Cookies, Google reviews and a contact form on a business website — without five plugins

The short answer: most small-business websites have a cookie banner that blocks nothing, reviews pasted in as a screenshot and a form whose messages die in spam. Each of these can be done properly — and it doesn't take five plugins from five vendors.

This problem came back in every second project, so I built my own tool for it: AZ Widgets. Below is what is worth knowing whatever you use. (This is not legal advice; if in doubt, ask a lawyer.)

A cookie banner that actually does something

The most common mistake: a banner with an "OK" button, while Google Analytics and the Facebook pixel load anyway, before anyone has clicked anything. That banner is decoration.

A proper consent mechanism does three things:

• it blocks tracking scripts until consent is given — rather than merely mentioning them,
• it offers an equal choice: "Accept" and "Only necessary" side by side, without hiding the refusal in a third window,
• it lets people change their mind — a "Cookie settings" link in the footer that reopens the same panel.

If you run Google Ads, add Consent Mode v2 — without it your campaigns lose conversion data.

Google reviews on your site

Reviews sell better than any text you write about yourself. Two rules:

• Show real reviews from a real source. A widget that pulls them from your Google profile is credible. Hand-copied quotes are not.
• Make leaving one easy. A QR code on the counter and an SMS after the visit with a rating link do more than a "leave us a review" request in the footer.

And one note from my own backyard: a reviews section that says "No reviews yet" does more harm than having no section at all. Collect a few first, then show them.

A form whose messages arrive

The contact form is the most important element of a company website and the one most often broken. Check three things on yours:

1. Does a test message actually arrive — and not land in spam?
2. Does the customer get a confirmation that the message was sent?
3. Is there a privacy notice under the form — who the data controller is and why the data is collected?

For clinics, salons and restaurants the same form should be able to take a booking with a date, not just "a message".

Stats without a banner

Few people know this: visit statistics can be kept without cookies, and therefore without asking for consent. You won't see individual users, but you will see what matters in a small business — how many people came, where from, and how many tapped the phone number or the form.

Covering it with one script

AZ Widgets is a set of ready-made modules — GDPR consent, reviews, a contact and booking form, a lead-capture popup, cookieless analytics, accessibility and an AI assistant. You paste one script, switch on what you need in the panel, and the modules take on your site's colours. It works on any site: WordPress, Shopify, plain HTML.

Prices are fixed and in złoty: the consent module from 69 PLN a month, reviews and contact from 139 PLN. This site runs on them too — the cookie banner, the form on the Contact page and the chat are all AZ Widgets.

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Building a site and want these things done properly from day one? They come as standard in every project I take on. Tell me what you need or see the full services.