How to write a business website brief that gets a useful quote

A useful website brief gives a designer enough context to make decisions. It does not need to prescribe every screen. Start with the business problem: who needs the site, what they need to understand, and what should happen after they contact you.

Describe one customer journey

Imagine a visitor arriving from a shared link on their phone. Write down their first question, the evidence they need and the next action. For a curtain business, that might be: understand the available treatments, see fabrics, learn how measurement works, then ask about a room.

For each step, name the information you already have. A folder of installation photographs is useful; a request for "a premium gallery" still leaves the content undecided. Our Elegant Curtains and Blinds project shows a website organised around that browsing journey.

Separate pages from functions

List proposed pages such as Home, Services, Work and Contact. Then list functions separately: a WhatsApp link, an enquiry form, a booking integration or an editing dashboard. A contact button and a stored enquiry system have different development and support requirements.

For each function, answer: who uses it, what information enters it, where that information goes, and what happens if it fails? This gives the developer a scope they can estimate and test.

Use this starting template

• Business and audience: what you sell and who buys it.
• Main goal: the visitor action the site should support.
• Pages: the information each page must contain.
• Content: who supplies words, images, branding and approvals.
• Functions: links, forms, accounts and integrations.
• Editing: what your team should be able to change later.
• Existing site: URLs, assets and information worth preserving.
• Launch: your target date, dependencies and decision maker.
• Budget: an approximate range and any recurring-cost constraints.

Attach two references and explain what you like about each. "The service descriptions are easy to compare" gives more direction than "make it look like this".

Define acceptance before development

Include a few observable checks: contact details are correct, forms reach the agreed inbox, mobile navigation works, and your editor can publish a sample update. Agree who reviews these checks and how outstanding issues are recorded.

Keep optional ideas in a separate list. You can ask for a later phase without making every possibility part of the first quote. Read how website scope affects cost before comparing proposals.

Send your brief through our web development enquiry. We can discuss the pages, content and integrations around the job your website needs to do.