It’s the question I get asked almost daily now: “Can AI just build my website for me?”
After 20 years in web design and having worked extensively with AI tools over the past few years, my answer is both yes and no. Let me explain what that actually means for your business.
The Truth About AI and Web Design
Yes, AI can technically generate a website. You can go to ChatGPT, Claude, or any number of AI website builders and walk away with something that looks like a website. But here’s what I’ve learned working with dozens of small business clients in Mandurah and across Australia: looking like a website and being an effective website are two completely different things.
I use AI tools every single day. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, Midjourney—they’re all part of my workflow now. They’ve absolutely transformed how quickly I can research industries, analyse competitors, generate content frameworks, and create images. But here’s the critical part: I’m using these tools with 20 years of expertise guiding every decision.
What AI Does Well (And Where It Falls Apart)
AI excels at being a scaffold—giving you somewhere to start that isn’t a blank page. For research, it’s brilliant. I can analyse an entire industry and competitor landscape in a fraction of the time it used to take. For content frameworks and technical coding issues, it’s incredibly helpful.
But here’s where it consistently fails: AI makes websites that all look the same.
I’m currently working with an interior design client, and AI gave me three different homepage wireframe layouts. Each looked professional enough. But if I’d just picked one and run with it, the result would’ve been mediocre. Instead, I took elements from all three and combined them with my understanding of what this specific client needs, who their customers are, and what actually converts visitors into leads. That judgment call? That’s what 20 years of experience looks like, and AI can’t replicate it yet.
The Content Problem Nobody Talks About
AI loves to generate content. Pages and pages of it. But here’s what it doesn’t understand: someone actually has to read this stuff.
I’m constantly reining in AI’s enthusiasm for creating endless paragraphs that serve no purpose other than “maybe it’s good for SEO.” Real conversion rate optimisation means knowing when to cut to the point. Your potential clients don’t want to wade through five paragraphs of fluff to find your phone number or understand what you actually do.
AI also generates ideas that sound good but might not make sense for your specific business or location. If you don’t have the expertise to catch these issues, you’ll publish content that does more harm than good.
The Maintenance Nightmare
Here’s what happens after someone builds an AI-only website—and this is where most DIY attempts completely fall apart:
Updates become a nightmare. As of early 2025, most AI-generated sites don’t use a proper CMS (Content Management System). Want to add a blog post? Update your services? Change a price? You’re manually coding every single change. For someone who didn’t know what they were doing in the first place, this gets overwhelming pretty fast.
Integrations are a minefield. If you need e-commerce functionality, payment processing, or any secure integrations, you’re dealing with serious security concerns. Without expertise, you won’t know if your site is actually secure or if you’re exposing your customers to risk.
AI makes unexpected changes. I’ve seen clients try to optimise one section for SEO using AI, only to have it inadvertently break other parts of the site. When you don’t understand the underlying code, these situations spiral quickly.
DIY vs. Professional: The Decision Framework
If you’re considering doing it yourself with AI versus hiring a professional, ask yourself these questions:
1. Will I need to make updates to my website? If yes (and the answer is almost always yes for businesses that want their site to generate leads), you need to think seriously about how you’ll handle ongoing maintenance.
2. What’s the actual purpose of my website? If your answer isn’t “to generate leads and income for my business,” we need to talk. A website that doesn’t earn its keep is a waste of time and money. Looking pretty isn’t enough.
3. Do I understand the research and development process? Most people skip straight to “make it look nice” without understanding competitor analysis, customer journey mapping, conversion optimisation, or local SEO strategy. This is the process that gets skipped with AI-only builds—and it’s the most important part.
4. Can I tell good content from AI fluff? If you can’t distinguish between content that serves your business goals and content that just fills space, you’ll end up with a site full of the latter.
5. Do I know what I don’t know? This is the big one. Without expertise, you won’t know what questions to ask, what problems to avoid, or what opportunities you’re missing.
How AI Has Changed My Work (Not Replaced It)
Over the past year, AI has completely changed how I work—but it hasn’t replaced what I do.
The biggest change? I outsource far less than before. Tasks that used to go overseas can now be handled quickly with AI, then refined with my expertise. This makes the entire process faster and gives me more time to focus on strategy, conversion optimisation, and genuinely improving the end product for clients.
But I’m strict about how I use it. You can easily go down a rabbit hole and waste hours. I use AI for specific tasks with clear parameters, then apply my judgment to the results.
The Bottom Line
AI is going to push out people who were just going through the motions, and it’s giving skilled designers more time to focus on strategy, conversion, and results. That’s exactly what small businesses need: less time spent on technical grunt work, more time spent on making sites that actually generate income.
Can AI build your website? Sure. Can it build a website that understands your business, serves your customers, converts visitors into leads, and grows with you over time? Not without expert guidance.
Work With Digital Den
At Digital Den, we’ve spent 10 years helping small businesses across Australia get websites that actually work for them. We use AI to make the process faster and more efficient, but we combine it with expertise you can’t get from a chatbot.
We handle the entire process—research, design, development, and ongoing maintenance—so your website becomes a genuine asset that generates leads and income for your business.
Ready to talk about a website that actually works? Get in touch with Digital Den today.
Digital Den | Tech Support & Digital Marketing
Mandurah, Western Australia
Let’s build something that works, not just something that looks like it should work.