Should You Use AI to Write Website Content
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AI seems to have exploded into our consciousness over the last new months. Suddenly AI is the answer for everything from writing content to editing photos to making art. Now that we have this powerful tool at our disposal, how should we use it?
Can you use AI to write website content? Absolutely you can, with a few well chosen prompts, AI kicks out paragraphs of ready written text. It can be an enticing to just copy and paste that text into your blog post, social media caption, or web page. But by doing so, you remove the element that is the key part of your business’s USP (unique selling point): you.
Understanding How AI Works
AI operates by scouring databases for information. There’s a lot of information available out there so what it send back to a prompt is only as good as what was put in and it presents the most general, middle-of-the-road responses. So if you’re trying to set your business apart from everyone else, going to the same source as everyone else is not the way to do it.
Putting AI to the Test
For example, I wanted to put together instructions on how to update a Squarespace website. It was a daunting task for me so I decided to see what AI had to say. To the prompt “Give me basic instructions for updating a Squarespace website” I received 7 bullet points with instructions such as:
- Click on the text, images, or other elements you want to update and make the necessary changes. Use the formatting options available to customize the appearance of your content.
- If you wish to change the overall design of your SquareSpace website, look for options like “Design” or “Style” in the website editor. You can usually choose from pre-designed templates or modify the existing design elements such as fonts, colors, and layouts.
It was giving me the most obvious, general info and none of it was helpful for providing the point-by-point instructions that I needed. Perhaps I didn’t input the right prompt but somehow I feel that the work that goes into finding the right prompt would have been the same amount of effort that would go into writing the guide to begin with.
AI as Writing Prompt
However, if you find yourself with writer’s block, AI is a great starting point. Here are some recent searches I made and how they turned out:
- I asked AI for ten taglines for an independent marketing consultant. None of the taglines were compelling on their own– they sounded very generic– but I was able to take a part of one and add my own thoughts to come up with something that worked.
- My request to AI for a mission statement for an online creative group, produced 300 words of high-level concepts of inspiration, creativity and empowerment which sounded professional. But what I was looking for was a statement in more friendly, personable language. In the end, I ended up re-writing the mission statement using my own words.
In Its Own Words
Just out of curiosity, I asked Chat GPT “Should you use AI to write website content.” Most points it came up with talked about the amount and speed of text AI could produce but, this point really does say it best:
Understanding your audience and creating personalized, engaging content is crucial for website success. AI may struggle to capture the nuances and emotional appeal that human writers can provide. Human-generated content may be better suited for connecting with your audience on a deeper level.
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