How to write a website brief in six questions

Most small businesses don’t need a long specification to get a useful website quote. They need a clear brief: one that explains the business decision behind the site and gives a designer enough context to recommend an approach. Six questions cover it.

1. What needs to happen?

Finish this sentence: “The site will be useful if the right visitor can…” Choose one primary action. For a service business, it might be requesting a quote with enough detail for a sensible reply. Keep secondary actions separate.

2. Who is that visitor?

Describe a situation, not just an age bracket. A homeowner with a leaking tap has different questions from a property manager comparing maintenance providers. List the first three questions this person is likely to ask.

3. What can you confidently promise?

Write down the service, location, inclusions and important limits in plain language. Add the proof you actually have: approved project photographs, relevant qualifications, a clear process or permission to use a customer comment. Leave unsupported claims out.

4. What already exists?

List the current domain, website platform, useful pages, content, photography and enquiry tools. Record who controls each account. Share access through an agreed, secure method later. Passwords do not belong in the brief.

5. What happens after the enquiry?

Name the person or role that receives it, the information they need and the next step offered to the customer. A form that works technically is only one part of that journey. Include a test from submission through to the receiving inbox.

6. What are the constraints?

State the budget, any real deadline, who approves the work and who will maintain the site. Ask providers to separate essentials from optional work and to explain ongoing costs. If you don’t know a figure yet, say so rather than inventing one.

Turn the brief into a conversation

Download the editable website brief. It is a plain text file you can paste into any writing tool. Ask potential providers which parts they would clarify before quoting. Their questions can tell you as much as their proposal.

Not sure whether you need a new site at all? Read Before you rebuild your website, find out what’s actually broken.

Disclosure: SMB Sites, which offers website services, shares ownership with Digital Advisors. The template works just as well with another designer.