Sal Talash: A Better Brief for an AI-Built Website

Field note · Website planning

A website generator can produce a layout in minutes. The harder job is giving it a true, specific account of the business. This is the brief I would write before asking any tool to build the page.

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Start with facts the business can defend

“Make me a premium website” is a style request, not a business brief. It leaves the tool to guess who the customer is, what is sold, where the business operates, and what a visitor should do next. Those guesses can look polished while being wrong.

Before choosing colours or imagery, write down the facts that must survive the build: the business name exactly as used, the products or services actually offered, the service area if relevant, the preferred contact route, opening or response expectations, and any claims the owner can substantiate. Leave unknown fields blank. A blank field is easier to resolve than a fabricated guarantee.

A worked example

Illustrative example only; this is not a client project. Imagine a small furniture studio that repairs and refinishes existing pieces. Its owner wants more enquiries, but does not sell new furniture online. The first brief might say:

Business: Northline Furniture Studio (fictional). Offer: repair and refinishing of customer-owned furniture. Audience: people deciding whether a damaged or worn piece is worth restoring. Primary action: request an assessment by sending photos and dimensions. Proof available: owner-approved before-and-after images with permission to publish. Do not claim: same-day service, fixed prices, nationwide coverage or a guarantee that has not been defined.

That paragraph does more work than a long list of aesthetic adjectives. It gives the page a job: help a visitor decide whether to send a piece for assessment. It also prevents an attractive but misleading “shop now” button.

Specify the page in the order a visitor needs it

1. A headline that names the offer. “Furniture repair and refinishing” answers the first question faster than “Crafting timeless possibilities.”
2. A short explanation of fit. State which pieces the studio takes, and which requests need a conversation before a quote.
3. Evidence with provenance. Show real work only when the owner has the rights and context to publish it. Do not substitute stock imagery for examples of completed jobs.
4. A clear next step. Ask for the minimum information needed to assess an enquiry. Explain when a customer can expect a reply only if that expectation is real.
5. Useful boundaries. Put exclusions, geographic limits and uncertainty where people will see them before contacting the studio.

This is not a universal page template. A restaurant, a software tool and a local service have different decision paths. The principle is the same: content should follow the visitor’s real question rather than the order in which a design tool happens to generate sections.

The seven-line brief

For a first pass, I use seven lines. An owner can fill these in without learning design terminology:

1. We are [exact business name].
2. We help [specific audience] with [real offer].
3. Visitors should understand [one important distinction].
4. We can show [verifiable proof we have permission to use].
5. The primary action is [one realistic next step].
6. Do not invent [claims, prices, locations or credentials].
7. Questions we still need to answer: [unknowns].

The seventh line matters. It creates a place for uncertainty instead of letting the tool silently fill it.

Review the result as a claim, not a mockup

When the draft arrives, I would first read it without looking at the styling. Highlight every sentence that asserts a fact about the business. Can the owner support each one? Are contact details and calls to action real? Does the page imply a price, timeline or outcome that the business has not promised?

Then test the path a visitor will actually take on a phone: read the opening screen, tap the main action, complete the form, and check what happens next. A handsome screenshot cannot reveal a broken button or a request that disappears after submission.

If the page fails, revise the brief before decorating the output. Better instructions and better source material usually solve a deeper problem than another round of adjectives.

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Sal Talash is the founder of UOVA. This original planning note was written by Sal Talash with AI assistance. The furniture studio above is fictional and illustrates a review method, not a reported customer result.