Creating a website brief can be a daunting task, especially if you’re not well-versed in web development terminology. However, it’s an essential step for ensuring that your new website meets your business goals and resonates with your target audience. This guide will help you craft a clear and comprehensive website brief, covering everything from assessing your current site to defining your brand guidelines.
Step #1: Assessing Your Current Website
Before diving into what you want from your new website, take a thorough look at your existing one. Ask yourself these questions:
What works well? Identify the strengths of your current site. Perhaps it’s user-friendly, has a high-performing blog, or features a well-designed product page.
What needs improvement? Look for areas that can be enhanced. This could be anything from a slow loading time and outdated design to poor mobile responsiveness.
What feedback have you received? Consider feedback from customers and employees. Common complaints and suggestions can provide valuable insights.
What does our Analytics data tell us? Analysing your current website data can give you valuable insights into your website’s shortcomings and help you identify any bottlenecks and areas for improvement. (This blog post may be useful: Check your analytics before redesigning a website!)
Document these points clearly in your brief. This helps your web developer understand what aspects need to be retained, improved, or completely revamped.
Step #2: Defining Your Business Goals
Your website should be a tool that helps achieve your business objectives. Be specific about what you want to accomplish. Here are some examples:
- Increase online sales: If your goal is to boost e-commerce, highlight the need for an intuitive shopping cart, secure payment options, and a smooth checkout process. Make this specific by including your sales targets (e.g. increase sales by 10% in the next 12 months).
- Generate leads: For service-based businesses, you might aim to gather more inquiries through contact forms or live chat features. Make this specific by including your target conversion rate or number of leads generated (e.g. improve our online conversion rate by 20% to achieve 10 leads per month within the next 6 months).
- Enhance brand awareness: You might want a website that showcases your brand’s story, values, and achievements to build a stronger connection with your audience.
- Change brand perceptions: You might have received feedback that your website doesn’t represent your brand well or you might have changed direction in recent years and know yourself that the website doesn’t reflect those changes.
Clearly state your primary and secondary goals. This helps your web developer prioritise features and functionalities that align with your business objectives.
Step #3: Knowing Your Target Audience
When designing a new website it’s easy to get caught up in what we want on the site, what we want to say and how we want it to work, but the truth is, your website isn’t for you. Understanding who you are building the website for is crucial. This is where it’s important to know your target audience inside out. Describe your target audience in as much detail as possible:
Demographics: Age, gender, location, occupation, income level, etc.
Psychographics: Interests, values, lifestyle, and buying behaviours.
Needs and pain points: What problems do they have that your business can solve? What are they looking for in a website?
Providing a detailed audience profile helps your developer design a site that appeals directly to the people you want to reach.
Step #4: Establishing Brand Guidelines and Tone of Voice
Your website should be a seamless extension of your brand. Include the following in your brief:
Brand colours and typography: Specify your brand’s colour palette and preferred fonts. If you have a brand style guide, share it with your developer.
Logo and imagery: Provide high-resolution versions of your logo and any specific images you want to feature.
Tone of voice: How do you want to communicate with your audience? Whether your tone is professional, friendly, playful, or authoritative, make it clear.
These elements ensure that your website is visually consistent with your other marketing materials and conveys the right message.
Final Thoughts…
Writing a website brief doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By focusing on these key areas—assessing your current site, defining your business goals, understanding your target audience, and outlining your brand guidelines—you can create a comprehensive brief that guides your web developer effectively. This approach not only saves time but also ensures that the final design aligns with your vision and supports your business objectives.
Remember, the clearer and more detailed your brief, the better equipped your developer will be to create a website that meets your needs. Happy briefing!
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