Voice and Proof

1---
2name: content-voice-and-proof
3description: >
4  Build a small business's content kit so every post sounds like the owner and proves what it
5  says with real work: the owner's voice, the readers, services, places served, a proof bank of
6  real jobs, numbers, photos and approved quotes, claim limits and a real byline. Use this skill
7  before the first blog post, when the user asks to set up brand voice, tone of voice, an author
8  bio, E-E-A-T, "write like us", "make it sound like me", or a content kit, and whenever
9  content sounds generic, bland or "like AI". The other content-* skills load this kit first.
10---
11
12# Voice and Proof: Content That Sounds Like the Owner and Proves It
13
14**RULE: Write only what this business can show. Every post rests on the owner's own words and
15on real work from the proof bank; anything a competitor could publish with only the name
16changed does not go out.**
17
18Readers and search engines both look for the same thing: signs that a real person with real
19experience wrote the page. Google's quality guidelines call it E-E-A-T (experience, expertise,
20authoritativeness, trust). A small business has more of this than any large site, but only if
21someone writes it down. This skill writes it down once, in one place, so every post can use it.
22
23## What the kit holds
24
25| Part | What it is | Where it comes from |
26|---|---|---|
27| Identity | Name, phone, hours, service area | `lib/business.ts` (`launch-local-seo`). Never copied into the kit. |
28| Services and prices | Each service, its price guide, phrases to never say | `lib/business-profile.ts` (`launch-lead-triage-agent`). Never copied into the kit. |
29| Voice | How the owner sounds: words to use, words to avoid, sentence habits | The owner's own emails and review replies |
30| Readers | Two or three kinds of customer, their situation, their worry, their words | Reviews, lead forms, calls |
31| Places | Towns and neighborhoods served, with true local detail | The owner, the job history |
32| Proof bank | Real jobs, numbers, photos and approved quotes, each with source, date and consent | Job records, photos, reviews |
33| Claim limits | What the business may say about prices, licenses, guarantees, timing | The owner, license records, the written guarantee |
34| Authors | Real names, roles, credentials, a short bio and a photo | The owner and staff |
35
36**One store, not two.** The site, the schema, the lead triage agent and every post read the
37business's facts from the same files. The kit adds only what content needs. When a fact
38changes (a new phone number, a new price guide), change it in `lib/business.ts` or
39`lib/business-profile.ts`, and bump the profile version. Never fix it in a post.
40
41## 1. Interview the owner (12 questions or fewer)
42
43Ask in one message, or on a 20-minute call. Use `references/owner-interview.md`. The answers
44fill the voice, readers, places, claim limits and authors. Do not ask what the site, the
45business profile or the reviews already answer.
46
47If the owner has no time, ask the five questions marked **core** and fill the rest later.
48Never fill a gap with a guess. Leave the field empty and put the question on the owner
49to-do list. A post that needs an empty field (a license number, the guarantee, a bio) cannot
50pass `content-publish-check` until the owner fills it.
51
52## 2. Take the voice from the owner's own writing
53
54Ask for 5 to 10 things the owner wrote to customers: emails, quotes, replies to reviews, text
55messages, social posts. Owner-written text beats any description of a voice.
56
57From the samples, write down:
58
59- **Words we use:** the owner's own terms for the work ("service call", not "appointment";
60  "crawl space", not "sub-floor area"). Keep the trade terms customers also use.