How to prepare a website brief

A good website brief is not agency paperwork. It is a tool that helps clarify the goal, choose the right scope and avoid discovering missing content, integrations or business decisions only after the project has started.

It does not need to be long. It only needs to answer practical questions: why the website is being built, who it is for, what actions it should support and what has to be prepared before implementation.

Start with the website goal

The most important part of a brief is not the page list, but the goal. A brand website, campaign landing page, lead generation website and online store all need different structure, copy and technical decisions.

Write down the primary user action: sending a form, calling, buying, downloading a file, booking a consultation or moving to a specific offer. This affects the first screen, calls to action, section order and measurement setup.

Describe the audience and context

The brief should explain who will use the website and what problem they bring. A small business owner, a procurement team and a customer comparing several online stores need different communication.

Simple scenarios help: a user from Google wants to check pricing quickly, an ad visitor needs proof of quality, and a returning customer looks for contact details or documents. These examples are more useful than a generic target audience label.

Define the content scope

Before estimating the project, define which views are needed: homepage, offer, case studies, blog, FAQ, contact, service pages, cart, customer account or admin panel. This does not need to be a final sitemap, but it should show the real scale.

It is also worth noting which content already exists and which needs to be created. Missing copy, product photos, service descriptions or team photos can move the timeline even when design and development are ready.

Share references and explain why

Reference links are useful only when it is clear what you like about them: offer structure, case study layout, photography style, form simplicity, animation or tone of voice.

Anti-examples are just as valuable. If you do not want heavy visual effects, corporate language or a product catalog without filters, write that down. It helps the designer understand the boundaries faster.

List technical requirements

The brief should include CMS, languages, integrations, payments, shipping, analytics, forms, newsletter, content migration and SEO requirements. A company website may only need a simple CMS and contact form. A store adds product variants, stock, invoices, legal pages and order statuses.

If the new website replaces an existing one, include the current address, problems you want to remove and elements that must stay. This helps decide whether to redesign, migrate or rebuild from scratch.

Give budget, deadline and priorities

Budget does not close the conversation. It helps choose the right variant. The same goal can become a simple landing page, a full CMS website or an integrated store. Without a range, the proposal may be technically correct but commercially mismatched.

Describe the deadline clearly: is it tied to a campaign, trade fair, sales season, previous vendor contract or product launch? If something needs to go live faster, set priorities: MVP first, then blog, extra languages or automation.

Prepare assets before kickoff

The biggest time savers are: domain and hosting access, current analytics, source logo files, photos, brand book, copy, service or product list, legal pages, company details, analytics tool access and a clear decision maker on the client side.

You do not need everything ready for the first call. A good brief should show direction and reveal unknowns. That makes it easier to prepare a realistic estimate, timeline and scope that actually match the website goal.