She was quoted $300 a month to keep her website up to date. Now she updates it herself for $20 a month, her ChatGPT subscription. 10 minutes a week.

A studio owner I work with, Maree in Sydney, was quoted $300 AUD a month to keep her website up to date. Not to build it. To keep it ticking over. $3,600 a year for someone to change a class time when she asked, and a website that otherwise sat there.

So I built her a new site in ChatGPT and set it up so she doesn't just keep it up to date. She grows it. Every Monday she tells ChatGPT what happened in the studio, like she's telling a friend. It writes a new page in her voice, adds it to her website, and she drags 1 folder to publish. 10 minutes a week, $20 a month for ChatGPT, nothing else. A new page every week answering what new clients actually search for is what gets a studio found on Google and named by ChatGPT. This guide is the exact setup, every button.

Before you start: what you need

• ChatGPT Plus, about €20 a month (the $20 in the headline). You need the paid plan so ChatGPT can build files and run the Monday task on a timer. That's the whole running cost.
• A free Netlify account. Netlify is the company that puts the website on the internet. Free at studio size, no card needed.
• Your domain name login, if you have one. That's where you bought yourstudio.com, like GoDaddy, Namecheap or Google Domains. €10 to €20 a year. No domain yet? Netlify gives you a free address to start with.
• Your studio facts: classes, prices, timetable, address, hours, booking link, Instagram. And 5 to 10 real photos on your computer.
• If someone else runs your website today, this guide replaces that. The only thing you need from them is the domain login above. Ask now, it can take a week to arrive.
• Time: an evening to build, once. Then 10 minutes every Monday.
• If you can send an email, you can do this.

What you'll have at the end

• A website you own, as plain files, live at your address, that ChatGPT can edit when you type a sentence.
• A Monday task that asks you 3 questions and hands back a new page, in your voice, already added to your site.
• A 30-second publish: drag 1 folder onto Netlify.

Step 1: Teach ChatGPT your voice, once (10 minutes)

If you've done this in another guide, open your My studio project and skip to step 2. If not:

1. Open chatgpt.com, or the ChatGPT app. Click Projects in the left menu, then New project. Call it My studio. A Project is a folder that remembers instructions and files for every chat inside it, so you never repeat yourself.
2. Open a chat inside it and paste this. Answer one question at a time, typing the way you actually talk.

3. Copy the Brand Voice Guide it writes. Click the project name at the top, then Instructions (some accounts show a small settings icon instead). Paste it in and click Save.
4. Now give it your facts. If you have a website already, new chat, paste this. No website yet? Skip the prompt and type the facts sheet yourself under the same headings.

5. Fill in any blanks it marked. Paste the facts sheet into the same Instructions, under the voice guide. Save.

You'll know it worked when you start a new chat in the project, type "write me 2 lines welcoming a new client", and it sounds like you and gets your class times right.

If it doesn't: ChatGPT can't always read a website. Copy the text from your pricing and timetable pages, paste it into the chat, and ask for the facts sheet again.

Step 2: Build the site in ChatGPT (an evening, once)

Already have a site on Wix, Squarespace or WordPress? ChatGPT can't edit those directly, because the files aren't yours to download. 2 honest options. Either do this step and move to a site you own, which is what Maree did and why it's $20 a month. Or keep your builder and use ChatGPT for the words only: ask it for the new page each Monday, paste it in yourself. Cheaper than $300 a month, but not automatic.

1. In your My studio project, click New chat. Click the + (or paperclip) next to the message box, then Upload file, and add your 5 to 10 photos.
2. Paste this in the same message.

3. Answer its questions. Paste your booking link and Instagram when it asks.
4. It builds the site and gives you a zip file link. Click it to download. Double click the zip so it becomes a folder. Rename the folder my-website.
5. Open the folder and double click index.html. Your site opens in your browser. Click every menu link. Anything wrong, go back to the chat and say so: "the pricing page says $45, it should be $49". It fixes it and gives you a new zip.

You'll know it worked when every page opens from the menu, the prices and times are right, and your photos show.

If it doesn't: it gave you one file instead of a zip. Say "give me the whole website folder as one zip". Photos not showing? Say "put my photos inside the images folder in the zip and link to them".

Step 3: Keep the site inside your ChatGPT project (5 minutes, once)

This is the trick that makes talking to it work. ChatGPT can only edit what it can see, so the site's files live in the project.

1. Click the project name at the top, then Sources (or Add files). Upload the zip.
2. Click Instructions and paste this under your voice guide and facts sheet. Save.

You'll know it worked when you start a new chat, type "which file is the pricing page?", and it names the file.

If it doesn't: it says it can't see any files. Check the zip is listed under Sources. If it isn't, upload it again and wait for the tick.

Step 4: Put it on the internet (10 minutes, once)

1. Go to app.netlify.com/drop.
2. Drag your my-website folder onto the page. Wait 30 seconds. It gives you a link like something-123.netlify.app. Your site is live.
3. Click Claim this site and sign up. Google sign in is quickest. No card needed.
4. To use your real address: in Netlify click your site, then Domain management, then Add a domain. Type it in, click Verify, then Add domain. It shows you 2 short lines (called DNS records) to copy into your domain login, and tells you exactly where. Copy them exactly, no extra spaces. Give it up to 24 hours, usually an hour.

You'll know it worked when your address opens the site with a padlock next to it. Netlify adds the padlock (the secure version of your site) by itself within about an hour of the domain connecting.

If it doesn't: Netlify says Awaiting External DNS for more than a day. One of the 2 lines wasn't copied exactly. Delete them at your domain login and paste them again. If you're stuck, paste a screenshot of both screens into ChatGPT and ask what's different.

Step 5: Set the Monday page to write itself (5 minutes, once)

This is the bit that was costing $300 a month, and the bit that gets her found. A website that never changes tells Google nothing. A website with a new page every week, answering a real question in a real voice, is what Google and ChatGPT look for when they decide who to name. ChatGPT can run a task on a timer. Every Monday it asks you 3 questions. You answer like you're texting a friend. It writes the page and adds it to your site.

1. Open your My studio project. Click New chat.
2. Paste this in. Change the day and time if Monday 9am isn't your quiet moment.

3. ChatGPT replies with a small card showing the task name, the day and the time. That card is the task.
4. On your phone, allow ChatGPT notifications when it asks. Without them, Monday comes and goes quietly.

You'll know it worked when the card is in the chat, and the task is listed when you click your name (bottom left), then Scheduled.

If it doesn't: if ChatGPT says it can't schedule anything, set a phone alarm for Monday 9am called "website". When it rings, open the project and paste the same prompt with the first line changed to "Ask me these 3 questions now". Everything else works exactly the same.

Step 6: Publish (10 minutes, every Monday)

1. Monday, the notification arrives. Tap it. Answer the 3 questions. A few minutes later there's a new post written and a zip waiting.
2. Read the post. Change one line if it needs it: "make the ending shorter". Then say "good, give me the zip" if it hasn't already.
3. Download the zip. Double click it. Rename the folder my-website, replacing the old one.
4. Log in to Netlify. Click your site. Click Deploys.
5. Drag your my-website folder onto the box that says drag and drop your site output folder here.
6. Wait for the green Published label. Open your site on your phone. The new post is there.

Need a class time changed too? Same project, same way. Type "change the Tuesday 7am reformer to 7.30am", get the zip, drag the folder. Keeping it up to date is now a side effect of growing it.

You'll know it worked when Deploys shows Published with today's time and the new page opens on your phone.

If it doesn't: Netlify shows a red Failed. Almost always you dragged the zip, not the folder, or the folder has another folder inside it with the same name. Open the folder, check index.html is right there, and drag again.

If something goes wrong

• ChatGPT gave me one file, not the zip. Say "give me the whole website folder as one zip". The project instructions ask for this, but remind it if it forgets.
• My change isn't showing. Your browser is showing you the old page. Hold shift and click refresh. If it's still old, check Netlify shows Published on the newest deploy.
• ChatGPT changed something I didn't ask for. Say "undo everything except the Tuesday class change". Then add to your project instructions: "never touch the design or other pages unless I ask".
• I've lost the latest version. Netlify keeps every version. Click Deploys, click the newest one, click Download. Upload that zip to your project Sources and carry on.
• It doesn't know my site any more. Start the chat with "read README-FOR-CHATGPT.md and the current files first". If you've made lots of changes, upload the newest zip to Sources so it's working from the real thing.

Keep it alive

• Every Monday, 10 minutes. Answer 3 questions. Read, change one line. Drag a folder. After a year that's 52 pages of you, each one answering something a new client typed at 9pm on a Sunday. The studio down the road has a homepage from 2021.
• Whenever prices or classes change, 2 minutes. Type the change and add "and update llms.txt to match". That little file is the plain English summary of your studio. AI reads it. Keeping it true is part of being the studio AI recommends.
• Once a month, 3 minutes. Paste 3 real messages you've sent to clients and say "update my voice guide from these". It drifts back toward company-speak if you don't.
• Every 3 months, 2 minutes. Upload the newest zip to the project Sources so ChatGPT is working from the real thing. click Scheduled in the left sidebar, and check the Monday task is still there.
• What it costs, ongoing. ChatGPT Plus, about €20 a month. Netlify, free. Your domain, €10 to €20 a year. Against $300 a month just to keep it up to date, that's $3,360 a year back, and a site that grows every week instead. Train your team with it. Take a week off. Go and do Pilates yourself for once.

Why I'm telling you this

When I moved studios, I found my own website hadn't been touched in years and my Google listing was in tatters. I've spent 12 years in tech and 9 years running a studio, and I still let someone else's quote decide whether my site got updated. Now a new page goes up when I have something to say, and new clients tell me "I found you on Google" or "ChatGPT recommended you" before I've asked. Maree's site does the same job for her, for the price of ChatGPT.

Put "WEBSITE" in the subject and your current website address in the email. I'll reply with what it costs and when I can start. No call to book.

Victoria, Core and Code