Website Development Brief: What to Give a Nigerian Developer

A website project can become expensive and stressful when the developer has to guess what you want. A clear brief helps you explain your goals, compare proposals properly and receive a website that works for your audience.

This is especially important for Nigerian businesses, publishers, creators and organisations serving people at home and abroad. A website may need to support mobile users, Nigerian payment options, local contact details, social media traffic, online forms, fast loading and visitors with different levels of technical experience.

Your brief does not need to use complicated technical language. It needs to explain the problem the website should solve and the result you expect.

Start with the purpose of the website

Begin with a short description of what the website is for. Avoid saying only that you need “a professional website”. Almost every website project uses that phrase, but it does not tell a developer what to build.

Explain the main action you want visitors to take. For example, visitors may need to:

• Read news, football updates, technology guides or educational information.
• Buy products or book a service.
• Submit an application or enquiry.
• Register for an event, course or creator programme.
• Contact your team through WhatsApp, email or a form.
• Subscribe to updates.
• Find your physical location or service areas.

A useful purpose statement could be: “We need a mobile-friendly information website that helps Nigerians find practical guides, browse categories, search articles and contact our team.”

Describe your audience

Tell the developer who the website is intended for. Include their location, likely devices, level of technical knowledge and reason for visiting.

For example, a digital information platform may serve students, jobseekers, football fans, online shoppers, travellers, creators and people looking for financial or technology guidance. These visitors may arrive from Google, Facebook, WhatsApp or search results and may use affordable Android phones and mobile data.

This information affects important decisions such as page layout, font sizes, image compression, navigation, search, hosting and loading speed. A website designed for mobile-first readers should not be treated as a desktop website that happens to shrink on a phone.

List the pages you expect

Give the developer an initial sitemap. It can change later, but a starting list makes the scope clearer and helps identify missing work.

A basic business website might include:

• Home
• About
• Services or products
• Individual service or product pages
• Blog or news section
• Contact
• Privacy policy
• Terms of use

A content platform may need additional sections such as football, technology, education, travel, finance, online safety and tutorials. It may also need category pages, author profiles, search results, related articles and a system for publishing new posts.

State which pages you will provide content for and which pages the developer is expected to create. If text, images, logos or videos are not ready, say so early.

Explain the features, not just the design

Design describes how a website looks. Features describe what it must do. Write down the functions that are essential to the project.

Possible features include:

• Content management so your team can publish and edit articles.
• Search and category filters.
• Contact forms and enquiry notifications.
• Newsletter subscriptions.
• Online payments or checkout.
• Customer accounts and order history.
• Appointment or event booking.
• Social sharing buttons.
• Comments or user submissions.
• Downloadable documents.
• Integration with analytics, email or social platforms.

Separate essential features from optional ideas. If everything is described as urgent, the developer may produce a larger quote than you can afford, or the project may become difficult to manage.

Be specific about Nigerian requirements

Tell the developer which local needs matter to your users. These may include payment methods used by your customers, Nigerian phone-number formats, WhatsApp communication, local delivery areas, prices in naira, Nigerian addresses or support for visitors living abroad.

If the website will collect personal information, discuss what data is needed and why. Do not collect sensitive information simply because a form can be built. Passwords, PINs, one-time passwords, card details and recovery phrases should never be requested through an ordinary enquiry form.

For financial, recruitment, education or immigration-related websites, make it clear whether the site is providing information, collecting applications or processing transactions. These are different responsibilities and may require different security and privacy arrangements.

Provide examples without demanding a copy

Send two or three websites that show what you like. Explain what you like about each one: the navigation, colours, article layout, checkout process, search tool or mobile experience.

Also identify what you do not want. A developer can create a better result when they understand your preferences, but copying another website can create legal, branding and usability problems. Your examples should be references, not instructions to duplicate someone else’s work.

Clarify branding and content

Give the developer your logo, brand colours, preferred fonts, images and any existing brand guidelines. If you do not have these, ask whether branding support is included or priced separately.

Content responsibilities should be written down. Confirm:

• Who writes the text?
• Who supplies images and videos?
• Who checks facts and approves pages?
• Who uploads articles or products?
• How many pages or products are included?
• Who creates future content after launch?

For a news or information platform, the publishing workflow matters as much as the visual design. You may need multiple user accounts, author roles, scheduled posts, featured images, tags, categories and the ability to update or correct an article quickly.

Ask about hosting, domain names and email

Your brief should state whether you already own a domain name and hosting account. If not, ask the developer to explain the available options and what each service costs. Confirm who will own the domain, hosting account, website files and business email accounts.

Do not allow important accounts to exist only under a developer’s personal email address. Use an email account controlled by your organisation, keep login details secure and ask for administrator access.

Ask how backups, software updates, downtime and technical support will be handled. A low initial quote may not include maintenance, security monitoring, backups or future changes.

Discuss performance and security

Ask for a website that works well on mobile devices and slower connections. The brief can request compressed images, sensible use of video, clean navigation and testing on common screen sizes.

Security should also be part of the project from the beginning. Ask about secure passwords, administrator permissions, software updates, backups, form protection and the handling of personal data. If the site accepts payments, ask which payment provider will be used and what responsibility belongs to the provider, the developer and your organisation.

Never send a developer your banking PIN, OTP, card PIN or private cryptocurrency recovery phrase. Technical access should be provided through appropriate user accounts and permissions, not by sharing confidential financial credentials.

Set a realistic budget and delivery plan

You do not need to know the exact technical cost before speaking to a developer, but you should provide a budget range if possible. Ask for the proposal to separate:

• Design and development.
• Domain and hosting.
• Content entry.
• Paid themes, plugins or software.
• Payment or third-party service charges.
• Testing and launch.
• Training and post-launch support.

Request milestones rather than one unexplained delivery date. A typical structure may include discovery, design approval, development, content entry, testing, revisions, launch and handover. Confirm how many revision rounds are included and what happens if the scope changes.

Include acceptance criteria

Acceptance criteria explain how you will decide that the project is complete. They may include:

• The agreed pages are published.
• The site works on mobile and desktop screens.
• Forms send messages to the correct email address.
• Payments, bookings or account functions have been tested.
• Links, menus and search work correctly.
• Editors can publish and update content.
• Basic backups and security settings are enabled.
• You have received the required access, files and training.

Test the important user journey yourself. For example, a customer should be able to arrive from a phone, find a service, understand the price or next step and contact or pay without confusion.

A simple brief structure you can send

1. Project name: Give the website a clear working name.
2. Purpose: State the main problem and desired outcome.
3. Audience: Describe who will use it and where they are located.
4. Pages: List the expected sections.
5. Features: Separate essential and optional functions.
6. Content and branding: Explain what is ready and what is missing.
7. Local requirements: Mention payments, currency, communication and service areas.
8. Technical needs: Include hosting, email, integrations, performance and security.
9. Budget and schedule: Provide a range and preferred milestones.
10. Handover: Request ownership, access, training, backups and support terms.

The useful takeaway

A good website brief protects both you and the developer. It reduces guesswork, exposes hidden costs and keeps the project focused on what visitors need to do.

Before requesting a quote, write down the website’s purpose, audience, pages, essential features, content responsibilities, Nigerian user requirements and definition of completion. A developer can help choose the technology, but only you can clearly describe the outcome your organisation needs.