A website brief template you can fill in today.
A website brief is a short document that tells a web agency what you need, so quotes and designs match your business. This template gives you eight sections to fill in, with a prompt and an example for each.
- A good brief is one to two pages, not twenty.
- Say who the site is for and what visitors should do. Everything else follows.
- Copy the eight headings below and answer each in a few lines.
6 min readPublished By Domeq Solutions
Why does a web agency need a brief?
Without a brief, an agency has to guess what you want, and every agency guesses differently. The quotes you get back then cover different things, and the designs miss in ways that cost time to correct.
A brief is not a legal contract or a technical specification. It is a short, honest description of your business, your goal and your limits. Writing it also forces decisions you would otherwise make halfway through the project, when changing your mind is more costly.
Send the same brief to every agency you ask. It is the only way to compare quotes fairly.
A clear brief saves more time than any other single step in a website project.
What goes in a website brief?
Copy the eight headings below into a document and answer each one. Short answers are fine. If you do not know an answer, say so, because an honest gap is more useful to an agency than a guess.
You can write the brief in a document, an email or a notes app. The format does not matter. What matters is that it answers the same questions every time, so you can reuse it for each agency and update it as your thinking changes. Keep a copy, because it also becomes a handy reference once the project starts and people ask what was agreed.
The eight sections of the brief.
1. About the business
What you sell or do, where you operate, how long you have been going and what makes you different. Three to five sentences.
2. Goals
What the website must achieve in the next year, such as more enquiries, online sales or clearer information. Pick one main goal and at most two others.
3. Audience
Who visits, what they are trying to do and what worries them. Describe one or two typical visitors rather than everyone.
4. Pages and features
The pages you expect, and any features such as a store, bookings, a blog or a members area. A rough list is enough.
5. Content
What text, photographs and videos exist, what will be written new, and who is responsible for each.
6. Look and feel
Three websites you like and why, one you dislike, and any brand colours, fonts or logos. If you have no brand yet, see how to write a branding brief.
7. Timeline and budget
A target launch date and the date that cannot be missed, if one exists, plus a budget range you are comfortable sharing.
8. Practicalities
Who decides, who the contact is, the platform you prefer if any, and what you already have: domain, hosting, logins and tools.
What does a good answer look like?
Most weak briefs are not wrong, only vague. The comparison below shows how to turn a vague line into one an agency can act on.
Vague answers and useful ones.
| Aspect | Vague | Useful |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | We want more customers. | We want more enquiries for our corporate catering service from offices within our city. |
| Audience | Everyone who likes good food. | Office managers who book lunches for 20 to 60 people and need a reliable supplier. |
| Look and feel | Modern and clean. | Warm and professional, like the first site I have attached, but with fewer photographs. |
| Timeline | As soon as possible. | Live before our exhibition on a fixed date, with content ready two weeks earlier. |
The examples are illustrations, not real clients.
What should you check before sending it?
A quick read-through catches the gaps that cause back-and-forth later. Check each point below before the brief goes out. Better still, ask someone who does not know the business to read it and tell you what they think the website is for. If their answer differs from yours, the brief needs another pass.
Seven checks before you send.
- It fits on one or two pages
- There is one main goal, not six
- A visitor type and what they want is described
- The pages and features are listed, even roughly
- You have said who provides the content
- A date and a budget range are included, or the reason they are not
- Contact name, email and phone number are there
What mistakes do people make in a brief?
These are the slips that most often cause rework. Each is easy to avoid once you know it.
Five brief-writing mistakes.
Describing the design before the goal
Starting with colours and layouts hides what the site is for. Lead with the goal.
Hiding the budget
A range lets the agency propose something realistic. Without it, quotes can be unusable.
Listing every feature you have ever seen
Mark features as must have, nice to have or later, so the first version stays focused.
Leaving out who approves
Name the person with the final say, or feedback will arrive in conflicting pieces.
Forgetting existing assets
Say what you already own: a domain, a current site, brand files and logins.
What happens after you send the brief?
A good agency reads the brief, asks questions about the gaps and returns a proposal that says what is included, how long it takes and what it costs. Compare proposals against your brief, line by line, and use what affects the cost of a website to question anything that looks too high or too low.
At Domeq, requirements take about a week and delivery takes at least two weeks, with full QA and sanity testing. Your brief shortens the first part. See how long a website takes to build, or Website Design & Development to start a project.
You do not need a perfect brief. You need an honest one.
Questions, answered.
What is a website brief?
A short document that tells a web agency about your business, your goals, your audience, the pages and features you want, and your timeline and budget. It helps the agency quote and design accurately.
How long should a website brief be?
One to two pages is enough for most business websites. Clear, specific answers matter more than length.
Should I include my budget in a website brief?
Yes, a range at least. It lets the agency propose something realistic and saves both sides from proposals that do not fit.
What if I do not know what pages I need?
Say so, and describe your goal and your visitors instead. A good agency will suggest a page structure and explain why.
Do I need a brief for a small website?
A short one still helps. Even five lines on goal, audience, pages and timeline prevent most misunderstandings.
Can Domeq help me write a website brief?
Yes. If you are unsure what to include, share what you have. Requirements take about a week at Domeq and the brief is built up during that time.
Keep reading.
More guides on the same topic, and on the ones around it.
- Website Redesign Checklist: Before, During and AfterA website redesign checklist: the signs you need one, what to record first, how to protect search visibility and what to test on launch day.Website Design & Development
- What Affects the Cost of a Website in India?What decides the cost of a website in India? Seven price factors, how to compare quotes fairly, and the costs that arrive after the quote.Website Design & Development
- Questions to Ask a Web Design Agency Before You Hire OneQuestions to ask a web design agency before hiring: scope, timeline, ownership, SEO, testing, support and cost, with what good and weak answers look like.Website Design & Development
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