The short version
- A website brief says what the site is for, who it is for, and what it has to do. It is what turns a request into an accurate quote.
- Features move a quote more than page count does: online payments, bookings, customer logins and a second language each add real work.
- Name your competitors and a few websites you like. A link communicates a look and feel far faster than adjectives.
- Say how much of the content already exists. Words, photos and a logo that are ready are work nobody has to do.
- Register the domain name in your own name, so the website's address stays yours whoever builds the site.
- You do not need every answer. Your goal and a way to reach you are enough to start; the rest is what the first conversation is for.
Ask three web designers to quote for “a website for my business” and you will get three numbers that cannot be compared, because each of them has guessed at a different website. The brief is what stops the guessing. It does not have to be long, technical or written in the language designers use with each other — it has to answer the handful of questions that decide how much work the site is.
This guide walks through those questions in the order a designer would ask them on a first call, explains why each one changes the quote, and ends with a checklist you can copy, fill in and send.
Start with the business, not the website
The most useful sentence in any brief describes what the business does and who it does it for. “We are a two-person accountancy practice serving restaurants in Pune” tells a designer more than a page of design preferences, because it decides what the home page has to say first, which pages the site needs at all, and what a visitor should be able to do without scrolling.
Then say what you want a visitor to DO. Call you, book a slot, buy something, fill in an enquiry form, visit the shop, or simply trust you enough to get in touch later. A site built around one clear action is a different design from a site built to be read, and the designer cannot infer which one you want.
- What the business does, in one or two sentences
- Who the customers are, and where they are
- The one thing a visitor should do on the site
- Why the site is needed now: a launch, a rebrand, an old site that no longer works, or no site at all
List the pages you think you need
Pages are the easiest part of a brief to write and the one people worry about most. A rough list is enough: the designer will suggest additions and merges. What matters is the kind of site, because each kind has a different set of pages that carry the work.
| Kind of site | Pages it usually needs | What decides the effort |
|---|---|---|
| Local service business | Home, Services, About, Reviews, Contact | How many services each need their own page |
| Online store | Home, product listings, product pages, cart and checkout, shipping and returns policies | Number of products, the payment provider, shipping and tax rules |
| Restaurant or café | Home, Menu, Book a table, Location and hours | Whether the menu changes often, and how bookings are taken |
| Portfolio | Home, Work, one page per project, About, Contact | How many projects, and how much each one shows |
| Landing page | One long page in sections | How much persuasion it has to do, and what it connects to |
| Redesign | Whatever the current site has, minus what nobody uses | How much content can be carried over as it is |
Features change a quote more than pages do
A page of text and photos is a known quantity. A feature that does something — takes money, takes a booking, remembers a customer — is where most of the difference between two quotes comes from, because each one involves another system, its own setup, and its own ways to fail. List every feature you want, even ones you are unsure about, so the quote can price them separately and you can decide which are worth it.
- Online payments: which payment provider, which currencies, and whether you need invoices or tax handling
- Bookings or appointments: what can be booked, how far ahead, and whether it must sync with a calendar you already use
- More than one language: every page then exists once per language, and someone has to write each version
- Customer logins: accounts, password resets and a place for customers' data to live
- A blog or news section you update yourself: an editor you can use without calling anyone
- Connections to tools you already use: an email list, a CRM, WhatsApp, Google reviews, a map
Show, do not describe: competitors and sites you like
“Clean and modern” describes almost every website ever briefed. A link describes one. Give two kinds: your competitors, because your customers compare you with them and the designer needs to see what your market expects; and a few sites you like the look of, from any industry, because that is where your taste is clearest.
For each link, add a few words on what you like or dislike about it — the layout, the colours, the photography, how they explain their prices. “I like how this one shows prices up front” is worth more than the link alone, because it tells the designer which part you were looking at.
Say what content already exists
Content is the words on every page, the photos, the logo, and the brand colours and fonts if you have them. It is the part of a website that is easiest to forget when asking for a quote, and it changes the quote in both directions: a site whose words and photos are ready is less work to build, and a site whose words still need writing has a writing job in it, whoever ends up doing it.
So say plainly what you have and what you do not. “We have a logo and good photos of the shop, but no text” lets the quote account for exactly the work that is left.
Domain, hosting, and who owns what
The domain name is your website's address, and the person or business it is registered to is the one who controls it. Register it in your own name, with an email address you will keep, even if someone else sets everything up for you. ICANN, which coordinates domain names, lists keeping the registration details accurate as one of a registrant's responsibilities — and it is also what lets you move the site to another designer later without asking anyone's permission.
Hosting is where the website's files live. If you already have hosting, or a domain, say so in the brief along with who it is with, because it decides how the site is set up and launched.
Ask for the basics that help it rank
A website is only useful if people find it, and most of what helps a small business site in search is built in at the start rather than added later. Google indexes the mobile version of a site's pages, so the site must work properly on a phone, not just shrink to fit one. It should load quickly, give every page its own title and description, and let you change the words yourself when your prices or opening hours change.
You do not need to specify how any of that is done. Put it in the brief as a requirement and ask how the quote covers it.
Give a budget range and a date
A budget range is not a negotiating mistake. It is the fastest way to a useful quote, because it tells the designer which version of your site to propose: the one with every feature, or the one that does the essential job well and leaves room to grow. If you genuinely do not know, say so and ask for options at different levels.
If there is a date the site must be live by — an opening, a launch, a season — say what it is and why. A fixed date with a reason behind it changes how a project is planned; “as soon as possible” does not.
The website brief checklist
Copy this list into an email or a document and answer what you can. Leave a line blank rather than guess; a blank is a question for the first conversation, while a guess can send the quote in the wrong direction.
- Your name, and an email address or phone number
- What the business does, and who the customers are
- What a visitor should do on the site
- Your current website, if you have one, and what is wrong with it
- Two or three competitors' websites
- Two or three websites you like, and what you like about each
- The pages you think you need
- The features you want: payments, bookings, languages, logins, a blog, integrations
- What you already have: domain, hosting, logo, brand colours and fonts, words, photos
- Languages the site must be in
- A budget range, or “not sure yet”
- A launch date, and why it matters
Want Zyff to build it?
Send your brief as a quote request. Only an email or a phone number is required, and the quote is free.
Frequently asked questions
What should a website brief include?
What the business does and for whom, what a visitor should do on the site, the pages and features you need, links to competitors and sites you like, what content already exists, and a budget range and timeline. Those are the answers that decide how much work the site is, which is why they decide the quote.
How long should a website brief be?
As long as it takes to answer the checklist, and usually no more than a page for a small business site. A short brief with clear answers is more useful than a long one full of design adjectives, and anything you are unsure about can be left as a question.
Do I need a domain name before I get a website made?
No, but you should own it once there is one. Whoever registers the domain controls it, so make sure it is registered in your name with an email address you will keep, even if your designer handles the setup.
Should I tell a web designer my budget?
Yes, as a range. It lets the designer propose the version of the site that fits, rather than quoting for everything and leaving you to cut it back. If you have no idea yet, ask for options at a few levels instead.
What questions will a web designer ask me?
Expect the questions in the checklist above: what you do, who your customers are, what the site must do, which pages and features you need, who your competitors are, what content you have, and when you need it live. Answering them before the first call makes that call shorter and the quote more accurate.