How to prepare a useful website development brief

Describe one main goal in a plain sentence. For example, explain the services and collect relevant enquiries. This is an illustrative example; your goal might involve product selection, event registration or information for partners.

Explain what happens today. Do customers repeatedly ask the same questions, struggle to compare products or abandon a difficult form? An observable situation is more useful when choosing a solution than a general request for a modern website.

• Who uses the website? An individual buyer, a procurement specialist and an existing customer may need different information.
• What should they learn? Describe the service scope, product characteristics, working process or enquiry requirements.
• What is the main action? Choose a concrete step, such as sending a request, finding a suitable product or downloading a document.
• What matters on a phone? A large catalogue, a short form and finding a location create different interface needs.
• How will you check the outcome? A visitor might need to find the relevant service and understand how to enquire without assistance.

Make an inventory of logos, brand guidelines, copy, photographs and product information. Mark each item as ready, needing revision or still to be prepared. Do not treat images as available assets unless you have permission to use them.

List the required languages early. For AZ, RU and EN, explain which materials each version needs, who will review translations and whether the versions must be released together. Translating navigation alone does not define the multilingual content workload.

• Identify what the first release needs: a service catalogue, filtering, search or an enquiry form, for example.
• Keep later improvements in a separate list so that every idea does not become an undefined initial requirement.
• For an integration, name the system and the information it must exchange. Do not put credentials into the brief.
• Identify who will update the website and which copy, images, products or pages they need to manage.
• Record what must be preserved, including a working enquiry process, existing page addresses or an agreed data format.

When sharing an example website, point to the specific feature you value: clear service comparisons, understandable navigation or a good explanation of a complex product. Explain unsuitable references in the same way. The purpose is to understand preferences rather than reproduce someone else's design.

Plan content around the questions visitors need answered instead of a compulsory number of words per page. Google explicitly states that it does not have a preferred fixed word count.

Separate confirmed information from assumptions. If product numbers are changing or integration documentation is unavailable, say so. This makes the decisions that still need attention visible.

Make checks concrete too: the form identifies an empty required field, mobile navigation works and an editor can change the agreed content. The brief supplies starting information; the final scope and acceptance criteria are clarified separately.

Use the separate brief form to share your outline. Include the main goal, website languages and essential features. Leave passwords, API keys and customers' personal information out of both the description and any supporting materials.