How to Make a Website Using AI: A Step-By-Step Guide

Did you know that at least 27% of small businesses don't have a website yet?

The reason? Some think it's too hard. They worry about needing to learn complicated codes or deal with tricky designs. Others believe it might cost too much money, considering high prices for designers, developers, writers, and tools.

This guide will help you debunk these “myths.” We’ll show you how to make a website fast and cheaply using an AI website builder.

The Durable Difference

Most tutorials and guides assume you're already a step ahead. They expect you to know coding basics or understand website-building strategies.

But unlike others, we don't assume any prior knowledge. We're here for the absolute beginners, the busy professionals — everyone..

Throughout this guide, we’ll show you Durable in action. By the end, you’ll have your website ready to publish.

How to Make a Website Using AI

1. Choose an AI Website Builder

2. Describe Your Website: This helps the AI generate a template that's relevant to your business or project.

3. Customize Your Website: You'll want to customize the generated website to fit your specific needs.

4. Add Content to Your Website: Text, images, videos, and other media.

5. Test Your Website: Test it on different devices and browsers.

6. Publish Your Website

Key Takeaways for Making a Website Using AI

1. Choose an AI Website Builder

Think of AI as your digital assistant. Instead of you having to decide every minute detail, AI makes educated guesses and presents solutions. 

You feed it with some basic information about your website, and it gives you a foundational website layout ready in 30 seconds. Yes, 30 seconds. 

Try Durable and see for yourself. You can even do the whole process in less than 30 seconds.

But why consider using AI for website building instead of the traditional drag-and-drop website builders?

• Time efficiency: Traditional drag-and-drop website builders are user-friendly, but building a site from scratch is time-consuming. In contrast, AI-driven builders rapidly generate a site based on your preferences, often in a fraction of the time.
• Design consistency: While drag-and-drop tools allow users to design freely, this sometimes results in design inconsistencies. AI builders maintain a consistent design language throughout the site, ensuring a professional look and feel.
• Advanced features integration: Many AI builders have advanced features like chatbots, recommendation engines, and dynamic content adjustment. Implementing these manually on drag-and-drop platforms can be complex and often requires third-party integrations.
• No Design Experience Needed: With traditional builders, some design knowledge is beneficial, if not essential. However, AI-driven tools require no design experience. You provide the content and preferences, and the AI handles the design intricacies.

So, what do you consider when choosing the AI website builder to use?

Your Website’s Purpose

This sounds basic, but it's the foundation. Are you a blogger, an entrepreneur, an artist, or maybe a local business owner?

Your website's objective will dictate the features you need. If e-commerce is your game, ensure the builder excels in that domain. 

Budget and Customization

All of us have budget constraints. Determine yours. While AI platforms can be budget-friendly, their costs vary. 

Equally important is the degree of customization. Do you want a website uniquely yours, or would a premium template suffice?

Look Beyond Today

Your website isn't a static entity—it will evolve. Can the AI builder of your choice adapt to growing needs? 

Think about potential traffic spikes, new feature integrations, or design overhauls. 

A platform like Durable, we designed it with the future in mind, ensuring seamless scalability.

AI's Intelligence Spectrum

Not every AI tool offers the same intelligence level. While some provide elementary design choices, others delve deeper, suggesting layouts, optimizing content, and even analyzing user engagement to suggest changes.

Decide your comfort level.

Check the Reviews and Websites Built Using the AI

User testimonials and reviews will tell you everything you need to know. 

They offer real-world insights into the platform's capabilities, limitations, and quirks.

Another thing you should look at is the depth of AI integration in the website builder.

Beyond creation, ideally, the AI should also help post-launch.

For example, Durable goes beyond just creating a basic website. We integrate advanced AI capabilities and offer various AI tools to help you manage and grow your website.

Durable's AI Blog Builder understands your website's niche and can suggest content topics that resonate with your target audience. These are based on current trends and user behavior, ensuring your content remains relevant.

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Choosing an AI-driven platform that offers comprehensive tools ensures you’re fully equipped to tackle challenges.

2. Describe Your Website

Don’t be intimidated. You’ll not be required to tell the AI website builder where you want your call-to-action buttons to go or where you want widgets embedded.

Describing your website simply means giving our AI your industry, location, and business name.

This initial description acts as the foundation.

Why is Industry/Type of Business Important?

By specifying your industry or business type, you're giving our AI the first crucial information to tailor your website. 

The hospitality sector, e-commerce stores, consulting services, each of these industries have specific website features that cater best to its audience.

The AI uses this information to determine the kind of layout, features, and content that would be most relevant.

Here are more reasons why Durable needs your business type:

• Visual Appeal: Different industries have varied aesthetic appeals. A website for a trendy coffee shop would vastly differ in design from a law firm. The AI, understanding the industry nuances, ensures the design matches the general expectation of visitors familiar with the domain.
• Functional Components: Depending on the industry, the AI suggests functionalities that can boost engagement. For instance, a restaurant might benefit from an integrated reservation system, while a personal blog might prioritize social sharing options.

If you find yourself at a crossroads, unsure which category your business falls into or what business you’d like to start, Durable's intuitive system offers a "See some suggestions" option. 

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Clicking this will prompt the AI to guide you through a selection based on popular categories and emerging trends. Click “Regenerate” until you find a suggestion that satisfies you.

In the next step, Durable requires you to input your location. This is the location where your business will be targeting. So, let’s say you are in Germany, but your website is targeting the US, input the location as the US.

You can also change the language here if you are targeting non-English speakers. 

At Durable, we support the following languages:

• Dutch
• French
• German
• Italian
• Portuguese
• Portuguese (Brazil)
• Spanish

Why is Location Important

• Localization: The website's language, content, and design can be tailored to suit local tastes and preferences. For example, a website targeting Italian audiences might incorporate local cultural elements, contrasting with a website designed for a Brazilian audience.
• SEO Optimization: Specifying a location enhances local SEO, making the website more discoverable to users in that area. This is particularly valuable for brick-and-mortar businesses or services targeting a specific locale.
• Compliance: Different regions have specific digital regulations, especially concerning data privacy and cookie usage. By knowing the location, the AI will incorporate necessary disclaimers to ensure the website complies with regional norms.

The last thing required in this step is your business name.

Your business name is often the first impression users have of your brand. Incorporating the name into the website design, domain, and content ensures consistent branding.

Our AI builder will strategically position the name to be prominent and seamlessly integrated with the design.

Also, based on the business name, Durable will suggest available domain names, simplifying the domain registration process and ensuring your website's address resonates with your brand.

When you sign up with Durable, you can create a free custom domain.

Remember, integrating the business name in meta-descriptions, tags, and content creates a personal touch, enhancing your website's credibility and professionalism.

Tips on Coming up With a Business Name

Coming up with a business name is challenging. Here are some tips to guide you through the process:

• Brainstorm: Sit alone with paper and pen. Write down every name that comes to mind without overthinking. This is the stage for raw, unfiltered creativity.
• Reflect your business: The name should hint at what your business does. For instance, "Burger King" is straightforward about its offerings.
• Keep it short and simple (KISS): A simple, concise name is easier to remember, pronounce, and spell. This helps in brand recall and word-of-mouth marketing.
• Avoid hard-to-spell words: If potential customers can't spell it, they might have trouble finding it online.

Expert Tip: If you're stuck, use our business name generator to help you come up with a name based on keywords related to your business. Click on “See some suggestions.”

After filling out the business name, location, and type of business, based on the information you provided, Durable's advanced algorithms curate a website template that matches your industry's standard, your business's vibe, and the expectations of your target audience. 

Instead of sifting through countless designs, Durable cuts to the chase and presents a tailored choice that fits your audience and industry.

For businesses that benefit from foot traffic, Durable seamlessly integrates maps pointing to your physical location, making it easier for customers to find you.

Also, understanding the significance of mobile traffic, especially based on business type and location, Durable ensures that the generated website is responsive. This means your website will look and function flawlessly, whether viewed on a desktop, tablet, or mobile phone.

Want to get started? Click below and make your website in under a minute. 

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3. Customize Your Website

The initial template and design offered by Durable give you a substantial head start. However, the key to standing out lies in customization.

Review the Palette

Colors convey emotions. Your website's color scheme should mirror your brand's vibe. Durable’s AI will have chosen colors based on your business type and current trends, ensuring it aligns with your brand's identity. If not, tweak it.

Font and Typography

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The legibility and aesthetics of your text play a crucial role. While Durable provides font suggestions in line with your business type, you have the freedom to change. Ensure the font you choose is both attractive and easy to read.

High-Quality Imagery

Visuals speak louder than words. Replace any placeholder images with high-resolution photos of your products, team, or relevant visuals.

Utilizing original photos gives your site a more authentic feel.

Revisit Content

The placeholder content provided is a starting point. Revise, expand, or rephrase to accurately represent your offerings. 

Remember, your content should be SEO-friendly and resonate with your target audience.

Check Responsiveness

As you make changes, periodically check how your website looks on various devices. Durable automatically ensures responsiveness, but it’s always a good practice to verify, especially after significant customizations.

Now,  let's explore how Durable empowers you to personalize your website effortlessly:

• Absolute Editing Control: Durable opens up every corner of your website for editing. From sections to images and content, you can tweak every element.
• Ease of Use for Everyone: Durable editor is so easy to use. Regardless of whether you’re tech-savvy or a complete newbie, the platform is intuitive. You just click a section, then click ”Edit” to change whatever you want.
• You can Enhance Complexity with Pages: As your business grows, so will your website’s needs. With Durable, adding new pages is straightforward. If it's a new product page, a testimonials section, or an about page, expanding your website’s horizons is just a few clicks away.
• The Fluidity of Sections: Do you need to rearrange parts of your website? No problem. You can move sections up or down with ease or even duplicate sections. This flexibility ensures your most crucial content always gets the prime real estate it deserves.
• Regeneration Options: If you’re not 100% satisfied with certain elements, Durable's regeneration feature is there for you. With it, you can refresh the entire website or specific aspects like content, images, or colors. You can do a mini makeover or a complete overhaul of your website.
• Personalizing Visuals: Durable lets you infuse personal touches by uploading new images, incorporating brand logos, and even allowing for adjustments like color tweaks to better align with your brand’s aesthetic.
• Adding Functional Enhancements: Do you want a prominent call-to-action or a contacts button in the header? You can easily add buttons to your website. Such tweaks dramatically improve user experience and drive desired actions.
• Integration of Handy Tools: You can integrate tools like Calendly to bridge the gap between you and your clientele. Calendly lets your visitors book meetings. Plus, you can embed your Instagram feed. This lets you showcase your social media presence to give visitors a holistic view of your brand.

4. Add Content to Your Website

Every content on your website has a role: to inform, persuade, or entertain.

This means every word, image, or video should serve a purpose related to your business goals and audience needs.

Quality content boosts your search engine rankings, making it easier for potential customers to find you. Remember, the goal is to be visible to those searching for your services or products.

Start with the Basics - Text Content

• Homepage Introduction: This is often the first impression. Craft a concise and engaging introduction about your business. Who are you? What do you offer? Why should a visitor be interested?

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• Services/Product Descriptions: Highlight features, benefits, and why someone should choose your product or service over competitors.

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• About Page: Share your story. People connect with stories, and your business's journey can be the tale that builds trust and credibility.

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Tailor Content to Your Audience

Know your readers. Understand who visits your site. This will guide the tone and style of your content. For a younger audience, casual and vibrant content works. For professionals, use a more formal tone.

Use Durable's inbuilt analytics to get insights about your audience. Knowing where they come from and which pages they linger on offers clues on the content they resonate with.

After signing up, you can access the backend to see the analytics.

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Alt: Durable analytics

Add a Blog Page

A blog page on your website offers numerous benefits, both from a business and user-engagement perspective.

A well-maintained blog demonstrates your expertise in your industry or niche. Regularly publishing informative and well-researched content positions you as a thought leader and helps build trust among your readers.

Also, regularly posting quality content with relevant keywords significantly boosts your website's visibility on search engines. This means more organic traffic and potential leads.

Search engines, particularly Google, favor websites that are consistently updated. A blog is a perfect avenue for this.

Another reason you should add a blog page is a blog section allows for two-way communication. Through comments, you gauge readers' reactions, answer queries, or simply engage in meaningful dialogue.

Comments and shares give you insights into what your audience values, helping you fine-tune your content strategy.

To create this blog section, click the “+” sign next to “Home” on the top right side of the Durable website editor.

A pop-up with different kinds of pages will appear. Scroll to find the “Blog post.” Click “Add” to add a blog page to your website.

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Now, this is the fun part. Durable's AI-driven tools simplify the process of starting a blog.

We all know starting and maintaining a blog is tough work and expensive. Regularly writing new, interesting, and relevant posts can be a full-time job.

Think about it. In traditional blogging, you need to find topics to write about. Once you have a topic, you spend hours researching, writing, and editing. After your post is live, you worry about if search engines like Google will even show it to people.

Plus, there's the cost. If you're not a writer or busy, you might consider hiring someone to write for you.

Good writers are expensive. Then, if you want to ensure your blog shows up on search engines, you might need an SEO expert. These costs add up quickly, especially for smaller businesses or individual bloggers just starting out.

With Durable, creating blog posts becomes way easier. Instead of spending hours on a single post, Durable's AI Blog Builder helps generate content in seconds.

See it in action below:

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While the AI does the bulk of the work, you retain control over the content, allowing for edits, tweaks, or additions to ensure that the final post aligns perfectly with your brand voice and message.

Durable's AI Blog Builder, with its advanced algorithms, ensures the right balance of keyword density, promoting organic growth and higher search engine rankings.

The AI Blog Builder is designed to work seamlessly with the Durable platform. This ensures that the look, feel, and experience remain consistent across your website and blog.

5. Test Your Website

It's essential to ensure that your website functions correctly, displays accurately across different devices, and provides an optimal user experience.

Your website will have multiple features — forms, call-to-action buttons, links, sliders, and more. Testing ensures that all these components work seamlessly.

A button that doesn't lead where it should or a form that doesn't submit can frustrate users and lead to lost opportunities.

Why Testing Is Crucial

• Cross-Device Compatibility: Users access the internet from devices available today — desktops, tablets, and smartphones. Your website should look good and function well on all of them.
• Load Time: Slow-loading websites can deter visitors and negatively impact search engine rankings. Testing helps identify and fix any speed bottlenecks.
• User Experience (UX): Ensuring your website is user-friendly and intuitive can be the difference between a visitor staying on your site or leaving. A test can highlight navigation issues or areas that can be improved for a better UX.

How to Test Your Website

• Manual Testing: Navigate your website as if you're a new visitor. Interact with all features, click on all links, and fill out any forms. Make sure everything feels intuitive and works correctly.
• Ask for Feedback: Share your website with friends, family, or colleagues. Fresh eyes often spot issues you might have missed or provide insights into enhancing user experience.
• Responsive Design Check: Open your website on various devices — desktop, tablet, smartphone — to ensure it adapts and looks appealing on all of them.
• Speed Test: Tools like Google's PageSpeed Insights can help you see how fast your website loads and offer suggestions for improvement.

 Durable streamlines the website creation process, but testing remains a pivotal step.

6. Publish Your Website

Before you even think of hitting that publish button, take a moment to conduct a final, thorough review. Scrutinize every detail.

• Are all your images displaying correctly?
• Are there any typos in the content?
• Do all the links lead to the right pages?

This is your last chance to catch any minor errors or inconsistencies that may have slipped through.

Ensure that your chosen domain name is connected correctly. With Durable, this process is streamlined, but verifying that your domain points to your newly created website is still crucial.

If you're transitioning from an old website, ensure that all the old URLs are correctly redirected to avoid broken links and a loss in search engine rankings.

You’re now ready to launch. Click on “Publish” to take your website live.

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Once you've published your website, it's time to generate some buzz.

Share the news on social media, send newsletters to your email list, and engage in other promotional activities to drive initial traffic.

You can use Durable’s backend marketing tools to help you in promoting your website. Durable has an AI Assistant to help you create Google Ads, Social Media Ads, and marketing emails.

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Expert Tip: After publishing your site, the work doesn't end. Monitor your site's performance, monitor user feedback, and be ready to make quick edits if necessary.

Key Takeaways for Making a Website Using AI

The traditional website-building methods require a blend of design skills, coding knowledge, and the patience to work through various platforms and plugins.

But with AI-powered website builders like Durable, you can make a website for your business in only 30 seconds.

That doesn’t mean you won’t have the freedom to customize your website. Durable offers granular control over every design aspect.

You also save costs and time. Instead of spending hours on content, our AI helps generate, organize, and optimize it for you.

So, why don’t you try to build a website today? It’ll take you only 30 seconds.