ISSUE 01 · OCTOBER 2026
I Made a Mistake
I was on a tight deadline to launch our new site.
But myself and my creative team got a bit too wrapped up in the look and feel of the whole thing.
So I wrote a simple tagline for homepage header:
Fast forward to June. I’m at the Small Business Expo in Chicago - and while caught between conversations with business owners, I look around at the booths and see the same word in every tagline…
“Smarter”. “Smarter”. “Smarter”.
It had become an AI buzzword, and I had used it without knowing!
I felt so unoriginal. But, it made me think, yes: AI is here to stay. It HAS to stay.
But how much do we allow it to show up in the end result (copy/creative)?
Marketers see the power, but they also see just how starving consumers are for “human” content.
It’s no wonder I keep hearing:
“We want to use AI to build our website, but we still want your help”.
That’s why this month I’m giving you a FREE guide to build websites with AI, without losing your brand’s heart and soul…
AI Website-Builder’s Workflow 🫀: How To Build Human Websites At AI-speed.
Step 1 > Map it.
The AI Play 🤖: Use AI website tools like Relume to help you create a sitemap. This is a diagram that shows how each web-page connects to the other. Write a “mega prompt” to build yours in seconds. This is a guide I made that shows how to do it (plus a prompt template to get yours built immediately!)
The Human Play 👱: Your new sitemap will propose sections for each web page with auto-generated AI prompts that it will use to turn them in AI drafts. Use your human senses to iron out any illogical flows or clunky prompts. You might want to add a benefit section on one page for example. Relume makes re-organising and re-writing your page prompts super easy.
Step 2 > Frame it.
The AI Play 🤖: If the sitemap is a map with explanations, then the wireframe is the map with examples. Get your AI to transform your sitemap into its wireframe version. This makes communicating your vision with clients more efficiently and accurately so they don’t get any nasty surprises 😅. Then, do a human sweep to edit out any obvious cliches or errors.
The Human Play 👱: When the client signs off on the wireframe, bring in a human copywriter (you know why). Truth: AI has become so verbose because humans taught it to be. But a copywriter has been trained for the opposite. Let them cut out all the fluffy AI-isms. Then, your designer can use Figma to transform its cold clean visuals into something soulful.
Pro-Tip: Download the Relume Plugin to export your Relume wireframes directly into Figma and let your designers get to work immediately!
Step 3 > Build it.
The AI Play 🤖: Once the creative’s signed off, ship out a basic HTML (a live, clickable version of your site). It'll read fine to search engines - all SEO wants is a page it can crawl. But here’s the catch - most AI builders default to a homepage-driven structure: one strong page doing all the talking, with just a few supporting pages added.
The Human Play 👱: Tell your developer to create dedicated pages for each product or service. HTMLs work fine for basic Search but not for paid ads. It’s why an ad for “concrete floor coating” needs to point straight to a specific page for that service. Do this and you’ll actually get qualified, high-intent traffic instead of just “more traffic”.
A Mantra For The Month:
AI drafts, you decide.
I couldn’t tell you how many times I saw marketers use 20 slides to explain what could be said in 3. The funniest part: the execs only ever wanted it in 3 slides 😂
AI is the same. Use it with no boundaries and you’ll just get just more of nothing, or more of less
But what people need from marketers is less of more:
Less words to create more impact.
Less effort to create more leverage.
Less slides to create more awareness.
And AI shouldn’t show in the output - that’s a human’s playground.
It should be used for inputs.
That’s how “smarter” marketers are building websites with AI 😎
Until next month,
Conan Venus
Founder & Chief Strategist of Conan Venus & Company.
PS: Need help with your website?
I’m offering a FREE site audit. In 30 minutes you’ll know exactly where you’re leaking money on traffic (and how to fix it).
September Highlights
What I read:
Buy Back Your Time By Dan Martell
I’m working to apply Dan’s time-saving wisdom about lean growth and hiring at CVAC.
What I was asked:
“What Actually Counts As a Qualified Lead?”
Answer: Marketing can’t be evaluated properly until marketing and sales agree on what constitutes a meaningful opportunity. If your agency says it generated 100 leads, your first question shouldn’t be, “How did you do that?” It should be, “What exactly are you calling a lead?” (More on this next month!)
What was popular:
My LinkedIn Post About Leadership
How we help.
When you are ready, there’s a few ways CVAC can help you:
- Marketing Audit & Action Plan: Get a 360 audit on your marketing: what’s working, what’s not, and what to do next with a 90 day action plan.
- Web Design & Optimization: Build a (human) website that sells through narrative, buyer-journey UX, and performance SEO.
- Paid Media & PPC Management: Stop paying for clicks that don't turn into customers. Put spend on the right signals and the right audience. If it's not moving your numbers, we change it.
- SEO & AI Content Optimization: Let Chat GPT, Gemini, and Claude recommend your business to buyers at their hottest!
- Product Content & Launch Support: Launch content that's ready before day one: PDP copy, demo videos, packaging, sell-in decks. All built to answer buyer questions before they're even asked.