To ensure you get bang for your buck, and can compare apples with apples when sourcing website quotes, you as the business owner or marketing professional need to ensure you’re at least a little website savvy.
So where to start?
A website design brief of course!
As mentioned in Part 1 – a website design brief is a document that clearly defines a business’ website design and development needs as well as guides the entire website design and development process.
Here are the remaining 5 areas to cover when writing a website design brief. Each section will guide you and make the writing process more manageable.
Disclaimer: This is not a definitive guide, but it’s a good starting point and will serve as food for thought.
6. Website Activities and Objectives
Gone are the days where a website is an online ‘brochure’ outlining products or services. Today a website needs to be interactive, mobile responsive and serve specific functions.
So ask yourself – what is the aim of our website?
What do you want your website to achieve?
Think of it this way – what do you want your target audience to do on the website?
Do you want them to subscribe to your newsletter, get a quote, read your blog, purchase products?
In this section, list in order of importance what you want your target audience to do on your website.
Example: (extract from a website brief for a Winery with Cellar Door)
We would like the general user to engage in the following activities on the new website. Items are listed in order of importance:
- Purchase wine online
- Book events online
- Contact Functions Manager with enquires and quotes on meetings, wedding and functions
- Subscribe to our newsletter
- Enquire about restaurant bookings
- Download and / or share via social media – tasting notes, menus and other information
- Follow us on social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
- Contribute blog comments
7. Website Navigation & Content
We covered content partly in # 4 – Assets in Part 1.
In this section, we dig so much deeper – how many pages, in what order? Do you want maps, video, audio AND how do you envisage it all displayed?
Remind yourself why you’re writing a website design brief – initially, isn’t it to give you a clear understanding of your business website requirements?
You may not have all answers at this stage. Just say so – “suggestions on navigation and page structure are most welcome”.
Include:
- How many pages?
- Will they all be ready for website build or will you be adding new pages after website launch?
- What page titles would you like to use i.e. Home, About Us, Shopping Cart? Maybe you want to be a little creative with page titles – write it down here!
- Do you want a video on the home?
- Any specific requirements to your industry requires on a website?
8. Website Features
Once you’ve worked through the above including content and calls to action, you’ll have a clear picture of what functions are required in the website, such as:
- An online booking system
- A blog with commenting functionality
- Social media widgets for activity stream
- Members only content area
- Newsletter opt-in
- E-commerce capabilities including sub-sets of specific features, such as – featured products, tasting notes, reviews, specials etc.
- Advertising or sponsors
- Google Map
9. Competitors and other Websites
By this point, you’ll have spent a lot of time undertaking structured research on other websites.
So here’s your chance to detail your likes and dislikes with links.
Possibly start with two or three competitors. Then move onto other industries.
Why other industries?
Website design trends change with user requirements and technology. Your competitors may be three to five years behind. So branch out and check other industries.
Don’t think of this as a beauty contest though.
Think of this as an end user – test how the websites respond on different devices.
Include:
- Name of company, industry and links.
- What you like and dislike about each website.
- Cover the features and functionality and why it’s of interest.
- Colours, fonts, navigation and tone of voice are important also.
TIP: Remember – a good rule of thumb is don’t let your personal likes and dislikes cloud your judgement. Undertake this task with your target customer hat on.
10. Other Requirements
This section should cover the areas you haven’t as yet detailed.
One detail I personally ALWAYS mention when assisting writing website briefs is 301 redirects.
What is a 301 Redirect?
A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect from one URL to the other and enables users and search engines to be directed to the correct page.
Think of it this way – not every page on your old website will have the exact same url on your new website. Therefore, your website designer upon launch of the new website should redirect all old website urls to the new website urls.
Sadly, this task is not always performed by website designers. So mention it here! You want a 301 redirect carried out upon launch of new website.
Conclusion
As mentioned, this is not a definitive guide to writing a website design brief. Nor is there any right and wrong way to write a website design brief.
So if you want to add more detail – go for it!
On average, 3 to 5 pages should suffice.
Please note this is a general guide and not specific to any industry. Download our Website Brief free ebook and take a read through our website services.
Until next time…..
