Prompt-built websites: the new wave of «my cousin» (and why €400 does not buy a site)

I am Matteo Santoro. The story repeats every ten years; only the tool changes.

First it was “my cousin does websites.” Then “my friend is a designer,” “the hairdresser built one too,” the shop down the road with Wix or a WordPress theme. Today the line is: “I’ll do it with AI in an afternoon,” with quotes of €400, €500, €299 “all inclusive” and the like for a complete site.

This is not an attack on artificial intelligence: I use it too, with judgment, to improve workflows (drafts, repetitive chunks), not to replace the trade. It is an attack on anyone who sells the look of a website without knowing (or telling you) what is underneath: security, performance, where form messages land, what happens when Google or an assistant should recommend you.

What you are actually buying at that price

Usually whoever sells fluff sites sells the same package to everyone: same skeleton, similar copy, your logo pasted on top. Yesterday’s client and tomorrow’s look like twins. No value tied to your work, your area, or your customers.

In practice they sell you a useless site for your business: you are throwing money away. Just another one that will not show up in results when someone searches for you:

• Nothing truly yours: cases, numbers, real photos, a message on why pick you.
• No clarity on where form enquiries go (or the form does not work).
• No plan for cookies, privacy, backups, updates.
• A site slow on mobile because nobody measured anything.
• Domain and hosting in their name, or a bundle you cannot take if you leave.

Same movie as the cheap template in 2015, new script. For your business it is still another useless site: it does not help you get found, trusted, or contacted. It only lets you say “we have a site” at dinner.

Why «I built it with ChatGPT» is not enough

A prompt can draft copy and even layouts. It does not replace:

• understanding what the visitor should do (call, book, buy);
• aligning Business Profile, reviews, and site message (as in citations and online presence);
• setting performance and structure for real search (Core Web Vitals, local pages when needed);
• security and compliance basics: forms, access, scripts (cookies and data are not optional).

Someone who is not in the trade does not even know what they do not know. You notice after you paid and Google (or an assistant) still ignores you.

I am fairly sure that if you ask one of these «experts» what SSR is (in plain terms: how the page is built and served, not just “AI made it”), many cannot answer. And that the repo they push to GitHub or similar often includes the .env file: where passwords, API keys, and panel or database access usually live. A beginner mistake that exposes everything to anyone scanning the code. You will not notice; a bot or a competitor might.

How not to fall into the trap

Before you sign, ask. The first ones are business questions; the rest expose prompt-only delivery (if they hesitate or change the subject, that is already an answer):

1. Where does the form email go? Who reads it? Can they prove a test send?
2. Who owns domain and hosting? How do you recover everything if you change provider?
3. What happens after handover? Updates, backups, who fixes downtime?
4. Open the site on your phone: in ten seconds, do you understand what you do and how to reach you?
5. What is included beyond the home page? Services, area, privacy, real contact paths?
6. “What is SSR for my site?” SPA, SSR, or static generation: what do they use and why does Google see full HTML, not an empty shell?
7. Core Web Vitals / PageSpeed: real numbers (LCP, INP, CLS) on mobile or “it is fine”?
8. sitemap.xml, robots.txt, canonical: do they exist, stay updated, can they explain them?
9. Structured data (Schema.org): is there LocalBusiness or similar, valid in Search Console?
10. HTTPS and redirects: forced HTTPS? www / non-www handled without redirect chains?
11. Who can log in to change the site? Are the username and password yours alone, or do they keep access? Did they remove factory defaults (admin / 123456) and hand you real control?
12. Cookies and scripts: does the banner block analytics and third parties before consent or is it cosmetic?
13. Repository and secrets: public Git repo? .env in .gitignore? keys rotated if they leaked online?
14. Backup and restore: automatic file and database backups, where stored, have they ever tested a restore?

A site at that “all inclusive” price (€400, €500, or similar) is not a bargain: it is a hidden cost you pay with a rebuild, as in my post on technical debt. The honest comparison is not “AI vs human”: it is goal vs fluff. Custom vs template is already spelled out here.

What I do, in practice

The Websites work I take on does not start from a price list. It starts with one question: what should change for your business if the site works. More calls, better leads, more trust in your area, or something else. What you tell me on a call becomes the measure for everything that follows.

From there we build a development plan together: what goes live first, what can wait, what is not worth paying for. Along the way I study your brand identity: how you talk to clients, how people see you, what sets you apart. The site should not look like your competitor’s twin with your logo on top. That is where the value is: showing who you are and why to trust you, not filling empty pages.

Then we build: pages, copy, checking the form actually sends, testing on a phone. That comes after the plan, not instead of it. If you have a quote that feels off, send it before you sign: we read it together and you see whether there is real work behind it or just smoke.

Price is not in a blog post: this article explains how I think, not a table. For numbers and timing, message me with your site link or the quote they sent.

If this sounds like you

You already have a site that “exists” but delivers nothing, someone offered you a cheap flash package, or you are rebuilding and want value, not another site identical to everyone else’s.

I work from Frosinone and Rome and remotely across Italy and abroad. Message me with your site link (or the quote they sent) and one line on your goal: I will say whether to fix, rebuild, or stop before you sign.