How to write a website brief
A one-page brief saves weeks of back and forth and makes quotes comparable. You don't need technical words. You need to describe your business, your customers and what the website must do for them.
1. Your business in three lines
What you sell, where, and to whom. "A family-run guest house with six rooms near the lake, mostly booked by families from other states" tells a developer more than a page of history.
2. What the website must achieve
Pick one or two goals and be specific: more direct room enquiries on WhatsApp, admissions enquiries before April, online orders from outside the city, calls from people nearby. The goal decides the design and the pages.
3. Who will visit, and what they want
List your main kinds of customer and the questions each one asks before buying. Parents ask about fees and transport; guests ask about rooms and directions; buyers ask about sizes and delivery. Those questions become the content.
4. The pages you think you need
A rough list is fine: home, about, each service or product group, contact, policies. Mark the ones that matter most. If you don't know, list what you sell instead.
5. Features
Note anything beyond pages: online payments, bookings, a blog, several languages, customer logins, a connection to another system. Say which are essential at launch and which could come later.
6. Content: what you have and what you need
Do you have text, a logo and real photos? Who will write the rest? Content is the most common cause of delays, so be honest here.
7. Who will update it
Will you or your staff edit the site, or will you send changes to the developer? This decides between WordPress and a plain HTML site, as explained in WordPress or plain HTML.
8. What already exists
Your current website, domain, hosting, business email and Google Business Profile, with who controls each. If you're replacing a site, say so, because existing pages need redirects. See the redesign checklist.
9. Sites you like, and why
Two or three links with a sentence each: "I like how the rooms are shown here", "this one is easy to read on a phone". The reasons matter more than the links.
10. Dates and budget
Any date that matters, such as a season or an admission cycle, and a budget range if you have one. A range lets the developer suggest what fits rather than guess.
The quick way
The website cost calculator asks most of these questions and writes the brief for you as plain text you can send to anyone. If you'd rather talk it through, use the form below and I'll ask the questions myself.