A useful website brief starts with your business.

1. Describe the customer and the job.

Start with who you want to hear from and what you help them do. “We want a modern website” describes a look. “We want homeowners to understand our renovation work before enquiring” describes a purpose.

The second version helps decide what the site should show, which questions to answer and what belongs near the contact button.

2. Choose the most useful next step.

For a service business, a qualified enquiry may matter more than a large visitor count. For a hospitality business, the next step might be checking the details before reaching a booking provider.

Choose a main action that matches how your business actually works. Do not ask the website to promise instant booking if the service still needs a conversation.

3. Bring the facts and the evidence.

List your services, the areas you genuinely serve, and the details customers ask about. Gather the material you are allowed to publish: your logo, photographs, project descriptions and genuine customer feedback.

If something is missing, say so. A clearly labelled concept is different from a completed customer project; a proposed service is different from an established capability.

• Your existing website and pages worth keeping.
• Accurate service descriptions and contact details.
• Approved photographs and branding files.
• Real project examples and permission to share them.
• Practical constraints, such as a booking provider or launch dependency.

4. Decide who handles changes after launch.

A website might need a new image, an updated service or a technical update later. Discuss who will handle that before choosing a hosting and care arrangement.

At WebLevitation, the website is a one-time project with optional ongoing care. The first proposal gives us a way to explore the direction before agreeing on paid work.

A short brief you can start with.

“My business offers [services] to [customers]. Our current website is [address, if any]. I want visitors to understand [important information] and then [next step]. I already have [content and images]. The main things to consider are [timing or requirements].”

Send what you know. We can work through the remaining questions together.

A worked example: a carpentry website brief.

This is an illustrative brief for an imagined carpentry business, not a client project or a claim about results. Compare “I need a modern website” with the decisions below: each detail gives the design a job to do.

• Customers: homeowners considering fitted storage who need to understand which jobs the business accepts.
• Services: separate fitted wardrobes and shelving, with the process and practical limits explained for each.
• Evidence: approved photographs of real work, accompanied by a short description of what was built. If those photographs are not available, identify the gap before designing the gallery.
• Next step: request a project conversation. Ask for the type of work, a short description and the customer’s area so the owner can assess fit.
• Content: confirm the actual service area, contact details and permission to publish every photograph. Leave unverified claims out.
• Scope: begin with a service overview, project examples, information about the business and an enquiry route. Agree separately on any booking or quoting integration.

Redesigning? Bring a list of pages worth keeping.

Before replacing a website, make a simple list of its existing page addresses. Beside each one, note what it explains and whether it should stay, be improved or move to a relevant new address. Include pages linked from business profiles, customer emails or printed materials.

For example, if a useful fitted-wardrobes page moves, record the old address and its matching new destination. That gives the build a specific redirect to implement and test. Sending every old page to the homepage can leave customers without the information they expected.

You do not need to decide the technical solution yourself. Share the existing address and what matters to your customers; I can use that information when preparing the proposal.