Website Man journal
A brief is not a mood board. It is seven lines a designer can price: what you sell, who buys, the one action, the pages, your proof, your date, and your budget. Here is the page to send, and the three lines that decide what the site costs. Last updated: November 2026 · by the Website Man team
The one-page brief
Write each line in one sentence. Attach what you already have and send it before you ask for a price.
A good brief fits on one page: what you sell, who buys it, the one action the site must produce, the pages you need, the proof you can hand over, your deadline, and your budget. Then every quote describes the same job, so you compare numbers instead of sales talk.
| Line | What to write | What it protects |
|---|---|---|
| 1. What you sell | One sentence, in your customer's words. Example: corporate catering for offices in Durban North, 20 to 200 people. | Stops a designer building a generic site for the wrong buyer |
| 2. Who buys | Who decides, what they compare, and where they are when they look. Example: office managers booking a quarterly event on a phone. | Content answers the real question instead of describing your history |
| 3. The one action | The single thing a visitor should do. Example: request a quote on WhatsApp with the event date and headcount. | Every page points at one button, so the build has one job |
| 4. The pages | List the pages you actually need. Example: home, menus, about, contact. | You pay for five pages, not fifteen nobody reads |
| 5. The proof | What you can hand over today: photos, price list, menu, reviews, logo. Example: 20 photos, a menu PDF, 14 Google reviews. | No stock filler, no invented claims, no waiting on a photographer |
| 6. The date | The day it must be live, and why. Example: live by 1 December for the festive season. | The timeline gets quoted upfront instead of discovered at the end |
| 7. The budget | A band, not a single number. Example: R4,000 to R6,000 once-off, plus R500 a month after launch. | You hear what fits and what does not in the first reply |
Examples above are illustrative, not clients. If you want to know what a designer should answer before you sign anything, read how to choose a web designer. If you want the numbers first, Website Man pricing lists every band.
What decides the price
Designers price scope, not effort. These three lines set the scope.
A site that must produce WhatsApp messages is built differently from one that must take card payments. Say which it is. "Modern and professional" gives a designer nothing to price. "Guests compare us to two other guest houses and book on a phone at 22:00" gives direction for every page, heading, and button.
One page with WhatsApp ordering starts at R4,000. A full site with home, about, services, gallery, and contact starts at R10,000, with two revision rounds and the first month of maintenance included. A store with catalog, cart, checkout, and accounts starts at R15,000. If your brief lists fifteen pages but your budget is a landing page, the brief is the problem, not the quote.
A designer who receives your photos, prices, and reviews on day one can show a preview fast. A designer waiting on your logo waits on everything after it. Name who signs off, and put the launch date in the brief. You approve the preview before you pay, and a landing page includes one revision round, so late feedback is the most common reason a site misses its date. See what websites cost in South Africa for the bands.
Questions
Seven lines: what you sell, who buys it, the one action the site must produce, the pages you need, the proof you can supply, the date you need it live, and your budget band. One page is enough. Attach your logo, photos, price list, and any reviews.
Yes. A budget band saves rounds of quotes you will never accept. It also shows what is possible at that level: a landing page from R4,000 is one page with one revision round, so a ten page request is a different job at a different price.
Under an hour. Answer the seven lines in plain language, attach what you already have, and send it. A designer who needs more detail will ask a follow-up question before quoting.
Your logo if you have one, photos of your work or premises, your price list or menu, your Google review link, and the domain name if you own one. If you have none of these, say so in the brief. That is a cost to quote, not a surprise later.
Keep reading: How to choose a web designer · Website costs in SA · Landing page versus full website · All posts
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Message any day between 08:00 and 20:00 with the seven lines above. Straight answer, exact price, and you approve the preview before you pay.
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