Raise your hand if your AI-generated content is flat, basic, and feels about as engaging as a DMV manual. 🙋♀️
Yup, we’ve all been there!
Here are six reasons your AI-generated content sounds dull—and what you can do to make it shine.
You’ve accidentally copied someone’s content.
Here’s a real-life example that could have happened to me…
I asked ChatGPT to generate 50 AI/SEO writing community names. Some were okay, and others were awful.
And then there was one that stood out: Content Mavericks. What a cool name!
The problem? It was already taken.
Had I gone with the name without checking Google first — or even mentioned it as a possibility — I would’ve looked like a total dumbass, confused my audience, and understandably pissed off the people behind the Content Mavericks brand.
It would have been easy to do if I was working fast and not checking my work.
If you (or your writers) use AI to brainstorm headlines, product names, community names, or anything else, always confirm that your choice isn’t already in use.
Double-check everything, just in case.
Your company doesn’t need that reputation hit.
Here’s another way unedited AI content can come back to bite you…
Your content contains incorrect information.
I’ve seen ChatGPT pull testimonials and clients out of thin air, spit out incorrect client information, make up statistics, and even add up numbers incorrectly.
I’ve discussed before how ChatGPT listed Rolls Royce as a past client.
I’ll ask for a 50-75 word summary and get 90 words.
It’s easy to let this slide if you’re working fast and on a deadline—after all, ChatGPT sounds authoritative, and we may feel it gets it right “most of the time.”
Just remember, publishing incorrect information is one sure way to tank your site’s trust (and your company’s reputation).
Fact-check every link, statistic, and source. Yes, it will take additional time. But just because ChatGPT sounds authoritative doesn’t mean it’s correct.
And having incorrect content on your site is a sure way to blow your online reputation.
After all, how can clients trust you to help them if your content isn’t trustworthy?
Speaking of trust…
AI content doesn’t have E-E-A-T (by itself).
Although Expertise, Experience, Authority, and Trust (E-E-A-T) aren’t Google ranking factors, the top-positioned pages tend to have a unique perspective, differ substantially from other sources, and provide valuable and accurate information.
What pops out of GenAI only looks unique on the surface. Peer under the hood, and it’s a mishmash of other people’s content and points of view. By definition, GenAI content can’t include experience or showcase your expertise.
Only you can do that.
Yes, you can get a decent first draft out of ChatGPT. But you’ll also want to spice up the content with personal anecdotes, statistics, opinions, predictions, unique takes, and a “do this next” list.
Taking this step makes your content more valuable to prospects who want to learn more about you. While your generic content may not grab their attention, outlining in your blog post how you handled a client’s past issue may seal the deal.
Have you ever had ChatGPT give you content that’s so basic the only cure is rewriting it? It may be because…
Your prompt is too general.
Blog posts that scream, “Download these 101 AI Prompts” don’t include a necessary disclaimer…
The prompts are starting points. Not THE prompt that will write the perfect competitive analysis and craft standout content.
Think of AI prompts like a basic vegetable soup recipe. If you only use the suggested ingredients, the soup will taste okay…but missing something.
Sprinkling detailed seasonings into the prompt and asking ChatGPT or Claude, “Ask me if anything is unclear,” can give you the full-flavored content you want.
For instance, spice up your prompt with details including:
- Audience demographics/psychographics
- Desired action
- Brand voice
- Content goals
- Keyphrases
Boom! Suddenly, your basic vegetable soup is a mouthwatering minestrone. 🍲
For instance, one prompt I found online suggested [Write five social media posts for X company.]
That’s fine, but…it doesn’t provide any context about the target audience, call to action, or monthly theme—anything that could better dial in the content.
Here’s one of the responses for a fictional life coaching company.
Now, let’s add some spicy details to our prompt and see what we get:
[You are a high-level social media content creator writing February’s Facebook posts. Please develop five posts between 50-75 words, making Valentine’s Day the subject of two posts. Signing up for our Life Unleashed coaching program is the subject of one email and one email encouraging people to sign up for our Happy Bytes life coaching newsletter. The target audience is women aged 35-55 who want to “fall in love with themselves” this month. Make the tone and feel inspiring and encouraging.]
Do you see the difference between the two responses? Sure, I’d still tweak the second post – but what’s there is richer and more descriptive.
And yes, sometimes creating a prompt takes more time than just writing the damn content. If you’ll need the prompt again (for instance, swapping out St. Patrick’s Day for Valentine’s Day), write the prompt.
But what if you write a killer prompt, but the output is still meh? Maybe it’s because…
You haven’t trained it in your brand voice.
I created a GPT for a small business client (Hi Tess) so she could write newsletters, respond to emails, and write customer response texts faster. She’s a great writer with an engaging, personal style – but writing isn’t her core competency.
She tried ChatGPT in the past, but the content didn’t sound like her. Between no time, no incentive to write, and crappy ChatGPT content, she put her emails on the back burner.
Since every email she sends generates income, she’s losing money—every month.
When we sat down to test the “Tess Mini-Me,” she was amazed at how the GPT could generate the base content, pull in her product information, link to her website – and, most importantly, make the content sound like her. She kept repeating, “This is life-changing,” over and over.
Sure, it sounds cool to have ChatGPT “write like Hemingway” or emulate your favorite writer.
But wouldn’t it be cooler if it could sound like you write – and make editing the content easier and faster?
According to Tess:
“What used to take me forever now gets done in a fraction of the time, and it still sounds like me. It’s like having a personal assistant who never takes a day off and actually understands what I need.”
Her quote makes me smile.
Your AI content doesn’t have to suck.
But that means YOU (or your writers) smooth out the rough edges and comb through the details.
Just as you wouldn’t upload a rough draft from a copywriter, don’t look at the first AI draft and say, “Yup, we’re good.”
Review your content for accidental copying, factual errors, or brand voice misalignment. Make those strategic edits to let your E-E-A-T shine through.
Then, uplevel your prompts with those flavorful ‘seasonings’ and put in the work to train your AI on your unique voice.
The results will be SO worth it!
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