As a web development agency, we read a lot of website briefs. Your web development team will do what you ask them to - which means you need to have a pretty great brief.
We know from firsthand experience that the better the brief, the smoother and quicker the process will be for us and for you.
Every client’s website will be different, so your website brief will differ from others’, but there are a few things every brief should include and things you should do to make sure everyone is on the same page. Here are our top tips...
Make it clear
Having a clear brief is the most important thing you can do - it will make everything far more straightforward. We will know, and understand, exactly what you want and we can remain on the same page throughout.
Working in web development, we know all about jargon. We avoid using it when speaking to our clients and we’d love it if you did the same - keep your wording in Layman's terms so we know precisely what you mean. Keep it simple, too… we love reading a straightforward, clean brief - save the flashy wording for your marketing!
Have a clear objective of what you would like your new website to achieve. Do you want your website to bring in new customers, or do you want it to be a portfolio of your work? Maybe both? Whatever your objective is, make sure you (and we!) know what it is.
Tell us about you
Your website is the outward face of your business - when speaking to the people who will be designing that for you, you need to share everything with them.
Having an idea of your business, its values and who your audience is makes things a whole lot easier for your web developer. If we don’t have key information about your business, it makes our job extremely difficult.
If there are specifics you want to include, for example you may want to use a casual and friendly tone, make sure you mention these in your brief.
Review your current website
Ask yourself why you want a new website. Is yours totally ancient, or do you just fancy treating your site to a facelift?
Whatever your reason for wanting a new website, spend some time looking over your current site so that you have an idea of what you want to change.
Highlight what you like and don’t like about your site - it could be something as simple as you like the colour scheme; anything that will give us an idea of what you would and wouldn’t like to change.
Is all of the information on your website correct? It’s another one that seems simple but people can often forget to update their website if they’ve welcomed new staff members or have changed the services they provide.
Does your website accurately represent your business and your brand values? A website has never been more important than it is right now; it is the new shop window and business introduction, so make sure it reflects your business.
What are your competitors doing?
Take a peek at the websites of your competitors - is there anything you like, or dislike, in particular? Show us!
We love when clients give us examples of what they like and dislike as it gives us much clearer visions of what we can do (that word ‘clear’ is popping up an awful lot, isn’t it?).
Do you want any extras?
There are standard pages when you create a website but we can do oh-so-much more. Think about how you’d like your website to function and whether you’d like any integrations on your site.
If you want to write and upload blogs, you will need a Content Management System (CMS) so you don’t have to email our Support Team every time you want a blog going live.
Or you may want to integrate a newsletter system, such as Mailchimp, so that people can sign up to your newsletters directly on your website.
There are so many other options, we think the list might be endless!
Think about any additions you want and note those in your brief too. It means we can include these integrations in our plans right from the start and they will (you guessed it!) integrate seamlessly into your website.
Do you have a timescale?
We love deadlines at Six Ticks!
When sending out a brief, pop an ideal date (it doesn’t have to be specific to the day) that you’d like your project to be completed by. This allows us, and other web agencies, to see whether we can realistically provide our services in that time frame.
Have a budget in mind
Web development agencies will all have different price plans. While we pride ourselves on being affordable, it’s important to include your budget in your brief so you know there aren’t any hidden costs, and so web agencies know if your budget is realistic for the work they’ll be providing.
What happens next?
If you choose Six Ticks to create your sparkly new website, we’ll have a meeting with you to expand on your brief a little further. Throughout the process we will provide digital consultancy so that you are getting the absolute most out of your website and your experience with us.
Got any questions? We’re always here to help, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
