Google’s search engine results page, so make sure that the keywords are thoughtfully placed and make sense within the context.
Feedback Incorporation
The more human writers you have looking at your content before publishing, the better. When writing blog posts and relying on AI-generated content, it’s easy to miss things.
Have someone else read over your AI content to make sure it flows well. It’s easy for errors to fly under the radar when it comes to editing your own content.
Editing
You can now further edit your content based on the feedback you receive and polish it up for publishing! Double-check and make sure any links you’ve included in your content work and open in a separate tab, fact-check, and find a few images to draw your readers in.
Publish Your Content
In order to finally get your content out on the internet to rank on search engines, you’ll need to use a content management system.
WordPress
Many AI writing tools have WordPress plugins to help streamline your publishing process. As such, WordPress is a solid choice of content management system. With just a few clicks, your AI generated content can be transferred over to WordPress.
Additionally, SEO plugins such as RankMath can help elevate your SEO strategy even further.
Content Updating
It’s not enough to publish an initial content piece – it’s vital to keep it up-to-date, as well. Search engines value up-to-date content.
Having current content also helps establish your credibility. Instead of writing a new blog post every time you find new information about your topic, update your current one.
Outreach
One key part of search engine optimization is backlinking. How many sites link back to your site? Are they also reputable sites?
To build backlinks, you can conduct outreach to other brands. Find a place in their content where it could connect to your content and vice versa and reach out! You will be helping each other grow.
SEMRush has a link building tool to help you track this process.
Conclusion
There are a host of free an paid AI writing tools out there to streamline your blog writing process. From creating entire blog posts to conducting keyword research, AI tools have changed the content creation process for good.
It will take some trial and error to determine what works best for you and your brand – there’s no “one-size-fits-all” solution when it comes to incorporating AI tools into your workflow, but now you have a solid starting point.
We are constantly auditing the latest and greatest AI tools. Check out our top AI text generators and these Jasper and Surfer SEO guides to get started on your AI blog writing journey! You’ll be able to write a blog post that delivers value and outranks your competition in no time.
