How to Write a Website Brief for Your Hertfordshire Business

There is no need for a technical specification when you put together a website brief. What is required is a document that makes plain what the site must do, who it is for and what happens once a visitor has been there. A well written brief allows a Hertfordshire or Watford business to compare quotes with ease and minimises any assumptions on the part of the builder.

Begin with something short enough to take to a developer for discussion. Be explicit about the unknowns; if you are unsure, write “we need advice on this” rather than picking features simply because a competitor has them.

Explain the business and the next useful action

Set out your services, your service area and why you are the right choice for your typical customer. You must also determine the desired outcome: is it to buy a product, book a consultation or request a quote?

Make sure each main page has a primary action. When a page attempts to sell every service to everyone, the visitor has to work too hard to get the message.

List pages and content responsibilities

Put together a provisional list of pages and make clear who is responsible for providing the text, photos and testimonials. If there is a replacement site in the offing, include current URLs so nothing of value is missed. Also flag any material that requires a review before it goes live.

When it comes to local coverage, be realistic about where you work and how you handle meetings or deliveries. Putting up a separate page for every town in the vicinity is not necessarily helpful. Our local-versus-national SEO guide covers how to give those pages proper purpose.

Describe features as customer journeys

Do not just put down “booking system”. Walk through the process: how does the customer select a service, see what is available and pay? With CRM integration, specify which data goes to which record and who is to act on it. Such detail uncovers dependencies a simple feature list might obscure and tells you whether you can use an off the shelf product or require custom development.

Use this brief checklist

• Goal: what should improve and how will you assess it?

• Audience: who needs the service and what do they ask before buying?

• Scope: which pages and journeys are essential at launch?

• Content: who supplies and approves each item?

• Connections: which existing systems must remain or integrate?

• Constraints: budget, deadline and any immovable dependencies.

• Ownership: who controls the domain, hosting and source files?

• Support: who updates content and maintains the site after launch?

Ask suppliers to state assumptions

You want a quote that leaves no room for doubt on deliverables, exclusions and revision rounds. Make sure you know if copywriting, licences or migration are part of the deal. It is better to compare like for like than to be swayed by the headline figure.

As a point of reference, PJE Designs' published packages are a good place to start for different scopes, though the final proposal should show how your needs align.

Keep the first release achievable

Separate launch essentials from later improvements. A realistic deadline depends on content approval and access as well as development time. Agree who makes decisions and how quickly feedback will be supplied.

I work directly with businesses in Watford, Hertfordshire and across the UK. Bring your rough brief, even if several sections are unanswered. Start a conversation about your website and we can turn it into a clear scope.