Before Building Your Business Website: What Should Your Project Brief Include?

“We need a website that reflects our professionalism” is a useful starting point. But it leaves important questions unanswered: Who will use the site? What do they need to know? And what should they do after browsing?

A website project brief turns that initial idea into a clear basis for discussion with a design and development team. You do not need to write technical specifications. Start by explaining your business, your priorities, and what you expect the website to accomplish.

Why prepare a website brief before development?

A brief helps establish what the project includes, what can wait, and who is responsible for content and approvals. It gives development teams a shared basis for estimating the work and helps you compare proposals built around a similar scope.

It will not eliminate change. Instead, it gives you a reference for evaluating it. If an online store is added to an informational website after work begins, the team can discuss the effect on cost and timing before approving the change.

1. Define your goals and the visitor’s next step

Start with the business problem. Do customers need a clearer explanation of your services? Are you trying to collect quote requests, present products, or arrange appointments?

Choose a primary goal and the action that supports it: submitting an inquiry, requesting a quote, booking an appointment, or completing a purchase if the project is an online store. You can also agree on relevant measures, such as qualified inquiries, without assuming numerical results in advance.

2. Describe your audience and their journey

Explain whom you want to reach, which language they use, and what they need to understand before contacting you. A corporate procurement manager may need service details and verified examples of your work. A local customer may be looking for directions and a clear way to get in touch.

Describe a likely journey: a visitor lands on a service page, reads the details, and requests a quote. Identify the required markets and languages early, including right-to-left presentation for Arabic where applicable.

3. Outline the pages and the first release

An initial page list might include Home, About, Services, individual service pages where needed, verified work examples if available, a blog, and Contact. Identify the policy pages your site needs based on its services and the data it collects, seeking specialist review where appropriate.

Give every page a question to answer. Avoid adding sections that you cannot support with suitable content.

Separate launch essentials from later additions

Identify what must be available at launch and what can follow. A first release might use a request form, with a full booking system considered later. Record exclusions as well so the boundaries of the project are clear.

4. Assign ownership of content and brand assets

Gather the original logo, brand guidelines, copy, and images your business is entitled to use. Specify who will write, translate, and approve the content, and when it will be ready. Turn missing materials into assigned tasks with delivery dates.

Consider page topics, titles, links, and supporting images as part of the content plan. Google’s SEO Starter Guide recommends useful, well-organized content, clear titles, understandable links, and descriptive image alternatives. These elements can be included in the brief from the outset.

5. Explain features and integrations through scenarios

Replace “we need a professional form” with a specific description: “The visitor enters their name, contact details, and required service, receives confirmation, and the request reaches the designated person.”

Describe what happens behind each feature

For search, accounts, booking, or payments, identify the users, required data, administrator, and expected success or error messages. For content management, specify who can edit pages or review requests.

If the website needs to connect to a customer management system, payment gateway, or external service, name the provider and explain the purpose. Confirm availability, technical documentation, costs, and restrictions before approving the integration. Adding it to a wish list does not establish feasibility.

6. Include usability, quality, and operating requirements

Describe how the site should work on phones and computers, and which tasks visitors should be able to complete easily. Include accessibility needs, such as keyboard navigation and understandable forms. W3C’s guidance on planning and managing web accessibility recommends integrating accessibility throughout website production, assigning responsibilities, and evaluating early and regularly.

Discuss the data the site will collect, access permissions, hosting, backups, and responsibility for updates. If you have an existing site, provide a list of important pages so content migration and appropriate URL handling can be considered.

7. Set a budget range, timeline, and approval process

Provide an initial budget range and clarify whether it covers design, development, content, and translation. Identify whether domain, hosting, license, and maintenance costs are separate, and ask proposals to explain what is included.

Build the timeline around stages: requirements approval, design, development, content entry, testing, and launch. Identify business deadlines, allow for your team’s review time, and name the person authorized to approve decisions.

Agree on acceptance and change management

Acceptance criteria could cover successful form delivery, working links, language presentation, and agreed permissions. Record how new requests will be handled and which files, accounts, and operating instructions will be included in the handover.

A simple business website brief example

This example is illustrative. It does not describe a completed project or an OCTO TECH package.

A checklist before discussing your website project

Start with clear requirements and talk to OCTO TECH

OCTO TECH provides website development as part of its programming and digital solutions services. Before discussing your business website, bring together your goals, pages, and required features in an initial brief, even if some questions remain open.

Planning a business website? Contact OCTO TECH and share your idea and initial requirements to discuss the project scope.