Finally got my coffee shop online
i've been running a small coffee shop for about 3 years now and always just relied on our Instagram and Google Maps listing to bring people in. Worked fine honestly, but I kept getting asked "do you have a website?" by catering clients and event planners and it was getting embarrassing saying no lol.
Anyway a couple weeks ago I stumbled on this website builder called Acira AI - the whole thing is basically a chat conversation where it asks you about your business, pulls info from your existing Google Maps and Instagram, and just... builds the site. I was skeptical because I've seen those "AI website in 60 seconds" things that spit out generic garbage, but this one actually had our real menu items, hours, photos from our socials, all that. Took maybe 15 minutes total including me going back and forth on the description.
The part that sold me is I can just email them changes. Like I literally sent an email saying "can you add our new seasonal drinks menu" and it was updated in like 10 seconds. For someone who does not want to learn a drag and drop editor that's kind of perfect.
They have a free trial too which is what I'm on right now. I'll probably upgrade eventually and get a custom domain but honestly the free version has more than I expected - analytics, contact forms, even SEO stuff.
I'm not saying this is the move for everyone, if you want full creative control you're probably better off with Wordpress or Webflow. But for a small local business that just needs something professional up fast without the headache, it worked really well for me.
Anyone else here running a local business? What are you using for your site? Curious if others have tried any of the newer AI builders or if most people are still going the traditional route.