Website Development Brief Template for Indian Businesses

1. Set the audience, goals and outcomes
2. List page types and user journeys
3. Assign content, image and approval responsibilities
4. Specify CMS, forms, payments and integrations
5. Define SEO, performance and accessibility checks
6. Clarify accounts, code, licences and hosting
7. Compare scope, exclusions, milestones and support
8. Copy the complete brief and acceptance checklist
9. Frequently asked questions

Start with who will use the site and what they should do. For example: “Homeowners in Noida looking for interior design should be able to see our work and request a site visit.” That sentence tells a developer more than a list of colours.

Then add one or two measurable outcomes, such as “more enquiry forms submitted” or “fewer calls asking for our price list”. Avoid promising traffic numbers in the brief; instead, describe what the site must make possible.

List the pages you need, and then describe the two or three most important journeys through them. A journey might be: “Visitor lands on a service page from Google, reads the price range, sees two projects and submits the enquiry form.”

Journeys help developers design navigation and calls to action. They also help you spot missing pages before the quote, which is cheaper than adding them later.

Content is the most common cause of delayed launches. So, decide in the brief who writes the text, who supplies photos, and who approves each page. If the developer is writing copy, say so, because it changes the quote. Also, set a turnaround time for approvals, for example “feedback within three working days”.

Name the content management system if you have a preference, such as WordPress, and who will update content after launch. Next, list each form, where its submissions should go, and any integrations: WhatsApp, a CRM, a payment gateway, a booking calendar or Google Maps. If you are unsure which platform suits you, our comparison of WordPress and custom websites explains the trade-offs.

Quality requirements should be testable. Otherwise, “SEO-friendly” and “fast” mean whatever the developer chooses.

• SEO: each page has a unique title, meta description and one H1; important text is in the HTML; links are crawlable; existing URLs are kept or redirected. Google’s Search Essentials describe these basics.
• Performance: agree to measure Core Web Vitals. Google defines good as LCP within 2.5 seconds, INP within 200 milliseconds and CLS of 0.1 or less (web.dev).
• Accessibility: use WCAG 2.2 success criteria as a checklist, for example text alternatives for images (1.1.1), contrast of at least 4.5:1 for normal text (1.4.3), keyboard access (2.1.1) and tap targets of at least 24 by 24 CSS pixels (2.5.8) (W3C).

Note that a checklist alone does not make a site legally compliant with any accessibility law. It simply gives you and the developer a shared, testable standard.

This section protects you if you change developers later. In the brief, state that:

• The domain is registered in your business’s name and login.
• Hosting, Google Analytics, Search Console and Google Business Profile accounts are owned by you, with the developer added as a user.
• You receive admin access and, for custom builds, the source code.
• Paid themes, plugins, fonts and images are licensed in your name or clearly listed as the developer’s.

Once you send the same brief to each developer, compare quotes line by line.

Quote-comparison table

The cheapest quote is often the one with the most exclusions. Therefore, compare what is included before comparing price.

Website development brief (14 fields)

Hypothetical example: five-page service business

Illustrative only. A physiotherapy clinic in Gurugram needs Home, Services, About, Reviews and Contact pages. The goal is appointment requests by form and WhatsApp. The owner supplies photos, the developer writes copy, and the clinic manager approves within three days. The site uses WordPress with one enquiry form sent to email and WhatsApp. Ecommerce and complex CRM automation are explicitly out of scope. The clinic owns the domain, hosting and Google accounts.

Acceptance checklist before final payment

• All agreed pages are live with approved content.
• Every form submits successfully and reaches the right inbox or CRM.
• Each page has a unique title, meta description and one H1.
• Old URLs redirect to the right new pages, if any changed.
• Site works on a phone, tablet and desktop, and passes the agreed accessibility checks.
• Analytics and Search Console are connected under your account.
• You have admin logins, licence details and a backup.

Fill in the fourteen fields above before you request your next quote. If you would like us to quote against your brief, see our website development service or send us your brief.

• Google Search Central, Google Search Essentials (checked 25 October 2026).
• web.dev, Web Vitals (checked 25 October 2026).
• W3C, How to Meet WCAG 2.2 (Quick Reference) and Understanding Target Size (Minimum) (checked 25 October 2026).