Many entrepreneurs hit limits not as a result of they lack concepts, however as a result of they will’t execute or scale them.
Not everybody has the posh of builders, designers, or analysts who may help flip huge concepts into actuality. Even in case you do, you continue to must compete for time and assist with the remainder of your organisation.
However instances have modified. AI instruments like ChatGPT make technical studying radically extra accessible. It’s now attainable to turn into “technical” even in case you’re a humble author, social media marketer, or model strategist—as a result of all of us have entry to a affected person, succesful technical tutor within the kind of a big language mannequin.
I’m a lifelong marketer and non-technical particular person. I at all times needed to discover ways to code, however by no means knew the place to start out. I bounced off half a dozen coding programs, till I realised that ChatGPT is the right trainer and troubleshooter. Now I can name APIs, write easy scripts, and automate elements of my workflow:
If I can do it, you possibly can too.
Ever wished you can pull dwell knowledge from instruments like Ahrefs, social platforms, or inner product analytics—with out ready on engineers?
The reply: APIs (Software Programming Interfaces) are instruments that allow totally different software program discuss to one another. They unlock entry to knowledge that may pace up aggressive analysis, automation, and even constructing customized dashboards.
I used ChatGPT to discover ways to use the Ahrefs API to fetch my top-performing content material, monitor SERP volatility, and monitor backlinks mechanically. We break down the way it works in our Ahrefs API information.
Use the API button in Ahrefs to get a way for the way API requests are structured. In case you have entry to the Ahrefs API, you possibly can learn our documentation and even make free follow requests.
Tips on how to get began:
- Study the fundamentals of HTTP requests, authentication (like API keys), and response parsing (often JSON). Attempt Mozilla’s API information, Postman Studying Middle, or RapidAPI’s newbie tutorials.
- Attempt your first dwell request utilizing Postman to hit a easy endpoint, like fetching climate or headlines. For further follow, strive calling a public endpoint just like the Information API to fetch the newest articles on any key phrase—helpful for content material ideation or monitoring trade traits.
- Use ChatGPT to jot down a Python script utilizing requests, clarify every line, and deal with API authentication. Paste in API docs—it may well assist translate them into working code.
What in case you didn’t have to attend for an analyst to drag your numbers? That’s the facility of SQL—a common language for asking questions on knowledge.
I exploit ChatGPT to assist write SQL queries that pulled weblog publish impressions, clicks, and common place from Google Search Console—damaged down by URL and date. Then I used these insights to prioritize which articles to replace and re-promote.
(This works nice alongside a full content material audit course of.)
One in every of many SQL queries I exploit as a part of my weblog reporting course of. This instance selects URLs from our worldwide blogs (/es/ is Spain, and so on).
Tips on how to get began:
- Deal with studying SELECT, WHERE, GROUP BY, JOIN, and CASE statements. For a superb beginner-friendly walkthrough, strive Mode’s SQL tutorials or LearnSQL.com’s SQL Fundamentals Monitor.
- Use free instruments like Mode, DB Fiddle, or BigQuery sandbox to jot down and take a look at your queries.
- Paste your desk schema (column names and kinds out of your spreadsheet) into ChatGPT and describe what you need to measure—it’ll write and clarify the complete question.
Sick of repetitive duties clogging up your day? Learn to automate your most mundane, repetitive duties, and you’ll release your time for extra thrilling issues.
Automation platforms like Zapier and Make allow you to construct “if-this-then-that” logic throughout all of your advertising instruments—with out touching code. It’s technically “no-code,” however don’t be fooled—it nonetheless teaches you the right way to suppose like a programmer: setting situations, chaining steps, dealing with exceptions, and reasoning by logic flows.
Right here’s a brilliant easy Zap that syncs modifications in our grasp content material spreadsheet with spreadsheets for every of our worldwide blogs—on this case, notifying the Japanese advertising workforce that new articles are prepared for localization:
I’ve used Zapier for 100 various things: managing contact kind submissions, triaging leads, triggering editorial workflows for content material, syncing knowledge between totally different spreadsheets, creating notifications in Slack, you title it.
Tips on how to get began:
- Begin with Zapier’s template library or Make’s visible state of affairs builder.
- Construct a easy multi-step automation that makes use of filters, situations, and formatting. Zapier’s getting began information is useful in case you’re new.
- Ask ChatGPT to map out logic flows or generate JSON webhook payloads for extra superior steps. It’s also possible to paste in present Zap or Make configuration particulars and ask it to optimize or troubleshoot them.
Apps Script (a type of JavaScript) helps you to create automations and integrations inside Google Sheets.
You should use Apps Script to ship automated e-mail summaries, archive kind responses, merge knowledge from a number of Sheets, or set off Slack alerts when new knowledge seems. I exploit a script that mechanically fetches creator knowledge from newly revealed weblog posts in our CMS and logs it to a shared Google Sheet—so I might monitor who was publishing what, with out chasing down teammates or manually copying knowledge.
Apps Scripts additionally work in Google Docs. Right here’s a easy script that I run to mechanically add WordPress shortcodes into my completed drafts. ChatGPT wrote the script in about ten seconds flat, and this protects me about ten minutes per article draft:
Tips on how to get began:
- Study key strategies like SpreadsheetApp, getRange(), and triggers like onEdit(). You possibly can discover these within the Apps Script documentation or look by examples on GitHub to see how actual initiatives are constructed.
- Construct a script that sends e-mail alerts or fetches knowledge from one other Sheet. In the event you’re new to JavaScript, strive beginning with JavaScript.data, MDN’s JS tutorial, or W3Schools JavaScript fundamentals. These will assist you to perceive the core programming ideas that Apps Script depends on.
- Use ChatGPT to jot down, clarify, and debug your Apps Script line-by-line.
In the event you’ve ever imported e-mail lists or GA4 exports, you recognize: uncooked advertising knowledge is chaos.
Python’s Pandas library is constructed to scrub and remodel that chaos into clear, structured insights. It’s a Python library that makes it simple to filter, clear, and reshape spreadsheet-style knowledge.
I’ve barely scraped the floor of the Pandas library, however I already use it deduplicate rows, normalize UTM parameters, and mechanically reformat uncooked exports into the correct format for my month-to-month reporting.
Pandas’ knowledge frames are essential for my weblog reporting automations.
Tips on how to get began:
Having the ability to construct dashboards or charts helps you get buy-in quicker and uncover patterns that uncooked spreadsheets miss.
Looker Studio is among the best methods to construct customized dashboards out of your advertising knowledge—while not having to code or use BI instruments.
Ahrefs now gives a direct integration with Looker Studio, so you possibly can pull in website positioning metrics like site visitors, backlinks, key phrase rankings, and website audit knowledge to construct real-time dashboards with out exporting CSVs. Meaning much less guide reporting and extra time spent analyzing traits throughout content material, campaigns, or competitor domains.
You possibly can discover ways to set it up on this information.
Tips on how to get began:
- Join Google Sheets, GA4, or Ahrefs on to Looker Studio. Observe this information to get began.
- Create visualizations like bar charts, pie charts, and time sequence with calculated fields.
- Use ChatGPT to assist write Looker formulation, mix knowledge sources, or troubleshoot damaged charts.
Want structured knowledge from web sites that don’t provide APIs? Scraping public pages is one possibility—whether or not you’re gathering occasion listings, job boards, or weblog metadata at scale.
(Simply be mindful: not each web site desires to be scraped. At all times examine their robots.txt file and phrases of service earlier than you begin.)
If you need a secure begin undertaking, strive utilizing BeautifulSoup and ChatGPT to scrape publicly obtainable product knowledge from the Books to Scrape demo website, which is designed particularly for working towards net scraping. Attempt to extract titles, costs, and star scores, then set up the information right into a spreadsheet for evaluation. As a result of the positioning is constructed for studying, it’s a secure and accountable place to sharpen your scraping expertise.
Books to Scrape is a website that actively encourages scraping.
Tips on how to get began:
- Study Python fundamentals and set up libraries like BeautifulSoup and Requests.
- Apply scraping your personal website to keep away from breaking something. It’s also possible to take a look at your expertise on websites that explicitly permit scraping—like Books to Scrape, a demo e-commerce website constructed for this function.
- Ask ChatGPT to generate scraper scripts, clarify the logic, and deal with pagination or user-agent headers.
You’ve most likely seen that I like Python. Python is the spine of tons of cool workflows—it’s the way you go from spreadsheets and guide processes to actual automation.
Studying any coding language is clearly a giant ongoing dedication, however even a small quantity of fluency can allow you to construct very cool issues.
With assist from ChatGPT, I’ve automated duties like exporting weblog efficiency knowledge from Google Search Console and visualizing it for my month-to-month content material report, downloading favicons for my “high corporations” lists, and extracting attainable key phrases from podcast transcripts.
A handful of my novice Python initiatives.
Tips on how to get began:
- Study primary syntax (variables, features, loops). One excellent place to start out is Replit’s free 100 Days of Python, which mixes bite-sized classes with hands-on coding workouts proper in your browser—no setup required.
- Use os, csv, and re libraries to automate duties like renaming, cleansing, and categorizing.
- Ask ChatGPT for Python scripts tailor-made to your workflow and have it clarify the code.
Whereas Airtable and Notion are no-code instruments (therefore “non-technical”), they assist clarify how relational databases work: how totally different tables join, how knowledge varieties affect conduct, and the right way to construction your data for simple querying and automation.
These are foundational ideas that not solely make you higher at utilizing Airtable, but in addition dramatically enhance your spreadsheet sport and prep you for extra superior instruments down the line.
I’ve used Airtable particularly to construct light-weight CRMs, programmatic website positioning methods, and full content material administration programs, able to monitoring briefs, drafts, publish standing, and efficiency.
Right here’s an instance content material administration system we constructed for our advertising company, approach again in 2017.
Tips on how to get began:
- Create a base in Airtable or desk in Notion with fields like standing, proprietor, due date.
- Construct views to filter by content material kind, creator, or due date.
- Use ChatGPT to draft formulation, counsel schema enhancements, or automate with buttons.
Pivot tables are one of the crucial highly effective methods to research massive units of spreadsheet knowledge—with out writing a single system.
I used to make use of them a ton in my weblog reporting: to summarize content material efficiency by creator, spot traits throughout totally different content material varieties, and even discover correlations between publish cadence and site visitors.
Right here’s an actual pivot desk from our current AI in content material advertising survey. The pivot desk turns tons of unwieldy knowledge into particular, helpful analyses.
Tips on how to get began:
Regex (brief for Common Expressions) is a compact language for locating patterns in textual content. Whereas it seems intimidating at first, it’s one of the crucial helpful technical expertise you possibly can choose up—and it’s excellent for entrepreneurs drowning in messy knowledge.
I’ve used regex to scrub UTM parameters, extract domains from referral URLs, filter URL lists to seek out simply worldwide subfolders, validate e-mail codecs, and even pull key phrases from content material briefs. It’s particularly helpful for filtering in Ahrefs: Website Explorer and Website Audit each settle for regex queries:
Tips on how to get began:
- Attempt free RegEx testing instruments like Regex101 or RegExr, which spotlight matches and clarify the logic.
- Begin small: match e-mail addresses, isolate URL slugs, or clear marketing campaign tags.
- Use ChatGPT to jot down expressions for you—simply describe the sample you need, and it may well generate and clarify it line-by-line.
- Study the place Ahrefs accepts regex.
- For hands-on guides, take a look at Common Expressions for Novices and JC Chouinard’s Regex for website positioning.
Spreadsheets aren’t simply for easy sums—they’re one of the crucial highly effective (and underutilized) platforms for logic-driven advertising automation.
If you mix formulation like ARRAYFORMULA, QUERY, REGEXMATCH, and IMPORTRANGE, you’re principally writing light-weight code. It’s structured pondering, modular logic, and knowledge manipulation—all with out touching a programming language.
I’ve used superior formulation to automate month-to-month reporting dashboards, analyze search visibility traits, and even construct key phrase clustering workflows immediately in Google Sheets. This bizarre nested system is a vital a part of my weblog workforce reporting dashboard:
This sort of fluency opens up large leverage, particularly when paired with knowledge from instruments like Ahrefs. In actual fact, we wrote a complete publish about it: 29 Google Sheets formulation each website positioning ought to know.
Tips on how to get began:
- Find out how ARRAYFORMULA, QUERY, and FILTER can exchange guide copy-pasting with dynamic updates.
- Use IMPORTRANGE to mix knowledge from totally different Sheets.
- Attempt REGEXMATCH or REGEXREPLACE to scrub up messy UTM parameters or flag branded key phrases.
- Ask ChatGPT to assist clarify formulation, debug errors, or optimize sluggish Sheets.
Let’s wrap-up with a meta ability: prompting.
There’s lots of pseudoscience round prompting massive language fashions (LLMs)—folks discuss it like magic spells. However the reality is, there’s a science to good prompting. It’s a technical ability that amplifies all of the others on this record.
Whether or not you’re asking ChatGPT to jot down Python scripts, clarify SQL joins, or debug a system, the way you ask determines the standard of the response. Beneath is a listing of prompting methodologies gleaned from my expertise and the tutorial literature:
Tips on how to get began:
- Present grounding context. In the event you’re utilizing ChatGPT or Claude, think about importing paperwork (through Initiatives) so the mannequin has entry to related examples, knowledge, or fashion guides. That is primarily a light-weight model of RAG (retrieval augmented era).
- Use structured prompts. Body your request with sections like: overview, examples, what to keep away from, and desired output format. This helps the mannequin motive extra clearly and ship constant outcomes.
- Use delimiters to separate content material. Enclose code, pattern knowledge, or reference textual content in triple backticks (“ ‘) to keep away from confusion and enhance output formatting.
- Lean into emotional tone when applicable. Language like “you’re a world-class Python tutor” or “I’m actually caught—please stroll me by this like I’m new” can have an effect on how the mannequin prioritizes readability and tone.
- Study from greatest practices. OpenAI’s information and Simon Willison’s article on prompting provide nice frameworks for enhancing reliability and output high quality.
Ultimate ideas
The very best entrepreneurs aren’t simply artistic thinkers—they’re technical sufficient to really execute, too. And now, with LLMs like ChatGPT, there’s no excuse. You’ve a 24/7 tutor, debugger, and strategist in your pocket.
Don’t simply ask AI to do issues for you. Ask it to show you. That’s the way you construct actual, sturdy expertise. So choose one among these technical expertise, give your self a weekend undertaking, and use AI to degree up.
