Content Engine

What it does

The Content Engine plans, writes, illustrates and publishes a client's blog and website content on a schedule. It reads everything Nexus knows about the client (strategy, brand, audience, authors, the site's own pages) so every piece is specific to that client.

Set it up

Work through these in order. "What's left to set up for the content engine?" shows which are done for the client, with the next one to do.

1. Website — Give the client's website URL.
2. Publishing target (CMS) (optional) — Connect Webflow / WordPress / Wix / Shopify / a git-Vercel site so pieces can publish (needed for auto-publish).
3. Go-to-market strategy (G2M) — Build it from the website, or import an existing strategy doc.
4. Brand identity — Build it from the website and any brandbook (brand-identity agent).
5. Call to action (CTA) — Set the CTA every article ends on (label + URL, e.g. "Book a demo" → the booking page).
6. Content strategy — Build the content strategy (pillars, cadence, mix); the calendar is planned from it.
7. Keyword universe — Run keyword research.
8. Content pillars (optional) — Define the client's content pillars, each with a pillar page and supporting pages (drives internal linking).
9. Internal link inventory (the site, indexed) — Index the live sitemap so pieces link to real pages.
10. External source inventory (optional) — Research credible sources ahead of time (otherwise they're found per piece).
11. Authors with a voice profile (optional) — Register the people who byline articles and give each a real voice: share writing samples or send them the fill-in template. A name with no samples writes in a generic role voice. Optional — the company byline works without one.
12. Audience (ICP segments + personas) (optional) — Build the audience model from the G2M so each piece is written for a specific persona.
13. Content guardrails (optional) — Rules every piece must follow (e.g. "never mention pricing", "don't name competitors"). Optional — skip if there are none.
14. Image library (optional) — Connect the client's Drive photo folder so articles can use real photos.
15. Production + publishing schedule (optional) — Choose auto-create / auto-publish and the publish time.

The order matters: the G2M and brand come first because every later step reads them; the content strategy needs the G2M; the keyword universe and the indexed site feed every brief.

Steps marked ✋ need a person:

• ✋ Share the client's Drive photo folder with the Google account your Nexus team gave you as Viewer (image library).
• ✋ Give Nexus a CMS credential (a Webflow site token, a WordPress application password, a Wix API key, a Shopify access token, or the GitHub repo). Each CMS has its own guide.
• ✋ Approve the content strategy and the first calendar.

Your Nexus team turns the engine on once the required steps are done.

Use it

1. "Plan the content calendar." Nexus builds the calendar from the strategy and shows it in the content calendar dashboard.
2. Review the calendar there: titles, dates, authors, pillars.
3. "Write the blog [title]." Nexus researches, briefs, drafts, checks and adds images, then posts the review link.
4. Review the piece in its page (open it from the calendar). Edit fields directly or ask Nexus to change one thing.
5. Publish: as a CMS draft first, then live after a check in the CMS.

See the guides for each step: content calendar, content production, publishing.

Maintain

• Nexus re-indexes the site daily. A daily job re-checks each external source once it is more than 30 days old.
• When your Nexus team has turned it on, Nexus asks to plan the next 30 or 60 days when the calendar runs low.
• Content performance comes in weekly from Search Console; pages losing traffic are flagged for a refresh.

Prompts

• "What's left to set up for the content engine?"
• "Plan the content calendar."
• "Write the blog [title]."

Machine twins: /help/content-engine.json · /help/content-engine.md · /help.json · /llms.txt

Reviewed 2026-10-15. In Slack, ask Nexus how do I … and it answers from this guide, with where your company stands.