Edip Kilinc is the founder of Webwavers. Together with his team, he develops websites, brands, and digital presences for ambitious companies – with over 250 completed projects, and honored with awards including the German Design Award 2026.
The goal. Not a new website, but what should change afterwards. More inquiries? Better inquiries? Less explanation effort in sales? Job applications? Every goal leads to a different page.
The target group. Who makes the decision, who pre-screens, who co-decides. In B2B, these are rarely the same people, and they need different information.
The scope. How many pages, what functions. A contact form is different from a configurator, a blog is different from a client portal.
The content. Who writes the texts, who provides images, what is already there, what is missing. This is the point where most projects get stuck.
The deadline. And whether it is truly fixed. A trade fair date is a different kind of pressure than "as soon as possible."
Anyone who answers these five will get comparable offers instead of five numbers that have nothing to do with each other.
The goal. Not a new website, but what should change afterwards. More inquiries? Better inquiries? Less explanation effort in sales? Job applications? Every goal leads to a different page.
The target group. Who makes the decision, who pre-screens, who co-decides. In B2B, these are rarely the same people, and they need different information.
The scope. How many pages, what functions. A contact form is different from a configurator, a blog is different from a client portal.
The content. Who writes the texts, who provides images, what is already there, what is missing. This is the point where most projects get stuck.
The deadline. And whether it is truly fixed. A trade fair date is a different kind of pressure than "as soon as possible."
Anyone who answers these five will get comparable offers instead of five numbers that have nothing to do with each other.
Three pieces of information are missing from almost every briefing and cost the most later on.
The budget. The concern is that the agency will max it out. However, without a framework, you will receive offers for three different projects. A range is sufficient: between ten and fifteen is a useful indicator.
The internal decision-making structure. Who approves it? If the managing director looks at it for the first time after the third round, the project starts over. This belongs in the briefing, not in the course of the project.
What must not be changed. Logo, corporate color, a specific claim, an existing software. Every agency plans around constraints if they know them – and right past them if they don't.
A fourth point that is rarely included: What didn't work last time? The answer to this usually prevents a repetition.
The most common delay in web projects is: the texts are not coming.
This does not happen out of ill will, but because writing texts alongside daily business is a task that can always be postponed. The design is ready, everything is waiting for twelve pages of content, and months go by.
Therefore, a clear decision belongs in the briefing: Do you write it yourselves, does the agency write it, or do you write drafts that the agency revises? All three ways work. The fourth one – we'll see – does not work.
The same goes for images. Existing material, a photoshoot, or stock material are three different budgets and three different schedules.
If you know that you don't have time for texts: write it down. An agency factors that in. What they cannot do is wait for something they assumed would come.
Technology belongs in the briefing, but as a requirement, not as a solution.
Good: The editorial team must be able to change content without developers. The site must be multilingual, German and English. Inquiries should automatically land in the CRM. We need a way to offer PDFs in exchange for an email address.
Less good: We want WordPress. By doing so, you define the solution before the problem is described – and rule out paths that would be cheaper or more durable.
The exception: If competence for a specific system already exists internally, that is a real argument and should be mentioned.
This includes information on existing inventory: Where is the domain hosted? Who manages the email addresses? Which tools are already running? A change without this information is always more expensive than one with.
A website briefing doesn't need to be thirty pages long. Two to four are enough, if they contain the right things.
An outline that has proven itself:
The company – what you do, for whom, since when, how many people.
The occasion – why a new website now.
The goal – how you will measure in a year whether it worked.
The target groups – and what each of them wants to know.
The scope – pages, functions, languages.
Content – who delivers what and by when.
Technology and assets – what stays, what goes.
Framework – budget, deadline, decision-makers.
Examples – two to three websites that you like, with one sentence explaining why. The sentence is more important than the links.
Nothing more is needed. A good agency will ask about anything that is missing anyway.
A briefing only pays off when you read the subsequent proposals correctly.
A good proposal states assumptions. We estimate based on twelve pages, copy is provided by you, a photo shoot is not included. This makes it comparable and renegotiable.
It has phases with deliverables, not just a total sum. Concept, design, implementation, testing, launch – each with what is delivered at the end.
It says what is not included. Maintenance, hosting, future changes, translations.
It asks follow-up questions. An agency that submits a proposal for a briefing without asking a single question has either not read it or is delivering a template.
A proposal that only contains a number and a list of services is not a basis – neither for a decision nor for a project.
