Add a chatbot to a client's website that answers their FAQs
Every small business answers the same ten questions all day: are you open, how much, is there parking. Build a chat assistant from a business's own website in half an hour, show it to the owner before you've asked for a penny, then sell them the upkeep. It answers only from the approved FAQ, hands everything else to a person, and costs about a pound a month to run.
- A demo-first way to sell it: a script that turns a prospect's website into a demo FAQ, prices with the hours behind them, outreach messages, a weekly routine, a scoreboard and your first 30 days
- Node.js for the
npxcommands. Level 0 covers it: Install anything from GitHub, safely - A free Cloudflare account, and an Anthropic API account from the Claude Console ↗ with a payment card added. Learning and testing use pennies of API usage
- A site to test on: the Hugo starter from Build a fast website for a local business is ideal
- A password manager for API keys. KeePassXC is free
- The kit: download it all as a zip or read the kit overview
- About 2 hours to read and build, then around 8 hours a week to find clients
Check the business actually needs one
A chatbot only earns its keep where people ask the same questions over and over. Find those businesses and you have something worth selling.
Here's the gap. A dog groomer with soapy hands can't answer the phone. A garage gets asked whether it does MOTs on Saturdays twenty times a week. A holiday cottage gets "is there parking, can we bring the dog?" at 11pm. Most of these businesses already have the answers written down somewhere: a price list, a Facebook post, a sign on the door. You turn those answers into a small chat window that replies instantly, using only the owner's approved words, and passes everything else to a person.
TipWhere the work is. The tech is the easy part: once you've done it once, a build takes an afternoon. Your value is sitting with the owner to write a complete FAQ (most don't have one), testing until it never states a wrong fact, and updating it every time a price changes. Your first client is most likely someone whose website you already built or look after, so start there. Some businesses only need a simple FAQ page, and telling them so is how you earn referrals. Who this suits: people who like keeping details exact, are happy to update each client's prices as they change, and will hold a firm line on what the bot is allowed to answer.Good fits get lots of repeat questions with fixed answers:
- Opening hours, holiday closures and "are you open now?"
- Prices and what's included ("how much is a full groom?")
- How to book, deposits and cancellations
- Parking, access and how to find them
- Delivery or call-out areas ("do you cover Headingley?")
Think groomers, salons, garages, driving instructors, cleaners, holiday lets, campsites, venues, and tradespeople with set service areas: busy hands, phones ringing, questions arriving after hours.
Poor fits:
- Few enquiries. A bot that gets five questions a month isn't worth a monthly fee.
- Every job quoted individually, like a builder or a bespoke kitchen. The answer to most questions is "it depends", which is a conversation, not an FAQ.
- Regulated or risky advice: solicitors, financial advisers, clinics. A wrong answer there can do real harm.
- Information that changes daily, like a café's specials, with nobody to update it.
- Customers who'd simply rather phone.
The 10-minute testBefore you contact anyone, read the business's Google reviews, Facebook comments and website. If the same question turns up three or four times ("is there parking?", "do you take walk-ins?"), they're a candidate. Write the question down: it's your opening line in step 8.
TipAllergens are the classic trap. A takeaway's assistant can answer opening hours and delivery areas, but every allergy question must go straight to a person. Write that rule in, and test it.