How to brief a new firm website in an hour (with a template)

Most firm websites are briefed in one meeting that ends with “you know what we do, make it look good”. The builder then guesses at what only the firm knows: which clients it wants, what it will not touch, and how it charges. Those guesses become the homepage.

A brief fixes that. Pull four things together first and you can fill in the template below in about an hour, whoever builds the site: you on a template, a freelancer, an agency or a studio. The builder brings craft. The brief brings the decisions.

A good builder will ask, but cannot answer these for you:

• Who the site is for. “Small businesses” is not an answer. “Trades businesses with two to twenty staff who have outgrown doing their own books” is.
• What a win looks like. More enquiries is rarely the goal. Better enquiries usually is.
• What you want to stop attracting. Most firms have a client type they would rather not onboard again.
• How you want to be contacted. A booking link, a form, a phone number, or all three, and who answers each.

If you have not settled who you are marketing to, start with The Firm’s accounting firm marketing guide. A vague ideal client produces a vague website.

A vague ideal client produces a vague website.

1. A list of every URL on your current site. Export it from your website platform, your sitemap (usually at yourdomain/sitemap.xml) or Google Search Console. It is the most skipped step in any rebuild.
2. Your top pages and top searches. From Search Console and your analytics, note which pages bring people in and on which queries. Those pages need a clear new home.
3. Where your last twenty good clients came from. Referral, search, a partner, a seminar. Your practice management system (Xero Practice Manager, FYI, Kloud Connect, AccountKit or Karbon) may hold the source if you record it. If not, ask the team.
4. A login list. Who holds the domain, DNS, hosting, Google Business Profile and analytics. If the answer is “the last web person”, fix that first.

Copy the sections below into a document and answer every line. Short answers are fine, and so is “not sure”, written down so the builder knows to ask.

Short answers are fine, and so is “not sure”, written down so the builder knows to ask.

1. Goals

• The one thing this site must do better than the current one:
• What a good enquiry looks like (type of business, size, need):
• How we will measure it after launch (enquiries by source, booked calls, a named page’s traffic):
• Launch date we are working to, and why:

2. Ideal client

• Who we want more of (industry, size, stage, location):
• The problem they have when they go looking for an accountant:
• Words they use to describe that problem (from emails and first calls, not our jargon):
• Who we do not want, and how the site should politely signal it:

3. Services and niches

• Core services, in the order we want to sell them:
• Niches or industries that deserve their own page:
• Services we offer but do not want to promote:
• Services we do not offer (so the site never implies them):

4. How we charge

• Method: fixed monthly packages, fixed price per job, scoped per engagement, or a mix:
• Whether the site shows prices, a “from” guide, or explains the method only (our decision, not the builder’s):
• What happens between enquiry and proposal (a call, a questionnaire, a proposal in Ignition or similar):

5. Proof

• Client testimonials we have written permission to use, with names and businesses:
• Case studies or before-and-after stories we can tell honestly:
• Credentials, memberships and registrations (with numbers where they apply):
• Team members who will appear, with current photos and short bios:

6. Voice

• Three words for how we sound, and one word we never want to sound like:
• Two websites (any industry) whose tone we like, and what we like about them:
• Who approves copy, and how quickly they can turn it around:

7. Pages

• Must-have pages: home, services, one page per niche, about and team, contact:
• Useful extras: pricing approach, client resources, careers, a “new client” page explaining onboarding:
• Existing content worth keeping (articles, guides, calculators):

8. Must-keep URLs and redirects

• Attach the full URL export from the prep step.
• For every old URL: the new URL it should redirect to, or “retire” with a reason.
• Pages that must keep their exact URL (links from partners, directories, printed material):
• Who checks the redirects work on launch day:

9. Integrations and links

• Booking: the tool, and which calendars it books into:
• Enquiry forms: where each submission goes (an inbox, a CRM, or straight into practice management) and who is notified:
• Client portal and document request links (the login for your practice management or document tool, or an onboarding tool like Content Snare):
• Newsletter signup, if any, and which list it feeds:

10. Compliance lines

• Registration symbols and numbers we must display, and where:
• Limited liability or professional standards wording, if we participate in a scheme:
• Privacy policy, terms, and cookie or tracking notice owner:
• Who at the firm signs off that these are correct:

11. Access checklist

Account	What to record
Domain registrar	Account holder is the firm (yes or no), login owner:
DNS	Where it is managed, and who can change records (email records live here too):
Hosting and website platform	Current logins:
Google Business Profile	The firm is an owner, the builder is invited as a manager:
Analytics and Google Search Console	The firm owns the property, the builder has their own user:

12. How we will judge it

• Our top five pages from the prep step each have a clear new home:
• A stranger can tell in ten seconds who we help and how to start:
• Every form and booking link has been tested end to end:
• It works on a phone as well as a desktop:

Redirects

Google’s own guidance on moving a site with URL changes is plain: map each old URL to its new one, use server-side permanent redirects (a 301 or 308), keep them “for as long as possible, generally at least 1 year”, and submit the new sitemap in Search Console. Skip it and the old pages’ search visibility goes with them. Scope it in the brief, not the week after launch.

How you charge

Prospects want to know how you price long before they want a number. A page that explains the method, what is included and what changes the scope answers most of the questions that clog up first calls. Our guide to how clients weigh hourly, fixed and value pricing shows what they are trying to work out. Whether you publish figures is your call. The brief only needs the method.

Prospects want to know how you price long before they want a number.

Compliance lines

These vary by country and professional body. Two Australian examples show why they belong in the brief. The Tax Practitioners Board’s symbol guidelines say registered tax practitioners “must use the symbol in conjunction with their registration number”, and a firm’s own registration number, not a partner’s, where the firm is the registered entity. CPA Australia tells members participating in its professional standards scheme to carry the statement “Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation” on promotional material. Elsewhere, check your state board of accountancy or professional body’s advertising rules. This is journalism, not legal advice: your body’s current guidance is the source of truth.

Access

Google Business Profile lets an owner invite people as owners or managers, each on their own Google account, so there is no reason to share a password. Managers cannot add or remove users. Treat analytics and Search Console the same way: the firm owns the property, the builder is a user removed when the project ends. If a former builder registered your domain in their name, fix that before the rebuild, not during it.

Read the first version against the brief, not your taste:

Test	What to check
Section 2	Would your ideal client recognise their problem in the first screen of the homepage?
Section 3	Does every niche you listed have a page, and does anything imply a service you do not offer?
Section 8	Take ten old URLs from the export and visit them. Each should land on the right new page, not the homepage and not an error.
Section 9	Submit every form and make a test booking. Confirm each lands where the brief says it should.
Section 10	Have the person named in the brief sign off the compliance lines in writing.

Then look past launch. Search engines and AI assistants both read the site, and our guide to AI-ready websites covers what makes a firm’s pages readable and quotable to them. If you are also reviewing the tools behind your forms, booking and portal, the Tech Stack Directory lists them by category.

How long should a website brief be?

Long enough to answer every line of the template, which for most firms is a few pages. A sharp ideal client and a complete URL list beat twenty pages of adjectives.

What should I ask a web builder before I hire them?

Ask who writes the copy, how redirects from your old site are handled, who owns the domain, hosting and analytics at the end, how many revision rounds are included, what happens if the date slips, and what ongoing costs exist after launch. Ask for the answer to the pricing question in writing, with what is and is not included.

Do I need a new website or just better pages?

Often the second. If your top pages already bring the right people in and the gap is thin service pages or missing niche pages, rewriting on the current site may do more than a rebuild. The prep step usually makes the answer obvious.

Should the brief include our logo and brand colours?

Include whatever you have: logo files, colours, fonts, any brand guide. If you have none, say whether the builder is being asked to create them. A new identity is a separate job with its own decisions, and bundling it in quietly tends to push the date out.

Who at the firm should own the website project?

One person with authority to approve copy and the time to answer questions within a day or two. The partners agree the brief up front, then delegate approvals to that owner. Committees stall builds.