How to write a website brief (free template)

Short answer: a website brief is one or two pages that tell a web designer what your business does, who you want more of, what the site has to do, what you've got already, and what you can spend. Write it before you ask for quotes, send the same brief to everyone, and you'll get prices you can actually compare. Our free template below walks you through it in nine short sections.

Most small business owners skip the brief. They ring three web designers, describe what they want slightly differently each time, and get back three quotes for three different websites. One's £600, one's £4,000, and nobody can say which is the better deal, because they're not quoting for the same thing.

A brief fixes that. It also makes the build faster, cuts the number of rounds of changes, and forces you to decide the things that matter before anyone starts designing. It doesn't need to be long or polished. Short answers and "not sure" are fine.

Three quotes for three different websites isn't a comparison. It's a guess.

Why a brief saves you money

• Comparable quotes. Everyone prices the same job, so the differences in price mean something.
• Fewer revisions. Most rounds of changes come from things nobody asked about at the start.
• A faster build. Content and decisions are the usual hold-up, not the design or the code.
• A better site. When a designer knows who you want more of, they can build for those people, not for everyone.

What to put in it: the nine sections

Here's each section of the template, what it's for, and an example answer from a made-up business: a plumber in Basingstoke called Sam.

1. About your business

What you do in one sentence, where you work, and who's making the decision. That last one matters more than people think. If your partner or business partner has opinions, they need to see the designs too, and it's better for everyone to know that at the start.

2. Why now

What's prompting this, and what success looks like in a year. If you can put a number on it, do. "More enquiries" can't be measured. "Two more bathroom enquiries a month" can.

3. Your customers

Who your best customers are, which jobs you want more of (and fewer of), and the questions people ask before booking. Those questions become your FAQ, and they're often the most useful page on the site.

4. What the site must do

The one thing you want visitors to do, every service that needs its own page, and any features or systems it has to work with. Function first. How it looks comes later.

5. Content

Who writes the words, what photos you have, your logo and any reviews or accreditations. Content is the slowest part of almost every website project, so be honest here. If you won't write the pages yourself, make sure the quote includes someone who will.

6. Look and feel

Three websites you like and why, one you don't, and your main local competitors. They don't have to be in your trade. "I like how clear the prices are on this one" is more useful than any amount of "clean and modern".

7. The practical bits

Your domain name and whose name it's registered in, where the current site is hosted, and who provides your email. If you don't know, say so. It's far easier to sort out at the start than halfway through. If you're unsure what any of these are, our plain-English guide to domains, hosting and email explains it, and if the answer is "my old web designer, who's gone quiet", start with how to get your website back.

8. Budget and timing

A budget range for the build, a range for the monthly costs, and your deadline with the reason for it. People worry that giving a budget means they'll be quoted the top of it. In practice it does the opposite: it tells a decent designer what's realistic, and saves you quotes that were never going to fit. Our UK website cost guide will help you pick a sensible range.

9. After launch

Who'll update the site, and what ongoing help you want. A site nobody touches drifts down Google over time, so decide this now rather than after the build.

Five mistakes that make a brief useless

1. Describing the design, not the job. "Modern, clean, eye-catching" tells a designer nothing. "More bathroom enquiries from people in Basingstoke" tells them everything.
2. No budget. Without one, you'll get quotes for very different sites, and you're back to guessing.
3. Leaving out what you don't want. The jobs you'd rather not get are as useful as the ones you would.
4. Skipping who owns the domain. It's the question that causes the most trouble later, and the easiest one to answer now.
5. Sending a different version to each provider. The whole point is that everyone quotes for the same thing.

How to use it to compare quotes

Send the same brief to two or three providers. When the quotes come back, compare them on four things:

• The three-year total, not the build price. Build fee plus 36 months of whatever the monthly is. Our pay monthly vs upfront guide shows how.
• Who writes the words. If it's not in the quote, it's you.
• What you own when you leave. The domain, the site files, the content.
• How they answer questions. Our website provider scorecard gives you the questions and scores the answers.

Download the free template

The template is a Word document you can fill in on screen or print out. Every section has a prompt telling you what to write, and it finishes with a three-question check before you send it.

Want a second opinion?

Fill in the brief, then book a free 15-minute call and we'll tell you honestly what a site like that should cost, whoever ends up building it. If you're an owner-operator, Zenlio Local starts with a 10-minute form that covers most of this for you.

Keep reading: Website launch checklist: what to check before you go live · Website jargon explained: a plain-English glossary · How long does it take to build a website?