CRAFT AI Writing Framework for Writing Better Content with AI

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” — Nelson Mandela

If you write content, whether it’s email, blogs, posts, tweets, LinkedIn, etc. you need to read this.

If you use AI you need to read this so you can transform AI content into something worth reading.

Leaders are readers, and often writers, too, and in the Age of AI, that means a lot of AI generated and augmented content.

By default, AI generated content is an instant turnoff for many readers, because of the fluff and the flowery words.

You need a framework if you use AI for writing or you augment your writing with AI.

That’s where Julia McCoy and her framework, C.R.A.F.T comes in.

C.R.A.F.T. stands for: Cut the fluff, Review, Add media, Fact-check, Trust-build.

By using C.R.A.F.T., you can create higher quality AI content that is clear and compelling.

From experience, I can say Julia’s framework is a smart way to write better content with AI and add that human touch.

Let’s dive in…

About Julia McCoy

Julia McCoy is President of Content at Scale, which fuels the production of over 50M words per month.

That’s an amazing amount of content!

Here’s how Julia explains her role:

“Part of my role (and why I actually took it) is, I want to help pioneer change, bust the myths, and guide marketing as a whole to adapt to AI in a healthy, high-integrity way.

WITHOUT losing touch with the art of writing.

WITHOUT losing our best talent.

WITHOUT publishing awful content that doesn’t have personality, sense, style, or tone.”

From SEO Writers to AI Optimization Writers

At Content at Scale, they believe the content space has dramatically shifted.

The days of the SEO writer are gone.

The future is what Julia calls AI Optimization (AIO) writers.

The idea is making AI content better, making it personalized, and adding in human touch,

What is the C.R.A.F.T AI Writing Framework?

The C.R.A.FT. framework is for writing, creating, and optimizing better AI content.

When you skip the process of adding in your personal experience, that’s how bad content happens.

The CRAFT AI writing framework outlines a process for editing and optimizing content created with AI tools to ensure it’s clear, human-quality, and impactful.

Here’s a breakdown of the key steps:

1. Cut the Fluff (C):

• Eliminate unnecessary words and phrases that don’t add value to the content.
• Focus on delivering information concisely and with clarity.

2. Review, Edit & Optimize (R):

• Review the overall structure and flow of the content.
• Ensure headings and subheadings are clear and guide readers effectively.
• Optimize for search engines (SEO) by including relevant keywords naturally.

3. Add Visuals, Images, or Media (A):

• Incorporate visuals like images, infographics, or videos to break up text and enhance reader engagement.

4. Fact-Check (F):

• Verify the accuracy of all information presented in the content.
• Double-check facts, statistics, and claims against reliable sources.

5. Trust-Build with Personal Story, Tone, & Links (T):

• Weave in personal stories or anecdotes to connect with readers on an emotional level.
• Maintain a consistent and engaging tone of voice that aligns with your brand or content goals.
• Include links to credible sources to support claims and add depth to your content.

By following these steps, you can transform AI-generated content into polished, informative, and trustworthy pieces that resonate with your audience.

Embrace Google’s E-E-A-T

The acronym “E-E-A-T,” stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.

• Google’s E-E-A-T, is a set of criteria mentioned in Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines.
• These guidelines help human Quality Raters evaluate and determine the quality of content available on the web.
• While E-E-A-T itself is not a direct ranking factor that Google’s algorithm uses to rank content in search results, it plays a crucial role in shaping Google’s understanding of high-quality content.

The whole point of E-E-A-T is to make better content for humans that they want to read.

You improve your content by demonstrating Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness in your content.

How To Embrace E-E-A-T

Here’s how you can embrace E-E-A-T, which stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, to improve your website’s ranking and credibility in search engine results:

Expertise:

• Demonstrate Knowledge: Create high-quality content that showcases your in-depth understanding of your niche. Back up your claims with facts, statistics, and research from reputable sources.
• Highlight Author Credentials: If you have subject matter experts contributing content, showcase their qualifications (education, experience, certifications) to establish their expertise.
• Focus on Value: Provide valuable content that solves problems, answers questions, and educates your audience.

Authoritativeness:

• Build Backlinks: Secure high-quality backlinks from reputable websites in your niche. This indicates to search engines that other authorities recognize your website as a trusted source.
• Guest Posting: Contribute guest articles to established websites in your industry. This allows you to share your expertise with a wider audience and gain valuable backlinks.
• Brand Mentions: Encourage mentions of your brand name or website in online publications, social media, and industry discussions. This helps to establish your authority.

Trustworthiness:

• Transparency: Be transparent about your website’s ownership and purpose. Clearly display contact information and make it easy for users to reach you.
• Accuracy: Ensure the information you present is accurate, up-to-date, and free from factual errors. Cite your sources properly and avoid misleading or deceptive content.
• Security: Make sure your website is secure with a valid SSL certificate to protect user data and build trust.
• Positive Online Reputation: Monitor your online reputation and address any negative feedback promptly and professionally.

Additional Tips:

• Focus on User Experience: Create a user-friendly website with clear navigation, mobile responsiveness, and fast loading times. This signals to search engines that you prioritize user experience.
• Maintain Fresh Content: Regularly update your website with fresh content to keep users engaged and demonstrate your ongoing expertise.
• Engage with Your Audience: Respond to comments, questions, and reviews. Fostering a community around your website demonstrates trust and transparency.

By implementing these strategies, you can demonstrate E-E-A-T to search engines and build a website that users perceive as a reliable and valuable source of information.

This can lead to improved search engine rankings, increased website traffic, and greater credibility in your industry.

Write for Humans

Write for Humans encapsulates an approach to creating content that resonates deeply with people, prioritizing clarity, relevance, and emotional connection over technical perfection or algorithm optimization.

This philosophy emphasizes understanding your audience’s needs, interests, and challenges, crafting messages that speak directly to them in a language that’s both accessible and engaging.

It’s about telling stories that inspire, inform, and empower, using authentic voice and empathy to build trust and foster a genuine connection.

Writing for humans means putting the reader at the heart of your communication, ensuring that every piece of content, whether a blog post, an email, or social media update, adds real value to their lives and encourages positive action.

In this way, content becomes more than information.

It becomes a means to support, educate, and uplift your audience.

Use Conversational Writing Over Formal Writing

I grew up at Microsoft writing technical content.  I had to make a shift if I wanted to impact more lives.

This is perhaps one of the greatest pieces of advice I ever ready on why write in a more conversational way.

The original article is called Conversational writing kicks formal writing’s ass, by Kathy Sierra.

Here’s a breakdown of the big ideas:

Write Everything in a Conversational Way:

Kathy writes:

“If you want people to learn and remember what you write, say it conversationally.

This isn’t just for short informal blog entries and articles, either.

We’re talking books.

Assuming they’re meant for learning, and not reference, books written in a conversational style are more likely to be retained and recalled than a book on the same topics written in a more formal tone.

Most of us know this intuitively, but there are some studies to prove it.

Your sixth grade English teacher warned you against writing the way you talk, but she was wrong.

Partly wrong, anyway.

Then again, we aren’t talking about writing the way you talked when you were 12.

Or even the way you talk when you’re rambling.”

Write the Way You Talk, but Write the Way You Wish You Said It:

Kathy writes:

“What most people mean when they say ‘write the way you talk’ is something like, ‘the way you talk when you’re explaining something to a friend, filtering out the ‘um’, ‘you know’, and ‘er’ parts, and editing for the way you wish you’d said it.’

So why aren’t more technical books or articles written this way?

One computer book author (who hates my books) sent me an email saying, “With your books, you want people to have fun” (he said it like that was a bad thing, but that’s a different issue).

‘But with my books, I have a reputation as a consultant to think about, and I want people to have the impression of, ‘listen carefully, because I’m only going to say this once.'”

Whatever.”

Write in a Conversational Style So Your Book Can Be Read and Learned From

Kathy writes:

“I’ve talked about the danger of writing a book from the perspective of what it will do for you vs. what it means for the user in How to write a non-fiction bestseller.

Unless the book is a reference book, where precision matters over understanding, and the writing is meant to be referred to not read and learned from, there are almost NO good reasons for a tech book to be written in a formal (i.e. non-conversational) style.

Much of the time, it’s an indication that the author is thinking way too much about himself, and how he will be perceived. (Or she, of course, but to be perfectly sexist here–this does seem to be more of a guy thing–the “I’m more technically serious than thou” phenomenon.)

Sometimes it’s simply because so many technical books are written that way, and it’s just conventional inertia (“if the other books are written like that, and they sell, this must be the way it’s done”).

Other times, it’s the author’s of way of showing respect for both the topic and the reader–a valid goal, but an ineffective (and unneeded) approach.”

Studies Show Users Fight Back Against Painfully Dry Books

Kathy writes:

“And now we know that it’s usually wrong, and users/readers are starting to fight back against painfully dry books, no matter how technically pure the content.

A study from the Journal of Educational Psychology, issue 93 (from 2000), looked at the difference in effectiveness between formal vs. informal style in learning. In their studies, the researchers (Roxana Moreno and Richard Mayer) looked at computer-based education on botany and lightning formation and “compared versions in which the words were in formal style with versions in which the words were in conversational style.”

Their conclusion was:
“In five out of five studies, students who learned with personalized text performed better on subsequent transfer tests than students who learned with formal text.

Overall, participants in the personalized group produced between 20 to 46 percent more solutions to transfer problems than the formal group.”

They mention other related, complimentary studies including:

“… people read a story differently and remember different elements when the author writes in the first person (from the “I/we” point of view) than when the author writes in the third person (he, she, it, or they). (Graesser, Bowers, Olde, and Pomeroy, 1999). Research summarized by Reeves and Nass (1996) shows that, under the right circumstances, people “treat computers like real people.”

So one of the theories on why speaking directly to the user is more effective than a more formal lecture tone is that the user’s brain thinks it’s in a conversation, and therefore has to pay more attention to hold up its end!”

Talk With vs. Talk At and “You” Can Make All the Difference

Kathy writes:

“Sure, your brain intellectually knows it isn’t having a face-to-face conversation, but at some level, your brain wakes up when its being talked with as opposed to talked at.

And the word “you” can sometimes make all the difference.”

Formal vs. Conversational Example

Kathy writes:

“One striking part of the Moreno/Mayer study is how similar the actual content was.

Here’s the before and after example from the beginning of the lesson they studied:”

Formal
“This program is about what type of plants survive on different planets. For each planet, a plant will be designed.

The goal is to learn what type of roots, stem, and leaves allow the plant to survive in each environment.

Some hints are provided throughout the program.”

Conversational
“You are about to start a journey where you will be visiting different planets.

For each planet, you will need to design a plant.

Your mission is to learn what type of roots, stem, and leaves will allow your plant to survive in each environment.

I will be guiding you through by giving out some hints.”

And from another perspective, consider what former Wired editor Constance Hale wrote in Sin and Syntax:

“The second-person pronoun (you) lets the author hook the reader as if in conversation.

Call it cozy.

Call it confiding.

You is a favorite of the Plain English folks, who view it as an antidote to the stiff impersonality of legalese and urge bureaucrats to write as if speaking to the public… “

All Brains Learn the Same Way from Kids to Adults:

Kathy writes:

“She goes on to give a pile of great examples.

We believe one of the biggest mistakes is to dismiss the things that work in teaching younger people by saying that they somehow don’t work for adults.

That’s wrong.

At the highest level, anyway.

Obviously, the implementation of a kid’s learning book and one for adults will be different, and different subjects often require dramatically different approaches, but at the core, virtually all brains learn the same way–through emotional response (which in turn triggers the brain to pay more attention and possibly record to long-term storage).

And engaging in a conversation has the potential to turn up the emotional gain much more than a dry, lifeless text or lecture.

If your brain had a bumper sticker, it would say:

I heart conversation.”

The Future of Content is Human, Enhanced by AI

The age of AI-generated content is here but it doesn’t have to be a robotic takeover.

By using frameworks like C.R.A.F.T. and embracing Google’s E-E-A-T. principles, you can transform your AI output into content that’s informative, engaging, and truly written for humans.

Remember, leaders are readers and writers – and in the future, that likely means using AI to their advantage.

But the human touch will always be the secret ingredient.

Ready to write better content, faster?

Explore Julia McCoy’s C.R.A.F.T. framework and learn how to leverage AI as a powerful tool to amplify your voice and expertise.

Plus, don’t forget the power of E-E-A-T.!

By demonstrating your experience, authority, and trustworthiness, you can ensure your content ranks high with both search engines and, more importantly, your readers.

This is all about empowering and enhancing human writers.

Let’s write the future of content together – a future where AI enhances your creativity and helps you connect with your audience on a deeper level.

Write with might and leverage AI to help you demonstrate how the pen is mightier than the sword for inspiring minds and changing the world, starting with YOUR world.

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