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Here’s something agencies don’t usually admit: the quality of your brief directly affects the price of your quote and the quality of your website.
A vague brief forces agencies to pad quotes for uncertainty, guess at what you want, and burn paid hours discovering things you could have told them on day one. A clear brief gets you sharper pricing, faster timelines, and a website that actually fits your business.
The good news: preparing a great brief takes an afternoon, not a week. Here’s what to bring.
1. The business goal (not the website wishlist)
Before listing features, answer one question: what should this website change for your business?
More leads? Online sales? Fewer support calls because information is finally findable? Credibility for bigger contracts? Recruitment?
“We need a new website” is not a goal. “Our site generates two enquiries a month and we need ten” is — and it changes every decision the agency makes, from structure to content to where the budget should concentrate.
If you prepare nothing else, prepare this.
2. Who the website is for
You know your customers; the agency doesn’t yet. A short paragraph covering:
- Who they are (industry, role, age, situation — whatever’s relevant)
- What problem sends them looking for you
- What they need to see before they’ll trust you
- How they find businesses like yours (Google, referrals, social)
You don’t need personas with stock-photo names. Two honest paragraphs beat a forty-page strategy document you commissioned in 2019 and never read.
3. What’s wrong with the current site (if you have one)
Be specific. “It looks dated” is a start, but the gold is in things like:
- “Customers phone us to ask things that are on the website — they can’t find them”
- “We get traffic but no enquiries”
- “We can’t update anything ourselves without calling a developer”
- “It doesn’t work properly on phones”
Also list what *does* work. Agencies redesigning from scratch sometimes throw out the one page that was quietly converting.
4. Three examples of sites you like (and why)
The “and why” is everything. “We like this site” tells an agency almost nothing. “We like how simply this site explains a complicated service” tells them exactly what to aim for.
They don’t need to be competitors or even your industry. And equally useful: a site or two you *dislike*, with reasons.
5. A content honesty check
Who is writing the words and supplying the images?
Content is the number one cause of website project delays — not design, not development. Sites sit 90% finished for months waiting for “the about page copy” from someone who was always too busy to write it.
If nobody in your business has the time or inclination to write, say so upfront and budget for copywriting. It’s not an admission of failure; it’s the single best way to keep your project on schedule.
6. A real budget range
Businesses hide their budget fearing the agency will spend all of it. Understandable — and counterproductive.
A website can be built at very different budgets, and the approaches are nothing alike. Without a range, an agency either quotes blind or designs something you can’t afford. With a range, they can tell you honestly what’s achievable within it and where the money works hardest.
You’re not committing to spend it. You’re defining the playing field.
7. The practical details
Quick but necessary:
- Deadline — and whether it’s real (event, launch, season) or preference
- Decision makers — who approves the work? (Projects with seven approvers cost more. That’s not a joke.)
- Current logins — domain, hosting, current site admin. Not having these can add weeks
- Must-keep items — brand guidelines, existing systems the site must integrate with
What you don’t need to prepare
You don’t need a sitemap, a design mock-up, a features list, or technical specifications. That’s the agency’s job — and honestly, arriving with a rigid solution can get in the way of the thing you’re paying for: expertise. Bring the problem and the goal. Let the agency bring the how.
Bring us your brief — or your half-formed idea
Whether you’ve got all seven items above or just a rough sense that your website isn’t doing its job, we’ll help you shape it into a plan. First call is free, and you’ll leave with clarity either way.
