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SEO Note

Copywriter notes tree: voice local, drafts disposable

Brand voice dies in chat history. You nailed a headline on Tuesday; by Friday the model “remembers” a softer tone that was never approved. Client facts drift: old prices, wrong product names, a USP you already retired. Speed is fine — until the deliverable sounds like generic AI with your invoice on top.

Three builds ship from this site. SEO Note 2.1 is the current one: an Electron app (about 121 MB installer) for Windows 10/11 64-bit and Linux x64, with Markdown, the tree editor, AI talking to a model you connect — a local one or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, a web clipper and git sync of the file. For Android 6.0 and newer there is a release-signed APK (~10 MB) of the same interface; on the phone notes live as a folder of Markdown files on the device, and passwords, sync, the clipper and AI answer there with an explicit refusal. The classic build 1.3.34 (~2.5 MB, Win32) stays on the download page for Windows 7, 8 and 32-bit PCs, where 2.1 does not install; its notes file is .seo. All three work offline with no account: pick your build, or read how 2.1 and 1.3.34 differ.

SEO Note is a free Windows tree outliner (one local file, no account; the classic 1.3.34 build is ~2.5 MB, SEO Note 2.1 is a ~121 MB Electron installer). Keep offers, voice rules, and verified claims in the hierarchy; hand a curated slice to the model — in the app, through an endpoint you connect, or in an outside chat — when you want drafts “in brand voice.” The chat is a processor. The file is the brief you can reopen next quarter. Same spine as source of truth for AI.

Jobs for the tree vs the chat

In SEO Note
  • Offer / ICP facts
  • Voice do / don’t
  • Approved claims
  • Winning lines (edited)
In the AI chat
  • Headline batches
  • Angle exploration
  • Length rewrites
  • Throwaway variants

If a “final” paragraph never gets rewritten under Winning lines, you do not own it yet — the model does.

Client tree that keeps voice honest

Clients
  Acme — landing Q2
    Offer
      Promise / proof / price frame
      ICP bullets
    Voice
      Do
      Don’t
      Sample sentences (approved)
    Claims (verified)
    Drafts → Landing hero
      Brief (your words)
      Winning lines
    AI scratch (dated)
  Side — newsletter
    Voice
    Claims
    Calendar angles

One parent per client or product line. Voice Do/Don’t beats a vague “be professional.” Sample sentences are short — three to five lines you would actually ship.

Symptoms the brief already left the building

  • Two hero options argue different promises and you cannot point at one Offer node
  • The client says “we never say that” and the forbidden phrase is nowhere in your Don’t list
  • Last quarter’s landing and this email campaign silently disagree on price framing
  • You reopen a chat titled “final copy” and find three tones fighting

What to paste + reusable prompt

Paste Offer bullets + Voice Do/Don’t + Claims that touch this piece. Not the whole vault. Not last month’s abandoned angles.

Prompt:
Write in this brand voice only. Do not invent proof, prices, or features.
If a fact is missing, ask — do not fill gaps.
Output: 8 hero lines + 3 subheads. Mark any stretch.
---
OFFER:
[paste]
VOICE DO / DON’T:
[paste]
CLAIMS:
[paste]
Do not paste: unpublished pricing sheets wholesale, personal client data, contract clauses you are not allowed to share, API keys from a “tech” brief, or another client’s voice bank “for inspiration.” One brand per brief.

How-to in one sitting

  1. Create Clients → one active project → Offer / Voice / Claims / Drafts / AI scratch.
  2. Fill Offer in blunt bullets (promise, proof, constraint). No adjectives until Voice exists.
  3. Write five Voice rules: three Do, two Don’t, plus two Sample sentences from past approved work.
  4. List Claims with a source note (“from client PDF 2026-02”) — if you cannot name the source, it is not a claim yet.
  5. Paste the slice with the prompt; generate a batch; close the tab when you have candidates.
  6. Rewrite winners under Winning lines in your own cadence — cut the model’s favorite filler words on sight.
  7. Ship from Winning lines / Brief, not from the chat scroll.

Brief → draft → own it

1 Lock Offer + Voice
2 Paste curated slice
3 Batch heroes / angles
4 Human rewrite into Winning lines
5 Deliver from the tree

Why “in brand voice” fails without a file

  • Models average toward safe corporate mush unless you feed concrete Don’ts
  • Chat memory mixes Client A’s jokes with Client B’s compliance tone
  • You cannot show a stakeholder “what we decided voice is” by scrolling Tuesday’s thread
  • Revision rounds need a fixed Offer node; otherwise every pass renegotiates the brief
Chat-led copyTree-led copy
Voice authorityLatest fluent toneVoice + Samples nodes
Fact driftEasyClaims with sources
Reuse next quarterFragileClone the client branch
What leaves the PCOften whole historyOne brief slice

Pitfalls and when not SEO Note

  • Pasting “write like Apple” with no Offer — you get pastiche, not a brief
  • Promoting raw model paragraphs to the client folder without a human pass
  • One mega-node of every headline ever — prune into Winning vs AI scratch with dates
  • SEO Note is not a DAM, Figma, or shared Google Doc for live stakeholder comments; export the line, comment elsewhere
  • Phone-first capture on set? Use a quick note or photo, then file into Offer/Claims at the desk
  • No mobile app parity, and no model in the box — 2.1's AI calls an endpoint you connect and can be switched off, while the APK and the classic 1.3.34 build have no AI. By design for private voice banks

Freelancers juggling retainers will recognize the client-parent pattern in freelancer notes tree. Method people who split Areas (ongoing craft) from Projects (this landing) can lean on PARA in a notes tree. Skeletons and PDF packs: templates.

Next steps

  1. Pick one live client and build Offer / Voice / Claims / Drafts
  2. Add two Sample sentences from work they already approved
  3. Run one “in brand voice” batch from a curated paste
  4. Move three winners into Winning lines after a human rewrite
  5. Back up the file before you archive the chat

Download SEO Note free — keep the voice bank on disk; let AI draft on a slice you chose.

Keep going

  • Tree templates and PDF guide — role and method skeletons you can copy straight into your own tree.
  • If this guide helped, you can say hello or grab ready-made trees on the templates page.

Adjacent tools (VPS for local models, courses, VPN) are not stuffed into every paragraph. If an affiliate link appears, it will be labeled and is never required to use SEO Note.

Mini FAQ

How many voice rules should a client node hold? The setup asks for five rules - three Do and two Don't - plus two sample sentences taken from past approved work.

Does the app draft copy in brand voice on its own? It has AI summary, AI rewrite and an AI chat on the current note — but on a model you connect, so until you point it at one you paste a curated slice of Offer, Voice and Claims into an outside chat. Either way you rewrite the winners yourself.

Can stakeholders comment directly inside the tree? It is not a DAM, Figma or shared Google Doc for live stakeholder comments - export the line and comment elsewhere.

Which client material stays out of the AI chat? Unpublished pricing sheets wholesale, personal client data, contract clauses you are not allowed to share, API keys and another client's voice bank.

How do I stop two client voices blending together? Keep one parent per client and one brand per brief - chat memory mixes Client A's jokes with Client B's compliance tone.

Related: Source of truth for AI · Freelancer notes tree · PARA method tree · Prompt templates · Templates · FAQ