Anne Moss (Anat El Hashahar) is the CEO of Moss Digital Publishing. She blogs about web publishing on Yeys.com.
When the topic of using ChatGPT for websites comes up, most people think about harnessing this powerful AI chatbot to write articles. Based on my experience as a web publisher, that is a narrow approach that barely scratches the surface of its potential.
Large language models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT offer advanced capabilities, including a vast amount of knowledge, as well as reasoning skills. Whether you’re a large-scale web publisher or manage your own website, you can use these abilities to your advantage.
Here are a few ways I’ve been using ChatGPT in my business.
1. Organizing A Content Plan
A successful web publishing venture goes beyond excellent writing—it needs a well-organized content plan. Most of us scribble ideas in notebooks or use spreadsheets to track topics. But what if you could have an AI-powered brainstorming session?
With ChatGPT, you can flesh out topics, categorize them and even determine their relevance based on current industry trends. I’ve personally used ChatGPT to brainstorm video topics for my YouTube channel, and the AI provided topic ideas I hadn’t even considered!
Here’s a prompt to get you started.
“ChatGPT, I have a website about [insert your site’s topic]. I need ideas for new topics to write about and new categories to cover. Here is a list of my existing topics on the site [insert list here]. What topics would you suggest that we add to fully cover my site’s topic? Provide me with a concise list of topics and include a suggested category for each one.”
The new and different angles that came up from these brainstorming sessions helped me create a more robust content strategy.
2. Creating Brand Style Guidelines
Visual branding, known as “brand style guidelines,” is often a challenging aspect for many website owners. The plethora of decisions—choosing colors, fonts, graphics and a logo—can become overwhelming. This is where ChatGPT can step in to help you make informed decisions.
To get started, you can prompt ChatGPT like this.
“My business is about [insert business topic]. The business name is [insert business name]. Here is a description of my target audience: [insert succinct description of your audience]. Taking all of this into consideration, what would you suggest for my brand’s visual identity guidelines? Specify fonts and a color palette with hex codes.”
The paid version of ChatGPT Plus now includes Dalle-E 3, OpenAI’s image generator. Using ChatGPT to communicate with Dall-e, you can now generate images from textual descriptions. Using this extension, you can also receive visual prototypes based on your brand vision. While this won’t replace a professional designer’s expertise, it allows you to arrive at the designer’s table with a clearer understanding of what you want, saving both time and money.
3. Crafting A Traffic Strategy
In the ocean of digital content, getting eyes on your work can be challenging. Search engine optimization, social media, newsletters, it’s hard to know where to focus your efforts. Here, too, ChatGPT can help.
Remember, ChatGPT has been trained in pretty much everything, including marketing. It’s familiar with optimizing sites for Google, creating Facebook pages, crafting descriptions for Pinterest pins or creating a script for a YouTube video. ChatGPT can also advise you on which of these platforms would be best suited for reaching your specific audience.
Here’s a prompt to start the conversation.
“I have a website about [insert niche or industry]. I am looking to increase traffic to my website, and I need your help with identifying potential sources of traffic to my site. Let me know if you have any questions about my site that could help with brainstorming.”
While it may seem like a very general prompt, remember that it’s only a “conversation starter.” Use the chatbot’s reply to keep digging in and brainstorm together.
I experimented with this approach and was able to identify new platforms that could drive more organic traffic to my sites. Moreover, I continued working with ChatGPT to develop concrete and actionable plans for promoting each site on the various platforms.
4. Using Data For Content Strategy
“Data-driven” is more than just a buzzword; it’s a necessity. And ChatGPT now offers a feature called “Advanced Data Analysis.” Available only with ChatGPT Plus, this feature allows you to upload large spreadsheets and get the AI’s help with analyzing the information.
I took the plunge by uploading my Google Analytics stats to ChatGPT. The AI not only identified my most successful articles but also suggested how I could tweak my strategy for specific traffic sources like Facebook, Pinterest and Google by creating new topics to write about in the same vein as my most successful posts on the site. The insights were invaluable and helped me craft content that resonated better with each platform’s audience.
Final Considerations
In conclusion, I hope you found these suggestions helpful, but remember, they are only examples. Once you get the hang of working with AI, you can identify many other areas where it can help you. There are also a couple of issues to consider when working with ChatGPT on business ideas.
First, due to its nature as a chatbot, I have found that ChatGPT has a tendency to be a “crowd pleaser” and compliment me for my ideas. That’s why I prefer to ask open questions rather than set the tone of the conversation at the start with my own ideas. I want to avoid an echo chamber that could amplify my biases. You should nudge the AI into providing honest opinions and critiques rather than basking in its compliments.
Also, while AI can be a potent ally, remember that it is a tool, not a decision-maker. Always validate the suggestions and insights it provides, using other resources and your own opinions. The goal is not to replace human judgment but to complement it, making your web publishing venture more effective and engaging.
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