A good web design brief is short and specific: what the business does, why you need a site now, who your customers are, what the site must achieve, what you don’t do, where you work, and what budget and timing you have. The template below covers all 14 sections a designer needs. The briefs that make projects go well are rarely long. They’re specific. “We want a modern, clean website that reflects our brand” gives a designer nothing to work with. “Most of our work comes from people whose tree fell on the fence in a storm, and they need to know we’ll come out within 24 hours” gives them a homepage.
Below is the template we’d like every client to fill in. Each section has a short note on why it matters, then an example answer for a made-up business: Hollow Log Tree Care, a two-person arborist business based in Wollongbar. Hollow Log isn’t real. The level of detail is the point.
You don’t need to answer everything perfectly. A half-finished brief with plain answers beats a polished one full of buzzwords.
1. The business in two sentences
Write it the way you’d explain it to someone at a barbecue. No mission statements.
We’re a two-person arborist business in Wollongbar doing tree removal, pruning and storm clean-up for homes and small farms. We’re qualified arborists, fully insured, and most jobs are within 40 minutes of Alstonville.
2. Why you want a new website now
Something triggered this. Naming it tells the designer what success looks like.
Our current site was built by a mate in 2018. It doesn’t work properly on phones, we can’t update it, and we’ve had customers tell us they nearly didn’t call because it looked like we’d shut down. We also want to stop doing so many site visits for jobs we’d never take.
3. Who your customers are
Describe two or three real types of customer. What do they need, what worries them, how do they find you?
- Homeowners after a storm. Stressed, often on their phone, want someone fast. Usually find us through Google or a neighbour.
- Acreage owners planning work. Less urgent, want to see we know what we’re doing with big trees and access. Often compare three quotes.
- Real estate agents and property managers. Want a reliable contact who invoices properly and turns up when promised.
4. What the website needs to achieve
Pick the two or three outcomes that matter most. Be concrete.
- More quote requests from acreage owners, with photos of the job attached so we can quote without a site visit.
- Fewer calls for jobs outside our area or under our minimum.
- A page we can send to property managers that explains how we work with them.
5. What you sell, and what you don’t
List your services in order of importance to the business. Then list what you don’t do, because it matters just as much.
Main: tree removal, storm and emergency work, pruning, stump grinding.
Smaller: hazard assessments, mulch sales.
Don’t do: council arborist reports, jobs under $400, anything north of Byron or south of Woodburn.
6. Where you work
Towns, suburbs, shires. Is there a minimum, a travel fee, a radius?
Ballina, Lismore and Byron shires. Main towns: Alstonville, Wollongbar, Ballina, Lennox Head, Lismore, Bangalow, Clunes. Travel fee outside a 40-minute radius.
7. Competitors and sites you like
Name two or three competitors and say what you think of their sites. Then add two or three sites from any industry that you like, and say exactly what you like about them. “I like it” isn’t enough. “I like that the phone number stays at the top as I scroll” is useful.
Competitor A: lots of photos but no prices or service area, and the contact form asks for 11 things.
Site we like: a Brisbane landscaper whose project pages show before and after photos with a short story underneath. We’d like our job photos to work like that.
8. Brand and look
What do you already have? Logo files, colours, fonts, a style guide? What’s the feel you’re after, in plain words?
We have a logo (green and charcoal) in PNG and PDF, made by a designer in 2021. No style guide. We want to look trustworthy and professional, not like a corporate firm. Our ute and uniforms are already branded, so the site should match.
If your branding needs work too, it’s worth briefing that separately, and sorting the logo and brand identity before the site design starts saves redoing pages later. Our guide to briefing a graphic designer covers logo and brand projects.
9. Content: words, photos and proof
Who’s writing the text? What photos do you have? What reviews, licences, insurances or memberships can be shown?
We’ll need help writing it. We have about 200 job photos on our phones, mixed quality. Around 45 Google reviews. Public liability insurance and AQF Level 5 arborist qualification (we’ll confirm the wording).
Be honest here. If nobody in the business has time to write, say so now. Discovering it in week six is how a four-week project becomes a four-month one.
10. The first screen and the main action
What should someone see before they scroll, and what’s the one thing you want them to do? We go into this in detail in the first screen of your homepage.
Headline about tree removal and storm work in the Northern Rivers. Big “Call now” button on phones. “Send photos for a quote” as the second option.
11. Features and integrations
Online booking? Quote forms with uploads? Email newsletter sign-up? Shop? List what you need, and separately what would be nice.
Need: quote form with photo upload, click-to-call, Google reviews shown on the site.
Nice to have: a simple gallery we can add to ourselves after each job.
12. Logins and ownership
Who controls the domain, hosting, email and Google accounts now? This saves a surprising amount of time at launch. If you’re not sure, our article on who should own your domain, hosting and logins explains what to track down.
Domain is in my name with a registrar, I have the login. Email is Google Workspace. The old site is hosted by my mate, who’s happy to hand over.
13. Budget and timing
Give a real budget range. It isn’t a negotiating trap. It tells the designer which options are realistic, so they can recommend what’s worth spending on.
$4,000 to $6,000. We’d like it live before storm season starts in November. Hard deadline is none, but sooner is better.
14. Who decides
Who signs off on design and content? If it’s more than one person, say so now.
Both of us (business partners). We’ll give feedback together.
The blank template
Copy this into an email or a document and fill it in:
1. The business in two sentences:
2. Why we want a new website now:
3. Our main types of customer (2-3), and how they find us:
4. What the site needs to achieve (2-3 outcomes):
5. Services in order of importance / what we don't do:
6. Where we work:
7. Competitors (and what we think of their sites) / sites we like and why:
8. Existing brand assets / the feel we're after:
9. Content: who writes it, photos we have, reviews and credentials:
10. What the first screen should say / the main action:
11. Features we need / nice to have:
12. Who controls the domain, hosting, email and Google accounts:
13. Budget range / timing and any deadline:
14. Who signs off:
Once it’s filled in, read it back as if you were the designer. If any answer could apply to any business in your industry, add one more specific detail.
A finished brief is the most useful thing you can bring to a first conversation with any designer. Send it through to us once it’s done: we usually reply with questions first, then a plan and a price. If you want to see how a brief turns into a finished site, our web design page walks through what’s included.