I’ve been building WordPress websites for small businesses for over 15 years. In that time I’ve seen a lot of technology come and go, and I’ve learned to be fairly selective about what I actually recommend to clients.
AI has moved fast enough, and become practical enough, that I can’t ignore it any more; and more importantly, some of it is now genuinely useful for the kinds of businesses I work with.
So I’ve spent the past year or so working out what’s actually worth offering. Not what sounds impressive, but what a small business owner can get real value from today, without it being a massive investment or a headache to manage.
I’ve landed on four services that I’m confident in right now.
AI chatbot for your website
If your business gets a lot of the same enquiries; questions about your services, pricing, hours, how to book; an AI chatbot can handle a lot of that automatically, any time of day.
This isn’t a scripted FAQ widget. We set it up using the AI Engine plugin connected to an OpenAI API account, and it’s trained on your actual content. It understands what you do and responds accordingly.
I’ll help you get the API account sorted if you don’t have one. Running costs are low for a typical small business site.
Manage your WordPress site by talking to it
This one’s newer technology, and I want to be upfront about that. But it’s genuinely interesting for the right person.
We set up a connection between your WordPress site and Claude AI, which lets you manage your site by typing plain English instructions. Update a page, publish a post, change your contact details; without logging into WordPress at all.
If you find WordPress fiddly to update, it’s worth a conversation. You’d need a Claude subscription (from around AUD$26/month) and we handle everything else.
AI image refresh
A lot of websites I’ve built over the years are still running on blurry phone photos, outdated stock images, or pictures the client grabbed from Google without checking the licence. That last one is a real risk; there are firms that actively pursue unlicensed image use, expsially now that stock iamge sites are losing their revenue stream.
I’ve been using AI image generation extensively for a while now, and I know how to get results that look right for a website. Not generic AI output, but images that are curated to suit your business, your brand, and the page they’re going on.
We go through your site, identify what needs replacing, and produce a proper set of images to swap in. It can also be folded into a new website build instead of waiting on clients to scrape together decent photos.
Worth noting: AI-generated images can’t replace photos of your actual staff, premises, or products. Those still need a camera. But for hero images, blog headers, lifestyle shots, and general scene-setting; this works really well.
WordPress AI plugin consulting
The WordPress plugin market has been flooded with AI tools. Some are useful. Most add bloat, create conflicts with other plugins, or just don’t do what they claim.
I’ve been keeping a close eye on this and maintaining my own WordPress AI Tools Directory, which I update as new tools come out and as I form a view on what’s actually worth using.
If you want an honest recommendation for your specific situation, and someone to get it set up properly, that’s what this is. Charged at our standard hourly rate of $140 + GST.
Where to go from here
If any of this sounds relevant to your website, the best starting point is just getting in touch. Tell me what you’ve got and what you’re trying to improve, and I’ll give you a straight answer on what’s worth doing.
You can also read more on the AI Services page, or browse the WordPress AI Tools Directory if you want to see what’s out there.
