What to put in a website brief: a checklist for business owners
A clear brief gets you accurate quotes and a website that does its job. Here's what to include, with a checklist you can copy before you talk to any agency.
By NirmaanCode team
4 min read
Most website projects that go over budget or over time have the same root cause: nobody wrote down what the website was supposed to do. A short, clear brief fixes that. It helps agencies give you comparable quotes, and it gives you something to check the finished site against.
You don't need technical knowledge to write one. You need answers to a few plain questions about your business and your customers.
Start with the goal
Before pages, colours or features, write one or two sentences about what the website must achieve. For example:
"Get 20 enquiries a month from clinics in Gujarat who want a booking system."
"Let existing customers download invoices without calling us."
"Look credible enough that investors and partners take us seriously."
A goal like this decides almost everything else, from which pages you need to where the buttons go.
If you can only answer one question in your brief, answer this one: what should a visitor do on the website, and what happens when they do it?
Describe your customers
Agencies design for your visitors, not for you. Tell them who those visitors are:
Who they are (business owners, students, patients, procurement teams)
What they're trying to find out when they land on your site
What stops them from contacting you today
Whether most of them will be on phones or computers
Even a rough answer is useful. "Mostly small shop owners in Tier 2 cities, on Android phones" leads to a very different website than "IT managers at large companies, on laptops".
List the pages and content
Write down the pages you think you need and who will provide the content for each. A typical small business site might have:
Home
Services (one page per main service)
About
Work or case studies
Contact
Then say honestly whether you have the text and photos ready, or need help writing them. Content is the most common cause of delays, so it's better to plan for it at the start.
Note the features you need
Features drive cost more than pages do. Mention anything beyond basic pages, such as:
Contact forms, WhatsApp chat or click-to-call
Online booking or payments
A blog or news section you'll update yourself
Logins for customers or staff
Multiple languages
Connections to tools you already use, like a CRM or accounting software
If you're not sure whether you need something, list it as "nice to have". A good agency will tell you what it adds to the cost and timeline.
Share what you like and dislike
Send two or three websites you like, and say what you like about each one: the layout, the photos, how easy it is to find prices. Do the same for sites you don't like. This is far more useful than describing a style in words like "modern" or "clean", which mean different things to everyone.
Also include your logo, brand colours and fonts if you have them.
Be clear about budget and timing
Many people hold back their budget in case it gets used against them. In practice, sharing a range helps agencies suggest the right approach. A budget range lets them tell you what's realistic, whether that's a custom build, a theme-based site or a phased plan.
Do the same with timing. If there's a real deadline, like a launch event or a trade show, say so and explain why.
Decide who owns what
Ask upfront who will own the domain, hosting account, design files and code once the project ends. The answer should be you. Also ask who will make small changes after launch and what that costs, so you're not surprised later.
A checklist you can copy
The main goal of the website, in one or two sentences
Who your visitors are and what they're looking for
The pages you need and who will write the content
Features beyond basic pages, marked as must-have or nice-to-have
Two or three websites you like, and what you like about them
Your logo, brand colours and fonts
A budget range and any real deadline
Who will own the domain, hosting and code after launch
With these answers on one page, you'll get clearer quotes, fewer surprises and a website built around what your business actually needs. If you'd like help shaping your brief, we're happy to walk through it with you on a free call.