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How to Write a Web Site Brief

Wednesday, 30 April 2008

Why Write a Brief for your Website?

Before you start any web project or even contact a web firm, you will need to correctly put together and document what you want your website to achieve. You will then need to select a supplier who is able to offer the best value for your money whilst being capable of delivering to your specifications. But remember a cheap option is not always the best option. Look at their site, look at their client's sites, read their case studies, testimonials before you sign someone up. Going with the cheapest may make your accountant happy but may not be the best for your business in the long run.

What is a web site brief?

A brief is a document that tells your web firm what you are looking for, what you wish the site or application to achieve, what market and audience you are targeting and any other important and relevant information. The results of producing this document should allow you find out what solution your web provider can propose, how much it will cost and how long it will take.

The brief can cover simple small 5 page web sites or fully integrated systems with Shopping Carts, Databases and Content Management Systems (CMS).

The response from your web firm will almost certainly reflect the information you provide in your brief - the more detailed and accurate, the more relevant your proposal back will be including the costings. It is therefore vital that you provide as much information as possible when creating a brief. It also helps you put clear goals about what you are after from your business in mind.

Stage 1

Review competitor web sites that are in a similar industry to your own and document your likes and your dislikes. What you dislike about a site is just as important as what you like! Try not to focus on the look of the site but rather the features the sires have.

Stage 2

Now the hard work, you will need to write your proposal clearly and concisely. Provide an introduction telling your web firm all about you, your basic information, such as who you are and what you do. Ambiguity in your requirements may lead to anomalies and an increase in the price during the project; this is known as scope creep.

Stage 3

This is the most important part of your document and should be clear, succinct and concentrate on the key objectives you wish to achieve.

Where possible list as much as information as you can which you believe may be needed to run your website including some or all of the following:

Domain Name Registration
Hosting
Approximate number of pages
Approximate number of categories, sub categories, menus...
Database requirements
Content management system (CMS) requirements
Online payment systems
Password protected areas
Features of the site such as contact forms, document storage, forums, member's areas, photo galleries...

For instance do you want online document storage of many PDF documents? Will they be provided to the web firm as Word documents, complete and ready for Internet use or do you wish the web firm to prepare the Word Documents to PDF? Do you have images or does your web firm need to source them for you? If you need them sourced what sort of images are you after?

When required, full details can be discussed in more depth before a proposal is supplied to you.

Supporting Information

Tell us if you have a company logo and brand. Do you need this as well? SM2 can assist with your branding and marketing materials.

Please supply your web firm with your corporate identity information including any existing brochures and marketing information.

Supply your firm with a list of your competitors. This can provide us with valuable information and help appraise your requirements.

Why not supply a sitemap of the pages and areas you would like in your site?

Now what?

We are approached by many potential clients asking us "How much is a website?" This type of question is similar to asking a builder how much for a home? The builder needs to know is it a unit, how many bedrooms, is it one storey or 4? Again the more detailed you are you up front, the more detailed and accurate your estimate will be.

Without a written brief of your requirements and expectations it is difficult to provide any form of accurate proposal of a suggested solution.

Writing a brief of your web site requirements will help you formulate a plan for your website and help us provide you with a detailed and cost effective proposal.