Key takeaways
- A brief is a one- or two-page document that tells an agency what you sell, who you sell to, and what the website must do — it is the single biggest lever on the quality of what you get back.
- Include your real goals, target markets and buyers, product ranges, must-have pages, languages, three example sites you like, a budget range, a timeline, and who makes decisions.
- Good briefs describe outcomes ("buyers in the Gulf should find our hinges and ask for a quote"); bad briefs describe decoration ("make it look premium").
- A vague brief invites vague quotes, padded timelines, and a website that looks finished but does not sell. A sharp brief does the opposite.
## Why the brief matters more than the agency
Most exporter websites fail before a designer opens a file — they fail in the brief. "We need a modern website" gets you a modern-looking website. What you needed was enquiries from overseas buyers — and nothing in the brief said so.
An agency can only build what it understands. If it does not know your buyers, your markets, and what a visitor should do next, it fills the gaps with guesses: stock photos, a homepage slider, a contact form buried three clicks deep.
The fix costs nothing. A well-written brief takes an afternoon, and it changes everything downstream: sharper quotes, shorter timelines, fewer revisions. This post is a template for writing one.
## What a brief actually is
A brief is not a design document and not a contract. It is a one- or two-page summary answering the questions any competent agency needs before it can quote honestly:
1. What does your business do, in one paragraph?
2. Who is the website for — which buyers, in which markets?
3. What should the website make happen — enquiries, quote requests, catalogue downloads?
4. What must it contain — which pages, products, languages?
5. What does good look like — which existing sites do you admire, and why?
6. What are the practical limits — budget range, launch date, who decides?
Answer those six and you have a brief.
## Start with the goal, not the design
The first paragraph of your brief should state what the website is for in business terms. "We want a new website" is not a goal. "We want buyers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia to find our aluminium profiles on Google and send enquiries on WhatsApp" is a goal — an agency can design toward it, measure it, and be held to it.
Be specific about the action you want. For most exporters the website has one primary job: turn a stranger into an enquiry. Say so, and say how enquiries should arrive: a WhatsApp button, a quote form, an email address. List secondary jobs too — supporting distributors, hosting catalogues, reassuring buyers who check you after a trade fair. An agency that knows the hierarchy will put the enquiry path where buyers look, not where it looks tidy.
State what the website is not for, too. "No e-commerce needed" or "export only — our domestic site already exists" each save a round of revisions later.
## Describe your buyers and markets honestly
Agencies design for the audience you describe. "Everyone" produces a site for no one. Name your real buyers: distributors, wholesalers, contractors, project buyers, retail chains. Name your real markets: the countries your orders come from today, and the ones you want next.
This is where exporter briefs most often go thin, and where the money is. A buyer in Dubai worries about different things than a buyer in Hamburg — delivery routes, standards, payment terms. Name your markets and the agency can plan market-specific content: country pages, the right certifications, sensible contact hours. Write "worldwide" and you get one generic homepage that speaks to nobody.
Include what you know about how buyers behave: Google, Alibaba, trade fairs, referrals? WhatsApp or email? English or another language? Real behaviour beats imagined personas every time.
## List what the site must contain
You do not need to architect the sitemap yourself, but you should list the non-negotiables: the pages and content the site cannot launch without. For a typical exporter this means:
- Homepage stating what you make, for whom, and where to enquire — in the first screen, not the third.
- Product or range pages — one page per product family at minimum, with real specifications. Hundreds of products means a catalogue structure, not a handful of pages — say so upfront.
- About / factory page with real photos. Buyers use it as a trust check.
- Markets or country pages if you serve distinct regions with distinct proof.
- Contact page with every channel buyers use, plus working hours against buyer time zones.
- Proof: certifications, case studies, trade fair history — whatever answers "is this company real?"
List what you can supply and what you cannot. "We have product photos" versus "we need a shoot planned" changes the quote significantly — and the same goes for copywriting, which is cheaper to include now than to discover mid-project.
State the languages: English only, or which pages get translated into Arabic, Spanish or Chinese. Translation multiplies cost and timeline — agencies cannot guess your intent.
## Show, don't just tell: three example sites
Words like "modern" and "premium" mean different things to different people. Link three websites you like and write one sentence on each: the product pages on this one, the homepage clarity on that one, the enquiry flow on the third.
This is not copying — it is giving the designer a target words alone cannot convey.
Add one site you dislike, with a sentence on why: "not this — too much animation, we could not find the products."
## State a budget range and a real timeline
Many exporters omit the budget, hoping agencies will compete downward. Instead each agency guesses, and you get quotes from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars for effectively different projects. A range — "we expect to spend $1,000 to $2,000" — lets everyone quote the same project.
For reference: our business website is a one-time $749, and a catalogue website with full product structure is a one-time $1,499.
Timelines work the same way: "as soon as possible" means nothing; "launch before the October trade fair" means everything. Name who approves designs and supplies content — more projects stall waiting on the client than on the agency.
## What a good brief looks like vs a bad one
A bad brief (real pattern, lightly anonymised):
"We are a hardware manufacturer in Guangdong. We need a modern, premium website to show our company and products to overseas customers. Please quote. We want it fast and at a good price."
An agency receiving this knows nothing: which hardware, which customers, what "premium" means, what the site should make happen, what the budget is, or when "fast" ends. The quote it sends back will be a guess, and the website will be a guess built on a guess.
A good brief for the same company:
"We manufacture stainless steel glass-door hardware in Foshan and export to the Gulf, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Our buyers are distributors and project contractors who find us on Google and ask on WhatsApp.
Goal: the new site should bring quote enquiries from these markets — a WhatsApp button on every product page, plus a quote form.
Must include: homepage, 6 range pages (about 400 products total — we will supply the list), factory/about page with our photos, certifications page, contact page in English and Arabic.
We like the product pages on [site A] and the enquiry flow on [site B]. We do not want sliders or animation that slows the site.
Budget: $1,000–$2,000. Launch target: before our November trade fair. I approve all decisions; our sales manager supplies product text."
Same company — but the second brief lets an agency quote accurately and design with purpose. The difference cost one afternoon of thinking.
## Red flags in the replies you get back
A good brief also works as a filter. Watch how agencies respond to it:
- No questions. An agency that quotes without a single clarifying question did not read carefully. Expect the same attention during the build.
- Portfolio only, no process. How they work matters more than pretty past work: who writes copy, how many revision rounds, what happens after launch.
- "We do everything" without specifics. Ask how they will make your product pages findable on Google — if the answer is vague, their SEO will be too. For context, our work rewriting 433 product titles — many of them factory codes — into buyer language for Tina at TIDYMETAL is the unglamorous core of it.
- No mention of measurement. If nobody asks how you will know the site is working, nobody is designing for results.
- Suspiciously cheap, suspiciously fast. A catalogue website for the price of a logo is a template with your name on it.
The agencies worth hiring will push back on parts of your brief. That is a good sign.
## How a good brief saves you money
Every hour an agency spends guessing is an hour you pay for. Vague briefs produce vague first drafts, revision rounds, and delays — and every month without the new site is a month of lost enquiries.
A sharp brief compresses all of it: fewer wrong turns, a quote reflecting the real project instead of a risk premium. After launch, "quote enquiries from Gulf buyers" lets you judge the site against that sentence instead of arguing about taste.
If the brief feels like the hardest part, that is because it is the most valuable part. Our free audit looks at your current site the way a buyer and a search engine see it and ends with the first fixes in order — a solid starting point for any brief. If you already need the rebuild, our website design service starts from exactly this kind of briefing.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a brief be?
One to two pages: long enough to answer the six questions, short enough to be read. Ten pages of design instructions means you are doing the agency's job, worse. Describe outcomes and constraints; let them propose the solution.
Should I send the brief to many agencies?
Three to five. Fewer and you cannot compare; more and you drown in replies. Send the identical brief to all so quotes are comparable.
Do I need to know what I want the site to look like?
No. Know what the site is for, who it serves, and what it must contain — the look is the agency's job. "Make the enquiry button impossible to miss" is a good instruction; "use a blue gradient header" is not.
What if I don't know my budget?
Give a range anyway — "somewhere between $800 and $2,500" beats silence. If you truly have no idea, ask each agency to quote two options: essentials and the full version.
Who should write the brief on our side?
The person who talks to buyers — usually sales, not IT. The brief needs real buyer behaviour, and one decision-maker must own approvals so the project does not stall.
Can I brief an agency if my product data is a mess?
Yes — but say so. "Our 400 products are listed by factory code in a spreadsheet" is honest and quotable. T-065, a real code for an iron furniture corner angle bracket, is exactly the kind of code buyers never search — which is why our rebuild work starts with titles before design. ## Start with the afternoon, not the agency Take an afternoon, answer the six questions, attach three example sites, state your budget and deadline. Compare not just prices but the questions agencies ask back — the best one usually interrogates your brief hardest. Want a second pair of eyes first? Our free audit tells you what your current site is telling buyers right now, and the first fixes in order.
