How to write a website design brief

"Writing the brief for your new website is a vital part of the process. Not just because it greatly speeds up the production of the site but, much more importantly, it helps you focus on exactly what you want out of your site.

The problem is, where to begin? We've seen design briefs of all sorts over the years, everything from the one liner to the massive tome, and we've looked at the impact that briefs of different types have over the success, both short term and long term, of the project as a whole.

An effective brief will clearly communicate your requirements whilst leaving room for creative discussion. And the very best way of getting this process off to a great start is to simply meet with us and go through this together. There's never an obligation on you to buy from us and the worst that can happen is that you get a properly written brief in the shortest possible time.

Having said that, we understand that some companies prefer to carry out this process internally before involving any external developers so this section of the site provides a complete guide on how to put together an effective website design brief.

We've also provided a template that offers a "fill in the blanks" process for putting the brief together, along with an example brief. I hope you find this useful and that you'll be in touch soon."
Kevin Partner, MD

This page lists everything you should put into a brief for a website development. There's a lot here but it's essential that time is spent up-front thinking about these issues so that the site that's developed as a result of this brief is exactly what your company needs at a price it can afford.

Section 1: Introduction

In this section, summarise your requirement. What is it exactly that you're asking companies to pitch for? We recommend writing the summary having finished the rest of the bid document and then simply take a sentence or two from each section.

Section 2: About You

It's essential that your website becomes part of your overall company marketing effort. Too many existing websites are simply there because "we must have a website" and are seen as a cost rather than an opportunity. To develop a website that is at the core of what you do, we need to know about you and what you want.

Describe your business

What sort of business are you in? Bricks and mortar or online? Retail, service, charity, corporate etc.
What are your company's values? Your company has a unique identity. In the one-person business, that identity is essentially your identity. Think of some words that describe your company's persona. For example, Virgin might be "funky"; the BBC might be "trustworthy"; a coffee shop might be "friendly"; a plumber might be "competent"; a solicitor might be "professional". NlightN's persona could be expressed as "professionals working for professionals"
Who are your main competitors? List your competitors and their website addresses. What do you think your competitors do well/badly?
What is your unique advantage over your competitors? This will form a crucial part of your marketing including your website. Be as specific as possible. Avoid wishy-washy phrases such as "customer service": if your service is truly better than your competitors, you need to prove it (eg using testimonials).
What is your current annual turnover? How much of this comes directly or indirectly from your website?

Describe your current marketing

Do you have a website at the moment? If so, please provide the URL along with a list of those things about the existing site you like and those you don't. Which of the existing features do you definitely want to keep? What's wrong with your current site? What traffic levels does it get?
What other forms of marketing do you use at present? Please describe all forms of marketing you use: everything from newspaper ads to direct mail and radio spots.
Who are your customers? Define your target audience by age, gender, disposable income, interests, jobs etc. Whatever's needed to design a site that will attract your potential customers.

Section 3: Your new website

What is the main aim of your new site? Is it to sell products/services, attract new clients, generate leads, publicise a bricks/mortar business or event?
What type of site do you want? There are 4 main types of commercial website: brochure, shop, lead generation, membership

A brochure website is exactly what you'd expect and is often based entirely on a printed brochure. These sites are popular because they're cheap and quick to put together but they have almost no value when it comes to marketing. This is because there is little relationship between a printed brochure and an effective website. Brochure sites often commit the cardinal sin of piquing the interest of their visitors (often paid-for traffic) only to disappoint them by providing limited further information. When creating a printed brochure, you're limited to the number of pages and also you want to protect against the data going out of date quickly. Neither of these is true in a web site. A brochure site is a wasted opportunity.

Shop websites, again, are pretty obvious. The best example is Amazon. Ecommerce has been long established and we have plenty of experience of creating sites that integrate with the main payment processors including Paypal and Nochex.

A lead generation website is what a brochure site should be. The aim of a lead generation site should be to get into a business relationship with potential customers. What this means is that, usually by giving something away, you get permission to contact these customers with special offers and further information. This works just as well for bricks and mortar businesses as it does for online businesses. For example, a coffee shop could offer a discount voucher to anyone typing in their email address. This means that, over time, you can continue to provide value to your customers and keep them coming back for more. Borders the book shop does this. This site is a lead generation site. For any client coming to us for a brochure site, we almost always recommend enhancing it so that it becomes a lead generation site. The additional cost is small, the benefit huge.

The aim of a membership website is to get visitors to sign up to gain access to information or features that are worth paying for. Many profitable websites are based on this model including PassYourTheory. The key to this model is having something your potential customers value enough to pay for. Remember that most people expect everything to be free but if you have valuable information or a facility your customers will pay for, this can be very profitable as the running costs are very low.

How do you intend to market the site? Every site should be built with Search Engine Optimisation in mind from the beginning. Are you thinking of using sponsored listings (eg Google Adwords and its equivalents on Yahoo and MSN)? In most cases, this is a good idea even if done very cheaply just to generate some interest. Do you use Adwords etc at the moment? What monthly budget do you have in mind?
What features do you need or want for the new site? For example; ecommerce, user registration, online test, newsletter, blog... Do you want a Content Management System that will allow you to edit the site yourselves?
Do you want us to quote for hosting? We offer competitive web hosting deals for our clients and often bundle a year's hosting into the price.
Are there any special requirements for your site? For example, do you need multiple-language versions? Do you have any statutory requirements when it comes to accessibility etc?
Design preferences The easiest way to go about this is to list 5 sites that you like the design of (or elements of the design) and explain what it is that you like. These sites do not need to be from your industry although it's certainly worthwhile looking at sites aimed at your target audience.
Which additional services (apart from design and development) are you interested in outsourcing? Do you want a quote for providing Adwords services, Copywriting*, Flash animations, information architecture etc

*Don't underestimate the importance of Copywriting. It's all very well to get potential customers to visit your site but that's of no use if you can't then convert them to buyers. Copywriting is the single most important tool you have for maximising conversion. We know how to write compelling copy (you're reading it now) and we can take your text and suggest changes to make it much more likely that your visitors will take action.

Technology Do you have any specific technological requirements? For example, if the new site is to be hosted on your own server, does it need to be created using Microsoft technologies? Does any database have to be of a particular type? Where possible, we recommend that you leave the choice of technology open at this stage because that gives the greatest flexibility.

Section 4: The Project

When does the site need to go live? It's essential that you choose a date that all parties will stick to. Do the other people in your company who will be involved in the project have the time and committment to help ensure the project meets those deadlines. You might be wondering how long a site can take? To give an indication, a simple site might take as little as a week. A more complex, database driven site loaded with features might take 6-8 weeks. Bear in mind that this is the time we take: delivering a project to time and budget requires that the client turns around sign-off as agreed in the schedule
Who is the in-house project team? Most importantly, you need to indicate who has the final say in decision making. That person must be in the project team and available for meetings. If the company MD has the final sign-off then he/she should not be seeing the website for the first time at that stage but should be involved from the outset.
What is the budget? Wait a minute, aren't we supposed to tell you how much it will cost? Think about it like this. If you go into Comet and say you want a 32 inch Plasma TV, the models you'll choose from with a budget of £450 are completely different and more restricted than if you had a budget of £1,000. There's no point having the salesperson demonstrate the top end model if you have a restricted budget. Whether or not you include the budget figure within your brief is a choice you need to make. Including it speeds the process up but also potentially means some developers will quote right up to the maximum. However, you'll soon see which developers quote reasonably and which can properly justify the cost. At the very least, you should be clear about your budget.