Speed and agility have always been competitive advantages for SMBs; slow and frustrating bureaucracy often means business behemoths just can’t keep up.
While AI is helping larger businesses tear down red tape and pick up momentum, smaller businesses are still perfectly positioned to adopt and benefit from these new technologies faster than their larger competitors.
#1 Website builders
First came no-code website builders, offering basic website templates and drag and drop editors. They provided an easy way to get online, even for those with no coding experience. But they also required a considerable amount of editing to make the website good enough to launch.
Then came AI website builders. These start by asking you for key information about your website needs, such as your niche, your brand name and colors, and the purpose of your website. The AI then uses that information to create a bespoke template, often complete with text and images specific to your business.
Although AI-created websites still need some editing to make them fit for purpose, they tend to be a much closer match to your needs, saving you considerable time – a game changer for time poor small businesses.
Many of the top website builders, including Wix, Hostinger, and Squarespace, all offer AI website builders alongside templates and drag and drop options. Many AI website builders also offer built in AI content writers, image and video generation, and marketing automation. These can be helpful, but rarely stand up to purpose built tools.
#2 Content writers
Creating written content can be one of the most time consuming and costly parts of launching a website. This is where AI content writers can really come in handy.
These tools can take a short brief and turn it into the longform content you need for your website – from your about page to your blog posts – if you need written content, an AI writer can do it.
These particular tools are incredibly helpful for SMBs that need a high volume of pages, such as online stores that require many product descriptions or blogs that post content regularly.
However, like a four-year-old with a box of matches, it is important not to leave AI content writers unattended. These platforms are helpful, but can make mistakes, which can be costly if gone unchecked.
It is crucial to always review and closely edit AI-generated content. If the output misses the mark, you can go back and refine your prompt to help it better understand your intent.
Although you can use conversational AI models like ChatGPT to write copy, these tend to lack the specialist features needed to generate high quality website content. Specialist tools such as CopyAI and the HubSpot Content Writer can be a better option for those looking for more control over and clarity in their content.
#3 Image and video generators and editors
Images and videos are essential when building a visually compelling and engaging website.
In the past, SMBs were left with two options when fulfilling these aspects of their websites. They could aim for quality, with dedicated photo and video shoots, which are both costly and time consuming. Alternatively, they could opt for convenience with stock content, often leaving the website looking dull and unprofessional.
AI has created a third option: AI-powered image and video generators.
These tools typically work by taking a short brief, written by you, and then using that information to create an image or video. This offers SMBs a smart way to create content that is specific to their products, brand, and industry without the expense of a professional photographer or videographer. You can generate images via platforms like Gemini, Wix, or by using specialist tools such as Google Imagen. Dedicated video generation platforms include DeepBrain and Synthesia.
AI editing tools can also be incredibly helpful for small businesses. For example, upload a product picture taken on your phone and prompt the AI to make it a studio quality shoot.
A warning here, though. AI can manipulate images in unpredictable ways, often changing product details without being asked. Failure to spot inaccuracies could lead to customer complaints and even more serious issues. As always with AI, careful oversight is required.
#4 Marketing automation
So you’ve built your website with one of the best AI website builders, you’ve populated it with carefully curated, AI written content, images, and videos – now what?
AI tools don’t stop at helping you get your website ready for launch. You can also use them to drive traffic and sales through marketing automations.
For example, Wix has a built-in AI-powered marketing assistant. This covers everything from making SEO suggestions to automatically generating blog posts and email marketing campaigns based on the topics associated with your brand. Although each of these needs careful reviewing and some editing, it can be a smart way to develop ideas and keep momentum in your marketing efforts.
#5 Translators
For SMBs that target global markets, effectively communicating key information with all potential customers can be tricky, especially when you need content to be presented in different languages. Where SMBs would previously have to work with a translator in order to create a polished version of their website in another language, AI is making this easier, quicker, and cheaper.
Google Translate is the best known translation tool and is now powered by AI, although it can occasionally lack accuracy. More specialist tools, such as DeepL, can be better for translating website content.
Although any content translated using AI should be checked for accuracy, these tools can be a great way to speed up communications with audiences that speak different languages, helping your business remain agile and quickly react to market changes.
Getting your business online fast with AI: Summary
In this guide, we have outlined 5 AI tools that can help you go from idea to full online presence in record time. Using these tools will rapidly speed up everything from creating a website template and populating it to driving website traffic and making it more appealing to a global audience.
However, it is also clear that, although fast, these AI tools need a level of oversight to ensure what they produce is of high enough quality to represent your business online.
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