Begin with the decision, not the deliverable
A request for a modern website can mean many things. The business may need clearer service explanations, more useful enquiries, easier publishing or a repair to a broken booking flow. Start by describing the problem in a way another person can recognize. What is happening now? Who is affected? What would be different if the project worked? Those answers do not need invented metrics. A precise observation, such as prospects asking the same unanswered question, can be a more useful starting point than a decorative performance target.
Describe the people and the offer
Identify the intended readers and the services or products they need to understand. A decision-maker comparing providers may need a different explanation from an existing customer looking for support. List the main questions, objections and next steps. Note which claims you can substantiate with approved business information and which still need review. Do not fill evidence gaps with fictional customers, staff credentials or testimonials. The brief should tell the team what is true and what needs an owner answer.
Give each page a job
Plan a manageable sitemap. The homepage introduces the business and routes people to relevant content. Service pages explain fit, scope, deliverables and the next step. An About page explains the organization honestly. A Contact or booking page makes the chosen action work. Supporting guides answer meaningful questions that do not belong in a sales page. Google recommends useful, well-organized content and descriptive links; those principles are more valuable than creating a page for every possible keyword variation. Read the SEO Starter Guide.
Define the operating requirements early
Who will update a service page? Who approves an article? Where should an enquiry be saved? Which accounts already exist? A website can look complete while relying on a browser-only content store or an unconfigured email connection. Specify server-side persistence, user roles, the publishing workflow and the destination for form submissions where these are needed. Name the actual hosting constraints. These choices influence architecture and acceptance tests, so they should not be left until a designer has already promised an incompatible implementation.
Make the content inventory part of the project
Gather the current logo, business details, approved team information, relevant service notes and any authorized images. Identify existing pages that should be retained or improved. For a redesign, record valuable old URLs and plan appropriate new destinations before launch. A URL migration is not solved by redirecting every missing page to the homepage. The brief should also name who supplies content and who makes final factual decisions so the work does not stall behind an unnamed reviewer.
Agree what ready means
Acceptance should include the important journeys, not just visual approval. Test navigation, phone layouts, forms, saved enquiries, login, publishing, private content and required third-party connections. Review titles, headings, canonical URLs, response codes and the sitemap. Ask the delivery team to distinguish local tests from checks that need your actual host or account. Define the backup and rollback approach before replacing a live site. A screenshot demonstrates appearance; it does not establish that a real enquiry reaches the right place.
Use a brief that leaves room for good decisions
A useful brief can fit on a few considered pages: business context, audience, offer, desired journeys, content inventory, required integrations, constraints, responsibilities and acceptance checks. You do not need to choose every library or pixel in advance. Give the team enough context to recommend a suitable solution and enough boundaries to make a realistic proposal. Explore our website service or share your project context. This guide is a planning aid, not a promise of a fixed price or delivery time.