This document provides a marketer's checklist for creating an effective website design and build brief. It outlines 12 essential items that should be included in the brief such as budget, timelines, objectives, target audience, marketing support needs, content requirements, branding assets, desired functionality, and technical preferences. Providing a thorough brief upfront will help ensure the design partner understands requirements and can provide realistic proposals and solutions within budget and time constraints.

1. HOW TO WRITE A
WEBSITE BRIEF
The Marketer’s checklist for a great
website design and build brief
By Mark Kelly
Digital Marketing & Growth Consultancy

2. WHYTHISCHECKLIST?
§ Website design and build briefs come in
all shapes and sizes.
§ Poor / verbal / single page briefs mean
missed objectives, crap ROI and wasted
time and budget down the line.
§ Using this checklist will help you to
provide a better brief and get the
website you want.

3. FOR MARKETERS
§ This guide was written for marketers –
using this checklist will ensure a solid
response from any design & build partner
(external agency, freelancer or in-house).

4. CHOOSING A PARTNER
§ Don't make that long list too long.
§ Agencies and freelancers are talented, busy
folk and no one likes a pitch list of twenty.
§ Ask around, look for recommendations and
hand-pick a small number of potential
partners to talk to.
§ Take a look at this guide:
How to Choose An Agency
(www.smartinsights.com/managing-digital-marketing/
agency-selection/select-marketing-agency/)

5. DON’T PLAY PING-PONG
§ Talk about budget and timescales up-front.
§ This will save a lot of the back and forth
‘Ping-Pong’ that clients and partners can
get into.
§ That conversation needs to start sometime,
so start it early.

6. MARKETER’S
CHECKLIST
12
Essentials
The

7. 1.
HOW MUCH?
§ A budget guide will really help the design
partner look at realistic creative /
technology / content solutions for you.
§ Allow for ongoing costs (hosting, content
load, content creation) as separate budget
lines if applicable.
§ If you have no fixed budget, your design
partner will create an estimate.
However, an upfront idea from you
means realistic proposals from them.
£
£
£
£
£
£

8. 2.
HOW LONG?
§ Detail any fixed timings you have in mind, for
example, to coincide with a product launch or
advertising campaign.
§ Are your timings realistic? Ask your build
partner.

9. 3.
WHAT IS IT FOR?
§ What are the site’s objectives?
These might include:
‘to create x number of sales enquiries’
‘to convert x% of site visitors to an online sale’
‘to change how the business / brand is perceived’
§ ‘We want a new site’ doesn’t really cut it
?
?
?

10. 4.
IT’S NOT ME, IT’S YOU...
§ Fallen out of love with old site?
§ Give the build partner an idea why
§ If there is an existing site/s, list domains/urls.
§ Looking at a new domain? (the build partner
can advise on SEO watch-outs).
§ Give them your analytics
(Google or other) / reports for
interrogation and pre-proposal
insights.

11. 5.
BIZ BACKGROUND
§ Which markets do you operate in?
§ If more than one, does the site need to be
multilingual?
§ What are your services and / or products –
current and planned?
§ Do you operate from multiple offices?
If so, will each office need to update
content on the new site?

12. 6.
YOUR DREAM DATE
§ Who is this site for?
§ Detail your buyer / user personas and their
likely journeys through the site, if you have
them documented.
§ If you don’t have a clear picture of who the
site is serving (and how), make that
discovery work part of the initial
(paid for) partner response.

13. 7.
THE COMPETITION
§ What content and functionality do your
competitors feature on their sites?
§ Are any of these desirable for your
planned website? (Keep that budget
conversation in mind!)

14. 8.
MARKETING SUPPORT
§ What marketing support (e.g. Lead tracking,
customer service, CRM, e-commerce) should the
site provide?
§ How will Search Engine Optimisation be addressed?
§ Will you have segmented marketing / advertising
campaigns that require specific landing pages?
§ When people land on the home page,
what primary calls to action are
required (‘Buy Now’, ‘sign up for a
newsletter’ etc.)?
§ List all your social channels in the brief.

15. 9.
CONTENT
§ What type of content (product descriptions,
blog posts, video, photography, etc.) do you
want on the site? Audit existing content and
decide what stays, goes and needs creating
for the new site.
§ Which social sharing features and interaction
features are required?
§ Do you require the design partner to
rewrite content with search engine
optimisation in mind? Probably: Yes

16. 10.
CREATIVE
§ Provide your value proposition and/or brand
positioning.
§ Is there a desired Tone of Voice for the site?
§ Can you provide any mandatory brand assets
(logos, colourways), brand bibles or style guides
and / or links to a marketing asset library etc?
§ If original photography is to be commissioned - do
you have a style guide? The design partner will
look at costs for origination and / or usage of stock
images and applicable online usage fees.

17. 11.
FUNCTIONALITY
§ Will the website need any special
functionality, for example, configurators,
calculator tools, interactive maps, complex
data capture forms etc?

18. 12.
TECHNICAL
§ Do you have a preferred CMS at this stage?
§ Will the site need to link in with any existing
databases or back-end platforms, e.g stock
control or CRM?
§ Do your I.T. / I.S team have a preference for a
build or hosting environment?
§ Will the design partner need to quote for site
hosting?
§ List any domain names you own and where they
should be directed to.

19. Further Reading:
I’ve expanded this guide into a more detailed checklist for the excellent
Smart Insights. For that (really) in-depth template see smartinsights.com
Markkellyconsultancy.com
@markkelly333
uk.linkedin.com/in/markkellyconsultant