Quick answer: A website brief is a short document that tells a designer or developer what the site is for, who it serves, what it must do and what constraints apply. A useful brief covers your business and goals, target audience, the pages and features you need, who provides content, systems it must connect to, budget range, timeline and who approves decisions. Two to five pages is enough. A clear brief gets you comparable quotes, fewer surprises and a site that matches what you actually need.
Why a brief matters
Without a brief, every agency or freelancer fills the gaps with their own assumptions. One quotes for a simple brochure site, another for a custom build with integrations, and you cannot compare them. Later, scope arguments start because nobody wrote down what “a shop” or “a booking system” meant.
A brief does not need to be technical. It needs to be specific about outcomes and honest about constraints. The technical decisions can come from the people you hire.
What to include
1. About your business
A few paragraphs on what you do, who your customers are, how you make money and what makes you different. Include links to your current site, social profiles and any brand guidelines.
2. Why you need a new site
Be direct about the problem:
- The current site does not generate enquiries
- It is hard to update
- It looks out of date or does not work well on phones
- You are launching a new product, service or brand
- You need features the current platform cannot handle
The reason shapes the whole project. A site that needs more leads is a different job from a site that needs to be easier for staff to update.
3. Goals and how you will measure them
Turn the problem into goals you can check:
- Increase quote requests from the website
- Let customers book appointments online
- Sell a core product range online
- Reduce phone calls about basic questions
- Make updates possible without a developer
Add how you will measure each: form submissions, bookings, sales, calls, time saved.
4. Audience
Describe the main types of visitor and what each needs from the site. For example: homeowners looking for a quote, property managers wanting a maintenance contract, job seekers checking vacancies. Simple user personas help, even if they are just a paragraph each.
5. Pages and structure
List the pages or sections you expect. It does not need to be final, but it helps scope:
- Home
- Services (and how many individual service pages)
- About and team
- Case studies or portfolio
- Blog or news
- Contact
- Location pages, if you have several branches
- Legal pages: privacy, terms, cookies
Note whether existing content is being moved across and roughly how many pages or posts exist today.
6. Features and functionality
This is where quotes vary most, so be specific. Examples:
- Contact and quote forms (and where submissions go)
- Online booking or appointments
- Ecommerce: number of products, variations, payment and shipping needs
- Membership or client login areas
- Search and filtering
- Multi-language support
- Event listings or calendars
- Job listings
Mark each as must have, should have or nice to have. That lets suppliers propose phases if the budget does not cover everything.
7. Integrations
List every system the site needs to talk to: CRM, email marketing, booking software, accounting, inventory, payment providers, analytics. Say whether data needs to move one way or both ways. Integrations are often the hidden cost in a project.
8. Content
Who writes the copy? Who supplies photos? Is there a copywriter or photographer involved? Content is the most common cause of delay in website projects. Be honest about what is ready and what is not.
9. Design direction
Share:
- Brand guidelines, logo files, colors and fonts
- Two or three sites you like, with a sentence on what you like about each
- Anything you definitely do not want
Explain the feeling you want visitors to have rather than prescribing every detail.
10. Technical requirements
Note any requirements you know about:
- Preferred platform (for example WordPress) or a reason to avoid one
- Hosting arrangements, or whether the supplier should provide hosting
- Accessibility level, such as WCAG 2.1 AA
- Browser support requirements
- Security or compliance needs (for example handling health or payment data)
- Who will own the domain, hosting and code
Ownership matters more than most people expect. Our guide to website ownership explains what to check.
11. SEO and migration
If you have an existing site with traffic, say so. A redesign that ignores redirects and existing rankings can lose a lot of visibility. Ask suppliers how they handle migration.
12. Budget
Give a range. Many businesses hesitate, but without a range you get proposals from wildly different scales of project. A range lets suppliers recommend what is realistic. If you are unsure, our article on website development cost explains what drives price.
13. Timeline
Give a target launch date and say whether it is fixed (for example tied to an event) or flexible. Include known holidays or busy seasons when your team will not be available for reviews. For realistic expectations, see how long it takes to build a website.
14. Decision making
Name the main contact and who approves designs, content and launch. Projects slow down when approvals need a committee that meets once a month.
15. Ongoing support
Will you need maintenance, hosting, updates, content help or marketing after launch? Including this upfront avoids surprises.
A simple brief template
You can use these headings directly:
- Company overview
- Project background and problem
- Goals and success measures
- Audience
- Pages and structure
- Features (must, should, nice to have)
- Integrations
- Content responsibilities
- Design direction and examples
- Technical requirements and ownership
- SEO and migration
- Budget range
- Timeline and key dates
- Contacts and approvals
- Support after launch
Mistakes to avoid
- Describing solutions instead of problems. “We need a chatbot” is weaker than “We get the same ten questions by phone every day.”
- Leaving out integrations. They change the cost and timeline significantly.
- Hiding the budget. You will waste time on proposals you cannot afford.
- Writing 30 pages. Long briefs often bury the key information. Keep it clear.
- Not involving the people who will use the site daily. Ask the staff who answer enquiries what customers struggle with.
Using the brief with suppliers
Send the same brief to each supplier and ask the same questions back:
- How would you approach this project?
- What would you change or challenge in the brief?
- What is included and excluded in your price?
- How do you handle changes in scope?
- Who will work on the project?
Good suppliers will question parts of your brief. That is a good sign. Once you choose someone, the brief becomes the starting point for a proper scope and a web development contract.
FAQ
How long should a website brief be?
Usually two to five pages. Enough to explain goals, scope and constraints without burying the important parts.
Do I need to know which platform to use?
No. Say what you need to do with the site and let suppliers recommend a platform, unless you have a strong reason to require one.
Should I share my budget?
Yes, as a range. It saves everyone time and leads to more realistic proposals.
Can the brief change after the project starts?
It will evolve as you learn more. Changes should be agreed in writing, with any impact on cost and timeline made clear.
Start your project on firm ground
A clear website brief leads to better quotes, fewer disagreements and a site that does what your business needs. If you have a brief ready, or want help writing one, see how we help you turn visitors into customers.
