A website project can lose time and budget before a designer creates a single page. The usual cause is not a lack of ideas – it is a lack of direction. Knowing how to write a website brief gives your web partner the information they need to build a site around your business goals, rather than making assumptions about them.
A good brief is not a technical document, and it does not need to be long. For a local trades business, retailer, restaurant or professional service, a few well-considered pages can make the difference between a website that merely looks smart and one that brings in worthwhile enquiries.
Start with the business result you need
Before discussing colours, layouts or features, decide what the website needs to achieve. A new website may need to generate more quotation requests, encourage phone calls, sell products, secure bookings, build trust with larger clients or improve visibility in local search results.
Choose one primary objective. You can have supporting goals, but trying to make every action equally important usually creates a confused user journey. For example, a Brighton plumber may want more emergency call-outs, while a consultancy may need prospective clients to book an initial meeting. Both need a professional site, but the messaging, page structure and calls to action will be different.
Be specific wherever possible. “Get more customers” is understandable, but it is difficult to design around. “Generate ten qualified residential enquiries a month from Sussex homeowners” gives your designer a clearer commercial target.
Explain your business as you would to a new customer
Your web team needs to understand more than the service list. Describe what you do, who you serve, where you operate and why someone should choose you over another provider.
Include a short overview of your company, how long you have been trading, your main products or services and the areas you cover. If you work across the UK, say so. If most of your work comes from Brighton and Hove, or from a particular sector, that local focus matters too.
Then explain the difference you make. Perhaps you offer faster turnaround, specialist knowledge, flexible appointments, transparent pricing or a higher standard of workmanship. Avoid broad claims such as “great service” unless you can show what that means in practice. Real detail helps turn your strengths into credible website content.
Define the customers you want more of
A website cannot speak effectively to everyone. Your brief should describe the people you most want to attract: their type of business or household, their location, the problem they are trying to solve and what may stop them from contacting you.
For instance, an accountant may serve owner-managed businesses that are worried about compliance and want straightforward advice. A landscaping company may be targeting homeowners who value reliable communication as much as the finished garden. These concerns influence the wording, imagery, proof points and enquiry process.
It is also useful to mention customers you do not want to target. If a builder only takes on substantial renovation projects, the site should not encourage a stream of small repair enquiries. Clear positioning protects your time as well as improving lead quality.
Set out the pages and journeys your site needs
Your website brief should include a proposed page list. It does not have to be final, but it gives the project a practical starting point. Most service businesses need a home page, service pages, an about page, contact details and a privacy policy. Depending on the business, you may also need case studies, testimonials, a gallery, areas served, frequently asked questions, booking pages or an online shop.
Think about the path a visitor should take. Someone arriving from Google may land directly on a service page, not your home page. That page should quickly explain the service, demonstrate credibility and make the next step obvious.
Describe the actions you want people to take, such as calling, submitting an enquiry form, requesting a quote, booking an appointment or buying online. If you need leads to include specific information – measurements, a postcode, photographs or a preferred appointment time – say so early. This affects how forms and website functionality are planned.
Give clear direction on brand and design
You do not need to dictate every design decision. In fact, a list of competing visual preferences can make a project harder. Instead, share the materials that already represent your business well: your logo, brand colours, photographs, printed brochures, social media graphics and any existing guidelines.
Explain how you want the business to come across. You might want a clean, established and reassuring feel, or something more energetic and contemporary. Mention websites you like and, crucially, explain why. Is it the easy navigation, strong photography, clear service pages or professional tone? A reference site is useful for direction, not for copying.
Photography deserves attention in the brief. Genuine images of your team, premises, products and completed work can build far more trust than generic stock photography. Stock images can still be useful where appropriate, particularly during an initial launch, but they should support the business rather than make it look interchangeable.
Plan content honestly from the start
Content is often the part of a website project that causes delays. Your brief should state what exists already and who will provide, write, review and approve each piece of content.
This includes service descriptions, staff biographies, testimonials, project photos, price information, terms, logos of accreditations and answers to common customer questions. If your web partner is writing the copy, they will still need accurate input from you. The best website content combines clear professional writing with the knowledge only the business owner and team can provide.
Be realistic about the time involved. A ten-page website with detailed, search-friendly service content requires more work than a simple five-page brochure site. Neither approach is automatically better. It depends on your market, competition and how customers search for what you offer.
Include SEO, competitors and local visibility
Search engine optimisation should be considered before the website is built, not added as an afterthought. In the brief, list the services and locations people commonly use when looking for a business like yours. You do not need to provide a finished keyword strategy, but your insight is valuable.
You can also name a few competitors. The goal is not to imitate them. It is to identify gaps, understand what customers are seeing already and find opportunities for your business to stand out. Perhaps competitors have poor mobile sites, vague service information or no evidence of recent work. Your new site can address those weaknesses.
If local visibility is important, include accurate contact details, service areas, opening hours and any relevant credentials. Consistency matters. A business that is difficult to contact or unclear about where it works will lose trust quickly, even if the design is excellent.
Cover practical requirements and constraints
Your brief should flag any functionality that affects cost, timings or technical planning. This could include online payments, appointment booking, customer accounts, membership content, stock management, integrations with a CRM, multilingual pages, accessibility needs or connections to existing software.
Also state your preferred launch date, budget range and key decision-makers. A realistic budget range helps your agency recommend the right solution. There is a genuine trade-off between a fast, lean launch and a more extensive bespoke build with advanced functionality. Sharing constraints early avoids a proposal that looks appealing but cannot meet your priorities.
If several people need to approve the project, nominate one main contact. Prompt, consolidated feedback keeps momentum and prevents conflicting requests late in the process.
A simple website brief checklist
Before sending your brief, make sure it covers these essentials:
- Your primary business goal and the actions you want visitors to take.
- Your ideal customers, service areas and the work you want more of.
- Your services, key differentiators and proof of credibility.
- Proposed pages, required functionality and useful website references.
- Available content, brand materials, budget range, launch timing and decision-makers.
A clear brief does not remove every question. It creates the right questions early, when they are easy and affordable to answer. Bring honest detail about your business, your customers and your ambitions to the first conversation, and your web partner can turn that knowledge into a site built to support the next stage of growth.
