What to prepare for a new website: a practical brief template

Before commissioning a website, gather the business details, content and account information the designer will need. Describe the job the website must do and mark anything you are unsure about. You don't need to choose every colour or write finished copy before making contact.

A short, honest brief is more useful than a polished document full of vague goals. “We need customers to send a job description and their suburb” gives us somewhere to start.

Copy this brief into your own document

Answer the prompts below in plain language. Leave a note beside anything that needs discussion rather than making up an answer.

Business and customers

• Business name and the person who will approve the work:
• Main services or products, including anything you don't offer:
• The customers you want to hear from and what they usually ask:
• Your base, actual service area and any travel limits:

Purpose and scope

• The main action someone should take on the website:
• The pages or sections you think you need:
• Required features, such as an enquiry form or an existing booking link:
• Ideas that can wait until later:
• Budget and any genuine date the project needs to work around:

Content and design

• Logo files, brand colours and any existing brand guidance:
• Text that is ready to use and text that needs writing:
• Photographs you own or have permission to use:
• Accurate reviews, qualifications or other evidence you want included:
• Example websites, with a note about what you like on each:

Existing setup

• Current website address and the platform, if known:
• Who controls the domain account, and who manages hosting and email:
• Pages or downloads that must stay available:
• Who will update the website after launch:

Choose examples for a reason

When you share an example, point to the detail you like. It could be the way services are grouped, the size of the text on a phone or the clarity of the enquiry form. “Something like this” could mean the colours to you and the layout to someone else. Point to the part you mean.

Separate preferences from requirements. You may prefer a particular style, but need the menu to be readable without downloading a file. That distinction helps everyone make sensible decisions when design choices compete.

Check your content before sending it

Confirm phone numbers, opening hours and service names. Remove old promotions. Identify photographs that need permission or replacement. If your business works across Lake Macquarie and the Central Coast, describe the actual coverage instead of copying a long list of suburbs from another website.

Collect files in a shared folder with clear names. Keep the original logo file if you have it, rather than a screenshot from social media. Put captions beside photographs so the designer knows what each image shows. A photo labelled with the job it shows is much easier to use than “final-photo-2”.

Share access safely

The brief should name the accounts and who controls them. It should not contain passwords. Ask the designer how to provide access through the relevant service, preferably with a separate user role where available.

Record anything that must keep working during the project, especially business email and existing forms. Our ownership and handover checklist covers the questions to settle before launch.

Questions about getting started

What if our copy isn't written yet?

Send your notes and say which parts need writing. Copy preparation should be discussed in the scope. A designer cannot quote that work accurately if everyone assumes the other person is supplying it.

Do we need a final page count?

No. Start with the customer questions the site must answer. We can discuss how to organise them. Confirm the agreed pages and features in the proposal before work begins.

You can send a rough version through our enquiry form. For context before setting a budget, read what to compare in a website quote.