A Custom AI Chatbot for Your Small Business Website, No Coding
A custom chatbot is a chat box on your website that answers visitors using facts about your business only. Here is what it can do for a small business, what it should never do, and how to set one up without writing code.
What a custom chatbot actually is
Most “AI chatbots” answer from everything on the internet. A custom chatbot answers only from what you tell it about your business, plus what it can read from your public listing. That is the difference between a bot that says “most cafés open at 8” and one that says “we open at 7:30 on weekdays and the kitchen closes at 3”.
For a small business it works like a receptionist who never leaves the shop: someone has a question at 11pm, the chat answers it, and you see the conversation in the morning.
The questions it is good at
- Hours and holidays – “Are you open Sunday?”
- Where and how to get there – address, parking, directions.
- What you offer – services, menu items, what is popular.
- First-time questions – “Do I need to book?”, “Do you take walk-ins?”, “Is there a vegetarian option?”
These repeat all week. Answering them once, properly, is the whole job. If you want to see what your own customers keep asking, your Google reviews already hold many of the answers.
What it should not do
A chatbot is a front desk, not a manager. It should not invent prices you never gave it, promise a booking, give legal or medical advice or argue with a customer. Good setup means giving it clear rules (“If someone asks for a quote, say we need to see the job and ask for their phone number”) and letting it hand over to you when it is unsure.
How to set one up with blasa
- Build your site from your Google Maps link, free.
- Open the Your AI Receptionist tab in your dashboard (part of Pro, with a free trial).
- Give it a name and pick a tone: friendly, formal, short.
- Add notes it should know that are not on your listing: parking, allergy policy, how bookings work.
- Add rules in the form “when someone asks X, say Y”.
- Turn on “ask for contact details when unsure”, then switch it on.
It then appears on your site, and every conversation is saved in your dashboard for you to read.
Check it like a new hire
Chat with it yourself first and ask the five questions customers ask most. Then read the real conversations for the first two weeks. Wherever it was vague, add a note or a rule. It takes ten minutes and the bot gets better each time.
If you have not built a site yet, start with the small business website checklist so the chatbot has a good page to sit on.
Questions people actually ask
What is a custom AI chatbot for a business website?
A chat box on your site that answers visitors in plain language using information about your business, such as your hours, address, services and what customers say about you, instead of general knowledge from the internet. You set its name, tone and rules, and read the conversations afterwards.
Do I need to know how to code to add a chatbot to my website?
No. With blasa Pro the chatbot is the AI receptionist: you switch it on in your dashboard, give it a name, a tone and a few rules, and it appears on your site. There is nothing to install or train by hand.
Can a chatbot take bookings or payments?
The blasa receptionist answers questions and, when it is unsure, asks the visitor for their contact details so you can follow up. It does not take payments or confirm bookings by itself, so keep your booking form, phone or WhatsApp button on the page.
What happens when the chatbot does not know the answer?
It should say so rather than guess. In blasa you can switch on “ask for contact details when unsure”, so a question it cannot answer becomes a lead you can reply to yourself.
Will the chatbot say wrong things about my business?
It is limited to the facts it has about your business and the rules you give it, which keeps it on topic. Read the saved conversations in the first weeks and add a rule wherever it missed something.