AI website builders and coding assistants have made it quick to produce a site that looks finished. That is useful. We use AI tools in our own work too. But a site that looks finished is not the same as a site you can rely on, and the gaps are usually in places a screenshot does not show.
Here are five checks to make before you send customers to it. None of them needs technical knowledge.
1. The phone test
Most local customers will see your site on a phone first. Open it on your own phone, on mobile data, and go through it as a customer would.
- Can you tell what the business does, and where, without scrolling?
- Is the text readable without zooming? Do buttons work with a thumb?
- Does every menu item lead somewhere real? AI tools sometimes create links to pages that were never made.
- Do the phone number and email address work when you tap them?
Then read every word. Generated copy can include confident claims you never made: years of experience, awards, client numbers, review scores or “trusted by” logos. Remove anything that is not true and that you cannot show evidence for. Under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, misleading claims to consumers can lead to enforcement, and invented reviews are banned outright. The fix is simple: if it did not happen, delete it.
2. The enquiry test
A contact form that shows “Thank you” has not necessarily sent anything. Some generated forms are only a design, with nothing connected behind the button. Others send to an address you do not check.
Send a clearly labelled test enquiry from your phone, using a second email address. Confirm that it arrives in the right inbox, not spam, with every field intact, and that replying reaches the sender. Our guide Contact form not working? How to check your website enquiries actually arrive walks through this step by step.
3. Who owns the domain and the site?
Find out exactly whose name the domain is registered in, and which account controls it. It should be your business, with login details you hold. The same applies to the hosting account and the builder or platform account.
Ask a practical question too: if you stopped paying this platform, what would you keep? Some builders let you export your site; many do not. Knowing the answer now is much cheaper than discovering it during a dispute or a price rise.
4. Maintenance and running costs
A website has running costs even when nobody touches it. List them in one place:
- Domain renewal, and the date it renews.
- Hosting or platform subscription, including what happens after any introductory price.
- Business email, if it is separate.
- Any paid add-ons, form services or plugins the site depends on.
Then decide who looks after it. Someone should renew the domain, check the enquiry route after changes, apply updates where the platform needs them and keep a copy of the content. If the person who built it with AI is not going to do that, decide now who will.
5. A privacy notice that matches reality
Many generated sites include a privacy policy written for a different business. It may describe analytics you do not use, or miss the form, chat widget or map you do use.
Read it against what the site actually does. What does the contact form collect, and where is it sent? Are there analytics, embedded videos, maps or chat tools, and do they set cookies? Non-essential cookies generally need consent before they are set. Who is named as responsible for the data, and how can someone contact you about it? If the notice and the site disagree, change one of them. Guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office is a good starting point; take advice if you are unsure.
If something does not pass
Most problems found this way are small and fixable. Keep a short list of what failed and why, then work through it. A site that passes these five checks is a much better foundation than one that only looks right.
If you would like a second pair of eyes, our free practical website review sends three useful improvements. If you would rather start again with a site built around your business, see our website design service in Portsmouth and nearby towns or get in touch.
This guide is practical information, not legal advice.
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