1. Describe the job in one sentence
Write what the site needs to do, for whom and what happens next. “We need a modern website” describes a preference. “We need to explain our three services to prospective clients and help suitable enquiries reach us” describes a job.
Choose a primary action and a way to observe it. For an enquiry-led site, a useful measure may be the number of suitable conversations it starts. Page views alone do not tell you whether the site is attracting the right people.
2. Record the questions your audience asks
List the information a visitor needs before contacting you: what you offer, who it is for, how the work happens, what affects the price and whether there is relevant evidence. Use real questions from conversations where you have them.
If there are several audiences, describe the differences. A potential client, job applicant and existing customer may need separate journeys. Do not assume that one headline can serve all three.
3. Give each page a purpose
For every proposed page, write its audience, the question it answers, the content it needs and its next action. If two pages have the same purpose, consider combining them. If one page contains several unrelated jobs, consider separating them.
- Service page
- Explain the service, suitable projects, deliverables, process and the information needed to scope it.
- About page
- Identify the business and provide verifiable information about how it operates.
- Contact page
- Offer a clear way to enquire and explain what the visitor should send.
Use ordinary URLs for important pages and link to them directly. Search engines should not have to operate a tab or form to discover the page structure.
4. Assign the content work
Make a simple inventory of text, images, brand files and evidence. Mark each item as ready, needing revision or missing, and name the person responsible. Copy often determines layout; treating it as something to add at the end creates avoidable rework.
Check rights and permissions for photographs, testimonials, client logos and examples. Keep factual claims tied to evidence. If you cannot publish a client’s name, agree on what can be shown before making it a case study.
5. Specify what functions must actually do
“Contact form” is incomplete as a requirement. Where does the message go, what happens after submission, how is spam handled and who checks delivery? The same applies to bookings, payments, user accounts, search and integrations.
For each function, describe the normal path, the failure state and who owns the connected account. Distinguish a demonstration from a production integration, and record ongoing subscription or usage costs.
6. Set the constraints and acceptance checks
Record the deadline and the reason behind it, any budget range, languages, internal reviewers and systems the site must fit. If the old site has useful URLs, search traffic or existing links, include a migration and redirect plan.
- The main journeys work on mobile and desktop.
- Navigation, forms and dialogs can be used with a keyboard.
- Text is readable and controls have clear labels and focus states.
- Important pages load as HTML with descriptive titles and correct links.
- Enquiries or other critical actions reach their intended destination.
- The agreed owners have the access and instructions needed to maintain the site.
These checks should be tailored to the actual project. A brochure site and an application handling customer records need different acceptance criteria.
A starting brief you can copy
Business and current website: Audience and their main questions: Primary goal and desired visitor action: Pages and purpose of each page: Content ready / missing / responsible person: Required functions and connected tools: Brand references and existing assets: Deadline, budget range and constraints: Approvers and review stages: Domain, hosting and account ownership: Launch and acceptance checks: Who will maintain the site:
Unanswered questions are useful too. Mark them as decisions to make together instead of filling the brief with assumptions.
Take the brief into the project
Pax Collective’s website design and development service brings content planning, design, development and handover together. Send your outline when you are ready to discuss the work.
Further reading: Google’s SEO Starter Guide and W3C’s accessibility design tips.