Website brief template: a list you can copy and fill in

Short answer

A website brief template is a written list of what your site has to do, for whom, and by when. Fill in the seven sections below, send the same brief to several studios, and compare their proposals line by line. Your budget and deadline are then fixed before anyone quotes.

What is a website brief, and who fills it in?

A website brief is a document you write before you ask a studio for a quote. It says who your customers are, what the site should achieve, which pages and features you expect, and how much time and money you have.

You fill it in, because you know the business. A studio can ask questions and point out gaps, but it can't know who buys from you or what you've already tried. If you're planning a company site, see Corporate website for what that service covers.

It saves money because every studio prices the same scope. A page or feature you forgot to list shows up after the quote as extra work. A brief also lets you compare three quotes for one site instead of three guesses at three different sites.

What goes into a website brief?

Copy the list below into a document and answer each line in a sentence or two.

Company and audience. What does the company sell, and to whom? Who buys, what holds them back, and what do they ask before they buy?
Goals. What should the site do for the business: take enquiries, sell online, explain a service, support sales calls? Which one matters most?
Pages and content. Which pages do you expect (home, services, prices, contacts, blog)? Who writes the text and who supplies photos?
Examples. Three sites you like and one thing you like about each. One site you don't like, and why.
Features. Contact form, online payment, booking, multiple languages, an admin panel (the screen where you edit pages yourself), a CRM (the tool where you track customers).
Budget and deadline. The amount you can spend and the date the site must be live. If a date is fixed by an event or a campaign, write the reason.
Contacts and approvals. Who answers the studio's questions, who signs off each stage, and how fast you can reply.

How do you fill it in and what do you do with it?

Answer in the words your customers use, since the studio will write your pages from them. Where you don't know the answer, write "don't know". An honest gap in the brief is cheaper than a guess that ends up in the design.

Send the same brief to several studios and ask each for a website proposal in the same shape: scope, price, timeline and payment terms. A website proposal is the studio's answer to your brief. Put the proposals side by side and check what each one includes, since two similar prices can cover different amounts of work.

At BlessThis Agency we fill in our own brief together with you on a callback, so you can start without a finished document. Strategy comes first: audience, pain points, structure and copy before any design.

Website brief questions

What is the difference between a web brief and a proposal?

The brief comes from you and describes what you need. The proposal comes from the studio and describes what it will build, for what price and by when.

How long should a website brief be?

Long enough that two studios would price the same site from it. A sentence or two per question is enough for most sections.

What if I don't know the answers?

Write "don't know" next to the question and send the brief anyway. Audience and goals are the usual gaps, and a studio that starts with audience research can fill them with you.

Fill in the brief with us on a callback

Open Website concept details, leave your phone number in the request form, and we'll call back, talk through your task and fill in the brief together. Package prices are published, and you pay by invoice under the contract.

We call you back and help fill in the request