Website brief template: give three agencies the same questions

A website brief template gives every agency you talk to the same questions, so you get quotes you can compare. This one holds the twelve questions we ask before we quote, in Word, with the five that move the price most marked with a euro sign. A filled-in example of a B2B software company selling in three countries comes with it as a PDF. Free, no email address needed.

Most companies send agencies a short email and a link to their current site. Each agency fills the gaps with its own assumptions, and three quotes end up describing three different websites. A brief closes those gaps before anyone prices anything. If you are hiring outside your own country, which is often the point of a web development agency in Europe, the brief also replaces the half-day workshop you would otherwise need.

Website brief template or website RFP?

A website RFP is the formal version: it asks agencies for a proposal against fixed criteria and a deadline, often with scoring. A brief comes first and says what you want to reach and what you already have, so an agency can price it. For most company sites the brief is enough. Turn it into your RFP by adding three lines: a budget range, a go-live date and the date you want proposals back.

Building a site with a customer portal or integrations into your own systems? Write a software requirements specification next to the brief. Who reads the brief: the agency's project lead, who builds the quote from it, and later the designer and the writer.

The twelve questions, and which ones set the price

The five questions with a euro sign explain most of the gap between two quotes. Languages weigh most for companies selling across borders: a site in three languages is not one site translated twice, but three sites with their own search terms. That is why we treat multilingual website development as its own discipline.

The example: a software company in three languages

The filled-in example is a fictional B2B software company in the Netherlands with 25 people, selling planning software to cleaning companies in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. It runs on a page builder since 2021. Its answers let an agency calculate:

• Pageshome, product, six features, pricing, three industries, customer stories, blog, about and contact, about 25 pages per language.
• LanguagesEnglish, Dutch and German, each with its own search terms; the team checks product terms.
• Featuresdemo booking in the sales calendar, a price calculator per number of staff, leads into the CRM.
• Copy and imagesthe agency writes from interviews; product screenshots with demo data, team photos in the office.
• Current siteevery old URL must redirect, because the blog brings most visitors today.
• BudgetEUR 15,000 to 25,000, live before the spring trade fair.

Languages move the price most here. Three languages at 25 pages is 75 pages of copy, each with its own URL, title and search terms, plus hreflang so Google shows the right one in each country. Want a feel for agency rates before the quotes arrive? Read digital agency cost and web developer hourly rates. How long a build like this takes, see how long it takes to build a website.

Rules your new site has to meet in the EU

Question 9 asks about rules. They are not a footnote: they decide forms, analytics and sometimes the whole structure. If you sell into the EU, these come back on every company site. The table follows Belgian law; most of it rests on EU rules, so it looks much the same elsewhere in the EU.

The Belgian data protection authority does not exempt analytics cookies from consent and expects a refuse-all button on the same layer as accept-all. Do you need a banner at all? See do I need a cookie banner, and for the policy, do I need a privacy policy.

Who will own the design, copy and photos? Under Belgian law copyright stays with whoever made the work unless it is transferred, and a transfer is proven in writing. Other countries have their own rules, so put it in the contract either way. That is why question 10 asks it now, not when you switch agencies.

Which template or tool fits instead

• Choose this website brief ifyou are commissioning or rebuilding a company site and want three quotes you can compare.
• Choose the requirements template ifyour site becomes a working tool, with a portal, bookings or integrations: the software requirements specification template lists requirements with a priority.
• Choose the SEO checklist ifyour site exists and mainly needs to be found: the SEO checklist walks the points, and the SEO checker gives you a first measurement.
• Choose the marketing plan ifyou do not yet know what role the site plays next to ads and social: start with the marketing plan template.
• Choose a site builder ifa simple site will do and you want to build it yourself; read Lovable vs WordPress first.

Mistakes in a website brief

• Describing the design instead of the goal"A big slider on the home page" says nothing about the demo request you want.
• No budgetEvery agency guesses, and you compare three different sites.
• Forgetting the old URLsMoving without redirects costs rankings; read moving a website to a new host.
• Treating languages as translationEach language needs its own search terms, so the English, Dutch and German pages are written, not copied.
• Not asking about ownershipWithout a written transfer, design and copy stay with their maker.
• Too many agenciesThree is enough; with ten, you read none of the proposals properly.

Your brief ready for three agencies

1. Download the brief and fill it in within an hour. What you do not know, leave open.
2. Look in Search Console for the pages that bring visitors today; they belong in question 7.
3. Test your current site with the website speed test and put the result in question 7.
4. Write a budget range and a date in question 11.
5. Send the same brief to three agencies with a reply date, and compare the proposals per euro question.