Most web projects go wrong long before a single line of code is written. They go wrong at the briefing stage, when a business owner sends an agency three sentences that say “we need a modern website, can you send us a quote?”
A good website brief fixes that. It is the document you write before contacting agencies, and it does three things at once: it forces you to clarify what you actually want, it lets agencies quote on the same scope so you can compare prices fairly, and it becomes the reference point everyone returns to when opinions start to diverge in month two. The topic gets a thorough treatment elsewhere.
This guide walks through the nine sections every website brief should contain. For each one you get what to include, and a side-by-side comparison of weak versus strong wording taken from the kind of briefs we receive every week.
What is a website brief?
A website brief is a written document, usually between two and eight pages, that describes the business behind the project, the outcome you expect from the new site, and the practical constraints (pages, content, technology, budget, deadline) that a supplier needs to price and plan the work.
It is not a specification. You are not expected to know whether you need Next.js or WordPress, or how many database tables your booking system requires. That is the agency’s job. Your job is to describe the problem, the audience and the constraints clearly enough that a professional can propose a solution.
Why bother writing one?
- Comparable quotes. Three agencies quoting from three different assumptions will give you three unusable numbers. Same brief, same scope, comparable proposals.
- Faster kick-off. Projects that start with a solid brief typically skip two or three discovery calls.
- Fewer change requests. Most budget overruns come from scope that was never written down.
- Internal alignment. Writing the brief is often the first time marketing, sales and management agree on what the site is for.
The 9 sections of a website brief at a glance
| # | Section | Question it answers | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Company snapshot | Who are you and what do you sell? | 1 paragraph |
| 2 | Project goals and KPIs | What must the site achieve? | 3 to 5 bullets |
| 3 | Target audience | Who is it for and what do they need? | 2 or 3 profiles |
| 4 | Current situation | What works and what fails today? | Half a page |
| 5 | Scope and page list | How big is this site? | A list or table |
| 6 | Content status | Who writes the words and takes the photos? | A table |
| 7 | Design direction | What should it look and feel like? | Half a page + links |
| 8 | Technical requirements | What must it connect to and comply with? | A checklist |
| 9 | Budget, timeline and decision process | What are the constraints? | Short and specific |
1. Company snapshot
Start with a short paragraph that would make sense to someone who has never heard of you. Agencies will research you anyway, but your version tells them what you consider important.
What to include
- What you sell or do, in plain language
- Year founded, team size, locations or markets served
- Your two or three main competitors, with URLs
- What makes clients choose you over them
- Anything unusual about your sector (regulation, seasonality, long sales cycles)
Weak vs strong
| Weak: “We are a leading provider of innovative solutions in our industry.” | Strong: “We install and maintain commercial refrigeration for restaurants and small food producers in Belgium and Luxembourg. Founded 2011, 24 employees. Main competitors are X and Y. About 70% of our revenue is maintenance contracts, not installations, and that is the part we want the site to grow.” |
2. Project goals and KPIs
This is the section that most changes the shape of a proposal. “We want a modern website” and “we want to cut phone enquiries by 40% by letting customers book online” lead to completely different projects.
Write between three and five goals, ranked by priority, and attach a number to each one where you can. If you cannot attach a number, at least describe the behaviour you want to change.
Useful goal formats
- “Increase qualified quote requests from 12 to 25 per month within 6 months of launch.”
- “Rank on page one for [three specific keywords] in our region.”
- “Let existing clients download invoices themselves instead of emailing our office.”
- “Reduce the time it takes our marketing person to publish a case study from 2 days to 30 minutes.”
- “Support recruitment: we hire 15 technicians a year and candidates currently see nothing about working here.”
Weak vs strong
| Weak: “Improve our online presence and be more modern and user friendly.” | Strong: “Priority 1: generate 25 qualified quote requests per month (currently 12). Priority 2: let clients book a maintenance visit online without calling. Priority 3: publish case studies without developer help. A visual refresh is welcome but it is not the reason we are doing this.” |
Tip: state explicitly what is not a goal. “We are not trying to sell online” saves everyone a lot of time.
3. Target audience
Put your audiences front and centre. A website built for “everyone” converts no one. Describe two or three groups, in order of commercial importance.
For each audience, note
- Who they are (role, sector, age range if relevant)
- What triggers their visit (a problem, a search, a recommendation, an email campaign)
- What they need to see before they trust you (prices, certifications, references, delivery times, case studies)
- Their main objection or hesitation
- The action you want them to take
- The device and context they are likely using
Weak vs strong
| Weak: “Our audience is B2B companies and also individuals, basically anyone who needs our services.” | Strong: “Audience 1 (70% of revenue): restaurant owners, 30 to 55, searching on a phone at 11pm because a fridge broke. They need to see an emergency number, a response time and proof we cover their city. Audience 2: purchasing managers at food producers comparing three suppliers. They need technical specs, references and a downloadable PDF they can forward to their director.” |
4. Current situation: what works and what fails
If you already have a site, this section is pure gold for the agency. Be honest about the pain.
Include
- Current URL, CMS or platform, roughly when it was built, and who built it
- Hosting and domain: where they are, who has access, whether you control them
- Analytics data: monthly sessions, top 10 pages, main traffic sources, current conversion rate, mobile share
- Three things that work and must be kept
- Five things that frustrate you or your customers
- Whether URLs must be preserved or redirected (important for SEO)
Weak vs strong
| Weak: “Our site is outdated and we don’t like it.” | Strong: “WordPress, built in 2018 by a freelancer we can no longer reach. 4,200 sessions a month, 62% mobile. The blog brings 40% of traffic and must be migrated with URLs intact. Problems: the contact form silently fails on mobile, the product pages take 6 seconds to load, and nobody in the team can add a page without breaking the layout.” |
5. Scope and page list
Scope is the single biggest driver of price. A 12-page brochure site and a 400-page multilingual catalogue share almost nothing except the word “website”. Give an approximate sitemap, even a rough one.
How to present it
| Page / template | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Homepage | 1 | Unique design |
| Service page | 6 | One template, 6 instances |
| Case study | 10 at launch | Filterable by sector |
| Blog listing + article | 2 templates | Migrate 85 existing posts |
| Contact / quote request | 1 | Multi-step form |
| Legal pages | 3 | Privacy, cookies, terms |
Also state clearly:
- Languages at launch and planned later (this is a major cost factor)
- Features beyond standard pages: online booking, member area, quote calculator, e-commerce, job board, downloads gated by email
- Phase 2 wish list so the architecture can anticipate it without you paying for it now
Weak vs strong
| Weak: “Around 10 pages, plus the usual stuff, and maybe a shop later.” | Strong: “23 pages across 6 templates, in French and Dutch at launch, English in phase 2. One custom feature: a quote calculator with 4 questions that emails a PDF estimate. No e-commerce now, but we may sell spare parts in 2027, so please keep that possible.” |
6. Content status: the section everyone forgets
More web projects are delayed by missing content than by missing code. Say up front who is responsible for text, images, video and translations, and whether that content exists today.
| Content type | Status | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Service page copy | Exists but needs rewriting | Agency (please quote) |
| About / team text | To be written | Us, by 15 Nov |
| Photography | Only phone snapshots | Shoot needed, quote separately |
| Logo and brand assets | Available in vector | Us |
| Dutch translation | Not started | External translator we already use |
| Product data | In an Excel file, 340 rows | Us, ready now |
Rule of thumb: if nobody’s name is next to a content item, it will not exist on launch day.
7. Design direction and brand
You do not need to art-direct the project, but you do need to narrow the field. Give references and, just as importantly, anti-references.
What to provide
- Brand guidelines, logo files, fonts and colours if they exist, or say that branding is part of the job
- Three to five websites you like, with one sentence each explaining why (this is the part that helps)
- Two websites you dislike, and why
- Adjectives you want people to feel: for example “reliable, technical, no-nonsense” or “warm, artisanal, local”
- Hard constraints: accessibility level, dark mode, corporate group templates you must follow
Weak vs strong
| Weak: “We like clean and modern designs. Something like Apple.” | Strong: “We like site A for how it puts a phone number and response time above the fold, site B for its clear pricing table, site C for the way case studies show before and after. We dislike full-screen video intros and stock photos of people in suits shaking hands. Tone should feel technical and trustworthy rather than trendy.” |
8. Technical requirements and integrations
You are not writing a spec, you are flagging constraints. Anything on this list that surfaces after the quote is signed becomes a change request.
Checklist to run through
- CMS preference: do you require WordPress, or are you open? Does your team already know a tool?
- Integrations: CRM, ERP, accounting, email marketing platform, booking system, payment gateway, live chat, review platform
- Data exchange: does stock, pricing or availability come from another system? Is there an API or only a CSV export?
- Hosting: existing provider, geographic requirements, expected traffic peaks
- Security and compliance: GDPR, cookie consent, accessibility (the European Accessibility Act applies to many businesses since June 2025), sector-specific rules
- SEO: existing rankings to protect, redirect plan, multilingual URL structure
- Performance targets: Core Web Vitals, page weight, mobile-first expectations
- Who maintains it after launch: your team, the agency, or a retainer to be quoted
- Training and documentation needs
Weak vs strong
| Weak: “It should be fast, secure, SEO friendly and connect to our tools.” | Strong: “WordPress preferred, our marketing lead knows it. Form submissions must create a lead in HubSpot. Our stock levels live in an ERP that exports a daily CSV, no API available. We need cookie consent compliant with GDPR and an accessibility audit at WCAG 2.2 AA. We want a monthly maintenance retainer quoted separately.” |
9. Budget range, timeline and decision process
This is where most briefs go quiet, and it is the one section that costs you the most to omit. Withholding your budget does not get you a better price. It gets you proposals that are irrelevant, and it wastes two weeks of everyone’s time.
How to state budget without overpaying
- Give a range, not a single figure: “between 15,000 and 25,000 EUR for the build”
- Separate one-off build from annual running costs (hosting, maintenance, licences, content, ads)
- Say what flexibility exists: “we can go higher if the quote calculator clearly increases conversions”
- If you genuinely do not know, ask for tiered options: “please propose a minimum viable version and a recommended version”
Timeline
- Target launch date and, crucially, why that date (trade show, campaign, contract ending, seasonality)
- Dates when your team is unavailable
- Whether a phased launch is acceptable
Decision process
- Who is the main contact and who signs off
- How many people review designs (if the answer is nine, say so, it changes the timeline)
- Deadline for proposals and expected decision date
- Selection criteria: price, portfolio, sector experience, ongoing support
Weak vs strong
| Weak: “Please send us your best price. We need it as soon as possible.” | Strong: “Build budget: 18,000 to 28,000 EUR. Annual budget for hosting and maintenance: up to 3,000 EUR. Launch target 1 March 2027 because our main trade show is 15 March. Proposals due 10 October, decision by 24 October. Sign-off by our managing director and marketing manager only. Criteria: 50% approach and understanding, 30% relevant references, 20% price.” |
A copy-paste website brief template
Use this outline as your document structure. Delete what does not apply and keep it honest rather than impressive. There is more on it in How to easily write a new website brief.
- Company snapshot – what we do, markets, team size, competitors, differentiators
- Project goals – 3 to 5 ranked goals with numbers, plus explicit non-goals
- Target audiences – 2 or 3 profiles with triggers, objections and desired actions
- Current situation – platform, analytics, what to keep, what to fix, URLs to preserve
- Scope – page and template list, languages, features, phase 2 wish list
- Content – table of content types with status and owner
- Design direction – brand assets, references with reasons, anti-references, tone
- Technical requirements – CMS, integrations, hosting, compliance, SEO, maintenance
- Budget, timeline, process – range, split of build vs running costs, key dates, decision makers
Add an appendix with logo files, analytics screenshots, your product export and any existing brand guidelines. A brief with an appendix gets far more accurate quotes than one without.
Common website brief mistakes
| Mistake | Consequence | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Hiding the budget | Irrelevant proposals, wasted weeks | Give a range and ask for options |
| Describing features instead of problems | You pay for a solution nobody needed | Describe the pain, let the agency propose |
| No content owner | Launch delayed by months | Name a person and a date per item |
| Ignoring existing SEO | Traffic collapse after launch | List top pages and require a redirect plan |
| Unlimited stakeholders | Design by committee, endless revisions | Name one decision maker in the brief |
| A 40-page brief | Nobody reads it properly | Keep it under 8 pages, put detail in appendices |
Before you hit send: a 10-point check
- Could a stranger explain what your business does after reading page one?
- Is at least one goal measurable?
- Have you named your audiences in order of commercial importance?
- Is there an approximate page count and a language list?
- Does every content item have an owner?
- Have you listed every system the site must talk to?
- Is there a budget range?
- Is there a launch date with a reason behind it?
- Is there one named decision maker?
- Have you said what you do not want?
If you can tick all ten, you will get sharper proposals, more comparable pricing and a project that starts with momentum instead of confusion.
FAQ
How long should a website brief be?
Two to eight pages for most small and mid-sized projects. Long enough to cover the nine sections, short enough that every person involved actually reads it. Detailed exports, brand guidelines and analytics screenshots belong in appendices. The same instinct shows in the work of another shop that gets it right.
What is the difference between a website brief and a design brief?
A design brief focuses on the visual and creative side: brand, tone, look and feel, deliverables. A website brief is broader: it covers business goals, audiences, page scope, content responsibility, technical integrations, budget and timeline. A website brief usually contains a design brief inside it.
Do I really have to reveal my budget?
Yes, and a range is enough. Agencies can build a site for 5,000 or 150,000 EUR. Without a range they are guessing, and a guess that is too high or too low wastes a meeting for both of you. Stating a range does not mean you will be charged the maximum, it means you will be shown what is realistic within it.
What if I don’t know what I want technically?
That is normal and completely fine. Describe outcomes instead: “customers should be able to book a slot without calling us” is more useful than naming a plugin. A good agency translates outcomes into technology, and will tell you when a simpler option does the job.
Should I send the same brief to every agency?
Yes. Identical briefs produce comparable proposals. You can add a short covering note to each agency explaining why you contacted them specifically, but the brief itself should be the same document.
How many agencies should I send it to?
Three to five is the sweet spot. Fewer and you have no comparison, more and you will not give each proposal a fair reading. Shortlist on portfolio relevance before you send anything.
What should I expect back from a good agency?
Questions. A supplier who quotes instantly without asking anything has not understood your project. Expect clarifications on scope, content responsibility and integrations, then a proposal that restates your goals in its own words, proposes an approach, breaks down the budget and gives a realistic timeline.
Can I write a brief for a redesign of an existing site?
Absolutely, and section 4 becomes the most valuable part. Include analytics, your best-performing pages, the URLs that must be preserved and a clear list of the frustrations that triggered the redesign. A redesign brief without data is just a list of opinions.
Ready to brief us?
Write your brief using the nine sections above, then send it over. The clearer the brief, the faster we can tell you what is realistic, what it will cost and what we would do differently. If you would rather talk it through before writing anything, that works too: get in touch with the team at 275mb and we will help you shape the brief itself.
