You want to commission a new website, and you’re looking to work with an agency to design and develop the website for you. Any agency worth their salt is going to need a detailed project brief from you, so that they can give you a comprehensive quote and explain how you’re going to work together.

When you’re thinking about commissioning a new website, you should have three or four agencies in mind that you’d like to work with. They may have designed other websites that you like, they may have great word of mouth recommendation from colleagues or they might have a great marketing campaign - whatever your reason, it’s always sensible to have some agencies lined up to quote for the project.

Make sure you get at least three quotes for the project, and make sure you’re clear about how you’ll work together and that you’re comfortable with their style of working.

Here’s what those agencies will need to know to get the brief just right:

Tell them about your company

You need to give an introduction - tell them about your company, your products or services and idea of the size of your organisation. Are you just UK based or international? How long have you been in existence? What are some key words that describe your brand? What are your USPs?

Your audience

What do you know about your existing customers, and do you have any new target audiences in mind? What research do you have that will help the agency envisage the end user?

Talk about your existing website

From the obvious - tell them your current website address - to the more subjective, it’s useful to know what is working and what isn’t with your existing website. What do you like about it? What doesn’t work for you? How old is it and what CMS are you using? How is it hosted?

It’s also useful for an agency to know more about how it is being used - what levels of traffic and engagement do you currently see, and what devices are people using? Where are they based? Who is responsible for the current website?

What do you want from a new website?

Here’s where an agency will start to understand your goals for the new website. What are the primary aims of the website - is it to sell products, raise brand awareness, provide information? Different objectives will mean an agency may choose different tactics for your web development and design.

Think again about your target audiences and how they’re accessing the website - are you looking for this to change from what you currently know?

Let us know if it’s part of a rebrand for your company, or to fit in with your existing one. If you’re planning to launch the new site as part of a wider campaign, that’s also good for the team to know.

The agency also need to know practical things too - payment information for e-commerce sites for example.

Think about everything that’s on your wish list for a new site, and articulate that clearly and concisely so any team can understand what you’re looking for.

Tell them about other websites you admire

The brief should get across two things here:

Who are your competitors, and what do you think they’re doing well on their website?
From a design point of view, what websites do you think are great? This will help people to understand the kind of design aesthetic you’re looking for.

You really do need to give an agency a budget

Too many clients will offer up a brief, without giving a clear budget from the project. They often want to give the details and the agency to tell them what it will cost. But a £5,000 website looks very different to a £50,000 website, and for an agency to give an accurate and credible response that works for your organisation, it is always best to give them a ball park figure.

It may mean that you end up with three quotes that are in a similar range - but they will all be more accurate for your needs, and you’ll be able to measure the agencies against the best fit and style of working, their design and development credentials and their understanding of the brief, and not just price.

Be clear about the following:

What is the budget for design and development of the website?
Do you need a quote for ongoing support and maintenance of your site?
Do you have a budget for the digital marketing of the site once it’s launched?

The look and feel of the new website

Include information about the visual identity of your company in the brief. If you’re able to provide a corporate style guide, branding kit and photography, let them know about that. If you’re rolling your new website out alongside a new brand, the agency definitely need to know about that!

What are your key thoughts on how you want the new website to look and feel?

Picture credit: Domenico Loia on Unsplash

Where is the content coming from?

First off - do not assume you will be importing copy from your old website and making it fit your new website! You need to give some thought to your new content and where it’s coming from, as well as considering search engine optimisation while you do so.

Who will be writing the copy for the website? If you have the resource and time for this to be managed in house, that’s great. If not, you may want consider a budget for including a copywriter who is experienced in writing for the web.

Start thinking about how you want to populate your new site.

Who will be responsible for writing the copy?
Can you provide your brand guidelines and a brand pack?
Do you have any photography or videos?

Let the agency know about your technical requirements

Consider questions such as:

Do you already own the domain?
Will you require hosting?
Is it an intranet/extranet or internet site?
If it is an intranet, is it a Windows only environment?
Are you on a Windows server or a Linux server?
Is your site likely to be targeting people with special requirements?
Considering your existing website’s analytics
Do you need user log-ins and the ability for customers to set up an account? What does this need to involve?

Do you have any coding guidelines?
Do you need any API integration?
If you’re selling products or services that people can buy online, talk about your e-commerce requirements.

List the areas that are essential for you to have on your site

This might be areas such as:

Event bookings
Blog articles
Social media feeds to be integrated
Interactive maps or images
Discussion forums

How will the site be maintained once it’s built?

If you’re planning to manage the site in house once it’s built with the support of an existing webteam, then that’s absolutely fine - make sure you tell the agency. If you’d like them to quote for ongoing management of your site, you’ll need to let them know about that.

The same goes for hosting - do you want the agency to host it for you, or do you have a server hosting arrangement that they’ll need to work with?

How are you going to drive traffic to your website?

This doesn’t have to be part of your brief - but it does need to be something you think about! You don’t necessarily see a flood of website traffic just because you’ve built a brand new website. How will you promote the site and how will you encourage people to visit?

Think about:

Social media campaigns
Search engine optimisation (SEO)
Remarketing campaigns
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and Display Network adverts
Email marketing.
Content marketing

If you’d like to continue this conversation, and see how Roscoe Communications can support you with developing your project brief or working with you on a new website, please get in touch.

How to write a website brief