If you are here reading this or watching the video, then you're seeking any edge that you can find to create content faster for your site or your clients. I personally think this technique could be just about the fastest way to create quality content.
Dictation is one of those tools many overlook because it's so simple. I have used dictation for content creation several times in the past with outstanding results. In fact, I have a whole guide dedicated to dictation here.
Dictation is the word-for-word writing process that involves speaking into a microphone and transcribed it into a written form. Dictating is fast if the person doing the dictation can speak clearly and move smoothly from one sentence to another. And many dictation programs "learn" the speaker over time to become more capable of understanding the speaker's voice and language — leading to more accurate text transcription.
In fact, this guide itself has been created using dictation and AI. The dictation part is built into macOS, Windows, and also most mobile devices as well. Then let ShortlyAI complete your thoughts.
"Blast through" a rough first draft
Remember, you're not publishing your content directly from the moment you speak into the mic. There's plenty of time to edit. Don't waste time trying to stop and edit during the writing phase. Let the dictation do its part, and the AI add more to the article.
You still "dance" with your AI partner the same as you would if you typed the text yourself. Where are you will say your part, and then let the AI finish your thoughts.
I think starting with a good introduction and then creating an outline, followed by filling in the contents within the outline — all without much editing — will create your first rough draft the fastest. Of course, you should do things how are you are most comfortable — this is just a suggestion.
Work fast, dictate, let the AI write, dictate, let the AI write more — sprinkle in some /commands to get more out of the AI. Remember, the AI isn't going to write everything for you automatically. It's your assistant — be the boss.
Use Shortly's commands
At first glance, you can see the "write for me" button, and it would be easy to assume that's the way to use Shortly the most. And I suppose it is, but you should also be using the /commands to make the most of your time.
Check the cheat sheet for a list of the commands. Become comfortable with them and fit them into your workflow. As I like to refer to them, the refine commands are shorten, rewrite, and expand. Use these to make tweaks to the existing content within your article.
Then use the instruct command to add specific requests into your article. Such as /instruct [write an answer target for how do honeybees find their way home] (more on answer targets here).
I find it easiest to think of shorten, rewrite, and expand as tools to perform work on the existing text where instruct is all about adding new content into your document — as if you had asked your AI assistance to craft something specific for your needs.
The new /instruct keyboard shortcut in ShortlyAI
The real power here is from the new shortcut for using /instruct — where are you can now use CMD+ENTER to run to command on the highlighted text. This allows you to keep in the flow of creating content without having to type out the commands. So you can get into a real good rhythm and crank out articles faster than you probably have before.
All the commands in Shortly have keyboard shortcuts. Again, refer to the cheat sheet for the keys to use. Here they are in a quick summary:
- Shorten = CMD+[
- Rewrite = CMD+P
- Expand = CMD+]
- Instruct = CMD+Enter on highlighted text (if you don't highlight anything, CMD+Enter will trigger "write for me")
Once your first draft is done, it's time to edit — and there are some added things to consider during edits due to the dictation process.
Edit the transcription and the AI's work
Once you have the rough draft ready, it's time to edit. Since you didn't type the content yourself, there is some extra editing to do. You might notice that the service didn't quite get it right during transcription from your voice to text.
Especially with words that sound similar such as right and write, or facts and fax. I recommend going through to fix those words and phrases first. Then do your normal editing using something such as Grammarly.
I find using Grammarly to be important because it not only catches the technical mistakes of writing, but their AI also now improves the clarity and tone of your writing as well. And this is important when using AI to write because it tends to add many extra words — and Grammarly can clean this up easily.
And, of course, always check the AI's work for consistency, facts, and plagiarism.
SEO and publish
After you're done editing, the next steps are up to you. If you want to do some SEO optimization, I recommend an AI tool called Frase to help you find gaps in the content you created — in comparison to the competition already ranking for the search term you'd expect your readers to find your article with.
Then it's publishing time. Depending on which platform your website is hosted, you may consider adding some markdown to your article to help speed the formatting of text on your site.
But other than that, was this a record-setting speed run of content creation for you?
Summary
In closing, I believe dictation + AI (Shortly, Frase, and Grammarly combined) create quite an amazing creation workflow. You'll breeze through articles once you get the hang of it — and coincidentally, the voice/tone of the article will "sound" more like your voice. 🙂
Make use of Shortly's commands and get used to the "dance" with your AI writing assistance. Once you're comfortable with that — and don't forget the /// context cutoff ruler — you'll be a content machine.
I hope you found this guide helpful, take care.