Getting started
How to write a website brief that gets you a better website.
A good brief isn't a technical document — it's a clear description of the business, the audience and the objective. Get those right and a capable designer can take it from there.
The brief structure
Twenty things worth covering.
You don't need every answer perfectly worked out. A short, honest line against each item below is enough to get a project started properly.
| Section | What's useful to include |
|---|---|
| 1. Business overview | What the business does, in plain terms — not a mission statement. |
| 2. Website objective | The single main job the site needs to do: leads, bookings, sales, information. |
| 3. Target customers | Who you actually want to attract, described specifically rather than 'everyone'. |
| 4. Priority services or products | Which two or three things should get the most attention on the site. |
| 5. Geographic market | Local, regional, national — it changes how the site should be structured. |
| 6. Existing website | A link, even if it's outdated or embarrassing — it's still useful context. |
| 7. What currently works | Don't let a redesign accidentally remove something that's actually pulling its weight. |
| 8. What currently doesn't | Be specific — 'it looks dated' is less useful than 'nobody can find our pricing'. |
| 9. Competitors | Three or four names, so the designer understands the market you're being judged against. |
| 10. Websites or designs you like | Not to copy — to understand tone and style preferences quickly. |
| 11. Required functionality | Bookings, quotes, ecommerce, member areas — anything beyond static pages. |
| 12. How important SEO is | Whether search visibility is a core objective or a nice-to-have. |
| 13. Content available | What copy and information already exists, and what still needs writing. |
| 14. Photography and assets | What images, logos and brand files you already have to hand. |
| 15. Integrations | Booking systems, CRMs, payment providers, email tools the site needs to connect to. |
| 16. Timescale | A realistic date, and whether anything is fixed (an event, a launch). |
| 17. Budget range | Even an approximate range saves everyone time proposing the wrong thing. |
| 18. Decision-makers | Who needs to sign off, so approvals don't stall the project later. |
| 19. Ongoing support requirements | Whether you'll want updates, hosting and maintenance after launch. |
| 20. How success will be measured | What you'll actually look at in three or six months to judge the project. |
Worth avoiding
What not to put in a brief.
Vague instructions produce vague results, because there's nothing concrete to design or measure against. Here's what to say instead.
"Make it modern."
Describe what modern should achieve — trust, ease of use, a younger audience — and let the designer interpret it visually.
"Make it pop."
Say what you want visitors to notice or feel first, and why that matters for the business.
"We want to rank number one on Google."
State the actual goal — more enquiries from a specific service or area — and let SEO strategy follow from that.
A common worry
You don't need to know the solution.
The most useful brief explains the business problem, the audience and the objective — not the layout, the colour scheme or the page structure. That's the designer's job to propose back to you, based on what you've described.
If you already have strong preferences, include them. If you don't, that's not a gap in your brief — it's exactly what a capable designer is there to work out.
Once your brief is together, our website project checklist and content checklist cover what's needed before the build starts. If you're wondering what a designer needs from you personally, see what a web designer needs from you. For timing, see how long a website takes.
Next step
Ready to put a brief together?
We can talk it through with you.
You don't need a finished document — just the business detail. We'll help shape it into something a project can actually run from.