Website Brief Builder

Your brief should be detailed enough for an agency to understand the scope, but it does not need to solve every problem upfront. Focus on explaining your goals, priorities, must-have requirements and known constraints. If some details are still unclear, say so. A good agency can then help shape the next stage.

Ideally, yes, but it’s not essential. You do not need a perfect final document, but you should have a clear starting point. A brief helps agencies understand your needs and decide whether they are a suitable fit. It also helps you compare their responses more fairly, because each agency is working from the same information.

A website brief is usually a practical document that explains your project, goals and requirements. An RFP, or request for proposal, is often more formal and may include procurement rules, evaluation criteria and specific response requirements. For many marketing-led projects, a clear website brief is enough to start meaningful agency conversations.

Yes, it is usually helpful to include a realistic budget range. This allows agencies to recommend an approach that fits your constraints and avoids wasted time on unsuitable proposals. If you are unsure what the project should cost, explain that clearly and ask agencies to provide options or phased recommendations.

Yes. Agencies need to know whether you have a fixed launch date, internal deadline, funding requirement or seasonal pressure. A timeline helps them assess whether the project is achievable and what approach is realistic. If your deadline is flexible, say so, as this may open up better planning options.

The best briefs usually involve a small group of decision-makers and key people who understand the current website, users, content and business goals. Avoid writing the brief by committee, but do gather input from important stakeholders early. This helps reduce late-stage surprises and keeps the project focused.

Start by asking what the website needs to achieve for the organisation and for its users. Goals might include increasing enquiries, improving user journeys, reducing admin, supporting recruitment, growing donations, improving accessibility or communicating services more clearly. Wherever possible, connect goals to measurable outcomes so success can be reviewed later.

Yes, examples can be useful, especially if you explain what you like about them. This might include navigation, layout, tone, content structure, accessibility, booking journeys or visual style. Try not to focus only on appearance. The most helpful examples explain what works and why it is relevant to your users.

Be clear about what users need to do on the site. For example, they may need to book, donate, apply, search, register, enquire, pay, download resources or access member-only content. Explain which features are essential and which are nice to have. This helps agencies scope the work accurately.

Include what content already exists, what needs rewriting, who will create it and whether photography, video or downloads are required. Content is one of the biggest causes of website delays, so be honest about capacity. If content needs to be migrated from an existing site, include that too.

AI can create a very useful starting point, especially when it is guided by a strong framework. However, the best results still need human review. You should check the generated brief, add missing details, refine priorities and make sure it reflects your organisation, stakeholders and project goals accurately.