There’s a lot of talk about AI right now, and separating simple fact from the stacks of fiction, social media soapboxing, and plain old speculation can be difficult. The truth is that anyone who thinks they can predict the exact trajectory of this rapidly-changing field is probably kidding themselves. With that in mind, let’s focus on what we know for certain about AI tools and what they are capable of doing today. After all, there are lot of people who really need what AI has to offer right now and don’t have the luxury of waiting around for some future watershed moment (or doomsday takeover).

Take small business owners, for example. Anyone who runs their own business has probably dealt with their fair share of early mornings, late nights, and increasingly strong cups of coffee. Taking your financial success into your own hands is one of the most thrilling endeavors in life, but it can also give back a few extra gray hairs, to say the least.

While small business owners have the flexibility and organizational agility needed to run circles around their larger competitors, they also lack their deep pockets and wealth of resources. What comes easy for the big company may prove insurmountable for the SMB.

This difference in capability is particularly noticeable when it comes to establishing an online presence. To overcome the challenges associated with establishing a foothold online, a large organization can just throw money at the problem. They have the budget and the staff to make the most of digital opportunities, while their smaller competitors are still working on getting a website live.

This is where AI can be a real equalizer. To demonstrate how, exactly, let’s explore two areas of online presence where small business owners often struggle.

Finding a Domain Name

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but books with appealing covers and memorable, catchy titles tend to be your best sellers. In a similar way, businesses of all sizes need the right name and, online, the right domain name to succinctly capture what they are all about. A domain name is your digital calling card, and the foundation of your online presence. Getting it right is kind of a big deal – no pressure.

This is where that “limited time and resources” problems rears its ugly head again. A big company can task its marketing team with coming up with the perfect domain name that no one else has thought of yet and then register that name along with any similar variations. A small business owner’s marketing team, on the other hand, probably looks more like a blank piece of paper, a pencil and a laundry list of other, more pressing things to do.

AI can pinch hit for that underwhelming lineup through what is called ‘AI domain name generation.’ This type of service is exactly what it sounds like; rather than relying on a human brain to come up with some bright idea at a moment’s notice, AI domain name generation skips the brainstorming and the endless keyword searches and instead uses large language models to provide users with a creative range of domain options.

For example, let’s say you type in ‘Nashville hot chicken’ using a traditional domain search tool. You’re going to get variations of that keyword phrase, such as nashvillehotchicken.com, nashvillehotchicken.net., hotchickennashville.com, etc. With AI domain name generation, you aren’t just searching up similar variations of your keyword but actually using AI as a creative partner to help you find a domain that’s a little more interesting. Typing in the same term in an AI domain name generation tool might net you results like firefowl.com, nashbird.com, and villeburn.com.

See the difference? One is really just giving you back variations of your input; the other is essentially doing the job of a marketer and bringing in outside-of-the-box suggestions.

Creating Strong Website Content

With a domain name nailed down and a website up and running, the small business owner runs into another challenge: filling that website with quality content. This may be the area where AI is currently strongest; it’s certainly where open-to-the-public tools like ChatGPT have made their mark. You probably have already heard the raves about AI’s outstanding content generation capabilities (blog posts written in under a minute, product descriptions in the blink of an eye, ad copy faster than a speeding bullet), but, while much of the hype is real, it’s important to think about how you will use these content generation tools and whether they are truly convenient.

In actuality, the best kind of AI content generation tools are those that integrate directly with your website builder. Copy-pasting content between ChatGPT or another AI tool and a site-building tool or text editor is a workaround, but not one that properly supports how small business owners work every day. Ideally, an SMB should look for a website provider that offers integrated AI content generation that makes it easy to tailor content to specific needs across a website and beyond (social content should absolutely be another consideration).

Some AI writing tools even have multilingual content generation, and, depending on your market and vertical, that could be a major boon.

Embracing What AI Has to Offer

When computers became a major part of the business world, there were those who embraced the new technology and tried to learn it in and out, and there were those who kept mailing letters and storing files in manila folders. Times change, and whether you will make the most of the opportunities those changes bring or hold onto the old way of doing things for as long as you can is up to you.

At the very least, though, you should understand the ways in which AI can make your life as a small business owner easier and get to know your options. Sometimes, all it takes is experiencing AI for yourself to understand its many benefits.

So, when searching for your online solutions provider, try to find one that offers integrated AI content and domain name generation and see what these tools bring to the table. You might find, as many small business owners have, that while AI can’t do everything for you, it can certainly make some routine tasks a whole lot easier. At a minimum, you can start using smart AI integrations to set your business up for online success today with a strong domain name and great website content – and let the social media speculators worry about tomorrow.