How to Write a Website Brief in Monaco

Most website projects that go wrong in Monaco don't fail in the design or the code. They fail in the first email, when a business owner writes "we need a new website, can you send a quote?" and three agencies quote on three different projects. One prices a template, one a custom build, one a full brand overhaul. The numbers can't be compared, and whichever offer you accept, part of what you expected isn't in it.

A good brief fixes this. It doesn't need to be long or technical. Two to four pages, written by the person who knows the business best, will do more for your budget and your timeline than any amount of negotiation later.

Start with the business problem, not the page list

The most useful sentence in a brief explains why you're doing this now. "Our enquiries come almost entirely from referrals and we want the site to generate qualified leads from abroad" leads to a very different project from "our site looks dated next to our competitors" or "we're launching a second activity and need it to be visible separately".

Then say how you'll judge success in a year. Pick one or two measures you can actually track: enquiries per month, online bookings, newsletter sign-ups, sales, or fewer phone calls asking the same questions. If you can't name a measure, that's a sign the project needs a strategy conversation before a design one.

Finally, describe who the site is for. In Monaco that often means several quite different audiences: residents, international clients who've never visited, intermediaries such as family offices or relocation agents, and future employees. Say which one matters most. Agencies can design for any of them, but not for all of them equally on the same homepage.

Describe what exists today

An agency can only estimate the work if it knows the starting point. List the current website address, the platform it runs on if you know it, who hosts it, and who controls the domain name. That last point causes more delays than anything else, especially for .mc domains registered years ago by a former employee or supplier.

Note what works and what doesn't. Which pages bring in enquiries? What do clients complain about? What do you never want to see again? Mention any tools the site must connect to: a CRM, a booking system, a property feed, a payment provider, a newsletter platform. Integrations are where quotes vary most, so naming them early prevents surprises.

Be precise about languages and content

Language is the single biggest cost multiplier on Monaco websites, and briefs are often vague about it. State which languages you need at launch, which can follow later, and whether every page must exist in every language or only the core ones. "French and English, with Italian for the main service pages" is a brief an agency can price. "Multilingual" isn't.

Then be honest about who writes the content. Will you supply finished texts in each language, or do you need copywriting and native translation? Do you have professional photography, or will it need to be commissioned? Content is the most common reason a website launches late. Agencies are rarely the bottleneck. Waiting for texts and approvals usually is. If you want a site built properly for several languages, including separate URLs and search visibility in each one, see our approach to multilingual websites.

Separate must-haves from nice-to-haves

A brief that lists twenty features as equally essential gets priced as if they all are. Split your list into three columns: needed at launch, useful within six months, and ideas to discuss. This lets agencies propose a sensible first phase and gives you room to control the budget without cutting what matters.

Typical must-haves for a Monaco service business include fast mobile pages, a clear enquiry or booking path, the legal pages and data protection information required under Monaco's Law No. 1.565, cookie consent that actually works, and a content management system your team can use without calling a developer. Nice-to-haves might be a client portal, a blog, or an AI assistant. They can be valuable, but they don't have to be in phase one.

Give a budget range and a real deadline

Many business owners hold back the budget, hoping to get the "true" price. In practice this produces quotes that are impossible to compare, because each agency guesses a different scale. A range such as "€15,000 to €25,000 for launch, plus a monthly budget for maintenance" lets agencies tell you what is realistic at that level and where they'd put the money.

Do the same with timing. If the date is fixed, a trade show, a season opening, a product launch, say so and explain why. If it's flexible, say that too. Fixed dates change how a project is planned and staffed.

If you plan to apply for public co-financing, mention it in the brief. Monaco's Fonds Bleu has co-financed many website and digital projects, and a clear scope makes the application file easier to prepare. Eligibility rules and timing are set by the scheme, so confirm the current conditions before you sign anything, and check whether work must not start before approval. We explain how this fits into a project on our Fonds Bleu website page.

Ask agencies the same questions

To compare answers fairly, end your brief with a short list of questions every agency must answer. For example: what exactly is included and what would be billed as extra; who will work on the project day to day; how many rounds of revisions are included; who owns the design, code and accounts at the end; what maintenance and hosting cost per year; and how long they'd need before launch.

Ask for two or three relevant examples, ideally from businesses of a similar size or sector. A beautiful portfolio from a different market tells you less than one comparable project that launched on time and still brings in enquiries. Our guide to web design in Monaco explains what a well-run project looks like from the first workshop to launch.

A brief is a working document

Your brief won't be perfect, and it doesn't need to be. Its job is to start the right conversation. A good agency will challenge parts of it, suggest cutting something, or point out a risk you hadn't seen. That reaction is useful in itself. An agency that sends a quote back without a single question has probably not read it closely.

Send the same brief to no more than three agencies, give them a week or two to respond, and meet the ones whose questions were best.

If you'd like help shaping your brief, or a second opinion on the quotes you've received, get in touch. We're happy to look at it with you, even before you've decided who will build the site.