Quick answer: a good website brief describes your business and customers, the goal of the site, the pages and features you need, the languages, who supplies content, what should integrate with what, your deadline and a budget range. When every supplier receives the same brief, their quotes become comparable and the project starts with fewer surprises.
Ask three Doha agencies for “a website” and you will often receive three quotes that differ widely in price and cannot be compared, because each supplier filled the gaps with their own assumptions. A clear brief removes most of those assumptions. It does not need technical language; it needs decisions. This template walks through what to include.
1. Your business in a few lines
Describe what you sell, to whom, and what makes you different. Mention whether you serve consumers, businesses or government entities, and whether your customers are mainly in Doha, across Qatar or abroad. Suppliers use this to judge tone, structure and the level of trust the site must build.
2. The goal of the website
Pick one main goal and, if needed, one secondary goal: receive enquiries, sell online, take bookings, recruit staff, support existing customers or present the company to partners. A site built to generate enquiries is planned differently from a corporate profile, and the goal decides what success means after launch.
3. Pages and features
List the pages you expect, even roughly: home, about, each service or product category, contact, careers, news. Then list features separately:
- Forms (contact, quote request, job application) and where submissions should go.
- Online payments, bookings or customer accounts.
- Integrations with a CRM, email marketing tool, ERP or delivery system.
- Search, filters, downloadable files, maps or a blog.
Mark each feature as essential or optional. This is the section where quotes differ most.
4. Languages
State whether the site needs Arabic, English or both at launch, which language opens by default and who writes or reviews each version. A bilingual site involves more design and content work than one language, so leaving it unstated is a common reason for quotes that seem cheap and later grow.
5. Content: who provides what
Be honest about what exists. Do you have written text, product data, photos, a logo in vector format and brand colours? Or do you need copywriting, translation, photography or a brand refresh? Content is the most frequent cause of delays, so the brief should say who is responsible for each part and by when.
6. Examples you like, and why
Share two or three websites you like and one you dislike, with a sentence on why: the clarity of the menu, the photography, the way products are filtered. “Modern and clean” means different things to different people; specific examples do not.
7. Technical preferences and constraints
- Any platform preference, such as WordPress or Shopify, and whether your team will update the site.
- Existing domain, hosting and email, and who controls them.
- Pages or URLs that already rank on Google and must be preserved.
- Accessibility, security or compliance requirements from your sector.
8. Timeline and budget range
Give the date you need the site live and explain why, such as an opening, an exhibition or a season. Share a budget range. It feels uncomfortable, but it lets suppliers propose a realistic scope instead of guessing, and it saves time on proposals that will never fit.
9. How you will choose
Tell suppliers what you will compare: approach, examples of similar work, timeline, support after launch and price. Ask each to list what is included and what is not, and how they handle changes outside the agreed scope.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a website brief be?
Two to four pages is usually enough. Clarity matters more than length.
Should I share my budget?
A range helps suppliers recommend what fits. Without it, quotes are harder to compare.
What if I do not know which features I need?
Describe the problem instead, for example “customers ask the same five questions by phone”. A good supplier will suggest options and explain their trade-offs.
When your brief is ready, you can send it through our quote request form. Our website design service page explains how we turn a brief into a written proposal.
Written by the Creative 4 All team, a web and digital agency working since 2012. Last reviewed: November 2026.
