The quality of what you get from an AI tool depends a lot on what you ask. Vague prompts get vague answers. Clear, specific prompts get useful ones. Let me share the formula I use in my own lab.
The five-part prompt formula
- Role: who should the AI act as? (“You’re an experienced WordPress teacher.”)
- Context: who’s the audience and what’s the situation? (“My readers are small business owners new to WordPress.”)
- Task: exactly what you want. (“Write an outline for a post about choosing a theme.”)
- Format: how the answer should look. (“Use H2 headings and bullet points, under 300 words.”)
- Constraints: what to avoid or include. (“Don’t invent statistics. Flag anything I should verify.”)
Before and after
Weak: “Write about WordPress security.”
Strong: “You’re a friendly WordPress teacher. My readers run small business sites and aren’t technical. Create an outline for a beginner post on securing a WordPress login: strong passwords, two-factor authentication and user roles. Use H2 headings with two or three bullets each. Keep it practical, avoid jargon, and don’t include statistics.”
The second prompt tells the AI who, what, for whom and how, so there’s far less guessing.
Iterate like a scientist
- Refine, don’t restart: “Make section 2 simpler” or “Add an example for a bakery website.”
- Give examples: paste a paragraph in your voice and ask it to match the tone.
- Ask for options: “Give me five title ideas in different styles.”
- Ask it to check itself: “What assumptions did you make? What should I verify?”
Professor’s tip: Save your best prompts in a simple prompt library, a doc or note with prompts for outlines, meta descriptions, email subject lines and so on. Reusing proven prompts saves time and keeps your results consistent.
Know the limits
AI tools may have knowledge cutoffs, may not know about the latest WordPress release, and can be wrong with total confidence. Treat answers as drafts to verify, especially for technical steps, settings names and anything involving money or security.
Find prompt ideas on our AI + WordPress page.
Your assignment
- Rewrite one vague prompt you’ve used using all five parts of the formula.
- Iterate on the result at least three times with refinement requests.
- Start your prompt library with your three best prompts.
