The five things every good prompt includes
Think of a prompt as a creative brief you'd hand a talented designer. The strongest ones cover five things: who the business is, who it's for, what the site should do, the pages you need, and the look and feel you want.
You don't need formal language. A run-on sentence that hits those five points beats a polished sentence that hits two. The AI fills gaps with sensible defaults, so the more you specify, the less you'll need to correct later.
A weak prompt vs a strong prompt
Weak: "Make a website for my bakery." You'll get a generic bakery site that could belong to anyone.
Strong: "A warm, family-run bakery in Portland called Hearth & Crumb. Customers are local families and weekend brunch-goers. I want a homepage with our story, a menu page with photos and prices, an order page where people can pre-order for pickup, and a contact page with a map. Cozy, handmade feel — warm colors, friendly tone, not corporate."
The second prompt names the business, the audience, the actions, the pages, and the vibe. SiteFast turns that into a multipage site with real images and an order flow, and you're refining details instead of starting over.
Name the action you want visitors to take
Every effective site has a primary goal: book a call, buy a product, join a waitlist, request a quote. If you tell the AI what that action is, it can design the whole page to drive toward it — clear calls to action, the right form, the right backend.
Mention whether that action needs a backend. "Visitors should be able to pay a deposit" tells SiteFast to wire up payments via a connector like Stripe. "Capture emails for a launch list" points it toward a managed form on SiteFast Cloud. Stating the outcome lets the tool choose the plumbing.
Describe the vibe with concrete references
"Modern and professional" means something different to everyone. Anchor it. Use adjectives plus comparisons: "minimal and editorial, like a high-end magazine," or "playful and bold, lots of color, rounded shapes."
You can also name a feeling or a context: "should feel trustworthy enough for a law firm" or "energetic, aimed at Gen Z." These cues steer typography, color, and spacing far better than generic praise words.
Iterate — don't try to get it perfect in one shot
Your first prompt is a starting point, not a one-time spell. The fastest workflow is a solid initial prompt followed by focused follow-ups in chat: "shorten the hero," "add a pricing comparison table," "make the tone more casual."
Click an element and use Edit with AI to change just that piece without touching the rest. Small, specific instructions beat one giant rewrite — they're easier to evaluate and easier to undo.
Common mistakes to avoid
Being too vague is the obvious one, but the opposite happens too: cramming in so many requirements that the core message gets lost. Lead with the essentials, then layer in detail through iteration.
Other traps: forgetting to name your audience, not specifying the pages you need, and describing features without saying what visitors should do. Fix those and your first draft will land remarkably close to finished.