Building your website yourself with AI? Decide these things first.

AI tools can now put a decent looking website in front of you in an afternoon. That part is real, and for some businesses it is the right way to start. What the tools can’t do is decide what the website is for. If you skip that decision, you get a site that looks finished and does nothing.

These are the things I would settle before typing the first prompt.

1. The one job the site has to do

Write one sentence: “When someone lands on this site, I want them to…” Book a call. Buy a product. Ask for a quote. Come to the shop. One answer, not four.

Every tool will happily generate a homepage with a hero, three feature boxes, testimonials and a contact form. That layout fits nobody in particular. With the job written down, you can judge each section the tool gives you: does it move a visitor towards that one action, or is it decoration?

2. Who you are talking to

The AI writes for a generic reader unless you tell it otherwise. Describe the person you want to hear from: what they do, what problem sends them looking, what they’re worried about, what words they use for it. If that is hard to write, read who are you talking to first. It will save you more time than any prompt trick.

3. Your own words and your own proof

Give the tool material, not just instructions. The questions customers ask you on the phone. The way you explain your service when you’re in a good mood. Real reviews, real photos, a real example of work you’re proud of.

A site built from your material sounds like you. A site built from a one line prompt sounds like every other site built from a one line prompt, and visitors can tell.

4. Where it lives, and who owns it

Before you build, check three things about the tool or platform:

• Can you take your site with you? Some builders let you export everything. Some keep your pages locked to their platform for as long as you pay.
• Is the domain in your name? Register it yourself, with your own account. It’s the one piece you should never let someone else hold.
• What happens to the price after the first year? Introductory pricing is common. Read the renewal price, not the banner.

5. The unglamorous parts

The things that make a site work are rarely the things that make a demo impressive. Before you call it done, check:

• It works on a phone, with a thumb, in daylight. Most of your visitors will see it that way first.
• The form actually arrives in your inbox, and doesn’t land in spam. Send yourself a test from a different address.
• Pages load quickly on a normal mobile connection, not just on your office wifi.
• You have a privacy policy and a cookie setup that match what the site really collects.
• Each page has a clear title and description, so search engines and AI answers know what it’s about.

6. Who looks after it on Monday

A website is never finished. Prices change, opening hours change, a plugin breaks, a form stops sending. Decide now who will notice and who will fix it. If the honest answer is “nobody”, choose the simplest setup you can find, even if it is less impressive.

When to bring someone in

Building it yourself makes sense when the site is simple, the stakes are low and you enjoy the work. It makes less sense when the website is your main source of new clients, when you sell something complex, or when you’ve already tried once and the site still doesn’t bring in enquiries.

In that case the build isn’t the hard part. The hard part is the thinking in points 1 to 3, and that is the part worth paying for. If you want a second pair of eyes on it, tell me what you’re building.