Most website projects don’t fail because of design or development. They fail at the brief stage. Vague objectives. Missing functionality. No ownership of content. Six stakeholders with different opinions. Nothing written down properly.
Whether you’re redesigning an existing site, rebuilding on a new platform or creating your organisation’s first proper website, the brief is the single most important part of the project. It dictates your budget, timelines, performance and how smooth (or painful) the entire process will be.
This guide covers exactly what to include so agencies can quote accurately and deliver a website that actually does its job. If you want help shaping your brief, learn more about our Website Design & Development services.
Start with why you’re doing this now
Whether you’re replacing an outdated site or building something brand new, you need to explain the real reason behind the project. Agencies need context to recommend the right structure, features and approach.
- What isn’t working today (conversion, clarity, accessibility, donations, enquiries).
- What’s changed in your organisation (new strategy, new services, new audiences, rebrand).
- What happens if you wait another 12–18 months.
Strong briefs don’t say, “We want a modern website.” They say, “We need to increase enquiries, improve clarity and streamline how people find key information.”
Be specific about who the website is actually for
Your website is not “for everyone”. If you write that, you’re basically saying “we haven’t thought about it”.
List your key audiences and what they need to do on the site. For example:
- Charity: Parents/carers looking for support, health professionals, corporate partners, individual donors, grant givers, volunteers.
- Business: New prospects, existing clients, referral partners, job applicants.
For each audience, outline the actions you want them to take:
- “Parents need to quickly see what support we offer and how to self-refer or be referred.”
- “Corporate partners need to understand our impact and the partnership options in under 2–3 clicks.”
- “New prospects need to understand what we do, see proof we’re credible, and enquire or book a call.”
This directly drives your navigation, page hierarchy and the content we recommend – especially on key pages like your homepage, services pages and charity-specific website content.
Nail the outcomes and KPIs before you brief anyone
A new website is not about “looking better”. It’s about performing better.
Set measurable outcomes in the brief. Examples:
- Increase online donations by 20% within 12 months.
- Improve enquiry conversion rate from 1% to 3%.
- Double traffic to key service pages from organic search.
- Reduce support calls by making key information easier to find.
These KPIs help your agency make trade-offs the right way: what features are essential, what can be phased, what needs more investment in SEO and digital marketing, and what is “nice to have”.
Write down the functionality
- Donation journeys and payment gateways.
- Event listings, bookings or ticketing.
- Membership, portals or restricted content.
- Complex forms (referrals, self-referrals, assessments, quotes).
- Blog, news, case studies, impact stories.
- Search, filtering or directories.
- Multi-site or multi-language requirements.
- Donor / CRM systems (e.g. Beacon, Raisely, Donorfy, Salesforce, HubSpot).
- Email marketing platforms (e.g. Mailchimp, HubSpot, Campaign Monitor).
- Payment processors (Stripe, GoCardless, PayPal, Worldpay, etc.).
- Booking or event tools.
Be brutally honest about content
- What content is being reused as-is?
- What needs rewriting or simplifying?
- What’s completely new?
- Who is responsible for writing and approving each area?
- Are you expecting the agency to write copy? For which pages?
If you want the agency to handle copywriting, say so and be clear about tone of voice, key messages and any impact or outcomes that must be highlighted. If you’re handling copy internally, be realistic about how long that will take.Good agencies can support you with content planning, SEO and structure so you don’t just move old copy onto a new design. That’s a missed opportunity.
Give real design direction
- Your brand guidelines (logo usage, colours, typography, imagery style).
- What must stay: any non-negotiables.
- What can evolve: areas you’re happy to update.
- 3–5 websites you like and why (structure, clarity, use of imagery, simplicity, etc.).
- 1–2 websites you don’t like and what to avoid (confusing menus, clutter, slow pages).
The goal isn’t to copy. It’s to set direction. The more specific your notes, the fewer rounds of revisions you’ll pay for.
Don’t skip the technical and compliance section
- Preferred platform (e.g. WordPress + a page builder like Elementor).
- Hosting expectations (uptime, backups, support, where servers are based).
- Performance targets (Core Web Vitals, page load speed).
- Security expectations (SSL, updates, user access control).
- Accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 AA as a minimum for most charities).
- Cookie consent and GDPR compliance.
- Analytics and tracking (GA4, Meta Pixel, tag manager, conversion tracking).
- Redirects and SEO migration: what needs to be preserved from the current site.
If you don’t know what you need here, say that and ask your agency to recommend a minimum standard. For many clients we combine projects with SEO and tracking as part of a broader paid search and conversion strategy.
Consider hosting as part of the project
Your hosting determines speed, stability and security. A new website on poor hosting will underperform on day one.
If you want reliable, UK-based hosting with daily backups and security monitoring, explore our Managed WordPress Hosting.
Clarify who is involved and how decisions get made
Twelve people feeding back on design with no final decision-maker is how you end up with a website that pleases nobody.
Use your brief to spell out:
- Project sponsor (who ultimately owns the project).
- Day-to-day contact (who the agency speaks to 90% of the time).
- Other stakeholders who will need to review certain stages.
- How you will sign off each phase (wireframes, designs, content, go-live).
The more structured your decision-making is, the faster the project moves. This is critical in charities with trustees and committees, and in businesses with multiple directors or heads of department.
Share a budget range and realistic timelines
You don’t need to publish your full internal budget, but you must give a range. A £5k website and a £30k website are two very different projects. Without a range, you’ll get proposals that are impossible to compare.
Be honest about non-negotiable dates:
- Funding or financial year deadlines.
- Big campaigns, appeals or launches.
- Events where the new site needs to be live.
Where you can flex, say so – but remember: if you’re slow on feedback or content, the project will slip. A good agency will build realistic milestones and tell you upfront what they need from you, when.
Think about ongoing support & maintenance
A website is not finished at launch. Plugins, security, updates, backups and small content changes all need ongoing management.
If you want peace of mind after launch, explore our Website Support & Maintenance Plans . They keep your site secure, updated and performing at its best.
Define what success looks like after launch
- Increase monthly donations from £X to £Y.
- Increase marketing-qualified enquiries by X%.
- Improve search rankings for specific priority terms.
- Reduce time spent answering basic questions by moving them online.
If you’re planning to invest in ongoing SEO, paid ads or content once the site is live, include that too. Your website should be built with optimisation in mind – not left as a static brochure. That’s how we approach sites for both charities and SMEs when we combine web builds with ongoing digital marketing support.
Bringing it all together
A website project is one of the biggest marketing investments most organisations will make in the next few years.
The brief is where you protect that investment.
A strong brief doesn’t need to be a 40-page document, but it does need to be clear on:
- Why you’re rebuilding the site now.
- Who the site is for and what they need to do.
- What functionality and integrations you actually need.
- Who is doing the content and how it will be approved.
- What “good” looks like in 6–12 months’ time.
Get this right and your website project will be cheaper, faster and far less stressful.
Get it wrong and you’ll end up paying for change requests, delays and compromises that could have been avoided.
Get in touch with Blake Mark Productions
If you want a website that isn’t just a redesign but a genuine upgrade to how your organisation communicates, converts and delivers its mission, we can help.
Whether you need a full rebuild, a fresh start or support shaping the brief, our team will guide you through the whole process and keep everything on track.
Get in touch to discuss your website project and get a clear, no-nonsense plan for what comes next.