You’ve undoubtedly heard plenty about artificial intelligence (AI) tools that are transforming the marketing profession, particularly digital marketing.
This is true. We’re essentially talking about a sweeping revolution affecting marketing work both broadly and deeply: measuring effectiveness, data analysis, media budget planning, process automation, personalization, using AI for content creation, and more.
How does all this impact the core channel of businesses—the website?
Let’s Start with What Doesn’t Change
Before we review the changes that the AI era brings to your business website—and these are significant changes—it’s crucial to understand what remains the same, so that the AI revolution doesn’t become an organizational crisis from excessive enthusiasm.
The Website’s Function
A website is designed to serve the business strategy and contribute directly or indirectly to the business’s commercial activity—customer acquisition, customer nurturing, customer retention.
This was true on the first day of the internet and it’s true today and throughout the entire journey. Things have become much more sophisticated over time, but the website’s purpose is still business and commercial.
Artificial intelligence technologies enable upgrading and optimizing how a website fulfills its purpose. It’s possible to reach exceptionally high levels of operational and marketing efficiency, but at the same time, even a basic ‘business card’ website needs to support the fundamental goals of a website:
- Driving sales and service processes
- Supporting deliberations and decision-making
- Serving as an anchor for organic promotion through search engines and AI tools
- Acting as a source for other content channels such as social networks, newsletters, and others
- Supporting brand/business image
Website Characteristics
Every website has two sides—the user-facing side (Front) and the operational user side (Back). For a website to achieve effectiveness, both sides need to provide quality user experience (UX) with a user-friendly interface (UI).
Here too, things have become much more sophisticated, but the basic principles by which websites are designed, built, and managed remain the same:
- Architecture that enables convenient operation and flexible management
- Connectivity and integration of tools and aids in collaboration with external sources
- User-friendly navigation and quick orientation
- Clear and friendly operation
- Reading, viewing, and listening comfort
- Design that serves the brand and content
- Above all, useful content (providing value for the time a user invests)
The Website’s Position in the Marketing Array
The website was and remains the core channel in the advanced marketing array, and as you’ll see later, its centrality is even strengthening.
Social networks are undoubtedly effective platforms for reaching broad audiences. Newsletters are an excellent tool for strengthening customer relationships and increasing customer value. But all these and others are not a substitute for a website.
Why?
- Because a website is the only digital asset under the business’s complete control
- Because on a website, it’s possible to provide every customer—existing or potential—a comprehensive picture of the business, its products and services
- Because website content is actually accessible 24/7 without interruption and doesn’t disappear in feeds
- Because on a website you can combine text, images, video, links, operational interfaces, and more
- Because website content essentially serves all other digital channels
- Because practical decisions are ultimately made on the business’s website
So how is the Website Changing?
Now, after understanding what needs to be preserved even in the AI era, let’s see what should be changed:
- Integration of AI mechanisms to improve service and user experience. For example, chatbots, smart search, offer generators, lead automation, content personalization, and more.
- Organic promotion for AI tools, alongside organic promotion for search engines. This means that all website content undergoes dual optimization to achieve presence in search results and in responses to queries and conversations with platforms like ChatGPT.
- Advanced analytics.
By the way, on a website built correctly from the start, the changes needed to adapt the site to the AI era are, in practice, just another (significant) upgrade made possible by smart architecture and flexible content displays.
Content Quality on the Website—The Determining Factor
Artificial intelligence changes the rules of the game in organic website promotion. The bottom line is that the AI revolution challenges content creators more than any other revolution in the digital space:
- Creating uniqueness and prominence within a massive flow of generic content created exclusively by AI tools
- Identifying search intents when the weight of search words decreases and the weight of chat-based search increases
- Building reputation and authority that create preference, trust, and loyalty over time in a situation of passing trends and changing patterns
- Justifying the price gap between automatic and economical AI content, and invested content that combines human research and writing (while using AI tools as aids)
Summary: The Website as a Central Tool in the AI Era
In an era where artificial intelligence is changing the rules of digital marketing, a quality website continues to be the backbone of business presence.
Despite new tools and changes in consumption trends, a website provides complete control, enables building trust with customers, and serves as a center for information and content accessible at all times.
Proper integration of AI technologies into the website can significantly improve user experience, increase the effectiveness of marketing processes, and build competitive advantage in a competitive and dynamic market.
Businesses that invest in quality and diverse content, optimization for AI tools, and improving user experience can expect the website (and with it the additional channels) to contribute to business success.
