How to Write a Website Brief or RFP (Free Template Inside)

The quality of the quotes you receive is decided by the quality of the brief you send. A vague brief produces vague quotes that cannot be compared and change orders that cannot be avoided. This guide explains what a website brief (or a formal RFP) must contain, why each section matters, and ends with a copy-paste template you can fill in today.

Brief or RFP: which do you need?

A brief is a one to three page document you send to one or a few agencies. It is enough for most small business and startup projects. An RFP (request for proposal) is a formal document with evaluation criteria, timelines for questions and submissions, and legal terms. Use an RFP for budgets above roughly $25,000, public sector work, or when procurement requires it. The sections below apply to both; an RFP simply adds the process wrapper.

Section 1: Company snapshot

Two paragraphs: what you do, who you serve, how you make money, and where the website fits in the sales process. Include your current URL if you have one and what is wrong with it. Agencies design better when they understand the business, not just the pages.

Section 2: Goals, in measurable terms

"A modern website" is not a goal. "Increase qualified demo requests from 12 to 30 per month within six months" is. List one primary goal and up to three secondary goals. If you cannot quantify yet, describe the behaviour you want: book a call, buy online, download a guide, apply for a job.

Section 3: Audience

Who visits, what they already know, what they are worried about, and what would make them act. Two or three short audience descriptions are enough. Mention device mix if you know it; many service businesses see 70% mobile traffic and that changes design priorities.

Section 4: Sitemap and page list

List every page you expect. For each, one line on its purpose. This is the single biggest driver of price, so precision here is what makes quotes comparable. A typical small business list: Home, About, Services (plus one page per service), Pricing, Case studies or portfolio, Blog, Contact, Privacy, Terms.

Section 5: Features and integrations

Be specific. "Contact form" versus "multi-step quote form with file upload that posts to HubSpot" are very different builds. Cover forms, booking, payments, CRM, email marketing, live chat, analytics, multilingual, member areas, search, and any third-party data you need to display.

Section 6: Content status

State honestly whether copy, photography, video, logo files, and brand guidelines exist, are in progress, or need to be created. Content readiness is the number one cause of launch delays, so agencies will price and schedule differently based on this answer. If you want copywriting included, say so.

Section 7: Design direction

Three to five reference sites with one line each on what you like (structure, tone, colour, motion). Also list what you dislike. Mention brand constraints: existing colours, fonts, accessibility requirements, or a parent brand to align with.

Section 8: Technical requirements

Hosting preference, CMS preference (or "recommend one"), performance targets, accessibility standard (WCAG 2.2 AA is the sensible default), SEO expectations (metadata, structured data, redirects from the old site), and any compliance needs such as GDPR or HIPAA.

Section 9: Budget range

Always include a range. Agencies that see "budget: TBD" either guess high or decline. A range like "$2,500 to $5,000" lets them propose the right scope rather than waste everyone's time. If you are unsure what is realistic, our web design pricing guide and cost guides give benchmarks by project type.

Section 10: Timeline

State your desired launch date and any hard deadlines (trade show, funding announcement, seasonal peak). Ask the agency to confirm whether it is achievable given your content status. Cross-check against a realistic launch timeline.

Section 11: Ownership and support expectations

Write explicitly that you expect to own the domain, hosting, code, and design files. Ask for post-launch support terms and maintenance pricing. Including this in the brief filters out agencies with lock-in models before you invest time in calls.

Section 12: How you will decide

Tell agencies what matters most: portfolio fit, price, timeline, process, SEO capability. In an RFP, give weightings and dates for questions, submission, and decision. Even in an informal brief, a sentence on criteria produces more relevant proposals. Our agency selection framework shows a scoring approach you can reuse.

Copy-paste website brief template

PROJECT BRIEF: [Company] website

1. About us
[What we do, who we serve, how we make money. Current site: URL. What is not working.]

2. Goals
Primary: [measurable goal]
Secondary: [up to three]

3. Audience
[Audience A: who, what they need, what worries them]
[Audience B]

4. Pages
Home – [purpose]
About – [purpose]
Services – [list each]
[...]

5. Features and integrations
[Forms, booking, payments, CRM, email, chat, analytics, languages]

6. Content status
Copy: [ready / draft / needed]
Photos: [ready / needed]
Logo and brand files: [ready / needed]

7. Design direction
Like: [3 to 5 URLs with one-line reasons]
Avoid: [what we do not want]

8. Technical
Hosting: [preference or recommend]
CMS: [preference or recommend]
Accessibility: WCAG 2.2 AA
SEO: unique metadata, structured data, sitemap, 301 redirects
Compliance: [GDPR / HIPAA / none]

9. Budget range
[$X to $Y]

10. Timeline
Desired launch: [date]. Hard deadline: [yes/no, why]

11. Ownership and support
We will own domain, hosting, code, and design files.
Please state post-launch support and maintenance pricing.

12. Decision criteria
[Ranked list]. Decision by [date].

Contact: [name, role, email, phone]

Common mistakes to avoid

• Listing features you might want someday. Scope phase one only; note phase two ideas separately.
• Hiding the budget. It does not get you a lower price, only a mismatched proposal.
• Sending different briefs to different agencies. Quotes become impossible to compare.
• Skipping content status. It is the first thing a good agency will ask.
• Forgetting ownership. Add it now, not after signing.

Send it

Fill in the template, send the same version to two or three shortlisted agencies, and ask for written answers to the 25 questions before hiring a web designer alongside the proposal. If you want a fixed-price quote from us, paste your brief into the custom quote form and we will respond within 24 hours.