5 prompt mistakes every beginner makes

When an answer is flat, too long, or simply wrong, it is rarely because “the AI is bad”. The prompt never said what done looks like. These five gaps show up in almost every first attempt. Close one of them and the next answer gets tighter, without changing the model.

1. A topic instead of a job

“Write something about our consultancy” is a topic. A job names the reader, the length, the purpose, and what should happen at the end. Without that, the model guesses and returns the average of everything it has read about consulting: innovative, passionate, holistic.

A better sentence has this shape: for whom, which action, which result, which limit. “Write the opening of the about page, 90 to 120 words, for owners of small limited companies who are switching accountant.” Then the model can stop guessing.

2. No source material, so it invents some

A request without facts produces invented numbers, invented clients, and invented services. That is not a glitch. It is the only way to complete the job. Put the three real services, the city, and what you will not claim straight into the prompt. If you have nothing to give, say so: “Do not invent figures. Mark gaps with [missing].”

3. No format

“Write a text” leaves length, headings, and tone open. Say what the result should look like, or the model will optimise for a blog post nobody ordered.

• Length: words, sentences, or a hard ceiling.
• Shape: one paragraph, three bullets, an email with a subject line, a table with two columns.
• Tone: a comparison a person understands. “Like a calm email to an existing client, not like a landing page.”
• Banned words: the phrases you delete every time.

4. No example of “good”

Adjectives like “professional” mean something different to every model. A short example is more precise than five adjectives. Show one sentence that already works, or one that misses, and say why. Two lines of example beat a paragraph of style notes.

5. No check

The first draft is a draft. Without a second instruction it stays that way. Add a check you would apply yourself: Is the length right? Is every claim in the source material? Is the next step missing? Only then ask for a rewrite.

You are writing the opening of an about page for a tax consultancy in Hamburg.

Reader: owners of small limited companies switching accountant for the first time.
Length: 90 to 120 words.
Services, only these: ongoing bookkeeping, annual accounts, payroll questions.
Tone: calm and concrete, like an email to an existing client.
Structure: one sentence on the problem, one sentence on who we are, three short sentences on the services, one sentence on the next step (a first conversation).
Avoid: innovative, passion, holistic, end-to-end solutions.
Do not invent figures, testimonials, or years in business.

Then check the text yourself: Is it inside the word range? Does every service appear? Is there a claim that was not in the brief? If so, cut it and output only the corrected version.

How to check your next prompt

Read it once out loud and tick the five points: job, material, format, example, check. If one is missing, add it before you generate again. More adjectives barely change the result. The structure does.

If you want to see that structure once, cleanly, start with Your First Prompt. Ready-made templates for everyday work are in the Prompt Playbook, and the finer control is in Prompt Engineering Pro. How single hits become a library is in Your own prompt library in 30 min a week.