Prepare a useful brief before commissioning your first website

Start with a one-page business summary

Explain what you sell, who buys it and where you genuinely operate. A supplier may need a clear product catalogue and quote requests; an accommodation business may need location, availability and booking information. A collection of competitor screenshots cannot explain these different requirements on its own.

Choose one primary objective: a telephone conversation, a WhatsApp enquiry, a booking request or product exploration. Secondary objectives can remain, but the first screen should make the main decision clear. This avoids adding pages and functions simply because another website has them.

Turn customer questions into a content plan

Write down recurring questions from sales conversations. Scope, coverage, delivery process and contact details are useful starting points. Questions supporting the same decision can share a service page; a separate customer need may warrant a different page. Page count should follow the information, not lead it.

Describe the real service area rather than inventing local offices. For a business based in Trabzon, serving one district and travelling throughout the region are different propositions. Collect your logo, photographs you have permission to use, verified contact details and your existing website address if there is one.

Separate delivery responsibilities

Design, copywriting, photography, translation, integrations and maintenance are separate responsibilities. Ask which are included. Clarify who controls the domain account, who can access hosting and how future edits will work. Two proposals with the same number of pages can cover very different work.

Google’s starter guidance emphasises readable information, descriptive links and understandable organisation. Do not evaluate the proposal only by colours or animation. Include mobile information finding and a working contact journey in the acceptance checks. This is useful quality control, not a promise of search rankings.

Bring this checklist to the first conversation

Your brief does not have to be perfect. Missing photographs, unfinished translations or a required integration should be identified rather than hidden. A clear list of unknowns lets the project team propose a realistic scope and avoids assuming that every asset or system already exists.

• Summarise your business, customer and actual coverage.
• Choose a primary contact or sales action.
• List five recurring customer questions.
• Separate ready content from content still needed.
• Ask for domain ownership, access, maintenance and acceptance checks in writing.