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How to Use ChatGPT to Write an Article

Write an Article Based on a Video or Other Content

You can prompt ChatGPT to write an article for you based on authoritative information in your space. The best way to make sure ChatGPT writes accurate information is to feed it accurate information. To that end, this set of commands will help you write an article in 5 minutes based on a YouTube video or another article.

First, a couple tips:

  • Use your knowledge of your niche. It’s up to you to select a trustworthy source YouTube video or article that will be helpful to your audience.
  • You may need to use the paid version of ChatGPT for best results. I’ve found that ChatGPT Plus allows me to share 2,000+ words of text with ChatGPT, and ChatGPT is still able to understand and remember all of it. This is essential for this process to work. In the past, the free version seemed limited to about 500 words of text. I don’t know whether the free version is still limited to 500 words or not. (Sorry about that!) Even if I did know, OpenAI would probably change how the app works by the time you read this.
  • Enhance your output. Using this method, your output from ChatGPT will test as free of plagiarism. However, it is still best to add additional information to your article to enhance your initial ChatGPT output. See the last step in this section – “Enhance Your Content” – for tips on how you can accomplish this. 🙂

Prompt ChatGPT to Write an Article Based on a YouTube Transcript

Please write the first couple sections for an article based exclusively on the video transcript below. Be direct and concise, but dive into details. Use a personal tone with “you” language. Write in the style of blogger Brian Dean. Use short paragraphs for easy readability. Change the wording so we don’t plagiarize the source material. Make the headlines somewhat catchy and intriguing while still concisely communicating what each section is about.

[Paste first part of YouTube video transcript.]

If ChatGPT doesn’t fully cover the video transcript, just write the prompt:

Continue.

Hit enter and ChatGPT will continue drafting your article.

For Videos Over 9 Minutes, Use This Additional Prompt

Chat GPT 3.5 and 4.0 have trouble writing material if you give it more than 1,700 words of source text. So, if you have want ChatGPT to write an article based on a YouTube video longer than 9 minutes, break the YouTube transcript into multiple sections.

Here’s what to do:

  1. Paste the first prompt provided above into ChatGPT (“Please write the first couple sections of the article…”) . Press Shift-Enter twice to create a line break without submitting your prompt.
  2. Go to YouTube. Find a break point about 7-8 minutes into the video where the video completes a train of thought. Copy the first part of the transcript. Paste it into ChatGPT.
  3. Hit enter, and ChatGPT will generate text for the first part of your article. If needed, prompt ChatGPT to “continue” until Chat covers all the material in your video.
  4. Copy the prompt below into ChatGPT. Press Shift-Enter twice to create a line break without submitting your prompt.
  5. Copy the second part of the video transcript. Paste it into ChatGPT. Press enter to run the prompt.

Write one or more more new sections that will go before the conclusion. Base those sections on the new video transcript below. Be direct and concise, but dive into details. Use a personal tone with “you” language. Write in the style of blogger Brian Dean. Use short paragraphs for easy readability. Change the wording so we don’t plagiarize the source material. Make the headlines somewhat catchy and intriguing while still concisely communicating what each section is about.

[Paste second part of YouTube video transcript.]

Prompt ChatGPT to Write Titles and Metadata

Once ChatGPT writes your article conclusion, paste the following command into ChatGPT.

Write 5 alternative catchy intriguing titles for the article, capitalized in MLA format.
Next, write a keyword targeted URL slug.
Next, write a concise list of 5-10 keyword tags for this post.
Next, write a meta description for the article. Use 3 to 5 sentences.
Finally, write a SEO optimized JPG title for the featured image.

Optional Outline Prompt

If you prefer, you can prompt ChatGPT to write a blog post outline from a YouTube video:

Make an outline for an article based on this video. The outline should consist of simply a catchy H1 heading (article title), catchy H2 headings (for each section heading), and H3 headings (subheadings) as needed.

[Paste YouTube video transcript.]

Enhance Your Content

This sequence of commands will produce a phenomenal first draft that you can work from. But a good article will use information from multiple sources. It will summarize lots of relevant information, personalize the information for your audience, and add helpful resources to help your audience use the information they just read.

So what can you do to enhance your first draft? Here are some tips!

  • Use ChatGPT to write additional details using additional sources. You can add more information about a subtopic by feeding ChatGPT more information on that subtopic using another article or video transcript, asking ChatGPT to summarize the article in 3 paragraphs, and then pasting that new information into your article.
  • Personalize your introduction and conclusion to relate to your audience. Think about your customer avatar or ideal target customer, then write a few sentences just like you’re writing an email to that person.
  • Add an infographic. You can insert a pre-existing infographic and link to it, or you can hire an artist on Fiverr to make an infographic based on your article. An infographic can intrigue users and encourage them to read the article after they see the infographic. This is a great way to reduce your bounce rate.
  • Cite your sources. Use outbound links to authoritative websites. Even if you’re guest posting, a good website will approve links to quality sources like The Atlantic, Harvard Business Review, Statista, or a highly ranked website in your niche.
  • Add an FAQ at the bottom of the article. Write 5 questions and answers to help your article rank in the Google Answer Box.
  • Add a template, cheat sheet, process roadmap, script, or tutorial. Think about what would help your audience implement the advice they just read. Search Google, Google Images, or YouTube for an appropriate resource. Either link out to that resource or use ChatGPT to create a derivative resource to include in your article. You can advertise this resource in your article title to boost your click-through rate.
  • Edit your final article. Make sure it reads naturally and transitions smoothly from section to section.

Spend an hour to enhance your article, and you’ll vastly increase your chances of ranking on Page 1 of Google. In my experience, this makes the difference between an article that gets 5 views a month versus 100 or 2,000 views a month.

Alternatively, Write an Article Using ChatGPT’s Knowledge

When I first started using ChatGPT, I relied on ChatGPT’s own knowledge to craft articles. The problem with this process is that a chatbot’s knowledge is based on millions of sources on the Internet. Some of these sources will contain false information, outdated advice, or irrelevant content.

I have since started using the new process (described above) where I ask ChatGPT to generate new content based on source content.

Just in case my original process is still helpful, I’ve preserved it below for future reference.

Use what works for you!

Below is a summary of my writing process, plus the exact commands I gave ChatGPT to write my article.

Make a List of Your Target Keywords

Type your topic into Google. Open Keywords Everywhere, and copy all of the related searches it suggests.

Tell ChatGPT:

Please remove duplicates from the following list:

[paste your list of keywords from Keywords Anywhere]

Output:

ChatGPT will give you a list of keyword phrases with duplicates removed.

Outline Your Article

Tell ChatGPT:

Those are common Google searches that people run related to the topic of signing a commercial lease. I’m writing an article that I would like to rank for those search queries. So it would be good to incorporate close matches or direct matches in some of my article headings.

Can you write 7-8 H2 headings and 20+ H3 headings for this article: “What to Know Before Signing a Commercial Lease”?

Please place the H3 headings under the appropriate H2 headings so that I can get an outline of the whole article. For example, an H2 heading might have 2 to 4 H3 headings underneath it.

Please avoid duplicate headings. Please come up with a logical flow for a comprehensive article on this topic.

Output:

ChatGPT will give you an outline for your article.

Write an Introduction to Your Article

Tell ChatGPT:

Can you please write a short introduction to this article? Preview the article’s content in the introduction. Be concise. Use “you” language but do not refer to “me” or “I”. Vary your sentence length. Write short paragraphs. Be slightly informal. Our target audience is business professionals ages 25 to 65.

Output:

ChatGPT will give you a short introduction to your article.

Write an Introduction to the First Section of Your Article

Tell ChatGPT:

Now please write an introduction to go underneath the H2 heading, Introduction to Commercial Leases. Use the same best practices I described earlier.

Output:

ChatGPT will give you an introduction to your article’s first section.

If the introduction is too long, tell ChatGPT:

Can you cut about 30% of that? I’d like to be more concise.

Write the First Part of Your Article’s Body Content

Tell ChatGPT:

Please write the article section that begins with the H3 heading, “What is a Commercial Lease?”. Stay focused on this specific topic; don’t go broad. Please optimize the content for maximum search engine rankings. Use “you” language but do not refer to “me” or “I”. Focus on providing valuable information; don’t include anything that sounds like a sales pitch. Include stats only if they are verified. Vary your sentence length. Write short paragraphs. Be slightly informal. Our target audience is business professionals ages 25 to 65. No need for introductions or conclusions; I just want the essential content. Please also avoid repetition with other sections you’ve written.

Output:

ChatGPT will write the content to go under your first H3 heading.

Write the Next Part of Your Article’s Body Content

Tell ChatGPT:

Please write the article section that begins with the H3 heading, “Types of Commercial Leases”. Stay focused on this specific topic; don’t go broad. Please optimize the content for maximum search engine rankings. Use “you” language but do not refer to “me” or “I”. Focus on providing valuable information; don’t include anything that sounds like a sales pitch. Include stats only if they are verified. Vary your sentence length. Write short paragraphs. Be slightly informal. Our target audience is business professionals ages 25 to 65. No need for introductions or conclusions; I just want the essential content. Please also avoid repetition with other sections you’ve written.

Output:

ChatGPT will write the content to go under your second H3 heading.

Keep Going!

Now, just keep going to write the rest of your article.

Copy and paste the same command to “Please write the article section…”, only swap out the name of the H3 heading.

Now continue this process until you fill out your whole article outline.

Paste your content as you go into a Google Doc so that you don’t lose work. (ChatGPT has been known to crash due to server overload.)

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