A website for bookshops, live in minutes
You cannot win on stock and you were never trying to. What you have is a room, a shelf somebody chose, and a Thursday evening.
A real Clay site, built from a Google listing
A bookshop competes with a company that has every book in print and can deliver it tomorrow, so the argument for walking to your shop is never the book itself.
It is the shelf somebody chose, the reading on Thursday and the fact that you will order anything in by Tuesday. Clay builds the site from your Google listing, and those three things go on it: what is on the table this week, the events with dates, and a form for the book you do not have in.
Why Clay
It pulls your info from Google
No blank page. Clay reads your Google business listing and fills in your name, photos, hours, map and reviews automatically.
A real website, not just links
Menus, bookings, a shop, a gallery, contact, Clay is a full site that also works as a link-in-bio, not a list of buttons.
Live in minutes, free to start
Search, pick a style, publish. No signup to see it, no credit card, and a free live address at name.clay.site.
Yours to grow
Bring a custom domain, add pro widgets, run multiple sites. It scales from a bio link to a full business site.
Your photographs, already sorted
Clay reads the pictures on your Google listing, grades them, crops them for the shape each band needs and puts the best one at the top. Nothing to upload, nothing to resize.
The reason to be in the room
A reading, a signing, a book group, a children's hour on Saturday morning. These are the only things you do that cannot be posted from a warehouse, and on most bookshop websites they are a Facebook post from March.
Dates, a start time, whether to book. A regular who sees next month's events checks the page again, which is the whole point of having one.
What somebody chose, in their own words
The front table is the shop's opinion and it is the thing an algorithm cannot do. Six books with a handwritten line each is a better page than a catalogue of forty thousand.
Changed in a minute when the table changes, so it is true, which is the only reason anybody reads it twice.
What you can switch on
Every one of these is part of your site, not a plugin to install. Turn on what you use and leave the rest off.
What it looks like when it is live
Drawn rather than described, the page, the address, and what it can switch on.
How it works
-
1
Search your business
Type your name, Clay pulls your photos, hours, reviews and contact details straight from your Google listing.
-
2
Pick a style
Choose a look and Clay builds a full site around your content. Change anything with a tap, no code, no templates to wrestle.
-
3
You're online
Publish to your own name.clay.site in minutes. Add a custom domain and connect your own tools whenever you're ready.
What you get
- Events with dates, times and places
- The front table, in your own words
- An order form for anything you do not have in
- Opening hours straight off your Google listing
Questions
How long does it really take?
Most people are live in two to three minutes, search your business, pick a style, publish. There is nothing to install and no signup needed to see your site first, because it is built from your Google listing rather than from a blank page.
Is it free?
Yes. You get a live site on your own name.clay.site address with a small badge in the footer, and nothing expires. The paid plan is your own domain, the badge removed and the pro features.
Do I need any tech skills?
None. If you can type your business name, you can build a Clay site: the live page is the editor, so you tap the thing you want to change. There is no code anywhere, and nothing to install or keep updated, see the WordPress comparison for what that saves.
Can I use my own domain?
Yes, buy it wherever you like and point it at Clay on a paid plan; the certificate is issued for you. Until then the free name.clay.site address is a real one you can print, and it keeps working afterwards.
Should I sell books online?
Almost never. You cannot beat next day delivery on price or speed, and you do not need to. A page that says what is on the table, when the readings are and that you will order anything in does more for a bookshop than a checkout: what a shop band is for if you do post parcels.
How do I take bookings for a reading?
A date, a number of places and a form. Free events still need numbers, because a room with forty chairs and eighty people is a bad evening: how booking works.
Can people ask me to order a book?
Yes, with a form that asks for the title and a way to reach them. It is the most used thing on a bookshop page and it is the request most likely to become a visit.
Try it with your business
Search your business and see your site in seconds, free, no signup.