The best websites are planned before anyone opens a design tool. A bit of thinking up front makes the build quicker, the quote more accurate and the finished site far more useful. Work through this checklist and you'll have most of a website brief by the end — whoever builds it.
In this guide
- Goals
- Audience
- Pages
- Content and photos
- Domain name and email
- Calls to action
- Local SEO basics
- Legal pages
- Accessibility
- Budget and timeline
1. Goals
Start with what the website is for. Everything else follows from it.
- Pick one main goal. More enquiries, more bookings, online sales, or reassuring people who've heard of you.
- Decide how you'll measure it. Number of enquiries a month, orders, calls — something you can actually count.
- Note what isn't working now. If you have a site already, list what frustrates you and your customers.
2. Audience
Write the site for the people you want to reach, not for yourself.
- Describe your typical customers. Who they are, where they are, and what problem they're trying to solve.
- List their questions. Price, availability, location, how it works, what others think. Each question is something the site should answer.
- Think about devices. Most people will visit on a phone, often in a hurry.
3. Pages
Sketch a simple list of pages — a sitemap. Keep it as small as you can while still answering your customers' questions.
- Home. What you do, who for, where, and the one thing you want visitors to do next.
- Services or products. Ideally a page per main service, so each can be found in search.
- About. Who's behind the business. People buy from people.
- Contact. A simple form and clear details of the area you cover.
- Anything specific to you. Prices, a gallery, FAQs, booking, locations you serve.
4. Content and photos
Content is the most common reason website projects run late. Start gathering it early.
- Decide who writes the words. You, your team, or a copywriter — and agree a deadline.
- Gather real photos. Your premises, your team and your work beat stock images. Phone photos in good light are fine to start with.
- Collect your logo and brand colours. In the best quality you can find.
- Check permissions. Make sure you have the right to use any images, logos or reviews you plan to show.
5. Domain name and email
- Choose or check your domain. Short, easy to spell and say out loud. A .co.uk or .uk often suits UK businesses.
- Register it in your own name. Make sure you, not a supplier, own the account.
- Plan your email. A business address on your own domain looks more professional than a free webmail address.
6. Calls to action
Every page should make the next step obvious.
- Pick your main action. Request a quote, book, buy, call or send a message.
- Keep forms short. Ask only for what you need to reply.
- Plan your reply. Decide who answers enquiries and how quickly. A fast reply wins work.
7. Local SEO basics
If you serve customers in a particular area, a few basics make a big difference to being found locally.
- Set up your Google Business Profile. It's free, and it's how you appear in Google Maps and local results.
- Keep your business details consistent. Use the same business name, contact details and service area on your website, Google profile and any directories.
- Say where you work. Mention the towns and areas you cover naturally in your page copy.
- Give every page a clear title and description. These are what people see in search results.
- Ask happy customers for reviews. On your Google profile, over time — never buy or fake them.
8. Legal pages
UK websites that collect personal information or use cookies have obligations under data protection and privacy law. This isn't legal advice, but most small business sites will need:
- A privacy policy. What personal data you collect (for example through a contact form), why, and how people can contact you about it.
- Cookie consent. If the site uses non-essential cookies, such as analytics or advertising, visitors should be able to accept or refuse them first.
- Terms, if you sell online. Delivery, returns and cancellation terms for e-commerce.
- Your business details. Limited companies have rules on displaying company information; check what applies to you.
You can see how we handle this on our own privacy policy.
9. Accessibility
An accessible site works for more people — including those using screen readers, keyboards or magnification — and tends to be clearer for everyone.
- Readable text. Good contrast between text and background, and a comfortable size.
- Descriptive links and headings. “See our prices” rather than “click here”.
- Alt text on meaningful images. A short description of what the image shows.
- Works with a keyboard. Menus, forms and buttons can all be used without a mouse.
10. Budget and timeline
- Set a realistic budget range. Include ongoing costs such as hosting, domain and changes, not just the build.
- Work back from any deadline. A launch, a season, an event. Allow time for content and feedback.
- Separate must-haves from nice-to-haves. You can launch with the essentials and add more later.
- Get a fixed written quote. Make sure it lists exactly what's included.
Our guide to how much a website costs explains budgets in more detail, and our pricing page shows what we charge. If you're in the area, we also offer web design in Southampton and across Hampshire.