What to Look for in a Web Design Proposal

Proposals vary. A good one is clear, specific, and scoped. A bad one is vague, promises everything, and leaves you guessing. Here’s what to look for and what to avoid.

Scope: What’s Included

Pages and Features

• Page count — How many pages? Which ones? Homepage, services, about, contact, blog?
• Features — Forms, integrations, CMS. What’s in scope?
• SEO — Technical SEO? Meta? Schema? Or “we’ll make it SEO-friendly” (vague)?

What’s Not Included

• Exclusions — Content migration? Copywriting? Photography? Ongoing support?
• Assumptions — “We assume you’ll provide content by week 4.” State them. Avoid surprises.

In Writing

Scope in the proposal. Not “we’ll figure it out.” Not “we’ll add it later.” If it’s not written, it’s not guaranteed.

Process: How It Runs

Phases

• Discovery — What happens? Audit? Interviews? Deliverables?
• Design — How many rounds? What do you review?
• Build — Sprints? Weekly delivery? How do you see progress?
• Launch — QA? Redirects? Handoff?

Deliverables

• By phase — What you get at each milestone.
• Format — Designs in Figma? Code in a repo? Access when?

Reviews

• When — After each phase? Weekly?
• How many rounds — 1? 2? 3? What’s included?
• Turnaround — How long do you have to review? How long until revisions?

Red Flags

Vague Scope

• “We’ll build your website” — How many pages? What features?
• “We’ll make it SEO-friendly” — What does that mean? Technical audit? Meta? Schema?

No Discovery

• Jumps to design — No audit. No interviews. Building blind.
• Fix — Discovery should be a phase. It informs the strategy.

No SEO Specification

• “SEO-friendly” — Buzzword. Ask: technical SEO? Meta tags? Structured data? Redirect strategy?
• Fix — Get a technical SEO scope. Or expect to add it later (and pay).

Fixed Price, No Process

• One price — But no timeline. No milestones. How will it run?
• Fix — Ask for a phased timeline. Weekly or bi-weekly deliverables.

No Exclusions

• Everything included — Unlikely. What’s not included? Content? Migration? Ongoing?

What to Ask Before You Sign

1. What’s included? — Pages, features, SEO. In detail.
2. What’s not included? — Exclusions. Assumptions.
3. What’s the timeline? — By phase. With buffer?
4. How do we see progress? — Weekly? Bi-weekly? What do we get?
5. Who works on it? — Dedicated team? Senior or junior?
6. What happens after launch? — Support? Handoff? Ongoing?

Green Flags

• Clear scope — Pages, features, exclusions. In writing.
• Discovery phase — Audit, interviews. Strategy before design.
• Technical SEO — Explicit. Not vague “SEO-friendly.”
• Phased timeline — Milestones. Deliverables. No black box.
• Process — How reviews work. How feedback gets incorporated.

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We scope every project clearly. Start a project and we’ll send a proposal.