A better brief for your company website

Start with the moment a buyer opens your site

Picture a real visitor rather than a broad target market. A procurement manager checking a supplier after an introduction needs different information from a founder exploring a new service. Write down why the person arrives, what they already know, and what would help them decide whether to contact you.

Planning example: an Indonesian equipment supplier wants buyers to find relevant product categories, understand service coverage, and see comparable projects before requesting a quotation. Those tasks give the team a way to judge page choices. A striking opening visual can help, but it still needs to support that specific journey.

• Name the main buyer and their starting question.
• Choose one useful next action.
• Collect the questions sales answers repeatedly.

Give every page a job and a content owner

List the pages buyers need to complete that journey. A service page explains a particular offer. A project page adds context and evidence. An About page introduces the company. Avoid treating your company profile as a ready-made website structure: people explore a website in different orders and may land directly on a service page.

For each page, identify the source material and the person who can approve it. Project photographs, client names, technical details, and service descriptions may have different owners. Mark what is ready, what needs editing, and what is still missing. This makes the content workload visible before the design schedule is agreed.

Decide what belongs in the first release

Features should earn their place through a real use. A second language may matter to a particular buyer group; a searchable catalogue may matter to an extensive product range. Ask what becomes harder for the visitor if the feature is absent. Then consider whether the team has the content and process to support it.

Also decide how everyday updates will happen. Who changes a service description, adds a project, or checks a contact number? A sensible editing setup depends on those tasks. Keep the first release focused enough to finish properly, with a separate list for additions that need more information, approvals, or system access.

• Launch essentials: approved offer, useful proof, working contact routes.
• Later additions: material with no owner or clear purpose yet.
• Separate decisions: integrations and complex content management.

Agree how you will know the website is ready

Write checks as tasks someone can perform. Find a service from a phone. Open a relevant project. Send an enquiry and confirm the right person receives it. Read the confirmation message. These practical checks make the handover more useful than a visual approval alone and reveal gaps between the page and the sales process.

Before replacing an existing site, record the page addresses used in campaigns, search results, and sales materials. Plan relevant replacements for changed addresses. Include titles, descriptions, access details, and update responsibilities in the handover. The result should be a website your team can use and maintain, with a clear route for reporting problems.