Website Design Brief Template

Introduction

This template covers off the main issues in building a website. These are the
issues that you should think about if you are briefing a web design agency, and if
you are an agency – these are the issues that should be covered with your clients.

We have developed this after over 15 years of experience building websites using
a variety of technologies and content management system, and working on both
sides of the equation as clients and web developers.

Agency:
As an agency, you may find there are specific questions you want to
include based on what technology you use to build sites, whether the site
is based on a template or is a full custom build, the bundle of services you
offer with your build, and your internal process.

Client:
You may want to include specific organisation goals, references to current
sites you own, or other information you feel is relevant. If you are using
this to request proposals, you may want to also request information about
project management, timelines, references and other issues that will help
you choose between competing agencies.

Using this template

We have released this template because we believe educated customers make the
industry better, and we hope that you find this useful. We have kept the
formatting intentionally loose, so it is easy to adapt, add tables or structured
areas for answers, your logo etc.

If you decide to use this in part or whole – feel free. We have released this under
Creative Commons Attribution License (see the link in the footer for more
information on this license). We just ask for a reference either in your document
or your website where you use the document by linking back to
 our website: http://thedma.com.au/
 or the post - http://thedma.com.au/blog/website-design-brief-template/
 For example: “based on an original website design template by TheDMA.”

Feedback and improvement

If you have suggestions or other issues to be included, feel free contact us
through our website enquiry form - http://thedma.com.au/contact/

This version is current as of 1 March 2012.

© 2012, The Digital Marketing Agency P/L (TheDMA), Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 -
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/
You can re-use but must reference TheDMA as original author.
Website Design Brief Template

Background Information
 New or replacement site?
 If replacement, what is the current domain (URL) and:
o Require staging site during build?
o Analytics used / account access or reports
o Motivation for change?
 What the organisational goals are for the website – what do you want to
achieve from the new site? (Goals should be SMART: specific, measurable,
achievable, realistic, and have a timeframe)

Target Audience
 Who is your target audience?
o May be more than one / May be different from your customers
(for example a non-profit may target individual donations and
highlight their work and a second audience is sponsors)
o Do you have an ideal customer profile?
o What will they come to your website for?
(articles/reviews/contact details/pricing ?)

Content
 What does the organisation do ? short summary, with
products/services/history etc.
o List the subject areas – from most important to least, focus on
topics and clusters (which can then become the site map).
o Is there a variety of content available to tell the story (photos,
videos, text, diagrams, etc)
 Privacy statement & Terms of Use – cover these off and include Google
friendly privacy statement if you plan on using Adwords, AdSense, etc
http://support.google.com/adwords/bin/answer.py?
hl=en&answer=100746 (Specific Privacy Policy requirements will be
effected by your Calls to Action – how your site interacts with visitors).
 Who is going to write the content, or edit the old content for the new site?
Will it be done with Search Engine Optimisation in mind? (See that section
below.

Call to Action
 What do you want people to do when they get to the site?
o Buy from the shop / complete enquiry form / call us / read lots of
articles / sign-up to the newsletter / sign up to the RSS / ???
 What are the two most important calls to action that will be on the home
page?

Social Media and Sharing

 Where do you target audience(s) spend time online?
 What avenues do you need for sharing your content (links on the page
using Social Sharing to LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, etc)

© 2012, The Digital Marketing Agency P/L (TheDMA), Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 -
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/
You can re-use but must reference TheDMA as original author.
Website Design Brief Template

 What Social Media presence do you have (or need) – and how is that going
to be presented on the site (Facebook Like box, follow us on twitter, and
include the latest from your twitter stream etc).
Functional Requirements
The list above, including content and calls to action, will give you a clear picture
of what functions are required in the website, such as:
 A blog
 Social media widgets for activity stream
 Members only content area (paid or free)
 E-commerce capabilities (including a sub-set of specific features, such as
having specials, discounts, featured products, customer reviews, etc).
 Advertising or sponsors

Design Assets
 Logos, colours, style guide, off-line marketing materials

Design Ideas
 If a rebuild of the current site – what do you like / dislike about the
current site
 Three to five websites with design ideas that you like (can be from your
industry or another)
 Competitor’s websites (three to five)

Technology issues
 Domain name account details, hosting, etc – have all the details together
to make for a smooth transition to the new site

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

 Do you have a set of priority keywords and phrases ?
 Will this be addressed in the build / how ?
 How is this measured after the build ? what are the metrics / KPI’s
(before and after analysis of traffic, referring sites, terms ?)
 Content editing to be done with SEO in mind … in-house or by specialist?

Practical Issues
 What’s your budget?
o Is it realistic for the features and functions you want?
o What are the priority issues, and can it be staged if the budget
doesn’t cover the wish-list?
 Timeline – how long and what’s the deadline?
 Who will project manage (for yourself / agency)

© 2012, The Digital Marketing Agency P/L (TheDMA), Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 -
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/
You can re-use but must reference TheDMA as original author.