Most website projects that go wrong do not go wrong in the design. They go wrong in the first email - the one that says "we need a modern, clean website" and very little else. Every designer who reads it imagines a different site and prices a different job, and the quotes that come back cannot be compared with each other.
A website brief fixes that. It is a short document - two pages is plenty for a small business - that says what the site is for, who it is for, what it has to do, and what you already have. It is not a technical specification, and you do not need to know anything about hosting or code to write a good one.
We are a web design agency, so reading briefs is part of our job. This is the version we wish every enquiry arrived with: what to put in, what to leave out, and a one-page template you can copy.
What a brief is actually for
A good brief does three jobs, and only one of them is about design.
- It makes quotes comparable. If three agencies price the same written document, the differences between their numbers mean something. If they price three different phone calls, they do not. Our guide to how much a website costs explains why two honest quotes can still be far apart - a shared brief removes most of that gap.
- It defines what "finished" means. A project without a written scope never quite ends. Pages get added, features get "just" squeezed in, and the launch date drifts. A brief gives both sides a line to point at.
- It is what the work gets judged against. When a project is reviewed later, it is reviewed against what was agreed. Our own terms and conditions, for example, assess a refund request against the design brief and the feedback given during revisions, and our revision policy covers changes within the agreed concept. That is normal across the industry, and it means a vague brief protects nobody - including you.
The nine sections of a small business website brief
You do not need all nine to be long. Some will be a single line. What matters is that none of them is missing, because each one answers a question the agency will otherwise have to guess.
1. Who you are, in two sentences
What you sell, to whom, and where. Then one line on what makes you different from the business down the road. "A family-run HVAC company serving west Houston, known for same-day repairs and fixed call-out prices" tells a designer more than a page of company history.
2. The one job the site has to do
Pick the single action that matters most: call, book an appointment, request a quote, buy, or sign up. You can name a secondary action too, but only one comes first. If you cannot choose, the design cannot either, and you end up with a homepage where six buttons compete and none of them wins.
3. Who the visitors are, and what situation they are in
Age brackets and demographics help less than you might expect. What helps is the situation. "A homeowner on their phone at 10pm with water coming through the ceiling" needs a very different page from "a facilities manager comparing three suppliers on a desktop over a week". Write down two or three of these, and for each one, what they need to know before they will act.
4. What you have now
If you already have a site, give its address and be honest about it: what works, what does not, and what customers complain about. Note your current monthly visits and enquiries if you know them - it is the only way to tell afterwards whether the new site did better.
Two items here save real money later. First, a list of the pages on the current site, because every one of them needs a plan when addresses change - our guide to redesigning a website without losing your Google rankings explains why. Second, who holds the logins for your domain, hosting and email. Projects stall for weeks because nobody can find the domain account.
5. Pages and content
List the pages you expect: home, services (one page each, or one page for all?), about, contact, and anything specific to your business. Then answer the question that decides most timelines: who is writing the words, and who is supplying the photos?
Content is the most common reason a small business website launches late. The design is often ready long before the copy is. If you are writing it yourself, give a realistic date. If you want it written for you, say so now, because it changes the quote.
6. What the site has to do - described as behaviour, not technology
Write features as things people can do. "Customers can book a 30-minute consultation and get a reminder the day before" is a requirement. "We need a booking plugin" is a guess at a solution, and it may be the wrong one.
Then list every tool the site has to work with: the booking system, email marketing platform, payment provider, accounting software or CRM you already pay for. Integrations are one of the biggest drivers of cost, and they are much cheaper to plan for than to discover.
7. Look and feel
Start with what exists: your logo files, brand colours and fonts. If you are not sure you have the right logo files, our guide to what files you should get with a logo lists them.
Then give examples rather than adjectives. Name three websites you like - they do not have to be in your industry - and say specifically what you like about each: the way the prices are laid out, the photography, how quickly you found the phone number. Name one or two you dislike and why. Add your two or three main competitors. That is worth more than any number of words like "modern", "clean" and "professional", which every brief contains and no two designers read the same way.
8. Budget and deadline
Give a budget range. Many people leave it out in the hope of a lower quote, but the usual result is proposals for wildly different projects. A range lets an agency tell you what is realistic for the money and what should wait for a second phase.
For the deadline, say whether it is real and why. "Before our trade show on the 14th" is a real deadline. "As soon as possible" is not, and saying so honestly lets the agency plan properly instead of padding the schedule.
9. Who decides
Name one person who approves the work. Say how many other people will give feedback, and how quickly you can turn feedback around. A project with one decision-maker who replies within two days will finish much faster than the same project with a committee of five - and it will usually look better too, because it has not been designed by compromise.
What to leave out
- Solutions disguised as requirements. "We need a slider on the homepage" describes a design choice, not a problem. Describe what you want the visitor to notice, and let the designer propose how.
- Adjectives with no examples. If you write "modern", attach a link to something you consider modern.
- A thirty-page document. Long briefs get skimmed, and the important line gets lost on page nineteen. If something matters, put it on the first page.
- "Nice to have" features mixed into the launch list. Keep a separate "later" list. It keeps the first quote honest and gives you a ready-made plan for phase two.
A one-page website brief template you can copy
Copy these headings into a document and answer each in a few lines. Leave a heading blank if you genuinely do not know - that is useful information too.
- About us: what we sell, to whom, where, and what makes us different (two sentences).
- Main goal: the one action we want visitors to take. Secondary goal, if any.
- Our visitors: two or three typical situations, and what each person needs to know before acting.
- Current site: address, what works, what does not, monthly visits and enquiries if known, who holds the domain and hosting logins.
- Pages: the list we expect, and who will write the copy and supply the photos (and by when).
- Must do at launch: features written as things a visitor can do. Tools the site has to connect to.
- Later: features that can wait for a second phase.
- Look and feel: our logo and brand files, three sites we like and why, one or two we dislike and why, our main competitors.
- Budget: a range.
- Deadline: the date, whether it is fixed, and why.
- Decision-maker: who approves, who else gives feedback, how fast we can reply.
How to use the brief once it is written
Send the same brief to everyone. Ask each agency to respond to it in writing, and to say plainly what they would change and why. A good one will push back on something - a page you do not need, a feature that could wait, a deadline that is too tight. An agency that agrees with every line has either not read it carefully or is telling you what you want to hear. Our guide to how to choose a web design company covers what else to look for in the replies.
Attach it to the contract. The proposal you sign should refer back to the brief, so that "what was agreed" has a document behind it. This is also the moment to settle who owns the finished site, the domain and the design files - our guide to who owns your website after launch sets out the clauses worth checking.
Keep it current. Plans change during a project, and that is fine. When they do, update the brief in writing, so that the document everyone is working from still describes the job everyone is doing.
What we do with a brief
If you are talking to us, you can send your brief - or just the answers you have so far - through our contact page. We read it, come back with a recommended approach and a quote, and tell you where we think the brief should change. Our standard website packages are listed on our pricing page, starting at $499 for a five-page static site and $999 for a five-page dynamic site, so you can check early whether a custom quote is even needed.
If you have no brief at all, that is fine too. We will ask the questions in this guide on a call. Having them written down first just makes the call shorter and the quote more accurate.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a website brief be?
One to two pages for most small business websites. Long enough to cover purpose, audience, pages, features, budget and deadline, and short enough that the person pricing the job will read every line of it.
Should I include my budget in a website brief?
Yes, as a range. Without one, every agency guesses, and you receive proposals for very different projects that cannot be compared. A range lets them tell you what is realistic for the money and what should wait for a later phase.
What is the difference between a brief and a proposal?
The brief is written by you and describes the problem: what the site is for and what it has to do. The proposal is written by the agency in response and describes their solution, price, timeline and terms. A good proposal answers the brief point by point.
Do I need to understand hosting or technology to write a brief?
No. Describe what the site must do in plain language and list the tools you already use, such as a booking system, an email platform or a payment provider. Choosing the technology is the job of the people you hire.
What if I do not know what I want yet?
Write down the problem instead: what is not working now, what customers ask you most often, and what you want more of. That is a legitimate brief. A good agency will turn it into a plan with you, and the sections in this guide give that conversation a structure.
In summary
A website brief is not paperwork for its own sake. Two honest pages - what the site is for, who it serves, what it must do, what you already have, the budget, the deadline and who decides - turn vague conversations into comparable quotes, give the project a finish line, and give both sides something fair to point at if anything goes wrong. Write it before you ask anyone for a price. If you would like us to look at yours, get in touch.
