How to Write a Website Brief for a Web Designer (Free Template)
A good brief is the cheapest thing you will ever do for your website. Build yours here and download it as a document you can send.
Website brief builder
Fill it in and get a brief you can send straight to a designer.
Your brief
WEBSITE BRIEF 1. Business name — 2. What the business does — 3. Who the customer is — 4. The one goal of the site — 5. Pages needed — 6. Features (must-have / nice-to-have) — 7. Who writes the content — 8. Brand assets you have — 9. Reference sites — 10. Budget range — 11. Target launch — 12. Final decision maker — Please confirm: the domain, hosting account and site files transfer to us at the end of the project.
The brief is where money is won or lost
Most project arguments are not about design taste. They are about a page nobody scoped, a feature nobody priced, or content nobody agreed to write. A one-page brief prevents most of that before it starts.
It also gets you better quotes. When three designers all understand the same scope, their prices become comparable — which is the whole point of getting three.
What a brief must contain
- What the business does, in one paragraph a stranger could repeat.
- Who the customer is, and what they need to believe before they enquire.
- The single goal of the site. Enquiries, bookings, sales. Not all three.
- Pages you expect. A list, with the two or three that matter most.
- Features. Booking, payments, blog, multilingual, CRM integration. Be honest about "nice to have" versus "must work on day one".
- Who writes the content. You, them, or a copywriter they bring. Decide now, not in week six.
- Brand assets. Logo files, fonts, photography, colours — and what does not exist yet.
- Reference sites. Two you like and one you do not, with a sentence on why.
- Budget range. Yes, really. A range gets you a relevant proposal instead of a guess.
- Deadline and decision maker. Who signs off, and by when.
The two questions people skip
Who owns what? The domain, the hosting account and the site files should be in your name, or transferable to you. Get this in writing. It is the difference between owning an asset and renting one.
What happens after launch? Thirty days of support is standard. Ask what a change costs after that, and whether there is a care plan.
How long should it be?
One page is enough. Two is generous. A ten-page brief usually means the scope is unclear and you are hoping the designer will decide for you — which they will, and you may not like the result.
Use the builder above
Fill in the fields and it assembles a clean brief you can copy or download as a text file. Send it with your enquiry and you will get fewer "it depends" replies and more real numbers.
Real-world examples
Stories and data from news, business media and industry research, with sources linked.
46% of Australian small businesses reported growth in 2025
CPA Australia’s 2025 Asia-Pacific Small Business Survey found 46% of Australian small businesses reported growth in the past year, up four percentage points on 2024 — and owners report high satisfaction with running a small business.
CPA Australia ↗
The ABC cut campaigns 20% and lifted marketing ROI 30%
Business media Mi3 reported the ABC’s marketing team rebalanced its mix — fewer, better campaigns and more on-platform promotion — cutting campaign volume 20% while new campaigns delivered 30% higher return on marketing investment.
Mi3 ↗
How to apply this to your business
- 1Write your goal as a number — enquiries, bookings or revenue for the next 12 months.
- 2Name your single most valuable customer segment, and where they are.
- 3Choose two channels, not five — and say what each one is responsible for.
- 4Set one weekly rhythm you can actually keep: one piece of content, one follow-up, one review.
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