Zivtech Writing Style

About Zivtech

Zivtech is a full service web design and development agency committed to the betterment of open source software.

Ziv /zeev/ is a Hebrew word meaning "radiance" or "brilliance", specifically alluding to the beautiful illumination of candlelight. This is our purpose: illuminate potential, help organizations see clearly, remove fear by shedding light on technological tools.

Zivtech is a Claude Consultancy that has fully embraced AI-augmented work both internally and in client services. This amplifies our commitment to open source and Drupal.

Voice: Expert, Direct, Approachable

Expert: Demonstrate in-depth knowledge. Highlight technical capabilities to position Zivtech as a trusted authority.

Direct: Get straight to the point. Explain complex concepts clearly and concisely.

Approachable: Maintain an inclusive, collaborative tone. Avoid jargon. Readers should feel we're speaking with them, not at them.

Summary: Confident but not cocky. Informal but not sloppy. Personable but not unprofessional. Knowledgeable but not brash.

Tone

Conversational yet authoritative: Speak clearly and directly while maintaining expertise.

Encouraging and sincere: Provide positive support from a place of authenticity.

Transparent: Be open, honest, and forthcoming about decisions, setbacks, and next steps.

Key Messaging Principles

The Ziv Illumination Theme

Use sparingly for openings, closings, and pivotal moments.

"Since 2008, that's been our purpose at Zivtech: to illuminate."
"A candle loses nothing by lighting another. That's always been the spirit of open source."

AI Amplifies Our Open Source Mission

Becoming a Claude Consultancy makes us better at being an open source company, not less.

AI gives us more time to contribute to Drupal
We're not pivoting away from Drupal; we're accelerating what we can do with it
Drupal itself is embracing AI, and we're part of that

Claude-First, Not Claude-Only

Claude is our foundation, not our only tool. We also use Gemini, OpenAI, Perplexity, n8n, and Manus. We're tool-agnostic when solving client problems.

Always in Learning Mode

Given the speed of AI advancement, we are in active discovery. Position continuous learning as a strength, not uncertainty.

Honest About Internal Realities

Write: "Some of us are enthusiastic that we've mandated this shift. Others are still skeptical. All of us are learning and adapting."

Do not write: "Our team has enthusiastically embraced AI across all functions."

Claim the Work; Scope the Claim

Two things look alike and are opposites. Cut hedges that undersell what Zivtech built or shipped, such as "only a couple are stable," "this is just a start," or "the AI mostly did it." State what shipped and claim the full, accurate scope. But keep a sharp boundary on what a claim or product promises: "GEO Starter does not guarantee AI citations or rankings. It does not." That bound is a trust signal, not a hedge, and for answer engines and skeptical buyers it does real work. Where you can, turn the limit into the argument: a recipe that refuses to promise outcomes reads as more credible, not less. Rule of thumb: delete qualifiers about ourselves; keep and sharpen qualifiers about the claim.

Brand Values

Creativity: We approach projects creatively. AI amplifies creative exploration; human judgment guides choices.
Collaboration: We work as an extension of client teams. AI is a shared resource that empowers clients, not a black box.
Technical Excellence: High-quality code and architecture. AI is a quality multiplier, not a shortcut.
Community Contribution: We advance open source platforms. AI efficiency gains translate to more Drupal contributions.

Personas

Marketing Martha: Professional, friendly, goal-oriented. Emphasize brand consistency, workflows, lead generation.

Technical Tom: Direct, knowledgeable, technical. Use authoritative style with security specs and architectures.

Product Owner Patrick: Serious, methodical. Use project-oriented vocabulary and clear development processes.

Agency Partner Adam: Business development focus. Position through partnership lens with flexible arrangements.

AI-Curious Charlie: Skeptical of hype, needs practical examples. Speak from practitioner stance, share specific outcomes.

Writing Style

Style Manual

Use AP Style with these exceptions:

Always use Oxford comma
Ampersands only in headings/titles
Spell out technical abbreviations on first use

Capitalization

Job titles: capitalize only when immediately preceding a name
Technical topics: lowercase (quality assurance, user acceptance testing)
Titles of works: title case

Numbers

Spell out numbers below 10; use numerals for 10+
Always use numeral and % for percentages
Avoid starting sentences with numbers (except years)

Punctuation

Always use Oxford comma
Em-dashes: use sparingly (one or two per piece max); otherwise rewrite with commas, periods, or parentheses

AI Terminology

Use these forms:

AI (not A.I.)
Claude (capitalize, no "the" before it)
Claude Code (two words, capitalized)
Claude Consultancy
Large language model or LLM (spell out first use)

Link tools on first mention:

Words and Patterns to Avoid

Avoid these words:

Quality, best-of-breed, robust, innovative, deep experience
Leverage (when "use" works), utilize (say "use")
Revolutionary, transformative, game-changing, cutting-edge, next-generation
AI-powered (vague; explain what the AI does)
Pivot (suggests abandonment; we're evolving)

Avoid these AI writing patterns:

Overuse of em-dashes
Emojis in professional content
Formulaic structures ("Here's the thing:", "Let's dive in")
Starting sentences with "So," or "Now,"
Excessive hedging ("It's worth noting that...")
Lists where prose reads more naturally
Repetitive sentence structures
Overuse of "Additionally," "Furthermore," "Moreover"

Common Words

Front end / back end (hyphenate when adjective: front-end designer)
Open source software (lowercase)
DevOps, WordPress, JavaScript
Nonprofit, startup, e-commerce, email, homepage
Log in (verb), login (noun)
Set up (verb), setup (noun)

Writing About AI

Practitioner, not pundit: Write from direct experience. Avoid speculative language.

Open source first: Lead with what AI enables for community work. "AI gives us more time to contribute" over "AI makes us more efficient."

Honest about limitations: Acknowledge constraints. Don't oversell or hide need for human oversight.

Human-centered: AI amplifies human capability; it doesn't replace human judgment.

Structuring Content for Answer Engines (GEO)

A growing share of first contact happens through an answer engine summarizing a page, not a person reading it. Zivtech builds for this, so our own cornerstone content should model it. For blog posts, service pages, and evergreen explainers (not short announcements, emails, or social posts), structure so an assistant can extract the answer without guessing:

Lead with a "the short version" summary. Give away the conclusion in a callout up top, the whole answer in three or four sentences. This is "lead with the point," not a teaser.
Use question-form headings. Mirror how people actually ask ("Where do governed facts live?", "How do you get off a proprietary CMS?"). Each section should answer its own heading.
Add a short FAQ to big pieces: self-contained question-and-answer pairs an engine can lift whole.
One claim per paragraph. Keep passages chunkable, and tie each load-bearing claim to a visible source or link.
Emit structured data where it fits. schema.org JSON-LD generated from the same fields the visible page renders, never claiming more for the machine than the page actually says.

Don't apply this mechanically to everything, and don't let it flatten the writing: the structure carries the facts so the prose can still do the work. Bounding claims honestly (see "Claim the Work; Scope the Claim") is itself a GEO trust signal.

General Rules

Use active voice (not "The site was fixed by Zivtech" but "Zivtech fixed the site")
Remove extra words; keep writing concise
Remove repetition
Always link to sources
Use high quality public domain images
Center images in blog posts
Use headings in chronological order (H2 for main sections, H3 for subsections)

zivtech-writing-style

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