A website brief is the document your designer works from. One or two pages written before the first call will save you a week of back-and-forth later, and it doesn't need to be clever.
Start with the business and the people who buy from you
Most briefs we receive open with colours. Colour is the easiest decision and the least useful one to start on.
Start instead with what you sell and who buys it. Two or three sentences is enough. A cleaning company in Dubai Marina might write that most customers are tenants in apartment buildings who message on WhatsApp in the evening, and that the first thing they ask is the price of a two-bedroom deep clean.
That tells a designer more than a mood board does. It says the site will mostly be read on a phone, and that the price can't be hidden three clicks deep.
Add where customers come from today, if you know. Google Maps searches, say, or referrals from a building management company. And mention anything in your trade licence that limits what you can advertise. It's far easier to raise that in the website brief than after the services page has been written.
Name the action you want each visit to end in
A small business website usually has one job. Get the phone to ring. Get a WhatsApp message. Get a booking in the diary, or an order through the checkout.
Pick the one that matters most and say so. It changes the design more than you'd expect. A clinic that wants bookings needs a booking form near the top of every treatment page. A trading company that wants quote requests needs a form asking for quantities and delivery location, and that form can sit a scroll further down.
If you want two things, rank them. "WhatsApp first, calls second" is a perfectly good instruction.
Write down how you'll judge the site after three months as well. Twenty WhatsApp enquiries a week from the website is something you can count. "More visibility" isn't.
A page list, even a rough one
You don't need a sitemap diagram. A numbered list of pages with one line under each is plenty.
Something like Home, About, Deep cleaning, Move-out cleaning, Sofa and carpet cleaning, Areas we cover, Prices, Contact. Under each, note what that page has to tell the visitor. The prices page, for instance, might need a table by apartment size and a line on what isn't included.
Page count affects the budget too. Our Premium package covers up to 8 pages at AED 1,999 and Business covers up to 15 at AED 2,999, so a list of 11 pages tells you straight away which one you're looking at. Both are on our website packages list.
Leave out pages you're only adding because other sites have them. A blog with no posts makes a site look emptier, not bigger. So does a careers page for a company of four.
Examples you like, and why you like them
Links to two or three sites you like are useful. Links with no explanation aren't.
Designers can't read minds. If you send a hotel website, you might mean the large photos or the way the booking bar sticks to the top of the screen. Write one line per example. "I like that the prices are visible without clicking" is something a designer can act on.
Send one example you dislike, too. It often teaches more than the ones you like.
And look outside your own industry. A good reference for a car garage might be a dental clinic's site, because both need visible prices and a quick way to book.
Avoid sending a competitor's site with an instruction to copy it. You'll end up looking like them, and customers comparing the two of you will notice.
Must-haves, budget and a deadline that's real
Must-haves are the things that would make you reject the site. Keep them short and specific: a delivery area map, a booking form that emails two addresses, a click-to-call button on every page. Anything that's only a nice idea goes on a separate wish list.
Then give a budget range. Plenty of owners leave it out in case the designer quotes right up to the number. In practice it works the other way round. Without a range you get a quote built on guesses, and two companies will guess very differently.
The deadline needs the same honesty. Give the date the site has to be live and the reason for it, such as a new branch opening or a trade show.
Then work backwards. A standard site with us takes 48 to 72 hours to build once we have your content, but content is usually the slow part and approvals are slower still. Ramadan and the Eid holidays push approvals back in most UAE companies, since decision-makers keep shorter hours during the month and many travel over Eid. If the site has to be live before Ramadan, plan for sign-off well before it starts. Ramadan also falls around 11 days earlier each year, so check the dates rather than going by last year.
One person signs off
This is the line most briefs leave out. It causes more delays than anything else on this page.
Name the person who approves the design and the finished site. Just one. Others can comment, but their comments go to that person first, who sends one combined set of changes.
The usual problem goes like this. A marketing manager works with the designer for two weeks and approves every stage. Then the owner sees the site the day before launch and asks for a different layout. Nobody did anything wrong, but the launch slips by two weeks.
If the person with the final say is busy, ask them to read the brief before it goes out. Ten minutes at the start costs far less than a rethink at the end.
A short website brief template
Here's a version you can paste into an email. Try to keep it to one page. A brief that runs to 15 pages usually means the decisions haven't been made yet, and the designer ends up making them for you.
If you're also unsure what content to gather, our guide on what to prepare before building a website covers the photos and text side. Send your brief to info@dubaiwebsitedesigners.com, or tell us it's on the way and we'll go through it with you in a free consultation. Call or WhatsApp us on +971 52 292 3875.
- What you sell and who usually buys it
- The one action a visit should end in (call, WhatsApp, booking or sale)
- The pages you need, one line each, plus your must-haves
- Two or three example sites, with what you like about each
- Budget range and live date, and the name of the person who signs off
Questions people ask
How long should a website brief be?
One or two pages is enough for most small business sites. If it's much longer, there are probably decisions in it that haven't been made.
Do I have to share a budget with the designer?
You don't have to, but quotes are more accurate when you do. A range such as AED 2,000 to 3,000 is fine.
Can the brief just be bullet points?
Yes. Short notes work as long as each point says what you want and, where it matters, why.
What if I don't know which pages I need?
Write down the questions customers ask most often on WhatsApp and on the phone. Most of those become pages or sections, and we can turn them into a page list with you during the consultation.
Who should approve the final website?
One named person who has the authority to say yes. Everyone else's comments should go through them so the designer gets a single set of changes.