Blogging is undoubtedly one of the most effective ways to drive traffic and conversions, but it isn’t a cakewalk. It takes time and effort to create a good quality, impactful blog post. How much time does it take to write a blog post? An Orbit Media survey says it takes more than 4 hours to write a decent blog post, in 2022. That is 74% more time than what it took back in 2014. Probably because every day there’s more content getting added to the World Wide Web, and making a mark with your blog is getting tougher. So what do you do? Stick to the traditional ways and spend 4 to 8 hours on blog writing every week? Smart content marketers will use an AI blog writer instead which can significantly speed up this process.
Automated content generation with an AI blog writer can cut down the time you spend on content writing by almost 2x and help you scale content production to keep up with the competition.
How to use AI blog writers to speed up blog writing
Best practices for using AI blog writers effectively
How to measure the success of AI blog writers in your content creation process
Potential challenges of using AI blog writers
Benefits of using AI blog writers
What is an AI blog writer?
An AI blog writer is an artificial intelligence-powered tool that automatically generates content for your blog posts. These AI content generation tools are trained on large data sets to predict and suggest what words should come next in a sequence based on your initial text inputs.
To use an AI blog generator to create content, you need to provide some context. It could be your blog post title, a short summary, or a few sentences you want the tool to expand on. Different AI blog writing tools require different inputs but the idea is the same, to give the tool something to work with. Some tools, like Narrato’s AI writing assistant, need you to also define the tone and target audience persona to deliver more accurate outputs.
AI writers are great for creating short-form content like social posts, AI email writing, AI-generated article introductions and conclusions, etc. How then do they help you write content faster for your blog which is ideally long-form content? The answer is – by creating small sections, improving some of the existing content, and giving you a headstart when you feel stuck at some point. Blog writing AI is not meant to write entire blog posts for you but to make your job easier and faster with its assistance.
TL;DR here’s a quick video discussing the key points of this article.
How to use AI blog writers to speed up blog writing
As we mentioned above, an AI writer for blogs can help you with multiple things during your blog writing process. Though it is not a good idea to use AI to write articles from start to finish, you can definitely use them to craft some high-quality content for different sections or elaborate on your thoughts.
Here are the steps for using an AI blog generator efficiently in your content creation process.
1. Generate a blog topic idea
The first step in your blog writing process is deciding on a topic. But we know how difficult it is to come up with new ideas for every blog post. You may have something in mind, but wait, you’ve already written something very similar before. Or you get a brilliant idea and see that a very high authority site is already ranking for that topic and it’s near impossible to topple them. Brainstorming for blog topic ideas can take hours and you might still not end up with a great list.
This is where an AI blog topic generator can give you a push with new ideas you can work on. An AI content idea generator tool just requires you to enter a theme or a target keyword and gives you a list of related topic ideas. The topics may not always be ready to use as they appear, but they sure can get you out of your writer’s block and give you a base to start with.
Let’s try this with Narrato’s AI topic generator. Say we want to write a blog post around ‘how to start a content writing business‘. We enter the theme on the tool and here’s what it gives us.
You can see how many different ways to approach this topic this content ideation tool provides. Though they may not be complete titles to attract or engage the audience in themselves, they’re great ideas nonetheless. You can even create a topic cluster with these ideas.
For instance, if you’re thinking of building a cluster around content writing business, ‘Why Should You Start A Content Writing Business’, ‘How to Build a Blog For Your Content Writing Business’, etc. could be great topics to add. You can even pick the topics you like and add them to a project on Narrato.
2. Generate content briefs
Once you’ve picked a topic for your blog post, the next step where AI content writing tools can help you is in generating a content brief. A content brief is crucial to the blog as it tells the writer everything you expect to see in the final outcome. From SEO requirements to formatting guidelines, the content brief sets the framework for every blog post you create and bridges the gap between what you need and what your writers deliver.
But quite often even a seasoned content marketer would skip this step because creating a brief from scratch is time-consuming, and time is not always on their side. An AI content brief generator can make this activity a lot simpler by giving you something to start with.
The SEO content brief generator on Narrato, for instance, automatically generates comprehensive SEO briefs for your blog topics. It offers keyword suggestions, questions and topics to include, competitor links, ideal length of the post, and other SEO parameters. You can add to this brief by attaching your brand style guide or including more instructions for the writer under Note to Author.
Let’s pick the topic ‘How to Make A Website for Your Content Writing Business’ from the list above and generate a brief for it. We enter the title on the SEO content brief generator on Narrato and within a few seconds, the following brief is ready.
You can see the keywords along with keyword counts, suggested topics and questions, as well as other suggestions. You may also carry out additional research with a keyword research tool like Google Keyword Planner and modify this brief to add more keywords, questions, etc. if required. The best part here is that when this brief is attached to your blog content task on Narrato, the keyword counts automatically update as you start writing. This ensures that you don’t overuse or underuse any of the keywords.
Here’s an example of how it looks. You also get an SEO score for your content based on how well you’ve met the SEO requirements set by the brief.
Apart from what the content brief generator offers you, it is also important to carry out a little bit of research yourself. A good blog post must have some very valuable info such as examples, recent statistics, expert insights, etc. to make it truly useful to the audience. This will need some digging on your part and you cannot rely on a generative AI marketing tool to get you these resources.
You can, however, use something like ChatGPT in your research for initial suggestions. Since the tool offers the most logical answers it can find to your queries, it can give you some fodder for your research. Also, now with search engines like Bing running on next-gen OpenAI large language models including content and resources suggested by ChatGPT in your blog posts can be crucial. We have a detailed guide on how to use ChatGPT for content creation and research that you may find helpful.
Once your content research is done and your content brief is ready, you can move on to creating your blog post.
3. Generate an outline for the blog post
A good practice is to create an outline for your blog post before you start drafting it. This again requires some research and competitor analysis to decide on a suitable structure and decide on the subtopics to include. Though Narrato’s SEO briefs will give you some subtopic suggestions, you may need more. An AI blog writing tool that lets you automatically generate blog post outlines can make this step much faster, so you can get down to writing sooner.
An AI blog post writer usually requires the blog title to generate an outline. Some AI tools for content creation like the one on Narrato also ask you to define the tone of your blog post so it can generate an outline that’s aligned with your blog’s tone of voice.
We tried generating an outline on Narrato’s blog AI writer for the topic we picked before. Let’s see what we got out of it.
Not bad at all! We wouldn’t mind using this outline and probably adding a few more subheads to it based on what Google and competitor research throw at us.
The blog post outline use case on the AI article writer can also be used for generating some of your sectional outlines. This is particularly helpful if you’re planning to write a really long, in-depth blog post. Just use the section heading instead of the blog title and the AI blog writing tool will give you the subheadings/steps you can include in that section.
The idea is to make your blog post as comprehensive and information-rich as possible. When you are doing competitor research, find out if there are any questions on the topic, on your SEO brief or Google’s People Also Ask section, they haven’t answered in their blog. You would want to fill those gaps in knowledge to make your blog post more valuable. In short, try and enrich your blog outlines with insights gained from additional research.
If you’re not happy with the first blog post outline that the AI content generator offers you, you can always generate it again to see what else it can give. You can also get up to three variations of AI-generated content on Narrato, so don’t hesitate to experiment.
4. Write the blog post introduction
So now our blog post outline and sectional outlines are all ready and you sit down to write. But how do you start? We’re sure you will agree that starting a blog post is one of the toughest parts of blog writing. Once you’ve figured out how to introduce your topic and hook the audience, the rest of it usually comes naturally to a writer.
It is at times like these that the need for AI to write blog posts is felt the most. If you have an AI content writer to kickstart your writing, these creative blocks that most of us experience can be easily overcome.
Let’s generate an introduction for the blog post we’re working on from the previous sections using Narrato’s AI blog writing tool. You’re also required to define your audience in this use case, so that the tool can generate a more targeted introduction.
We love how the blog post intro begins. It’s true to the tone that we’ve defined and addresses the right audience. It is also engaging and to the point. Great start to a good blog post, and this is just the first variation we got. We can try out a few more variations and see if the AI writing tool can offer something even better.
You may also use this tool to generate sectional introductions as you go. This will significantly speed up the blog writing process for you as you don’t have to spend time thinking about how to start each section.
5. Craft actual sectional content with the AI blog writer
Blog writing AI can also help you add more content to the different sections of your blog post. Though it is important that you do your research and craft the blog post with valuable, original, and insightful content, using an AI blog writing tool now and then can be good for productivity.
Generate paragraphs and sectional content
You can use the AI blog writer to generate paragraphs or expand your sentences. Here’s an example of sectional content generated by the AI content writing tool on Narrato. We took the first subheading from the content outline generated above and applied the ‘Topic to Paragraph’ use case.
When creating these paragraphs or adding to existing content with an AI article writing tool, it is important to check that the flow of your content is not interrupted. It is also advisable to see if the AI blog generator has got your context and tone right. Though AI writing tools like Narrato’s will usually generate outputs that are aligned with the inputs you provide, it is always best to have some oversight when it comes to using AI-generated content in your blogs.
Sentence expander and ‘Write for Me’ use case
The AI blog writing tool on Narrato also has other use cases like the Sentence Expander, Write for Me, Paragraph from Outline, etc. that you can use to write or elaborate some sections of your blog post. The Write for Me use case for instance can go on adding to your content automatically. You may keep the parts you like and remove the ones you don’t.
Here’s how it works. All you need is some content on the editor to start with. Place the cursor where you want to add more content and click on Compose for the AI content generator to continue drafting. Take a look at the example below. All the highlighted content here is generated by the AI content writing tool using Write for Me.
Improve your content
Another important use case you can put your AI content generator to is for improving your text. You may have written a paragraph that you think could be written better, but you don’t know how. Or may be you’re writing a very technical and complex blog post where an AI blog generator cannot help much as the concepts are too complex for AI, but there are parts you’d like to paraphrase This is where the AI blog writer’s content improver or paraphrasing tool can help.
The content improver/ paraphrasing tool requires you to just supply the original text and define the tone. The AI writing tool will give you a paraphrased version of your input. You’re saving time and improving your content’s quality simultaneously. Ironic, but true.
Add Frequently Asked Questions
Answering your audience’s most important questions in your blog content is crucial for delivering value and building domain authority. Even if some of these questions cannot be accommodated within the blog post, it is a good idea to add a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section where you can address them.
But you may again think, that’s added effort. Blog writing is already time-consuming. Do you have more time to create an FAQ? If your AI blog writer has a QnA use case, this wouldn’t be much of a concern though.
The QnA use case lets you generate answers to your questions automatically, so you don’t have to spend too much time on research. So let’s say you pick a question from Narrato’s SEO content brief we generated in the beginning. Let’s see what answer the AI blog post writer offers us.
That’s surely usable. You might want to add some more insights of your own from your knowledge and expertise, but this can be a great base to work on.
6. Write the blog post conclusion
With your blog post almost done, it’s time to summarize your content and write a solid conclusion. This is again one of the less interesting steps as all you have to do is reiterate what you’ve said in the blog post, but it still takes time. Since it is almost a succinct paraphrasing of your content, an AI blog writer works perfectly in this case.
Here’s the conclusion to the blog post we’ve been drafting on Narrato’s AI blog post writer. We decided to generate more than 1 variation to see what we get, and we like them all.
We might even take some sentences from the different variations and add in a few tips and tricks to compose a solid conclusion to the blog post.
7. Create the SEO metadata
Last but not the least, don’t forget to add metadata for your AI-generated blog posts. The meta title and meta description are crucial for ranking in search. Your SEO meta title and meta description must include the primary keyword, be relevant to your blog post and match the audience search intent.
Narrato’s AI blog generator tool lets you generate SEO meta descriptions too. That means more time saved. All you have to do is enter your blog title and target keyword.
Here’s what we got for the AI-generated blog post we’ve been creating so far.
With this, your blog writing process is done. You’ve seen how an AI article writer can help you in different ways with your blog content strategy.
A little human oversight and some caution when using an AI writer for blogs is all it takes to create engaging and valuable content that can drive traffic and conversions for you.
Best practices for using an AI blog writer effectively
AI blog writers like the one on Narrato are usually very reliable and you can use them without worries. But implementing some best practices in using an AI writer for blogs will ensure that no errors or inaccuracies sneak into your AI-generated blog posts.
Here’s what you should take care of.
Provide descriptive and complete inputs – The output you get from your AI writer for blogs depends on what inputs you’re providing. Make sure that your input text is correct, true to the context and message of your blog post, and as descriptive as it can be. You also need to define your tone and audience for better outcomes, so make sure you only choose an AI blog post writer that lets you define these criteria.
Use AI writers for sections, not entire articles – An AI article writing tool or blog writing tool, though named so, is not meant for generating entire articles end to end. While it could be an interesting experiment, your audience may easily notice the difference between an article crafted by a real writer and an AI writer. There is also a risk of getting caught by AI content detectors and that is not something you’d want. Use AI to write blog posts in sections or to improve your content, but don’t rely entirely on it.
Always proofread and fact-check AI-generated content – This is an indispensable obligation you have towards your audience and your brand. AI-generated blog posts, though accurate most of the time, may have errors sometimes. It all depends on the data they have been trained on. If the source data itself has errors, it could reflect in the tool’s output as well. So make sure that you always proofread and fact-check your blog posts.
How to measure the success of an AI blog writer in your content creation process
Now you’ve worked hard to create each blog post. Even if you are taking the assistance of AI writers, it is still effort-intensive and you want to make sure you see results. Moreover, you need to know if your investment in the AI writer for blogs has been worthwhile.
For this, track metrics like your blog traffic, CTRs and impressions of your different blog posts, etc. Observe the data and trends over the past few months to see if there has been any improvement since you started using AI to write articles. If you are seeing an uptick, you’re on the right track. If not, you will probably have to revisit your strategy and make some changes to make the AI blog writing process more efficient.
Potential challenges of using an AI blog writer
Content marketers can make some AI content creation mistakes that could be bad for their search rankings and reputation alike. When it comes to the potential challenges of using AI to write blog posts, here are a few you must be aware of.
Concerns around the quality and accuracy of content – If you’re using a reliable and trusted AI article writing tool like Narrato, there’s nothing to worry about. But other less trustworthy tools could bring in quality issues or trouble with content accuracy. That’s why we’ve recommended that you fact-check your AI-generated blog posts every time. If you do notice inaccuracies or factual errors often, it’s probably time to switch to a better blog AI writer.
The potential impact on creativity and originality – A huge risk with relying on AI to write articles is that it could impact your writing skills. Because it is so quick and easy to create blog posts with AI writing tools, you may use them more often than you originally planned to. You become more reliant on them, but at the same time, you stop honing your writing abilities or polishing your creativity. To avoid this, make sure that you use the AI blog writer only as an assistant and not as a replacement for a real writer.
Ethical considerations in using AI in content creation – You must remember that your AI writing tool is only a machine and it works on what it is fed. It does not always understand the nuances of cultural or ethical considerations as a human writer would. So it is possible that it may generate outputs that do not meet your ethical standards sometimes. There could be biased data, copyright infringement, etc. depending on what data the tool is trained on. Human oversight is essential in this regard too. You must use your judgment to decide whether the AI-generated content is good to use or needs some work.
Benefits of using an AI blog writer
Don’t let the potential challenges bog you down, though. Because there are more benefits than challenges in using AI to write blog posts. Here are some convincing ones.
- Increased speed of content creation
- Improved consistency and quality of content
- Reduction in the workload of content marketers/creators
- Increased productivity and efficiency
- More time for strategic planning and engagement with the audience
Wrapping up
We’re excited to see how these AI blog writers continue to evolve, and how they can be used to streamline the content creation process. If you’re looking for a way to make your blog content creation process smoother and faster, AI blog writing tools (and some other AI tools like AI image generators) might be worth a try. They can be of huge help, but it’s essential that you manually review the content they produce before you publish it. Use your human intellect and discretion, because that’s what separates us from them. Your skills and expertise combined with the AI blog writer’s efficiency can do wonders for your blog marketing efforts.
