How to Use AI to Improve Your Website

Most small business websites are not bad. They are just written for the owner instead of the customer.

The owner knows what the company does, so the homepage skips it. The owner knows the company is good, so the proof is buried on a page nobody visits. The owner knows to call, so the phone number sits in the footer. A customer landing there for the first time has to work to understand them, and most will not.

This is the third area in my workshop Take Back Your Time with AI: strengthen your website so it helps customers understand your business and take the next step. AI is unusually good at this job, because it can read your site with no idea who you are, which is exactly how your customers read it.

Can the right customer find you?

Before the website, check whether people land on it at all. Being listed gets you found. Proof helps you get called.

For local customers, that means a complete Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, Yelp and Nextdoor. For business-to-business work, it means the directories your buyers actually use. For contractors, that is The Blue Book, ConstructConnect, PlanHub, BuildingConnected, local builders exchanges and trade association directories. Every industry has its version.

Try the exercise I run with every room. Search for your service plus your city and give yourself 60 seconds. Do you appear? What do people see? Can they request a quote from what they see?

That number is from industrial buyers, but I would not expect homeowners, patients or office managers to be any less picky. Your website is doing part of the sales conversation before you know the customer exists.

What is the 10-second website test?

Open your homepage, start a timer, and ask whether a stranger could answer four questions in ten seconds:

The customer should not have to work to understand you. If any of those four takes scrolling, clicking or guessing, that is your first fix.

How do you use AI to review your website like a customer?

This is the prompt from the workshop. Use an AI tool that can open web pages, paste your link, and run it.

Act as a prospective customer looking for a [your type of business].

Review this website from the customer's point of view:
[PASTE WEBSITE LINK]

ANSWER:
- What does this company do?
- Who does it serve?
- What proof makes it credible?
- What is difficult to understand or find?
- Is the next step obvious?

THEN PRIORITIZE:
The five improvements most likely to increase qualified inquiries.

For each improvement, explain:
- What should change
- Why it matters to the customer
- The expected business value
- The easiest first action

Use only information visible on the website.
Do not invent services, projects, testimonials, qualifications, or results.

Notice the ask: five improvements, ranked. Do not ask for 50 ideas. Ask for the five that matter most. A list of 50 website suggestions becomes a project nobody starts. Five ranked fixes, each with an easiest first action, become a to-do list you can finish in a month.

When contractors run it, the results tend to rhyme: a clear homepage headline with a quote button; completed projects shown, not just described; proof placed next to the claims; local service pages that are easy to find; and the quote button repeated after the proof. An accounting firm usually hears a version of the same thing: say which clients you serve, show who you have helped, and make “book a consultation” obvious.

How do you rewrite the first screen of your homepage?

Start with the part every visitor sees. The second prompt rewrites only the first screen, using facts you provide.

Rewrite only the first screen of this [your type of business]'s homepage.

The customer should immediately understand:
- What the company does
- Who it serves
- Why it is credible
- What to do next

USE THESE VERIFIED FACTS:
[PASTE YOUR SERVICES, AREA, YEARS IN BUSINESS, CERTIFICATIONS, NOTABLE PROJECTS]

CREATE:
- One clear headline
- One supporting sentence
- One primary call-to-action button
- One secondary call-to-action
- One short credibility line

Use plain language.
Do not invent projects, customers, statistics, certifications, guarantees, or results.

The “verified facts” line is where the quality comes from. Give it your real services, service area, years in business, licenses and certifications, and two or three projects or clients you are allowed to mention. If you give it nothing, it will write something generic, and generic is the problem you are trying to solve.

One small website change can remove a big customer question. A headline that says what you do and where, with a button that says “Request a Quote,” does more for most small businesses than a full redesign.

How does this example work, start to finish?

What does a person still need to check?

Where should you start this week?

Do the 60-second search, then run the review prompt on your homepage and fix the first item on the list. Rewrite your first screen with the second prompt and have someone outside your company take the 10-second test on the new version. If they pass, you are ahead of most of your market.

Once the site works, it needs fresh proof. That is the next area: How to Use AI for Small Business Marketing, which turns one finished job into five pieces of content.