Will AI replace your website?

You’ve probably heard it said: websites don’t matter like they used to. A business we know built one with AI for £30 a month and had two leads in four weeks. Others say buyers have moved to social, or that AI answers the question before anyone visits.

Some of that is true. The question is what it means for yours.

What’s actually changed

Making a website has become cheap. Making one that does a job hasn’t.

AI tools can build pages in minutes. If all you need is somewhere that says you exist, a cheap site will do, and we’d tell you so.

But most B2B businesses need more than that. Their website is where buyers check them out before the meeting, where AI tools learn what they do and where a referral turns into a conversation.

Your website is the one place where you control 100% of your message. Social platforms change their rules. AI tools summarise you however they like. Your website is the only version that’s yours.

What it’s costing you

Getting the website question wrong costs you either way.

• Spending on the wrong kind of website. A redesign that looks new and works the same.
• Or not spending at all. And letting the one place you control fall years behind the business.
• AI tools describe the old you. Because the site still does.
• Referrals go cold. Someone recommends you, the buyer checks the site and can’t tell what you do in two seconds.
• You can’t say what it brings in. So it looks like a cost, and the cheap option looks just as good.

What doesn’t fix it

Both extremes miss the point.

“Websites are dead.” Your buyers still check you out before they buy. They just do it with AI as well as the site.

“A £30 AI site does the same job.” For a brochure, maybe. Not for a business whose sale depends on trust and proof.

“We’ll just put everything on social.” You’re renting space on a platform that can change the rules overnight.

“A new design will fix it.” If the business hasn’t agreed what it’s saying, a new design just says the old thing more nicely.

A cheap site or one that sells: how to tell

Ask what the website has to do, not what it costs to make.

A cheap site will probably do if:

• Most of your work comes from people who already know you, and the site only has to confirm you exist.
• You sell one simple thing, and nobody needs convincing before they get in touch.
• You don’t plan to send campaigns, sales emails or referrals to it.

You need more than that if:

• Buyers shortlist two or three firms and compare you before anyone picks up the phone.
• Your sale is large or slow, and it’s won on trust and proof.
• You want every campaign and conversation to point somewhere, and to see what comes back.

If it’s mostly the first list, don’t spend more than you need to. If it’s the second, the cheap option is the expensive one.

What fixes it

Decide what the website is for, then build one that does that job, and can prove it.

If you’re not sure what the site needs to do, start with our brand strategy workshop: who it’s for, what they need to hear and what you want them to do. From £2,800 + VAT.

Then web design builds it around your buyer’s decision, with the copy written for you and tracking in from launch so you can see what it brings in. Projects range from £5,000 to £30,000 + VAT.

Not sure if you need a new one at all? A UX audit, from £550 + VAT, tells you whether it needs rebuilding or fixing.

• It does a job, not just looks good. Every page has a purpose.
• It tells people what you do in two seconds. Buyers, referrals and AI tools all get it straight away.
• It’s at the heart of your marketing. Where every campaign points and every conversation starts.
• You can see what it brings in. So it stops looking like a cost.

What a website that sells looks like

Half of HFD’s sales now come through their website.

One in two sales is placed through the site. That’s what a website at the heart of how you sell looks like: not a brochure buyers glance at before they call, but the place the sale happens.

Getting there isn’t a design job first. Our web design projects run in five steps:

• We untangle what’s there. Every page, menu item and plugin mapped, so you know what to keep, merge or cut.
• We agree what each page has to do. Who’s arriving, what they’re deciding, and the one thing they need to do next.
• We write it. The copy is part of the job, not homework for your team, so the site goes live finished.
• You see it on real content. Designed in the open with your words in place, so there’s no big reveal at the end.
• We launch it without losing what ranks. Every existing URL mapped before anything moves, and tracking in from day one.

Keep reading

• Why has our traffic dropped when our rankings haven’t?
• Your buyers are checking you out with AI before the meeting
• Your website one year on: what to review, and what to tell the MD