How to write a website brief

The first thing you are going to need when commissioning a website is a website brief.

A website brief is a chance to really think about why you want a new site and what you want it to do.

Below are a list of useful questions to consider and information to include.

Introduce your organisation

Brief introduction to the organisation - provide a few lines on what your organisation does. This could be your mission statement.
Describe the company using five or ten words (e.g. traditional, vibrant etc.) - This gives the designer a really good idea of the personality of your organisation.
Aims and goals for the website (eg increase engagement, improve user experience) - these are likely to be linked to your communications strategy. It’s ok if they are a quite broad.
Main calls-to-action (eg sign up to a newsletter, donate etc) - similar to the above, but more specific and measurable. These will form your key performance indicators (KPIs).
Your audiences - who are the users of the site? There is likely to be a wide range. List them all. If you can create personas this can be really useful.

Research

How are people using your current site? Include some top-level Google Analytics if you can.
What do you like about it and why?
What do you not like about it and why?
What do your different users think? Do you have any user research feedback?
Competitors sites - include links and information on why you like or don’t like them.

The New site

Design considerations - Give some thought to the tone, feel, approach, colours, content and imagery you would like the new site to have. If you don’t know, that’s ok, this is something you can discuss in more detail in a website planning meeting.

It may help to think about other sites you use which you like and explain what you like about them.

Are there any branding guidelines that need to be considered? Include them.

Think of your home page as your shop window. What do you want to put on show to entice people in?

How you want to organise your content? What are your key messages? Listing these is the start of your site navigation.

Technical Features

It’s useful to think about what you want the user to be able to do on the site. It’s important to think about what you really ‘need’ and not just mention everything you have ever heard of just because it sounds cool or modern!

When you are thinking about this, consider whether you have someone in-house to keep these features up-to-date. Don’t ask for a blog if you don’t have enough time to write them on a regular basis.

You also need to think about what benefit this will have to the user. Remember this site isn’t for your press team, it’s for your intended user.

Project Management

Who are the decision makers?

Who will be involved in the project?

How quickly you can respond to requests for feedback, any periods when you or your colleagues will not be able to respond? (e.g. you’re on holiday).

Budget

No one likes to talk about money, but if you state what your budget range is, it’s much easier for your website company to present suitable options to maximise that budget.

Timelines and deadlines

Think about the next steps.

When do you want agencies to submit their proposals by?

When will you meet your short-listed agencies so you can make sure they are the right fit for your and your website?

When will you start your project?

When is your intended launch date?