How to create a site with Zeus

Create with Zeus builds a site without a template. You describe the business and the feel you want, and Zeus designs the layout, the look and the words for this one client. The result is a draft site that opens in Mount Olympus. It used to be called Vibe With Zeus.

To fill one of your existing templates with a client's words and photos instead, use Fill a template with Zeus.

On this page:

• How to create a site with Zeus
• 1. Describe, 2. Questions, 3. Plan, 4. Build
• Area pages and the blog
• What Zeus builds into every site
• Examples, Limits, Credits, Who can use it, Troubleshooting

How to create a site with Zeus

1. Go to Websites → New site → Create with Zeus. You can also pick a client under New site → From template and click Describe the site on the Create with Zeus card, or use the Create with Zeus card in the welcome wizard.
2. Pick the client, describe the site and click Next.
3. Answer Zeus's questions, or click Agree with Zeus.
4. Check the plan and the cost. Click Agree with Zeus · Build.
5. Wait, or close the page. The finished site opens in Mount Olympus, and you get an email.

The steps run along the top of the page: 1. Describe, 2. Questions, 3. Plan and 4. Build. The run is saved in the page address, so a refresh or a closed tab picks up where you were. Start another clears it and starts fresh.

1. Describe

• Which client is this for?: pick a client, search for one, or add a new one by typing the business name. Change picks a different client. Once chosen, What Zeus already knows lists the client's services, areas, brand colors, logo, phone, reviews, photos, FAQs, opening hours and (with 2 or more) locations. Anything crossed out is missing. If services, phone or brand colors are missing, a Fill in client details link takes you to the client's Details tab.
• Describe the site: how it should look and feel and what matters most, up to 2,000 characters. The example chips under the box (like "Dark and bold, lots of photos, big call button") add a phrase to your description.
• Site type (optional): Service business, Landing page, Portfolio / showcase or Other. You need a description or a site type to go on.
• Site name: starts as the client's business name.
• Sites you like (optional): up to 3 web addresses. Zeus looks once for style cues, like colors, light or dark, fonts and feel. He never copies their words, photos or layout.
• Screenshots (optional): up to 3 PNG, JPEG or WebP images, 5 MB each. Used for style cues only.

Menus, prices, events and links. Zeus first uses the client's Business extras (Client → Details): their offer, price list, menu, OpenTable ID, public Google Calendar, events and RSS feed. See How to add a client. If they aren't filled in, write them in the description as you want them shown: one dish or plan per line with its price ("Carbonara — $19", "Basic — $49/mo"), dated events ("Mar 3 — Open day"), an OpenTable ID, a calendar link or a feed address. Zeus uses them exactly as written and never makes up a price, dish or date.

Click Next. Zeus reads the brief and looks at the client's photos. This is free.

2. Questions

Zeus asks only what he can't work out himself. Click a chip to answer. Agree with Zeus takes his pick for every question at once. Zeus decided lists what he chose without asking; click Ask me on any of them to answer it yourself. Anything else? is a free note, like "mention our 24/7 emergency line". Some answers open a second round (A couple more), for example which services and areas get their own page.

Questions you may see: One page or several pages?, A page for each service?, A page for each area you serve?, What feel?, Light or dark?, Which colors?, Main thing visitors should do?, Which other pages?, Anything the site must show? and Starter blog posts?.

Zeus always asks Images for the site. The line under it says how many of the client's photos are ready and what each kind is for, for example "7 of the client's photos are ready to use: 1 owner and 6 team (About / team sections only)". Each choice shows the count:

• Use my photos first (N available), Zeus makes the rest: the client's photos go everywhere they suit. Photos in a service's folder go on that service's pages and cards first. Zeus makes images only for the gaps. This is the default when the client has photos.
• Only my photos (N available — some sections may have no image): no Zeus images and no image credits. Spots the photos can't fill stay empty.
• Zeus makes every image: the client's photos aren't used.

The photo gallery follows this choice. Zeus reads the client's service folders, media library, the photos from the onboarding form or client details (owner photo, team photos, location photos and additional images) and the media libraries of their other sites. The owner and team photos only go in the About section, owner first; never a hero, a background, a service picture or the gallery. Location and additional photos are used like any other photo. The business logo is never used as a photo. Click + Add more photos to the client's library first to upload more (5 MB each). They go into the client's media library.

When the client has ready videos, Zeus also asks Use [client]'s videos? Tick where they go. Zeus pre-ticks what suits the videos on file:

• Hero: a short clip (30 seconds or less) plays muted behind the home page headline.
• Service pages: each service with a video of its own (matched by its folder or name) shows it in a See it done section on its page. Services without a video simply don't show that section. To give a service a video later, set its Service Page Video in the Services collection. See Collections and dynamic pages.
• A 'see our work' section: a longer project or walkthrough video in a player.
• Testimonials: a video with "testimonial" or "review" in its name plays next to the reviews.

Longer videos never play behind words. A stock clip is only used for a background when the client has no short clip and your description asks for video.

With Hero or A 'see our work' section ticked, Zeus can also use a wide (landscape) client clip in an Expanding Media section: the video starts as a framed card and grows to full width as you scroll, in the home hero or as a big statement further down. On lively or bold looks the video plays as you scroll, forwards and backwards (Tied to scroll); on calm looks, or when your description asks for less motion, it plays muted on a loop. Tied to scroll uses the first 30 seconds, so Zeus picks clips of 5 to 30 seconds first. With Tied to scroll the video starts once the card is 80% grown and plays at a calm pace, about 6 seconds of video per screen of scrolling (3 to 6 screens); you can change it in the Design panel > Video Playback. Testimonial videos, tall phone videos and YouTube or Vimeo links are never used this way. When the media has no button of its own, clicking it goes where the hero's main button goes. Zeus prepares the smooth scroll frames for these videos right after the build. It's one option Zeus picks when the clip suits the site, not on every site.

Click Plan the site (or Next when a second round follows). Planning usually takes about a minute.

3. Plan

Zeus's plan shows the number of pages visitors can open, with a breakdown, for example 15 pages and 4 main pages · 5 service pages · 6 area pages. The look (style, light or dark, heading font and colors) shows beside it.

• Each page has its name, number of sections, an image choice and its credits. Click the × to remove a page (not the home page). Click a page's name to open it under Customize sections and look.
• Image choice per page: My photos first, Zeus makes the rest, Only my photos, Zeus makes every image or No images.
• Service and area pages: click the row to tick which services and towns get a page (All or None). They have one image choice for all of them.
• 3 starter blog posts: tick to add 3 draft posts. Zeus then also designs the blog page and the post layout, shown on their own row.
• Image split: for example 12 of your photos, 6 made by Zeus, with the credits for the Zeus images. Your photos are free. Change sets one image choice for the whole site.
• The total line: for example 15 pages + 2 blog pages + 3 blog posts × 2 + 6 Zeus images × 1 = 46 credits. Service and area pages cost the same as any page.
• Client videos: the client's ready videos with the same four places as the question. Tick a new place and Zeus adds its section.
• Ask Zeus to change the plan: type a request (for example "add a gallery page") and click Change it. Zeus plans again and keeps your look. Changed sections are highlighted. Change it keeps a service or area page design you edited. Plan again starts a fresh plan, designs included. Previous plan goes back one.
• Customize sections and look opens three panels:
  • Pages: every page and its sections. Add page adds one. Per page: Page name, Menu label, Type, In menu, move up or down, or remove it. Under Service and area pages, Service page (for example "design for 5 services") and Area page open the one design every service or town page uses. Change its sections the same way: a different section, Swap layout, background, number of items, order, add or remove. The change applies to every service (or town) page. The hero stays first and the call to action last, and each page keeps the sections it always needs (for example What's included on service pages). With One Areas section, there's no area page design: the list says which page has the Areas section.
  • The selected page's sections (middle panel): for each one, a different section, Swap layout, its background (Light, Alternate, Dark, Brand color or Photo), the number of items, and a line saying what it does (Zeus writes to it). + Add section… adds one. The hero stays first on every page.
  • Look: Direction, Light or Dark, Use the exact brand colors, Fonts, Header and Footer layouts, Top bar with phone, hours and towns, See-through over photo heroes, Custom cursor (circle or icon), Media vortex, Cursor trail, Particle image and Site name.

Edits save by themselves (Saving…, then Saved). The bar at the bottom shows the total and your balance. Nothing is made or charged until you click Agree with Zeus · Build.

If Zeus can't plan the site, the plan step says so and the button reads Try again. Planning is free.

4. Build

Zeus builds in the background, so you can close the page. Each step ticks off with its own count, for example Writing pages 4 of 22 · Images 6 of 14. Page counts include the service and area pages. A Greek mythology fact changes every few seconds under the steps.

• Big sites take a few rounds of a few minutes each. Still working — big sites take a few rounds shows between them. Nothing is redone or charged twice.
• If the build is interrupted on our side, it carries on from its last save within about 2 minutes.
• Cancel asks first: Keep the draft so far, Delete it or Keep building. A deleted draft stays in Recently deleted for 30 days.

When it's done, the site opens in Mount Olympus with Zeus chat ready for changes. See Zeus in the editor. The site is always a draft. Nothing is published.

Area pages

Every area page is that town's own page, not a copy with the name swapped. Zeus writes it with the client's brand voice and your agency's writing rules. First he looks up real local facts for each town: weather, the age and type of its homes, local rules and neighborhoods. Each fact must come from a real web page. The facts are kept for 180 days. If nothing reliable turns up, the page talks about the town in general terms. He never makes up places, rules or numbers.

Each area page has:

• An introduction about the town and why the service matters there.
• Why it matters here: three local points and what the business does about each.
• Each service written for that town.
• A map with the town's pin, its neighborhoods, and the 2 or 3 nearest towns you serve with distance and direction.
• How far the town is from the business, when the address on file is within about 60 miles.
• A real review that names the town, when the client has one.
• Questions people in that town ask, and a call to action.

Each service's title links to that service's page, with a mix of wordings. There's one link to the home page when there's room. That's at most 6 links, one per paragraph, never the same page twice, and no links to other area pages. Edit a title or its link in the Service-Area collection (Service Area Page Service 1 Link and so on). To move a map pin, edit Service Area Page Map Location for that town.

The blog

With starter posts, or when Zeus's plan has a Blog page, Zeus designs the blog from scratch for this site:

• The blog page (/blog): a heading and short intro, the list of posts, and a call to action. It's in the menu only when the plan put it there. See Header, footer and navigation.
• The post layout (Blog → Layouts → Blog Layout): every post uses it. The top shows the post's title, date, reading time, author and main picture, filled in by itself. Then the text in a reading column, a short card about the business, a call to action, and More from the blog. Posts with 3 or more headings get an In this post contents box.
• The blog page adds a search box at 6 or more posts, and tag buttons at 3 or more tags across 4 or more posts. With an RSS feed address, the feed's latest posts show under the list.

Both blog pages cost the same as any page.

What Zeus builds into every site

• Header and menu: each site gets a header to suit its look (logo left, centered, split, or a menu button), sometimes with a top bar or see-through over the first photo. With 5 or more service pages, Services opens a mega menu on desktop. With 9 or more area pages, Areas We Serve does too. The menu links get a style that matches the site. Change it in the menu's design panel (Menu items).
• Readable text everywhere: Zeus checks every page, the header, footer and phone menu on the real page at phone, tablet and computer size. Hard-to-read text gets a darker photo, a solid panel or a cleaner layout. Zeus never puts a plate or panel behind the logo: he picks a header and footer color the logo reads on (a light footer for a dark logo), and sets the logo's Background plate to Off. If no color works, the check says so, so you can upload a version of the logo made for that background. Screenshots and documents always show whole, never under words.
• Sections that fail a check are fixed step by step. A section is only removed as a last resort, never the first section or the contact section. If one still has a problem, the build notes say REVIEW section … so you can check it.
• Pages show what they say: a Reviews page leads with every real Google review (planned only with 3 or more), a Contact page has the quote form, a Gallery page has a gallery (left out of the plan when there aren't enough photos).
• Colors follow the theme: every color Zeus paints with the site's theme colors is linked to the theme, including the lighter and darker shades he uses so text reads (eyebrows, icons, links, buttons on brand-colored bands, menu hovers, borders, gradients and shadows). Change Primary or Secondary in Theme → Colors and they all change with it. White and black on photos and dark bands stay as they are, so they keep reading. See How to set the site theme.
• Real business details only: phone, email, address and social links are connected to Business Info, so changing them there changes them everywhere. See Business Info and Business Text. Hours Zeus can read become a Business Hours list. The contact section has Click to Call and Click to Email buttons (Email us with no phone).
• Photo collages and badges: an "Our work" section may be a Collage: big and small photos fitted together, in a pattern that suits the site's look. See Collage widget settings. When the client's founding year is on file, the About section may get a round Curved Text badge under its photo, such as "Est. 2004 · Arcata". It sits on the section's background in the heading color, never over a photo.
• Only with real data: a Prices section only with real prices, Events only with real dated events or a calendar, Our locations only with 2 or more locations. Restaurants get a Menu section; without dishes it's marked Add a dish for you to fill in. An OpenTable ID adds Find a Table.
• Clean cards, lists and buttons: cards in a row are all the same height, and a last row with fewer cards stretches to fill the width. Cards are soft filled panels and second buttons are softly filled, never boxes drawn only with a border. List icons always show (an icon name Zeus doesn't have becomes a check). Long web addresses and emails wrap on phones instead of making the page wider than the screen.
• Forms fill their box: a contact or quote form is as wide as the column it sits in, with one full-width field per line on phones.
• Buttons go where their words say: Call buttons call the phone. A button that names a page opens it. Others go to the contact page.
• Phones: trades and emergency services get a Call now button pinned to the bottom of the screen (Get a quote with no phone). It's a pinned element kept with the footer. See How to add and edit widgets.
• Breadcrumbs above the heading on service pages, town pages, blog posts and pages inside a folder. Never on the home page or one-page sites.
• Motion when it suits: ask for "lots of motion" and the home page gets a scroll showpiece (never more than two on a page). Playful or high-motion sites may get a Custom cursor (change it in Theme → Cursor) and buttons with Magnetic pull. Brands with at least 8 of their own photos may get a Media vortex. Tech or creative brands may get a Cursor trail instead. A strong single-subject photo may become a Particle image. Visitors who prefer less motion see plain photos.

Examples

• A roofer with 6 services and 14 towns: "Bold, dark, lots of real job photos, big call button." Zeus asks about the images, you click Agree with Zeus, untick 4 towns in the plan, and build a site with service and area pages, a mega menu and a Call now bar on phones.
• A one-page landing page: pick Landing page and describe the offer. Zeus plans one scrolling page with a menu link to each section.
• A restaurant: fill in the menu and OpenTable ID in Business extras first. The site gets a Menu section with real prices and Find a Table.
• A photographer's portfolio: pick Portfolio / showcase and Only my photos. No image credits, and with 8 or more photos the hero may get a Media vortex.

Limits and what it can't do

• Up to 20 main pages (service and area pages don't count) and 14 sections a page.
• Up to 20 service pages (every service a client can have) and 30 area pages. In the questions, every service and the first 12 areas are ticked to start with. Once you've picked the limit, the line under the choices says "20 of up to 20 picked — that’s the limit. Untick one to pick a different one.", and no more can be ticked. The plan and the credit total only ever count the pages that will be built.
• Up to 3 reference sites and 3 screenshots (5 MB each). The description is up to 2,000 characters.
• Zeus makes at most 60 images on Zeus makes every image, and 45 on My photos first. Spots past that stay without an image.
• A build stops after 90 minutes, keeping the draft so far.
• Starter blog posts are always 3. One-page sites have no blog.
• How often you can use it: 20 briefs an hour (100 a day), 10 plans an hour (60 a day, including Change it and Plan again) and 10 builds a day per agency.
• Nothing is ever published. The site is a draft until you publish it.

Credits

• 2 credits per finished page: main pages, each service page, each area page, the blog page, the post layout and each starter post. The help page shows the current prices.
• 1 credit per Zeus image.
• Free: reading the brief, the questions, planning, Ask Zeus to change the plan, the client's own photos and videos, and anything that fails.

The whole plan has to fit your balance before the build starts. Each page and image is charged as it finishes, and never twice.

Who can use it

Agency team members with the Mount Olympus tool. A team member limited to some clients only sees those clients. Client people never get Zeus.

Troubleshooting

• The Agree with Zeus · Build button is grayed out and the bar shows Buy credits: the plan costs more than your balance. Buy credits, or remove pages or Zeus images (try Only my photos).
• "You're going too fast — try again in N minutes.": you hit one of the limits above. Wait the time shown.
• "Zeus couldn't plan this site just now. Try again.": click Try again. Planning is free.
• "Not saved: At most 20 pages (service and area pages don't count)" or "…: at most 14 sections on a page": remove pages or sections. Other Not saved reasons name the page and section to fix.
• "Screenshot 1 is over 5 MB" or "… isn't a PNG / JPEG / WebP": use a smaller PNG, JPEG or WebP image.
• "Zeus couldn't finish the build in 90 minutes. The draft so far is kept.": click Open the draft in Mount Olympus and finish it there, or ask Zeus in the editor.
• "Zeus hit a problem and couldn't finish the build." or "Zeus stopped this build early — it reached the safety limit for one site…": the draft so far is kept, and unfinished pages aren't charged. Open it in the editor to finish it, or start again with a smaller plan.
• "Not enough credits: this site needs … credits and you have …" above a grayed-out Build button: click Buy credits, or make the plan smaller (fewer pages or fewer Zeus images).
• A page shows "couldn't be written": it isn't charged. Add it in the editor or ask Zeus there.
• No Gallery page in the plan: there weren't enough usable photos. The plan notes say why. Add photos, then Plan again.
• An area page has no distance note: the client's address is more than about 60 miles away. Check the address.
• The menu section says Add a dish: the client has no menu. Fill in Business extras or the dishes before you publish.