How to add an AI chatbot to your website, step by step

What a website chatbot is, and what it is not

For a small business site, a chatbot is a bubble in the corner that answers visitors the way your best staff member would: what you charge, when you are open, whether Thursday is free, and then takes the booking or the enquiry. It is not a redesign and it is not a new website. Your existing site stays exactly as it is; the chat loads on top of it.

Two things separate a useful one from a liability. First, where its answers come from. A chatbot that answers from a general model will invent prices and apologise a lot. A chatbot that reads your own pages answers from what is actually there and says it does not know when something is not. Second, what it does with the conversation. Answering questions is table stakes; taking the booking or the visitor's details is the part that pays for itself.

What to look for before you pick a tool

• It reads your website. Paste your address and it should know your services, prices and hours without you typing them in. Ask it what you charge before you pay anything.
• It admits what it does not know. Ask it something your site does not cover. The right answer is to take your details, not to make one up.
• It takes bookings or messages. Otherwise you have a very polite FAQ page.
• The price is one number. Most chatbot tools count conversations or message credits and step you up a tier when you get busy. A flat price is easier to live with for an owner-run business.
• The install is one line. If a tool needs a developer or a rebuild, it is the wrong tool for a small business site.

The one-line install, explained

Technically the install is a script tag pasted before your site's closing </body>. This is the MAVRK one; other tools give you a similar line:

<script src="https://mavrk.ai/widget.js" data-mavrk-app="app-XXXXXXXX" async></script>

The line loads a small script after your page has rendered. The script draws the chat bubble, and the chat window itself only loads when a visitor clicks it, so it does not slow the page. Every website builder has a place to paste code like this, usually called custom code, code injection or theme code. Where it is on each platform is the next section.

Where the line goes on each platform

These menus were checked against each platform's own help pages on 26 September 2026. Each heading links to a fuller guide with the plan requirements and caveats.

WordPress

1. Download the MAVRK Front Desk plugin from the WordPress guide.
2. In WordPress go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, choose the zip, Install Now, then Activate.
3. Open Settings → MAVRK Front Desk, paste your App ID and save.

No plugin? Paste the line with any header-and-footer code plugin, or into your theme's footer template. Either way the theme itself is never edited.

Wix

1. In the Wix dashboard go to Settings → Custom Code (under Development & integrations) → + Add Custom Code.
2. Paste the line and name it.
3. Choose All pages and Body – end, then Apply and publish.

Wix's help page says custom code needs a published site with a connected domain, which in practice means a paid Wix plan.

Squarespace

1. Open Settings → Developer Tools → Code Injection (Settings → Advanced → Code Injection on older accounts).
2. Paste the line into the Footer field, which Squarespace injects before the closing body tag on every page.
3. Save.

Squarespace lists code injection on the Core, Plus and Advanced plans, not Basic.

Shopify

1. In Shopify admin go to Online Store → Themes, click the ⋯ menu on your theme and choose Edit code.
2. Open Layout → theme.liquid and find the closing </body> tag.
3. Paste the line above it and save.

Shopify warns that a theme update removes code edits, so keep the line handy. The bubble shows on storefront pages; Shopify controls the checkout pages.

GoDaddy Website Builder

GoDaddy is different. Its builder has no site-wide code option, and its HTML section runs inside its own frame, so a script pasted there cannot draw a bubble over the whole page. The honest way to do it is to embed the chat window itself as a section on the pages where you want it:

<iframe src="https://mavrk.ai/widget/app-XXXXXXXX" title="Chat with us" style="width:100%;height:600px;border:0;border-radius:16px"></iframe>

1. Edit the page, click Add Section, search for HTML and add it.
2. Paste the window above into the Custom Code field and set the section height to about 600 pixels.
3. Publish, and repeat on any other page where you want the chat.

Webflow, Framer and hand-written sites

Webflow: Site settings → Custom code → Footer code, which needs an active Site plan. Framer: Site settings → General → Custom code → End of body. A hand-written site: paste the line before </body> in your layout file. If you have ever added a Google Analytics tag, you can do this.

Test it like a customer before customers meet it

The fastest way to judge a chatbot is not a feature list; it is watching it answer as your business. With MAVRK you can do that before signing up: paste your address at mavrk.ai/add-ai-to-your-website and it reads your site and opens a chat in the browser. Then run this checklist:

1. Ask what you charge. It should quote the price on your site, not a range and not a guess.
2. Ask when you are open, and whether you are open on a public holiday. If your site does not say, it should say so and offer to take a message.
3. Ask something you do not do. A salon asked about dog grooming should say no politely, not improvise.
4. Try to book. Give it a day and time and see whether it takes the details or just describes how booking works.
5. Fix the gaps with a file. Anything it got wrong or missed is usually missing from your site too. Upload a price list PDF or an FAQ and ask again.

What it costs

MAVRK's site chatbot is $29/month after a free 7-day trial, no card to start and no per-conversation meter. When you want your phone answered too, the same front desk picks up calls at $49/month. On the pricing pages we read on 26 September 2026, Chatbase started at $40/month (Hobby, 700 message credits) with a free plan of 50 credits; Tidio started at $24.17/month plus its Lyro AI agent from $32.50/month for 50 AI conversations; ChatBot.com advertises from $19/month; Social Intents from $39/month. The side-by-side table and the sources are on the add an AI chatbot to your website page, and there are full comparisons for Chatbase and Tidio.