Building a website with AI: everything you need to know AI is the newest talk of the technology town and it’s capable of doing pretty much everything – including building a website. But is it worth using AI to build your site? Written by Fernanda Alvarez Pineiro Updated on 4 June 2023 Our experts We are a team of writers, experimenters and researchers providing you with the best advice with zero bias or partiality. Written and reviewed by: Fernanda Alvarez Pineiro Whether it’s ChatGPT or hyper-realistic pictures of the Pope wearing Balenciaga, artificial intelligence is undoubtedly changing the way we approach creative processes. As the technology becomes smarter and increasingly more powerful, creators can use it to find new ways to save time and money with AI. Luckily for small businesses, website building is one of those new areas where AI can help.Building a website with AI is surprisingly quick and simple. Based on our first-hand user testing, we’ve found that tools like ChatGPT, MidJourney, and Wix ADI can make a creative design team’s life much easier. These tools can help cure your imagination dry spell by giving you some visuals of what your website could look like.However, based on its drawbacks, it’s worth keeping in mind that AI is not a replacement for website creators. Yes, it streamlines the process, but it’s far from perfect. In this guide, we’ll tell you just how far AI can take you with website building and highlight the best tools out there. In this page What are the pros & cons of using AI to build a website? How to build a site with AI: What are your options? Our Methodology Final verdict: Should you use AI to build a website? What are the Pros & Cons of Using AI to Build a Website?Pros✔️ Highly user friendly → although the black box behind AI is a bit complex, you really don’t need to know all the intricacies of the technology to use it. Far from it – AI tools like ChatGPT or MidJourney can easily generate contempt from a prompt. After that, you can just sit back and relax. However, based on our first hand testing, we found that generative AI tools require some trial and error, so you’ll need to keep refining your prompt to get the result you want.✔️ Cheap and accessible → although not every single tool is 100% free like ChatGPT, the ones that are subscription based, like Mixo.io are very affordable for as little as $9 per month, billed monthly. Therefore, integrating AI into the creative journey is possible for SMEs of all shapes and sizes, regardless of their budget.✔️ Can serve as a source of inspiration for design and copy → although the first AI-generated website design will never be perfect, it could definitely give you a light-bulb moment. Seeing fully constructed templates can quickly give you an idea of what works and what doesn’t.Cons❌ You need to go back and customise → although AI is really quick with its output, most of the time the final product is far from the perfect outcome. Therefore, you’ll often need to go back and tweak your prompt or input to get the technology to generate content that is closer to what you’ve envisioned. Moreover, generative AI might not be written in the most authoritative tone or showcasing all the right information that Google usually loves to see in order to rank your website higher on the SERPs.❌ Layouts can be limited → the range of layouts offered by website builders can be pretty thin. For instance, Mixo.io usually feeds back the same standard website layout and offers little variety and Wix ADI only gives you a choice from a number of pre-set basic layouts to then generate your site. This means that while it might be good to give you ideas, you’ll still need to do some of the creative legwork yourself.❌ Getting the prompt right is tricky → sometimes you might ace it on the first go and get back exactly what you want, but the chances of this happening are low. With generative AI, you’ll need to go through rounds of trial and error to ensure you and the technology reach parity on the look of your website. Did you know? 75% of consumers admit to making judgements on a company’s credibility based on the company’s website design. Therefore, getting it right is crucial. AI can help get you there. How to Build a Site with AI: What Are Your Options?To understand how powerful artificial intelligence is in the website building arena, we had a go ourselves at creating our own website – Pawesome Bites. Our fictional store is an ecommerce website that sells sustainably sourced pet snacks. To help our furry friends find their next favourite food, we used an AI website builder, AI tools, and AI add-ons to see what we could come up with. Here are your options:Using a web builderTools like Mixo.io, The Grid, and Wix Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) help you create a website just from giving the platform a prompt with details about what you need. For instance, we used Mixo.io using the prompt “Fun and vibrant ecommerce site that sells home-delivered sustainably made pet food.” This is what we got back:Which one is better: Mix.io or Wix ADI?The use of adorable pet pictures and the friendly-toned copy definitely fit some of the criteria we were looking for – all from just one prompt. The other great part about tools like Mixo.io is that they account for SEO. Based on your prompt, it will discern which keywords your business will likely target and add this into the copy.However, the downside is that the website is still far from perfect and could easily get penalised by Google’s algorithm if you publish it as is. For instance, all the reviews that appear are obviously fake and don’t do the best job at fostering trust amongst readers. It also isn’t clear where the system gets the images from so you’ll probably need to replace them with your own or licensed pictures to avoid copyright issues. The text also tries its best to recycle the key phrases you fed it in the prompt so you’ll need to go back and edit. Therefore, from our experience with Mixo.io, your best bet is using it as a tool for inspiration rather than a full-blown replacement for website building.Wix Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) is a bit more sophisticated than Mixo.io. It asks you more specific questions about your website goals, features, and tools that you want to include. For example, you might say you want it to include a booking platform or an automatic chat box. Therefore, you have a range of choice depending on how sophisticated you need the system to be on your hunt for inspiration.Keep in mind Wix ADI is different from the standard Wix. In short, Wix Editor lets you edit everything about your website, whereas ADI doesn’t offer templates – it produces a design based on what you tell it to do. You can make changes to the website after ADI generates it, but compared to the standard Wix, you’ll be limited in the amount of apps and features you can embed.Although compared to Mixo.io you can’t see dog pictures or other factors that make it more obvious it’s a dog treat ecommerce business, in some ways that’s a win. Wix places normal stock images throughout the site to signal where pictures can be placed, but because they’re random stock images that come with the layout, you can source your own images with the peace of mind you won’t need to think about copyright issues. The other great part is that you can edit on a page-by-page basis, meaning you can play around and edit based on what you think would help ease the user journey through your website.Verdict: Is using an AI website builder worth it?Based on our experience with Wix ADI and Mixo.io, an AI website builder is far from a replacement for website creators. For instance, with Mixo.io, we found that it was a good source of initial inspiration for copy and structure, the actual layout and colours of the website didn’t change significantly. Therefore, you’ll need to get a subscription to get access to features that make the system more responsive and sophisticated.However, even with a subscription for either AI website builder, you’ll still need to do lots of tweaking to get the website to the standard you want it to be.I am text block. Click edit button to change this text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.Using AI toolsIf you want to keep the website building to yourself, you can also opt to use AI tools to aid your creative process. Mainly, we recommend trying out ChatGPT or Midjourney.ChatGPTChatGPT can be incredibly useful for coming up with copy to fill up your website. You can give it a prompt and it will automatically write text that can be used for your ‘About Us’ section or for your ‘Our Mission’ page. In addition to this, if you’re struggling to come up with a name for your business, ChatGPT can help you here too! Just like with website builders, it’s likely you’ll have to refine the outcome until you’re completely happy with it. When we tried it out, this is what it fed back:Pros✔️Very quickly turns around copy → After we put in the prompt, it took a matter of seconds to get paragraphs of information about Pawsome bites.✔️ Can easily retry → if you’re not convinced by what the prompt fed back, you can easily go back, tweak the prompt and try again✔️ Lots of material → ChatGPT produces paragraphs worth of information and it keeps going until you tell it to stop. This means you get lots of material to read through to pick out the best bits.✔️ It’s free → it costs nothing to go on ChatGPT and start creating text. However, you can choose to take out a ChatGPT Plus subscription for $20 per month to get even faster response times, have access even during peak times, and priority access to new features and improvements.Cons❌ You still need to proofread → although ChatGPT is pretty skilled at writing copy, it might not be the perfectly tailored solution you need it to be. ChatGPT won’t know how to write up your personal journey with your brand and how you conceived your business. An AI system is no replacement for telling your personal story.❌ Peak times → during 7AM and 12PM, ChatGPT tends to get really busy which means it could take longer to get a response to your prompt. Therefore, it’s not the most reliable system during key working hours.MidjourneyThis can also be a fantastic source of inspiration for your page designs or for the small creative elements that give a website its personality. All you have to do is create an account on Discord (if you don’t already have one) and join the Midjourney channel. Based on your prompt, the chat will produce images. The handy part is that it only takes 60 seconds and you can get different variations of the picture. However, we recommend taking out a subscription because when we tried using it, the platform was really busy and asked us to come back tomorrow to try again. The risk, however, is that Midjourney is a public access source on Discord which means everyone can see the images you’ve asked the system to produce. This means you won’t really have ownership over them and can easily be taken by other websites.Using AI add-ons or pluginsIf you’re already very keen on your website building platform, there’s a couple of add-ons that you can easily plug-in without leaving your chosen software. We’ve picked out a couple based on which tools integrate easily with content management platforms and that cater to crucial aspects of website building like SEO. Here’s a couple that we thought would be useful to get your hands on:Shopify MagicIn a few areas of Shopify, you can use automatic text generation to help with copywriting. Using AI technology, Shopify Magic takes information that you provide to produce suggestions for content such as product descriptions, email subject lines, and headings in your online store. Therefore, this is a great option for Shopify users and, in some ways, a replacement for ChatGPT for e-commerce businesses.SEOPressSEOPress makes WordPress SEO-friendly. It has lots of features and options which makes it worth the money. Based on our first-hand user testing, we found it’s very easy to install, set up and use. It has a WooCommerce integration, Google Local Business, Google XML Video Sitemap, and Google Structured Data types. This means that it’s a great option for WordPress users that want an accessible and user friendly SEO optimisation tool.CodeWPCodeWPis an AI WordPress code generator and assistant. You can easily help create WP_Queries efficiently, generate functions of all types, hook into WooCommerce filters and create complex workflows based on ACF values. Therefore, this is a great option for those that are more advanced with website building and want AI tools that will automate the more complex parts of building a new site. Our MethodologyAs a creative content creator, we know that you’ll want to find a strong set of reliable tools that can genuinely make your life easier. This is why our team of independent researchers conducted an in depth dive into the best AI tools out there. We gave a go at creating our very own AI-generated website to give you an insight into what the tools are like and which ones are best. We compared them based on user friendliness, complexity of the output, cost, and speed of generation, accounting for all the paint points you might encounter as a creator. Final Verdict: Should You Use AI to Build A Website?If you’re someone who builds websites and has heard the rumours that AI will likely displace a bunch of jobs, fret not – based on the tools out there, it’s unlikely you’ll lose your paycheck. However, the better news is that AI can be a highly valuable shortcut to use to get inspired and action your ideas faster.While building a website with AI can be a process of trial and error, that, at times, can be frustrating if you’re struggling to find the right prompt or input, it is also a quick and easy way to test different ideas. This can help streamline the process of building your website and getting your store out into the (virtual) streets faster. Share this post facebook twitter linkedin Tags AI News and Features Written by: Fernanda Alvarez Pineiro Fernanda is a Mexican-born Startups Writer. Specialising in the Marketing & Finding Customers pillar, she’s always on the lookout for how startups can leverage tools, software, and insights to help solidify their brand, retain clients, and find new areas for growth. Having grown up in Mexico City and Abu Dhabi, Fernanda is passionate about how businesses can adapt to new challenges in different economic environments to grow and find creative ways to engage with new and existing customers. With a background in journalism, politics, and international relations, Fernanda has written for a multitude of online magazines about topics ranging from Latin American politics to how businesses can retain staff during a recession. She is currently strengthening her journalistic muscle by studying for a part-time multimedia journalism degree from the National Council of Training for Journalists (NCTJ).