Quick answer
A useful website brief describes the job the site must do, not just how it should look. A five-page company site, a member portal and a marketplace have very different costs and delivery plans. Start with the audience, the action you want visitors to take, and the problems with your current site.
Practical scope
List the pages and languages you need. For each function, describe the user action: for example, a visitor sends an enquiry, staff receive an email and the lead enters the CRM. State who will supply text, photos and translations. Share examples of sites you like, but explain which features matter. Include any existing domain, hosting, analytics, payment service and CRM that the developer must work with.
Finally, give a target launch window and a realistic budget range. Ask each developer to separate discovery, design, development, content entry, testing, hosting and ongoing support. That makes proposals easier to compare and exposes assumptions before work begins.
What to define before requesting proposals
- Business goal and the primary action visitors should take
- Required pages, languages and content owner
- User-facing functions and the staff process behind each one
- Existing domain, hosting, analytics and systems to retain
Questions to ask service providers
- Which assumptions are excluded from the quote?
- Who will write, migrate and approve content?
- What will be delivered at design, testing and launch?
How to assess the answers
Compare every proposal against one page-and-feature list. Separate essential launch requirements from later improvements so a lower price cannot hide a smaller scope.
Related planning guides
Next step: Put these decisions into one project brief, then ask providers to respond to the same scope.