The perfect brief for your Odoo website.

Every day I get requests that look like this: “Hello, I'd like a quote for an Odoo website.” That's it. No pages, no clear idea, no features. And every time, I have to give the same answer: to price this properly, I need to know more. Not because I enjoy making life complicated. Because without information, any figure I gave you would be a lie.

A website can cost next to nothing or take a good many person-days. It all depends on what goes into it. And the only way to land on the right figure is to have a clear brief up front. Here's what we need from you, in practical terms, so we can work together.

Why a brief, seriously.

A brief isn't a 40-page specification. It isn't a legal document. It's simply a document that answers three simple questions: which pages, which features, what content. From there, we can estimate the work involved. And therefore the scope.

Without a brief, we go round in circles. We send you a rough quote, you ask us to add three things, we redo the quote, you change your mind, we redo it again. In the end, we've lost two weeks before the project has even started. And we're left with a quote that no longer reflects reality.

A good brief also helps set expectations. If you want 12 pages but your budget covers 6, it's better to know straight away. We'd rather tell you “here's what we can do within this budget” than discover the gap halfway through.

The sitemap, your list of pages.

The sitemap is the complete list of pages on your website. One page = one tab in your menu, or a page reachable from somewhere on the site. No need for Figma or a complicated diagram. A simple bullet list will do.

Here's a typical example for a brochure site:

• Home
• About (who we are, the team, our story)
• Services (main page + 3 detailed sub-pages)
• Portfolio (project gallery)
• Blog (listing + article page)
• Contact (form + details)

This list is open for discussion. We often remove pages, and sometimes merge them. The idea isn't to build a sprawling site: a good site has few pages, done well. If you're torn between two structures, say so. We'll talk it through.

The trap of the growing sitemap

On every project there's a temptation to add a “team” page, a “values” page, a “news” page, a “partners” page. Taken one by one, each of these pages seems useful. Put together, they turn the site into a maze that nobody will read.

Our rule: if a page doesn't have a clear purpose (selling, reassuring, converting, informing), it doesn't deserve to exist. Better a site of 6 solid pages than one of 15 hollow ones.

A web project without a brief is like a journey without a destination. You can walk for a long time, you won't get anywhere.

WebNest Manifesto

The features, what needs to work.

Once the sitemap is set, we talk about features. That's everything that isn't static content. Anything that requires development, configuration or an Odoo module. For each feature, the more precise you are, the more accurate the quote.

The features we come across most often:

• Contact form. Which fields? Sent to which address? With or without an automatic reply?
• Blog. How many articles at launch? Categories? Multiple authors? Linked newsletter?
• eCommerce. How many products? Variants? Promotions? Payment methods? Delivery within Belgium or international?
• Recruitment. Odoo Jobs module? How many job listings? Application form with CV upload?
• Events and ticketing. Odoo Events module? Ticket sales? Free registration? Calendar?
• Multilingual. Which languages? All pages or just some? Translations supplied or still to be commissioned?

“I want a blog” is vague. “I want a blog with 2 categories, 8 articles at launch, and a newsletter linked to Mailchimp” can be priced. Precision is what turns an intention into a project.

The content, who writes it and who supplies it.

This is the question that stalls half of all web projects. The site is structurally ready. But the content isn't there. No final copy, no photos, no logos in good resolution. And the project sits waiting for weeks.

In your brief, state clearly:

• Who writes the copy? You? A copywriter? Should we recommend someone?
• Do you already have good-quality photos? If not, we work with a partner photographer.
• Do you have a logo in SVG or high resolution?
• Do you have brand guidelines (colours, typography) or do they still need to be created?

If you have none of this, that's fine. But we need to know, because time has to be set aside for it. A site without content isn't a site. It's a skeleton.

Our recommendation

Prepare your copy before signing the quote. Not the polished final version, just a rough draft. It lets us calibrate section lengths, the number of blocks and the pace of the site. And it avoids surprises when it's time to fill the pages.

The references, what it should look like.

An effective brief includes 3 to 5 reference sites. Not to copy them, but so we understand your visual world. It saves us from presenting an art direction that has nothing to do with what you had in mind.

Good references aren't necessarily competitors. They might be:

• A site whose typography you like
• A site whose colours you like
• A site whose animations you like
• A site whose homepage structure you like

For each reference, tell us what you like about it. “I like the italic serif type in the hero” is a hundred times more useful than “I like this site”. We can then work out how to bring those ingredients into your project, without imitating.

The checklist for the perfect brief.

If you can tick off the points below, you're sending us a brief we can work on within two days. We'll send you back a precise quote with a clear schedule, and we can get started right away.

• The list of pages is fixed (sitemap).
• The main features are described.
• The content organisation is clear (who supplies what).
• 3 to 5 visual references are shared, with what you like about them.
• Your preferred deadline is stated.
• The site's languages are confirmed.
• Odoo access (or the need to create it) is sorted.

What if I can't put this brief together?

It's a question we hear often. You're not used to scoping a web project and aren't sure where to start. No problem. We can also support you through the brief stage. It's a half-day workshop (at your premises or by video call) where we work through the right questions together, and you leave with a clear sitemap and a list of features.

In short: send us your brief, even if it's not perfect. We'd rather work with you to complete it than send you back a meaningless quote. Our goal is that, at the end, you have the site you actually need. Not the one we guessed on your behalf.