Start with what you know about the business and what you want the website to do. The builder helps you separate what is essential from what can wait, and note anything you still need help deciding. You can send the finished brief to any provider and compare their answers to the same questions.
A website brief is the plan you give a designer before they quote or start work. It explains who the site is for, what visitors need to do, what belongs in the first launch and what must keep working. It also records the budget, timing and decisions you still need help with.
You know the business. The brief gives that knowledge a shape.
Who should enquire, and what should they do next?
What must be ready at launch, and what can wait?
What can you supply, what do you like, and what already works?
Here’s how a few specific notes give a designer something useful to work with. This is an illustrative brief; it doesn’t describe a customer project.
Help households decide if their regular cleaning needs fit before they ask for a quote.
Regular household cleaning and one-off construction cleaning need different explanations. Naming the work you want is more useful than asking for a modern website.
A clear service page, the actual coverage area, an enquiry form and a way to call. Online payments are a possible later project, not part of the first launch.
The provider can price the enquiry website first and explain what taking payments would involve, without treating a future idea as an agreed requirement.
No fixed date yet. The owner will review factual details and approve launch.
Leaving the date open is more useful than guessing one. Naming the owner also makes it clear who will check the facts and approve the finished website.
The Word file is a blank template with the same 18 prompts and supplier questions as the builder. Your online answers stay in the builder; copy, download or print them from the review section below.
Four short sections turn your notes into a project brief, open decisions and questions to ask each supplier. Answer what you know. Use the result with any designer.
Your answers stay in this tab unless you choose to save a draft on this device, download a copy or review an enquiry. Nothing is sent by this tool.
See your brief as you workFictional illustration. Willow Home Cleaning is invented to show how an owner might answer. It is not a client project or evidence of business results. Viewing it does not change your answers.
WEBSITE PROJECT BRIEF Use the same brief with any provider. Review the facts before sharing. THE BUSINESS AND THE MAIN JOB Your business Willow Home Cleaning (fictional example). A small team offering regular home cleaning. The most important improvement Help households decide if their regular cleaning needs fit before they ask for a quote. Who should enquire? Households looking for an ongoing weekly or fortnightly clean, rather than one-off construction cleaning. What should a visitor do next? Request a quote WHAT BELONGS IN THE PROJECT Services and real coverage Regular home cleaning. Coverage needs confirming before publication. Construction and hazardous-material cleaning are outside this example scope. Must be included at launch A clear service page, the actual coverage area, an enquiry form and a way to call. Useful later, if budget allows Online payments are a possible later project, not part of the first launch. Known pages and connections Home, regular cleaning, about and contact. Ask the designer if this structure is appropriate. Questions customers ask What is included? Do I supply materials? Can you reach my home? What information is needed for a quote? CONTENT, DESIGN AND WHAT MUST STAY Starting point A new website Words, images and real evidence The owner needs to supply approved team photographs and confirm the service details. No customer reviews are assumed. Who prepares the content? We need the provider to prepare the words Existing website and things to preserve Business email must stay working. Domain and email ownership will be confirmed before setup. Design references A calm, welcoming page with generous spacing. Put the weekly cleaning list beside an approved team photograph so people can see who may visit their home and what the service includes. Keep the service details easy to read without a moving headline competing for attention. The owner will add reference links and explain the relevant details; no reference site or permission to reuse its images is assumed. Ownership and handover needs The business wants control of its domain and a written explanation of hosting, website files and ongoing costs. TIMING, BUDGET AND APPROVAL Timing and who approves the work No fixed date yet. The owner will review factual details and approve launch. Budget currency Currency not decided Budget or budget question Please separate the first-launch costs from optional later work. No budget is agreed. OPEN DECISIONS - Confirm the currency for supplier prices. QUESTIONS FOR EACH PROVIDER - What is included at launch, what is optional, and what needs a separate scope? - What are the full build price, taxes, recurring charges and any minimum commitment? - Who prepares and approves the words, images and factual claims, and what review is included? - Who controls the domain, business email, website files and hosting after handover? - How will you confirm that enquiry delivery, important old URLs and the live website work before and after launch? BEFORE YOU AGREE These are the owner’s working notes, not an agreed supplier scope. Blank answers remain open decisions. No price, availability, page count, ranking result or factual evidence has been inferred. A supplier must confirm the scope and responsibilities in writing. Prepared with the free UpOnUp brief builder: https://uponup.com/guides/website-design-brief/
Check the facts and open decisions. This is your working plan; a supplier still needs to confirm scope and prices.
Your notes will appear here.
Leave passwords, payment details and private customer information out. Each answer can contain up to 2,400 characters. Unknowns stay visible; no facts or prices are generated.
You can carry your project notes into an editable enquiry. Review them before sending. Your complete supplier-question checklist stays in your download.
Working with your team offline? Download the blank Word brief (.docx) or use plain text (.txt).
You do not need to design the website before speaking to a designer. A few specific notes about the business, the customers and what you want the website to do are far more useful. If you are unsure about something, say so.
Say what should be easier for the customer. A cleaner enquiry route, clearer service boundaries and an online booking system are different projects. Give the provider a real first priority. For enquiries, the quote request form guide helps you decide what the first message should ask.
Separate what must be ready at launch from what can wait. Use the small business homepage guide to plan what visitors need to understand first. Include existing pages, email and connections that need to keep working. An unmentioned requirement can become a costly surprise.
If the budget, timing or content is not settled, say so. Ask the supplier to respond to the gaps instead of treating a blank answer as permission to make assumptions.
Use the cleaning-business example inside the tool to see the level of detail. Your business may need a very different answer. For one service page, the service-page worksheet helps with scope, coverage and the next enquiry step. The image planning guide helps you choose useful, permitted material.
A link with “something like this” leaves a lot open. You might love the photographs while your designer notices the colours. Pick two or three references and name the detail that caught your eye, where it appears and why it would suit your business. A reference can come from a different industry.
For the cleaning business above, a useful note could be: “We like the way this service page puts the weekly cleaning list beside a photograph of the team. People are inviting us into their homes, so we want them to see who we are and understand what a regular visit includes. The generous spacing feels calm; we’d prefer that to lots of competing offers.” Add the actual page link when writing your own version.
You don’t need to choose a font or draw the layout. Explain the feeling you want and give the designer enough context to make their own decisions.
A booking calendar might look lovely, but needing one changes the work involved. Record colours, photography and layout here; put booking, payments and other functional requirements in the launch scope. If a reference has an interaction you want, describe what the customer should be able to do.
“Too busy” becomes easier to act on when you explain that the moving headline made the service details hard to read. Say what bothered you and what you’d rather the customer notice. Keep those observations specific instead of ruling out whole styles.
References show a direction; they don’t give permission to reuse another business’s photographs, words or branding. The website image guide helps you plan material you can use. In Content, design and what must stay, open “Add supporting detail, if you have it” and add your notes under Design references.
Explore Asylum’s menu in a new tab“We like the confident colour and the space given to the food. Our menu should be just as easy to read.”
Explore the reservation planner in a new tab“We need people to choose a date and party size. We still need to agree whether this connects to our booking system.”
Give each provider the same project notes. Ask them to separate included work, optional items, ongoing costs and responsibilities in writing. A good reply should make the unknowns clearer, not simply repeat your brief back to you.
You do not need to invent a final sitemap or know every technical answer. Use the brief to agree which questions the designer will resolve, which facts you will supply and who approves the work.
Keep the brief’s date or version with each proposal’s reference. When replies arrive on different days, a saved editable comparison on your device lets you reopen the same record and add the next answer.
If several people must approve the purchase or suppliers need to answer fixed requirements, use the website RFP and requirements pack. It includes requirement IDs, supplier responses and launch responsibilities.
The launch check record lets you record what was checked, the evidence and unresolved issues. A written brief and a completed build are different milestones.
We turn those business details into a custom website, bringing the planning, writing, design and build together. You help us get the facts right and approve the result. Send us your brief if you would like to talk it through, or take it to another provider.