Artificial intelligence tools are a really great way to look up “how-to” information and other steep “learning curve” descriptions when you want to do something you’ve never done before – from setting up a website for your business to how to barbeque salmon. And it’s fun to see all the images it can generate with just a few words. It can help you with information about how to set up the really confusing SEO (search engine optimization) presence for a website. And there are even A.I. driven themes now.
That said, it’s also easy to use it to create…once again…cookie cutter information and websites. It tends to suppress creativity by definition…that is if you let it. Use A.I. information as a guideline only. It’s so important that YOUR voice be in what you put on your website, especially for personal service businesses.
For instance – use it to generate nicely written text – but don’t let it be a copy/paste situation in place of your own phrasing and words. Get the important points that need to be covered by what you say, but NOT how you say it. And computers speak really well to other computers (A.I. to A.I.), so it’s a great way to check and refine SEO.
It’s also important that you pick or at least approve the images you use to create the mood of your site. Slick doesn’t replace real, not when dealing with real people. Unless you are in an industry that regards a slick presentation favorably, guard against a “slick” look with A.I. images if you plan to use them. Slick feels…well, slick – not safe, not comforting, not trustworthy, not empathetic, not encouraging; in short, not real.
So my conclusion, if you have a service business, especially a personal services business, make sure it’s YOU speaking to your site visitors and potential clients. Remember, you are essentially selling yourself along with your services, so be sure you are very prominently represented in what you put out to the world. Instead use A.I. as a tool – a checklist to make sure you’ve included everything important. A computer generated anything, no matter how smart or funny or detailed, isn’t YOU.