A practical brief for your next website

Define the audience and outcome

Describe your business, the people you serve and the main purpose of the website. Replace broad requests such as “a modern site” with concrete outcomes: show services clearly, receive complete quote requests, or manage appointments. Provide examples and explain what you like about them.

Prepare pages and content

List required pages, languages, approved texts, photographs and brand assets. Confirm who owns the domain and hosting accounts. Mark missing material clearly instead of treating placeholders as final content. Do not send passwords in a project description.

Describe functions and acceptance

For each feature, describe who uses it and what should happen next. Include staff permissions, notifications and any existing systems that need integration. State a budget range and desired delivery date, then agree scope, revision rounds and acceptance tests in the quote. A clear brief makes estimates more useful without pretending that all unknowns have disappeared.