How To Create A Website Design Brief
Are you looking to have a new website designed? Are you struggling on where to start with your website brief? From our years of experience building websites we know how tricky it can be to communicate how you want your website to look and what you want from it.
We have put together this blog post on creating a website design brief, to help you write a brief for your website design company, giving them all the information they need to know to build the website your business needs. This will help save you time, effort, help you choose the right web design and agency and make sure you get what you want from your website design project.
Why Is A Web Design Brief Important?
The number one reason to have a website design brief is to make sure everyone involved is on the same page. It’s important that you have a great relationship with the company building your website and that you are all working towards the same goal. A website design brief should clearly communicate what your requirements are and provide a thorough overview of your overall vision and the goals you’re looking to achieve from your new website. Providing all this information will allow your website designers to provide a comprehensive quotation and more accurate timescales.
It is always great to have as much information as possible you don’t need to go into to much detail, for example we don’t need to know you 10 year business plan, but having an outline of your goals and what you like and don’t like is very useful.
About Your Company
The first thing to tell is is about your company, who you are what you do and your goals for your website.
Useful information to include:
- Your company name
- Current Website address
- An overview of what your company does
- How long have you been trading
- Where you are located
- Annual turnover (to give us an idea of the scale of your company)
- A list of all products you sell
- A list of all services you provide
Your Goals
What are your short and long term goals for both your business and your website? This could be along the lines of we want 10 incoming calls a day for our services, we are looking to double our current conversion rates, we want to increase turnover to xxx. Your goals will be unique to your business but by proving a few bullet points can give us an idea in what you are wanting to achieve and provide a website to meet these goals.
Logos & Branding
Do you already have a logo and company branding guidelines for us to work to. Do you want us to stick to these guidelines or are you looking to rebrand? Maybe you are a new business and are looking for a logo and a brand that you will be looking to use throughout your new business? Either way let us know as much information about your branding requirements as possible.
Target Customers
One of the most important things to know when building a website is to look at your target customer. You need to know who you are building the website for so we can build a website that is for them. Getting this right will make a big difference in your conversion rates.
Your Current Website
Even if you believe your website to be terrible, remember to send us a link. Let us know what you like about it, what you hate about it. Is there anything on the site you want to include on the new one? Is there any products or services that are missing? Analyse your current site and work out what you like and don’t like.
Your Competitors Websites
Do you have competitors? Do you like any of there websites? Do you hate any of their websites? Analyise your competitors and let us know your thoughts, this gives us an idea of what your likes and dislikes are.
Websites You Love
Have you seen another website that offers similar functionality to what you are looking for? It doesn’t need to be in the same niche, let us know what you like and what aspects of the site or functionality that you like. Providing us some real life examples of the sites that appeal to you can give us a really good idea of your likes and dislikes.
Website Content
The one thing that can slow down a website project is content! So if you want your website design project to run smoothly then our advice is to get your website content created as soon as possible. Being able to provide us with your website content at the start of your website build, helps us to be able to design the site to fit all the content and keeps the site build flowing.
We find that content is an area most of our clients struggle with. This is because when you are in the business you forget about all the things visitors might want to know. So if you require us to write your website copy for us, please let us know. For this section provide us with an overview of all the services/products you want listed on your site so we can work out how much time will need to be devoted to this. If you also need us to supply images, videos or other graphics please specify that in this section.
As we mentioned above the supply of content is usually the main sticking point in a website design project and can cause delays in being delivered on time. The amount of content on a website plays a big part in the development timescales.
Technical Website Requirements
In this part of the brief you need to be really specific and provide us with as much information and detail as you can. Your technical requirements might include things such as:
- A Blog or News Article Section
- Social Media Feeds
- A Forum
- Online Booking System
- Account Registration
- eCommerce
- The use of a specific payment provider
- Shipping system requirements
- API Integration (integration to other systems)
- Search functions etc..
Wherever possible give as much detail as you can, describe what you want it to look like and how it should work. Remember to include how many products/product variations you require in your eCommerce store.
The Future
To make sure you get the most from your investment it is important that we know if you have any future plans that my effect the way we design the site. For example:
- Are there features on your wishlist that you don’t have the budget for at the moment?
- Will there be future updates/changes to the content?
- Will you be adding or removing any products/services in the near future?
- Are you thinking about adding eCommerce in the future?
The more information you give us the easier it is for us to help future proof your website.
Budget
This is one section to think about and make sure you include it in your brief. So why is it so important to provide a budget? It’s not so we can charge you the most possible it’s so we can provide a solution that not only meets your financial goals but also your business goals. By providing a rough idea of your budget we can consider and quote for exactly what we can and can’t give you for this amount so you can reach your goals. So what sort of things can budget effect:
- A higher budget would allow us additional time to spend
- your UX design
- advanced interactive elements
- custom functionality.
- A Lower budget means
- We may need to assess which features we can give you now and what may need to be added later
- less time on development
- pre-built features instead of custom coding
A website really is an investment and you get out of it what you put in, by providing your budget we can help you grow your business by providing a website that works for you.
Timelines
Timelines for website design projects can vary greatly from website to website. The time it takes to create a website will depend on the complexity of the project. Some clients don’t have a launch date in mind and would rather spend as much time as needed to meet the criteria. However if you have a vital deadline in mind for launch, it’s vital that you tell us this at the start of the project and even include it in the brief. We can then assess if this timescale is achievable and provide you with milestones to your deadline date to make sure we meet the deadline.
Our website typically take 4 – 12 weeks to design, build and launch depending on the complexity of the website build.
Search Engine Optimisation and Marketing
When it comes to growing your business and getting visitors to your website it’s important that you have budget available for marketing your website. The days of building it and website visitors flocking in have gone.
If SEO is an important part of your marketing campaign then it’s important we know this from the start.
If this is a website redesign project and you currently have Google Analytics running, sharing this information can be really useful to help us understand how your existing site is working and where improvements can be made for your new website.
If you plan on using Google Ads or Facebook Ads to drive traffic to your website, we may need to build specific landing pages as part of your build.
Your marketing funnel will need to be thought about and we will need to discuss with you how this will work to grow your business.
Website Hosting
The majority of our website deisgn clients choose to host their new websites with us, but if have decided to use a different provider, you will need to provide us with the details so we know what platform we need to build your website on. You will also need to provide us with hosting login details including FTP access and MYSQL details.
To get started with your new website call us on 01637 226014 and have a chat, we are always happy to discuss your needs. If you already have a website design brief feel free to email it to info@springermarketing.co.uk, so we can provide you with pricing and timescales for your web design project.
