If you’ve spent more than five minutes on LinkedIn lately, you’ve probably seen someone selling a “$997 Prompt Engineering Course” that promises to unlock the “secret language” of AI.
I’m here to tell you — that’s mostly noise.
I’m John Bengtson, an SEO strategist based in Mesa, AZ. Over the past year I’ve built two businesses using AI as my primary tool: 4 SEO Pros, my Phoenix-area SEO agency, and ForgeSEO, an AI-powered SEO SaaS platform. I’ve used Claude almost every single day — to write code, plan strategy, draft content, fix bugs, and build an entire brand from scratch.
And here’s the honest truth: I have never once written a “prompt.”
I just talk to it.
The Myth of Prompt Engineering
The term “prompt engineering” makes AI sound like you need a PhD to use it effectively. You don’t. What you actually need is the same skill you use in every professional conversation — clarity.
Think about it this way. If you walked into a meeting and said “Hey, make something good” — you’d get a confused look. But if you said “Hey, I need a one-page summary of last quarter’s SEO performance, written for a client who doesn’t know what a backlink is” — now you’re getting somewhere.
That’s all prompting is. Clear communication with context.
How to Get the Most Out of Claude
1. Talk to it like a smart colleague, not a search engine.
Don’t type keywords. Type sentences. Tell Claude what you’re working on, what you need, and why.
2. Give it a role.
Try starting with: “You’re an SEO strategist helping a Phoenix-area business rank on Google…” — Claude will stay in that lane and tailor everything to that context.
3. Tell it what you don’t want.
“Write this in plain English, no corporate jargon, keep it under 500 words” gets you exactly what you need without three rounds of editing.
4. Iterate out loud.
If the first response isn’t quite right, just say so. “That’s good but make the intro punchier” — Claude handles feedback like a pro.
5. Give it your real situation.
The more specific you are about your business, your audience, and your goal — the more dialed-in the response will be.
How to Get the Most Out of ChatGPT
Be more explicit about format. ChatGPT tends to go long. If you want a bullet list, say so. If you want a short paragraph, specify the word count.
Use the system of “Act as…” ChatGPT responds really well to role framing. “Act as an experienced copywriter writing for a local business audience” tightens the output significantly.
Ask it to think step by step. Adding “think through this step by step” at the end of your request dramatically improves the quality of the response for complex tasks.
Use memory and custom instructions. Set up your custom instructions once. Tell it who you are, what you do, and how you like responses formatted.
How to Get the Most Out of Perplexity
Perplexity is built differently — it’s more of a research engine with AI on top. It pulls live web results and cites its sources.
Use it for current information. If you need recent news or stats — Perplexity is your tool. Claude and ChatGPT have knowledge cutoffs. Perplexity doesn’t.
Ask follow-up questions. Perplexity is conversational. Ask your first question, then drill down.
Use it for competitive research. “What are people saying about [competitor] on Reddit and forums?” — Perplexity will pull real discussions, not just marketing copy.
The #1 Mistake People Make With AI
Being too vague. “Write me a blog post about SEO” will get you a generic, forgettable article. But a detailed, specific request gets you something you can actually use.
The AI isn’t the bottleneck. Vague instructions are the bottleneck.
You Don’t Need a Course. You Need to Start.
The best way to get good at using AI is to use it — today, on a real problem, for your real business. Just open Claude, ChatGPT, or Perplexity and start talking. You’ll figure out what works faster than any course will teach you.
AI is changing how we work faster than most people realize. The businesses that start using these tools now — even imperfectly — will have a serious edge over those who wait. If you want to talk through how AI fits into your SEO or digital marketing strategy, I’d love to connect.
— John
(480) 648-3306 | john@4seopros.com