Field Notes · 001 · Websites
How do I make my AI website stand out?
Use real photos of your real people doing the real work. AI can build a clean website in an afternoon, but it can't show who you are. Your photos are the one thing nobody else can copy.
Here's the problem with AI websites: they're fast and cheap, and they all start to look the same, with the same layouts, the same stock photos and the same made-up people smiling at laptops.
When everybody can build a nice website, a nice website stops being the thing that sets you apart. What's left is the stuff that's only yours.
What makes a website stand out now
- Your crew. The people who show up for your customers. Their faces build more trust than any headline.
- Your work. The job site, the boat, the finished project, the mess in the middle. Real work proves you can do the work.
- Your words. Write the way you talk. If it sounds like a brochure, people skim it. If it sounds like you, they read it.
What to skip
Stock photos and AI-generated people. Visitors can tell, and the second they notice, they stop trusting the rest of the page.
If you only change one thing this year, replace every stock photo on your website with a real one. Then let AI do the building.