Short answer: a good website brief answers five things. What the business does, what the site needs to achieve, what already exists, what the constraints are, and what your budget is. Two pages is enough. Briefing the problem is more useful than briefing a feature list.
Why the brief matters more than the shortlist
Most bad website projects are traceable to a vague brief rather than a bad agency. If three suppliers are guessing at what you want, you will get three quotes for three different projects and no way to compare them.
A clear brief also tells you something about the people you send it to. How they respond is the best free sample you will get.
What to include
1. The business in three sentences
What you do, who you serve, and what makes you the obvious choice for them. Resist the temptation to write your whole history.
Include your location and whether you serve a local area or nationally. This has direct consequences for how the site is structured for search.
2. What the site needs to achieve
State this as an outcome, not a feature. "We need more qualified enquiries from people searching for our services in Lancashire" is useful. "We need a modern website" is not.
If there is a number attached, include it. Knowing you want to go from four enquiries a month to twelve changes the recommendation.
3. What exists now
List your current site URL, the platform it runs on, who hosts it, who owns the domain, and what you like and dislike about it.
Also flag anything that must carry over. Existing bookings, a customer database, historic blog content that still gets traffic, or integrations with software you use daily.
4. Scope and constraints
This is the section that prevents arguments later.
- Rough page count, or the list of pages if you know it
- Functionality you definitely need, such as bookings or payments
- Who is writing the copy
- Who is providing photography
- Any brand guidelines or assets that already exist
- Your deadline and what is driving it
5. Budget
Give a figure or a range. Agencies are not trying to spend all of it, they are trying to work out which of several possible projects you are asking for.
If you are unsure what is realistic, our guide to what a website costs in the UK sets out the bands and what sits inside each.
What not to put in a brief
A few common inclusions actively make the brief worse.
A list of websites you like, with no explanation. Say what you like about them. "Clean and modern" describes almost every site built since 2018.
A specification you are guessing at. If you are not sure whether you need a membership area, say that. Specifying it as a requirement means you will be quoted for it.
A demand for free ideas. Asking for design concepts or a strategy before appointing anyone filters out the good suppliers and attracts the desperate ones.
Reading the responses
Once the brief is out, the responses tell you more than the meetings will.
Good signs are questions that challenge your assumptions, a written scope that restates your requirements in their own words, clear ownership terms for code and domains, and a stated position on what happens after launch.
Warning signs are a quote that arrives within an hour with no questions, an unwillingness to name a price, vague deliverables such as "SEO included", and platform recommendations made before anyone has understood the requirement. On that last point, our comparison of Next.js and WordPress is worth reading so you can tell whether a recommendation is reasoned or reflexive.
Sense-check the scope before you sign
Before you accept a proposal, check it against what a small business website should include. If something on that list is absent from the quote, ask whether it has been forgotten or deliberately excluded.
Then check the ongoing arrangement. Hosting, updates and support should be priced and stated, not left to be sorted out later.
Send us your brief
We will tell you honestly whether we are the right fit, and if we are not we will usually say who is. Get in touch with whatever you have, even if it is rough.
Common questions
How long should a website brief be?
Two pages is enough for most small business projects. Anything longer usually repeats itself, and anything shorter tends to leave scope undefined, which is where disputes start.
Should I include my budget in the brief?
Yes. Withholding your budget does not get you a better price, it gets you quotes for different projects that you cannot compare. A range is fine if you are not certain.
How many agencies should I approach?
Three is the sensible number. Fewer and you have no comparison, more and you spend weeks in meetings for marginal benefit.
What if I do not know what I want yet?
Brief the problem rather than the solution. Describing what is not working and what you need the site to achieve is more useful than specifying features you are guessing at.
Let's build something that actually works.
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