There is no substitute for a good website design brief 

Website Design Brief for Your Small Business

Creating a comprehensive brief for designing a website is crucial to ensure the final product aligns with your business’s needs, goals, and brand identity. 

Here’s a guideline tailored for a small local business you can use as a guide for creating your brief.

• Company Name and Background: Briefly describe the business, including its history, mission, and the products or services offered.
• Target Audience: Define the primary and secondary audiences for the website. Include demographics, interests, and any other relevant characteristics.
• Objectives: Outline the main objectives of the website (e.g., increase sales, enhance online presence, provide information, improve efficiencies or provide customer support).

• Brand Guidelines: Include information on the brand’s colours, fonts, logos, and any other visual elements that need to be incorporated or adhered to.
• Preferred Style: Describe the desired look and feel of the website (modern, minimalist, traditional). Providing examples of websites you like can be very helpful.
• Must-Have Features: List any essential features (e.g., contact forms, gallery, blog, e-commerce functionality).
• Functionality Requirements: Detail any specific functionalities, like booking systems, search capabilities, or user accounts.

• Content Plan: Outline what content will be needed (text, images, videos) and who will provide it. If the designer is expected to create content, specify the type and extent.
• Navigation Structure: Suggest a basic structure or sitemap for your website, including key pages and categories. You can use this simple tool called Gloomaps to create a sitemap.

• Keywords: Provide a list of keywords that are important for your business. These should reflect the search terms your target audience might use.
• Local SEO Elements: Since local visibility is crucial, mention any local SEO strategies you want to incorporate, like local keywords, Google My Business integration, or local area content.
• What’s your 80/20: It’s helpful to think along the lines of the service/s or product/s that generate 70% to 80% of your business. This should be the primary focus of your website.

• Responsive Design: Emphasise the need for the website to be mobile-friendly and perform well on various devices.
• CMS Preferences: State your preference for a Content Management System (CMS), like WordPress, especially if you’re using specific themes or plugins such as GeneratePress and GenerateBlocks.
• Hosting and Domain: Mention if you already have hosting and a domain name or if you need assistance in setting these up.

• Budget: Provide a clear budget range for the project. This helps designers propose solutions that fit within your financial constraints.
• Timeline: Specify any deadlines for the project. Include milestones like the start date, review dates, and the desired launch date.

• Post-Launch Support: Outline expectations for any support needed after the website goes live (e.g., training on how to update content, technical support).
• Future Scalability: Mention if you anticipate the website will need to scale in the future and how you envision this happening.

By providing a detailed brief with these elements, you’ll set a solid foundation for the website design process, ensuring that the designer has all the necessary information to create a website that meets your business’s needs and objectives.