How to Write a Website Brief — Free Template
A good website brief answers: who you are, what you do, who your customers are, what you want visitors to do, which sites you admire, your budget and timeline. Download our free brief template.
A good website brief answers: who you are, what you do, who your customers are, what you want visitors to do, which sites you admire, your budget and timeline. Write it before you talk to any agency. A solid brief cuts proposal time in half and ensures you get accurate pricing rather than guesswork.
What a website brief is and why it matters
A website brief is a short document that explains who you are, what your business does, what you want your website to achieve, and how much you are willing to spend. It is the single most important document in a web design project because it aligns expectations before any work begins.
Without a brief, agencies make assumptions. They might design for an audience you do not serve, propose features you do not need, or miss functionality that is critical to your operations. The brief is your opportunity to control the direction of the project from the very first conversation.
A good brief also helps you. Writing it forces you to clarify your own thinking about what the site needs to do and why you are building it in the first place. Many business owners discover they did not actually know what they wanted until they tried to write it down.
10 questions your brief must answer
Your brief does not need to be long, but it must answer these ten questions. Use the table below as a checklist before you send it to any agency.
| # | Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | What does your business do? | Defines context and industry norms |
| 2 | Who is your target audience? | Drives design decisions, tone, and UX |
| 3 | What is the primary goal of the site? | Tells the agency what success looks like |
| 4 | What action do you want visitors to take? | Defines the call-to-action and conversion path |
| 5 | Which websites do you admire? | Gives visual and functional reference points |
| 6 | Which competitors do you want to outperform? | Helps with positioning and differentiation |
| 7 | What pages does the site need? | Scope definition and content planning |
| 8 | What is your budget range? | Ensures proposals are realistic from the start |
| 9 | What is your timeline? | Sets expectations for delivery and milestones |
| 10 | Who will provide the content? | Identifies the biggest risk to the schedule |
Answering these ten questions before you contact an agency means you will receive proposals that are comparable, relevant, and based on facts rather than assumptions.
Common mistakes that derail a brief
Even a well-intentioned brief can cause problems. Here are the most common mistakes we see and how to avoid them:
- Being too vague. "We want a modern, professional website" describes nothing. Be specific about what modern means to you and which professional sites set the standard.
- Including too many stakeholder opinions. A brief written by committee produces a design by committee. Assign one person to own the brief and gather input from others, but do not try to please everyone.
- Omitting the budget. This is the most common mistake. Agencies cannot give you a relevant proposal without knowing your range. A missing budget guarantees wasted time on both sides.
- Confusing wants with requirements. A rotating image slider is a want. A booking system that integrates with your calendar is a requirement. Distinguish between the two clearly.
- Not mentioning existing brand assets. If you have a logo, colour palette, or brand guidelines, include them. The agency needs to know what is fixed and what is flexible.
Downloadable brief template
To make this easy, we have created a free website brief template that follows the structure above. It is a simple document with prompts for each question and space for notes. Fill it in, send it to your shortlisted agencies, and compare the proposals you receive on a like-for-like basis.
Contact us and we will send you the template as a Word document or Google Doc link. No obligation, no follow-up calls. Just the template.
What agencies do with your brief
Understanding how an agency uses your brief helps you write a better one. Here is the typical process once an agency receives it:
- Internal review. The project manager reads the brief and flags missing information. If key details are absent, they will ask follow-up questions before proceeding.
- Resource planning. Based on the scope and timeline, the agency assigns a team: designer, developer, project manager, copywriter if needed. The budget determines the seniority level of the team.
- Proposal creation. The agency writes a proposal that mirrors your brief structure, confirming their understanding of each requirement and how they plan to address it.
- Estimation and pricing. The scope, timeline, and team composition are translated into a fixed price or a time-and-materials estimate. This is where the budget you provided is validated or challenged.
- Kick-off preparation. Once the proposal is accepted, the brief becomes the foundation of the project playbook. Every design decision is measured against the goals stated in your brief.
Frequently asked questions
A good brief fits in 2 to 4 pages. Any longer and agencies will struggle to find the important details. Any shorter and you have probably left out something critical like budget or target audience.
Yes. A brief is not a specification; it is a starting point. Write what you know and mark the gaps. A good agency will ask the right questions to fill in the blanks before they start designing.
Always. Agencies cannot give you a relevant proposal without knowing your range. If you are worried about being overcharged, give a realistic range rather than a fixed number. Hiding the budget wastes everyone's time.
The agency will write one for you based on their initial conversation. This often costs more because the discovery work still happens but is folded into the proposal stage. You also lose control of how your project is framed.
Absolutely. A redesign brief is different from a new site brief. It should include what is wrong with the current site, what must be preserved, analytics data, and why the redesign is needed. Never skip the brief just because you already have a site.