Your initial prompt is everything. It’s the difference between spending 30 minutes and 3 hours on achieving the results you want. Think of it as the blueprint for your entire website – the more detailed and clear your instructions, the closer the AI gets to your vision on the first try.
After building over 20 sites this way, I’ve refined the methods that work and identified the most common mistakes that waste time.
The Anatomy of a Perfect Initial Prompt
Here’s the truth: most people write prompts like they’re texting a friend. A common prompt from a beginner might be: “Build me a nice website for my business.” That’s like telling an architect “build me a house” without mentioning how many rooms you need. The AI will build something, but it probably won’t be what you envisioned.
A powerful prompt has structure. It has sections. It tells the AI not just what to build, but what not to build. It provides constraints that actually guide your creativity in the right directions. Let me show you the exact framework that’s worked for dozens of my professional sites.
The Structure That Works
After extensive testing, I found that organizing your prompt into clear sections dramatically improves results. This is because the AI understands structured instructions better than stream-of-consciousness requests.
- The opening statement sets context immediately. The AI understands not just that you want a website, but what kind of business it’s for and who will visit it. This shapes every design decision that follows.
- Target audience: Be specific about who you’re trying to reach – demographics, needs, and pain points make the AI create more focused content. For example:
- B2B consulting: Small business owners aged 35-55 with 10-50 employees, looking to streamline operations and scale efficiently.
- Local service: Homeowners in suburban areas, household income $75K+, need reliable emergency plumbing services.
- Online-learning platform: Career-switching professionals aged 28-40, seeking tech skills training with flexible schedules.
- Health & wellness: Busy working mothers aged 30-45, wanting quick home workouts that fit into 20-minute windows.
- Creative agency: Startup founders who need distinctive branding to stand out from competitors.
- Brand identity prevents generic results and inconsistencies. Without specific colors and style direction, the AI picks randomly, and pages may vary significantly in design. With them, you get consistency across every page and the opportunity for something more unique. If you don’t have brand colors yet, even just saying something as simple as “earthy tones” or “bright and energetic” can help. If you need help choosing colors (also known as HEX codes), use Coolors to generate a color palette quickly!
- Required pages & sections creates your site architecture upfront. The AI builds all pages in one go, ensuring consistent navigation and structure. Adding brief descriptions for each page helps the AI understand their purpose.
- Contact form requirements is crucial. If you’re using an embedded form service like Tally, Typeform, or Google Forms, include the embed code here. If you don’t know where to begin, I’d recommend signing up for Tally, building a basic contact form with name, email, phone, and message, and you’re all set!
- DO NOT BUILD might be the most important section. The AI sometimes gets enthusiastic and adds features you don’t need. This section prevents scope creep and keeps your site focused. It’s easier to add features later than to remove complex functionality the AI decided to include.
- Technical requirements ensures professional standards. Without these, the AI might skip mobile optimization or SEO basics. These requirements are non-negotiable for any professional site.
- Key features guides the AI toward specific elements that make sites successful. These aren’t random – they’re the features clients and visitors expect from professional websites.
- The focus statement at the end reminds the AI of the overall goal. It’s like telling a designer “remember, this needs to inspire trust” before they start working.
The Perfect Brand Website Prompt Formula
Here’s the master template that gets it right the first time.
Build a professional [type of business] website for ‘[Your Business Name]’. Target audience: [specific description of your ideal clients].
Brand identity:
Company name: [Your Business Name]
Brand colors: [Color 1 (#hex)], [Color 2 (#hex)], and [Color 3 (#hex)]
Style: [Single sentence with 2-4 descriptive words, such as “Clean, modern, and professional with plenty of white space”]
Required pages & sections:
- Home page: Hero section with compelling headline about [your value proposition], services overview, testimonials section, and a clear call-to-action
- About page: Company story, team information, and mission/values
- Services page: Detailed service offerings with descriptions
- Contact page: Contact form, business information, and location details
Contact form requirements:
[Specify whether you want to use embedded form service or get the AI to build a simple contact form]
To get your embed code: Create your form in your tool of preference, click “Share” or “Embed”, copy the iframe or embed code, and paste it into your prompt.
DO NOT BUILD:
- E-commerce functionality or shopping carts
- User login/registration systems
- Database connections or user accounts
- Payment processing systems
- Blog or CMS functionality
- Complex animations or video backgrounds
- Social media feeds or live integrations
Technical requirements:
- Must be fully mobile-responsive and mobile-optimized
- Smooth navigation between pages with proper routing
- Professional typography and clean layout
- Fast loading and optimized for performance
- SEO-friendly structure with proper headings and meta tags
Key features:
- Sticky navigation header that works on all pages
- Professional hero section with clear value proposition
- Service cards with clean icons or graphics
- Testimonials section with professional styling
- Footer with contact information and social links
- Subtle hover effects and smooth transitions
- Proper spacing and visual hierarchy throughout
Focus on building trust and expertise while maintaining a clean, conversion-focused design that helps [target audience] feel confident about working with [Your Business Name]. The website should look professional enough for a real [type of business].
Alternative Prompt: Let AI Handle Your Branding
Don’t have brand colors or aren’t sure about your style? Here’s an alternative approach that lets AI help create your brand identity.
Build a professional [type of business] website for ‘[Your Business Name]’. Target audience: [specific description of your ideal clients].
Brand creation requirements:
- Create a cohesive brand identity appropriate for a [type of business]
- Choose a modern color palette that conveys [concepts like: trust, innovation, warmth]
- Select professional fonts that are highly readable
- Design a simple text-based logo
- Ensure all branding elements work together harmoniously
[Then continue with the same Required Pages, DO NOT BUILD, Technical Requirements, and Key Features sections as above]
This approach works surprisingly well. The AI has been trained on thousands of professional websites and understands what colors and styles work for different industries. You can always refine these choices later.
Industry-Specific Prompt Examples
Let me show you a few examples of how you can adapt the template for different businesses. Note that the examples below only include the portions of the template you need to edit – you would still need to include the other aspects of the prompt.
For consultants
Build a professional consulting website for ‘[Your Firm Name]’. Target audience: small to medium business owners looking to scale their operations.
Style: Clean, modern, and authoritative with plenty of white space
Focus on: Building trust through expertise and proven results
Real-world example:
“Build a professional coaching website for ‘Leadership Dynamics’. Target audience: C-suite executives and senior managers seeking leadership development. Style: Sophisticated, minimal, with navy and gold accents. Focus on credibility and transformation.”
For local services
Build a professional service website for ‘[Business Name]’. Target audience: Local homeowners in [City] needing [type of service].
Style: Friendly, trustworthy, and approachable with local imagery
Focus on: Easy contact, service areas, and emergency availability
Real-world example:
“Build a restaurant website for ‘The Garden Table’. Target audience: Local families and food enthusiasts. Style: Warm, inviting, with earth tones and food photography. Include menu, reservations, and location. Focus on atmosphere and fresh ingredients.”
For creative professionals
Build a portfolio website for ‘[Your Name/Studio]’. Target audience: Brands and agencies looking for [your creative service].
Style: Bold, creative, and visually striking with focus on work samples
Focus on: Showcasing projects with strong visual impact
Real-world example:
“Build a modern agency website for ‘Pixel Perfect Studios’. Target audience: Startups and scale-ups needing branding and web design. Style: Bold, creative, with striking visuals and smooth animations. Focus on portfolio showcase and creative capabilities.”
Let AI Handle Your Content Creation
You’ve specified your industry, chosen your colors, and outlined your pages. Now comes a crucial element that separates amateur sites from professional ones: the tone of your content.
Writing website copy can feel daunting, but the good news is that the AI can write all your content for you – not just placeholder text either, but polished, final copy that sounds exactly like your brand should sound.
The first step is defining the tone. Think of tone direction as the personality layer of your content strategy.
“Write content for my website” gives you generic, non-branded content. “Write content for my website in a warm, conversational tone that makes small business owners feel understood” gives you content that connects with your ideal target audience.
This is best handled as a new, separate prompt from the initial prompt.
Five Tone of Voice Styles
Use one of these voice styles or mix elements from multiple styles to create something unique:
Corporate: “Write all website content in an authoritative, professional tone with clear language, data points, and expertise.”
Friendly: “Write all website content in a warm, conversational tone like talking to a friend – approachable and easy to understand.”
Innovation: “Write all website content in a forward-thinking, confident tone with punchy sentences that challenge the status quo.”
Direct: “Write all website content in a straightforward, results-focused tone that gets to the point with clear benefits.”
Empathetic: “Write all website content in a narrative tone that connects emotionally and focuses on customer transformation.”
Bad Prompts vs. Good Prompts: Real Examples
To illustrate the difference between prompts that will create more work for you and prompts that deliver results, here are some side-by-side comparisons. Notice how the good prompts include specific details about what you want, without requiring technical knowledge.
| Bad Prompt | Why It Fails | Good Prompt |
|---|---|---|
| “Make my homepage better” | The AI doesn’t know what you consider “better” or what’s currently wrong; it’s subjective. | “Update the homepage to highlight that we’re available 24/7 for emergencies. Make the main headline speak to stressed homeowners who need help fast. Keep the same colors but make the ‘Call Now’ button more noticeable.” |
| “Make the text sound more professional” | The AI doesn’t know which text, what’s wrong with it now, or what “professional” means for your business. | “Rewrite the About page to sound more authoritative. Replace the casual, friendly language with confident, business-focused writing. Keep the same three paragraphs but emphasize that we’ve been doing this for 15 years and work with major corporations. I’m targeting CEOs and senior executives.” |
| “Fix the mobile version” | Doesn’t explain what’s broken or which pages have problems. | “The menu at the top doesn’t work right on phones – it stays expanded and covers the content. Change it to one of those three-line menu buttons that opens a menu from the side. Make sure all the buttons are big enough to tap easily on a phone. Check the Services and Contact pages especially.” |
| “Add some animations to make it look modern” | No direction on where, what kind, or how much animation. | “When someone hovers their mouse over the service boxes on the homepage, make them slightly larger and add a shadow behind them. When someone scrolls down to the testimonials section, have it fade in smoothly instead of just appearing. Keep the animations quick and subtle – nothing flashy or distracting. DON’T add moving backgrounds or anything that auto-plays.” |
Don’t leave the AI guessing. Every good prompt answer should answer these questions: What exactly needs to change? Why does it matter? Who is it for? And what should the AI avoid doing?
Using the “Improve Prompt” Feature
Here’s where Replit gets interesting. After you paste your initial prompt, the Improve Prompt ( ) feature will appear. This is like having an experienced developer review your requirements and add technical details you might have missed.
See what happens when I use a simple prompt and hit “Improve”.
Original: “I want to build a consultant website for my business called Strategic Growth Partners”
After improvement:
A professional consulting website for Strategic Growth Partners that showcases expertise, services, and builds credibility with potential clients.
Core Features:
- Homepage with company overview and value proposition
- Services page detailing consulting offerings
- About page highlighting team expertise and experience
- Contact page with inquiry form and business information
Visual References:
Inspired by McKinsey & Company and Bain & Company websites, known for their professional, trustworthy, and sophisticated presentation of consulting services.
Style Guide:
- Colors: Primary #1B365D (deep navy), Secondary #2E86AB (professional blue), Accent #A23B72 (burgundy), Background #FFFFFF (white), Text #333333 (charcoal), Light Grey #F8F9FA (section backgrounds)
- Design: Playfair Display/Merriweather for headings, Open Sans/Source Sans Pro for body text, structured grid layout with generous whitespace, professional typography hierarchy, mobile-responsive design with clean forms and clear call-to-action buttons
The AI expands this into a full technical specification with routing, component structure, responsive design requirements, and more. It’s like having a technical co-founder who speaks fluent developer.
Should you use it? Yes, but selectively. The improvement feature excels at adding technical specifications but sometimes goes overboard and prompts for advanced features you might not want. Here’s my approach:
- Write your detailed prompt using the template
- Hit Improve Prompt
- Review the improved prompt
- Delete anything that doesn’t match your vision
- Keep the technical improvements that make sense
Common Prompt Mistakes to Avoid
After watching dozens of people vibe code their first sites, these are the mistakes they make that often cause frustration.
Being too vague. “Make it look professional” doesn’t give the AI enough direction. Instead, try something like: “Clean design with plenty of white space, modern typography, and a corporate feel.”
Asking for everything at once. Prompting for a blog, store, booking system, and member area during the initial build will just overwhelm the AI. Start simple and add these features later.
Forgetting mobile. Not mentioning mobile optimization often results in desktop-only designs. Always include “fully mobile-responsive” in your technical requirements.
Skipping the DO NOT BUILD section. Without constraints, the AI might add user authentication, databases, or other complex features you don’t need.
Using technical terms. Telling the AI to “implement Redux state management” when you just want a contact form adds unnecessary complexity. Stick to describing what you want to achieve, rather than attempting to prompt the AI on how to code it.
The Power of Iteration
Here’s something crucial: your first prompt doesn’t have to be perfect. Vibe coding is conversational. You can refine, adjust, and improve your prompt after seeing the initial result. Think of your initial prompt as starting a conversation, rather than a singular command.
But – and this is important – a strong initial prompt saves hours of revision. Spending 10 minutes crafting a detailed prompt can save you from 2 hours of trying to fix a site built from vague instructions.
Your Prompt Checklist
Before you hit enter on your initial prompt, run through this checklist.
✔ Business name and type clearly stated
✔ Target audience defined
✔ Brand colors specified (or style direction given)
✔ All necessary pages listed
✔ Contact form approach decided
✔ DO NOT BUILD section included
✔ Mobile responsiveness mentioned
✔ Key features specified
✔ Overall focus/goal stated
If you’ve covered all these points, you’re ready to build something amazing.
The Moment of Truth
You’ve crafted your prompt. It’s detailed, structured, and clear. You’re about to transform these words into a living, breathing website. The next section will walk you through the actual build process – from submitting your first prompt to having a fully functional site.
Ready to watch your words become a website? Let’s build.
