The Misleading Claim
You have seen the posts on Facebook promising to “design” your website in five minutes, and it will cost you next to nothing. There must be a catch, and there always is. The very same “person” who “builds” your website in five minutes has just made you totally dependent on them – you will end up stuck in a trap, especially where they offer a domain as part of the deal.
Generating a complete, professional website in five minutes using AI is a marketing myth because it only produces a basic skeleton that will require hours of manual work to fix. We know. We have tried it to see what will happen, and we can assure you even experienced web developers will give up trying to fix a site like this. Just because you can afford a subscription fee for an AI assistant does not suddenly make you a top web developer or programmer. You need experience and determination to see a project through from start to finish.
What AI Maybe Does in Five Minutes
It builds a structure but without planning – AI sets up a homepage, an about page, and a contact form instantly. This sounds good until you need to customise and refine information. Then it depends on your creativity. AI cannot do this, and this same “web designer” is going to extort a lot of money to fix it for you. Keep this in mind: failing to plan is planning to fail.
It adds fake text without bothering what your business is about – AI fills your pages with generic placeholder sentences. We have seen too many websites where content looks something like this: “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.” We do not know what this means and neither do you. What will a visitor to your website think when they see this?
It selects colours for you without asking for your logo – AI picks a matching colour palette and standard fonts for your layout. It does not keep your corporate identity in mind. This corporate ID starts with your logo.
It uses stock photos – AI inserts random pictures that may not fit your actual business. There is nothing inherently wrong with stock images, but they may need to be edited or carefully chosen to create the desired effect.
The Hidden Reality
Generic design – your site will look like hundreds of other AI-generated sites on the internet. AI tends to go for dark backgrounds with brown/gold text. There is nothing wrong with either, but it must be planned properly.
Poor writing – the text lacks your true voice, brand message, and proper facts about what you do. We can spot AI-generated text a mile off. It is just too perfect. While we obviously strive for correct grammar, there is a point where the human aspect is lost when text is written by AI. Humans make mistakes when they speak or write and we perceive this as natural. We write error-free content, but keep the human touch.
Broken links – forms, buttons, and menus often need manual setup to work correctly. AI can scan a site for errors, but there is a logic continuity required that only a genuine, flesh-and-bones web developer can give.
Poor security – privacy policies, cookie banners, and secure checkouts require human setup and legal review. It is especially the legal policies that are important. AI could not care less about this. It can, if you ask, produce something, but it still does not understand the legal aspects of your business. This takes time to write, especially if you do not already have these documents in place.
Ownership issues – that cheap domain that comes with the deal is probably never yours in the first place. If you want to leave the “web designer” because you are unhappy, chances are that your domain will remain with them. You need to register your own domain in your own name so that you own it, not them.
What Still Takes Real Time
Custom content – writing clear text that explains your specific products or services takes hours of planning, refining, rephrasing, and paraphrasing. Most of all, it requires an understanding of the language used on the site, as one small punctuation error can cause major problems. Content starts with conceptual text, ideas, brainstorming, and checking to see that words are used effectively but economically. Less is more.
Search engine optimisation – adjusting settings so that real people can find your site is not as easy as it seems. For your site to work, the underlying source code must be in place and be correct. The site needs to be tested to see if the intended message and the code used correspond.
Mobile testing – checking how your pages look on different phones and computer screens requires human input. AI cannot distinguish between small variations that will either make the site work properly, or fail miserably.
What Now? Can We Not Use AI at All?
We would not be effective website developers and programmers if we did not use AI assistance. The difference is that we have already mapped out the structure; know what to ask the AI assistant to do; check the logic of the code so that it does what we expect; and then ensure that proper web development and programming standards are maintained. This would not be possible if we were not already very experienced in what we do.
Even with AI employed, there is a mountain of work to be done by humans. We just cannot get away from this. In the end, taking a “web designer’s” offer of a website in five minutes is going to cost you dearly. Rather contact us and let us work with you to plan a proper product.