How to Brief a Website, Online Store or Dashboard Project So the Right Web Developer Finds It

“I want a website” could mean ten very different projects in size, technology and cost. A developer reading it can’t give an accurate proposal, so they skip it or send a generic message. In the Web Development category on Farasa, your project reaches the right developer when, within the first two lines, they know what kind of site you want and what it has to do. This guide covers the four most common types. For the general rules that apply to any software project, read our guide to posting software projects first.

There are four common types, each with its own developers and its own information needs: a brochure website for a company, clinic or office; an online store; a dashboard or internal system (bookings, stock, staff, orders); and a fix or upgrade to an existing site. Say the type in the title. “A website” isn’t enough; “Online store for a shoe shop” or “Changes to an existing WordPress site” is.

Give the rough number of pages and their names (about, services, gallery, contact), whether the content (text and photos) is ready or needs writing too, and whether you want a contact form, a map or a blog. State the languages: a site in Arabic and English is more work than one language, and right-to-left writing needs a developer used to it. Say whether you already have a domain name and hosting, and whether you want to edit the content yourself later without a developer.

Give the rough number of products, whether they have options (sizes, colours), and how customers pay: cash on delivery, an online payment gateway, or both. Describe delivery and the areas you cover, how orders reach you (email, message, an orders dashboard), and whether you need stock management or discount codes. Tell the developer whether you prefer a ready platform such as WordPress with WooCommerce or a custom build, or let them recommend one and explain why. Each of these details affects the time, and stating them keeps proposals closer together.

This is the type most often written incompletely. Describe who will use the system and what each person does: a manager who sees everything, a staff member who enters data, a customer who follows an order. Then describe the core process step by step, as it works today: how an order arrives, who handles it, what happens next. If you run on Excel sheets or paper books today, say so and attach a sample sheet, which is clearer than any description. List the reports you need, whether it will be used from a phone, and whether you need different permissions and notification messages.

Here the developer needs to know what they’re working on: what the site was built with (WordPress, Laravel, custom), who built it and why they stopped, and whether you have the code and the accounts. Describe the problem precisely: what happens, on which page, since when, and attach screenshots. Say whether it’s an urgent fix, a speed improvement or a new feature, because the first is usually paid by the hour and the others at a fixed price. It also helps to say whether a backup exists before any change.

If your audience is Iraqi, Arabic comes first, and most visitors are on phones: ask explicitly for a site that works well on phones and loads quickly on average internet. If the site has pages people should find through search, say so and ask the developer to care about page titles and structure. And think about the payment methods your customers actually use before asking for a payment gateway nobody may use.

Does the title say the type of project? Is it in the Web Development category? Does the description open with what the system does and for whom? Did you separate core features from those that can wait? Did you state languages, design, content and hosting? Did you write a budget range and a deadline? Did you end with a screening question? If yes to all, your project is ready.

“Orders system for a restaurant in Sulaymaniyah: customers order from their phones, orders appear on a kitchen screen, and the manager sees a daily sales report. Three user types: customer, kitchen, manager. Interface in Arabic and Kurdish. No online payment in the first version. Design not ready. Budget: fixed price within a range (put your range here). Deadline: eight weeks. Start your proposal by naming an ordering system you’ve built.”

Decide your project type, give the developer the information that type needs, and be clear about budget and deadline. The less a developer has to guess, the better the proposals you get. Post your web project on Farasa.