Looking after your website in chat: ten sentences that work

For a few weeks now I’ve been helping the first people who look after their website with MADLAB // Publishing. The technology rarely gives them trouble. What makes them hesitate is a much simpler question: what do I actually write?

If you’ve spent years working with a content management system, you look for the right button. In the chat there isn’t one. You say what you want, and the assistant does it with our tools. To make the start easier, I’ve collected ten sentences that work well in practice. You can use them word for word or put them in your own words. Either is fine.

There is one requirement: your assistant has to be connected to your account. How that works is explained in Connecting Claude and Connecting ChatGPT.

1. “Show me my websites on MADLAB // Publishing.”

The best first sentence. The assistant fetches the list of your websites with plan and address. That tells you straight away whether the connection works. If it answers with general tips instead, the connection isn’t switched on in the conversation yet. In Claude you’ll find it under the “+” below the input field.

2. “The website is for my joinery in Bern. Do the name and address work, or do you have a better idea?”

You create the website itself in the portal, with a name and an address. Often that’s a quick working title. Before you build, it’s worth a second look, together with a short description of what the website is about. As long as it has never been published, a better address costs nothing. The assistant makes suggestions, you decide.

3. “Build a home page with our services, our opening hours and a contact section.”

The more you tell it about your business, the better the first draft. Who you are, who you work for, what matters to you. You don’t need to know anything about web design. The assistant takes care of search engines, speed and how it looks on a phone by itself, because our rules are built into its tools.

4. “Change the opening hours on the contact page: Monday to Friday 7.30 am to 5 pm, closed on Saturday.”

This is what everyday use looks like. One clear sentence, one clear change. Every change becomes its own version with date and time. Several things at once are no problem, as long as you list them clearly.

5. “I have new photos of the workshop. How do I get them onto the website?”

Images don’t go through the chat. The assistant gives you a link where you upload the files straight into your website. Then you tell it where they belong. More in Uploading images and files.

6. “Show me a preview.”

Before anything goes online, you look at it. The assistant creates a preview address you can open in your browser or on your phone. It’s only valid for a while and is meant for looking, not for sending round.

7. “Check the page and publish it if everything is in order.”

Before publishing, the assistant checks the page against a list: title and description for search engines, broken links, oversized images, missing image descriptions. Then it shows you what would be transferred and waits for your go-ahead. Nothing goes online without it. ChatGPT also asks for confirmation on every change, and that’s intentional. More in Publishing a website.

8. “What did you change yesterday? Please bring back this morning’s version.”

Because every change is a version, every state can be brought back. That takes the fear out of trying things. Worth knowing: rolling back first changes only your working copy. The old version is only live once you publish it again. See Versions and rolling back.

9. “I’d like a contact form. Is that possible, and what does it cost?”

For ideas, the tools include their own advice section. The assistant sees what your website can do today, what’s missing for the idea and what it would cost. The prices come straight from us, not from its memory. So you get an honest answer instead of a guess. See What you can build.

10. “My website isn’t reachable. What’s going on?”

You can sort this out in the chat too. The assistant checks the address, the entry and the delivery, and tells you whether the problem is on our side, with the domain or in the files. A lot of it can be fixed right away if you agree. See Why my website isn’t reachable.

Three tips from practice

Talk to it. Voice input in Claude and ChatGPT turns the chat into something close to a phone call. Daniel Schmid of Tauchsport Käser makes most of his changes this way, as he explains in our case study on oceya.ch.

Name the website if you have several. “On the joinery website…” is enough. Otherwise the assistant asks, and that costs you a round.

Stay in the same conversation. Within one conversation the assistant knows what you’re working on. For a new topic, a new conversation is perfectly fine.

If you want to go further, Build a website with Claude walks through the whole process. And why we do without a content management system altogether is explained on Website without a CMS.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to write the sentences exactly like this?

No. They’re examples, not commands. The assistant also understands “Can you take Saturday out of the opening hours?”. All that matters is that it’s clear what you want.

Can the assistant break something by accident?

Every change is a version and can be brought back. And only what you’ve seen and approved gets published. So what’s live never changes without your go-ahead.

Does it work on a phone too?

With Claude, yes, once the connection is set up: in the browser, in the app and on your phone. With ChatGPT, connections like this don’t currently work on phones.

Which assistant is better, Claude or ChatGPT?

Both work. We mostly use Claude ourselves, because the connection works on every device there and is possible even on the free plan. ChatGPT needs a paid plan and developer mode.