How to write a great website proposal

Writing a web proposal is tedious, boring, and often feels like it’s a waste of time. However, with a good web proposal template, it becomes much faster and easier to create a winning website proposal for your boss or your clients. 

Without a good web design proposal, you’re going to find yourself with serious issues in a handful of weeks. The issue is that you may end up going through a lot of work only to find that your web design proposal loses. 

All of us would rather be doing actual work on a project rather than focusing on a website proposal.  It would be amazing if you could figure out how to write a winning website proposal every time. It would save time, effort, and a whole lot of worry.

Fortunately, in this article, we have come up with a website proposal template to help you make sure that all your hard work doesn’t get halted in place and comes to nothing by a losing website design proposal.  This guide will walk you through writing a web design proposal step by step. These web design proposal guides will work for a wide variety of clients and projects.

The Basics of Writing a Great Web Proposal

At the heart of the matter is that you need to follow a structure that works well for your web design proposal. At the same time, you’ll need to avoid writing a website proposal that is so stereotypical that clients have seen it time and time again. These kinds of web design proposals rarely work just because they don’t stand out at all. 

Remember, the aim of your web design proposal is to clarify and establish the goals and roles of the project you want to do. You should also look for ways to make your website design proposal stand out from the rest so it is more likely to win.

The web design proposal itself is going to be very valuable to the client, so make sure you take your time to make it clear and organized. This is something that will help make the website design proposal stand out. This is not something you just knock out in fifteen minutes. It’s something you really, really need to take your time with.

With these basic facts in mind, let’s get into the details of how to write a successful website design proposal. 

How to Create Your First Draft of a Website Design Proposal Template

Your website design proposal can be its own document, or it can be a part of a group of marketing proposal templates. Before you can actually send the website design proposal template, you need to think about a number of things as your curate the document. The first thing you need to start out with is to create a draft of the template that you want to have. It’s all matter of going step by step. 

Here is how to create a draft of a website proposal template:

• Identify the key areas that you need to discuss. This will make it easier for you to curate information since you already have a guide on what you need to present in the website proposal.

• Be sure that you have listed the correct requirements required by the website that you will be designing.

• Base your draft by listing on the items that you need to create for your client’s website design. Double check that these items are also available on your service list if you have one.

• Specify the organization of data and present it in a way that allows you to sub-group them based on their functions for the entire website design processes.

• Make a list of the prices that you will charge your client for every service.

• Assess the content of the draft, then move into creating your website design proposal template from that point.

Just follow these simple steps and you’ll have an effective, useful draft of a website proposal template. That’s a good start, but there’s plenty more to go from there to get your website design proposal ready to go out to your clients. 

Create a Beautiful Web Design Proposal

Content is only one part of your website design proposal, though it is, of course, a very important part. However, this is also a chance of you to demonstrate your skills at web design, cementing the worth of your proposal and your worth. Take the time to make sure the design of the proposal. It should look as beautiful as your proposed finished website design will. This will help make it clear that you know what you’re talking about and you have the skills to back up what you’re saying in the website design proposal. 

What does this mean, exactly? Well, it means you design the web design proposal, rather than just write it. Don’t just send out a quick Word document with your logo in the header. That’s something anyone could do. Work on your web design proposal so that it makes the right immediate visual impact. This will further help you stand out from the rest. Your proposal is one of the first things you can do to make it clear that you are the one and the only correct pick for this project and that you will deliver great results. It's worth putting in the time and effort to truly design it to look great.

Research Your Client So You Can Tailor Your Tone of Voice

https://visme.co/blog/proposal-template/

Your web design proposal is not just something that’s mostly already written where you can fill in the blank spots with correct names, dates, and subjects. It needs to fit for the project and the client. You don’t write a proposal to a bank in the same tone as you would for an amusement park. Your client probably has other designers already lined up, so you need to make sure you get the right tone for talking to them.

The best way to do this is to research your client meticulously. Don’t neglect any detail. Know everything you can about the brand you’ll be representing with your website design. Don’t take any shortcuts. Once you’ve finished your research, your web design should appeal to the specific needs of your client.

Here are some tips for achieving that:

Use specific examples that will work for them. Avoid using generic sweeping statements that will get lost in conversation. 

Use bold ideas to verify your interest in representing the brand in your web design proposal. This will give the client what they asked for. It goes above and beyond, allowing you to suggest new and better ways of getting their message across using your proposed website design.

Make it very clear how well you understand the client and most importantly their brand. This is the reason they are looking for a web designer in the first place and the whole point that they are asking for web design proposal after all.

Don’t say something along the lines of “We will use communications and copy to suit your audience.” Instead, use a specific example, “We will create a video which shows how your tailor-made smartphone plans are designed to help teachers and students better understand each other.”

You should also closely study the client’s request for a proposal. Requests for proposals usually include some background on the issuing organizations and its business interests. They also often include a set of specifications that describe the desired solution and the evaluation criteria that will be used to grade and assess the web design proposals. They might include a statement of work as well, which will describe the tasks that need to be performed by the winning bidder and will provide a timeline for providing deliverables.

A website design questionnaire is a very good way to understand your future clients, their needs, and their wants. You can do one of two things. You can send them the questionnaire before you submit the website design proposal if you already have a good working relationship with the client. On the other hand, you can “emulate”, which means figuring out what they would say if they had to fill out your questionnaire. 

Define the Problem That Our Web Design Proposal Will Solve

You need to plainly identify the problem statement at the very start of your web design proposal. It’s important to make clear that you understand the core problem of the client’s current status. This will help you to distinguish your own responsibilities and goals. A bit of a warning: clients may not feel comfortable talking about why their previous web design has been failing to achieve their desired end state. Take this chance to shed some positive light and introduce some reasons why your prosed website design will work.

Some major issues to think about when defining the problem of the web designs can include:

• Is this client looking to develop a new eCommerce website which has a better user experience?

• Are they looking to improve or refresh their online presence?

• Do they want to take their website in a brand new direction?

• Do they have a new product which they want to sell?

Some secondary problems to think about when defining the problem of the web designs can include:

• Are they looking to get more sales?

• Do they want to increase their mailing list?

• Do they want to create a better synergy between their website and social media presence?

• Are they looking to get more traffic?

• Is there a specific traffic channel they want to invest in more than others?

• Do they know where they want to invest or do they need guidance from the web designer/agency?

This is the step that will define the rest of your web design proposal. It will decide the course of the entire thing. You need to make sure you have a very thorough understanding of what was unsuccessful in the past. This is the only way you can really be able to find a solution that will help your client meet their goals. 

Define How Your Website Proposal Will Provide a Solution to the Problem

Now that you’ve established the central issues about the website proposal, you can move into describing your solution. It’s important to achieve a balance between explaining how you’re going to solve the problem(s) and linking the solution of how you will be an integral part of the success of the web design proposal. 

It’s important to provide clear ways of how the revamped or new website design will boost your client’s sales and provide them that much-need facelift or renovation that they have been looking for. Connect this conversation that the client is probably already having inside their head with your new solutions and new ideas.

Let’s illustrate this with an example. If a client is looking to have an improved online presence, suggest some of the following ideas as solutions: 

• Adding blog posts on an ongoing basis and suggest a blog calendar,

• Invest in PPC and suggest ideas and keywords which will probably work. Allay any fears of too much spend by suggesting how you can optimize their PPC campaigns,

• Pay close attention to SEO 

• Use email marketing automation to make it easier to grow a subscriber base

• Think of mobile first in your web design proposal as Google and Facebook keep driving towards a mobile-first world

Social media is a very useful tool for amplifying the voice of any business or brand. If a client wants to create a better connection between their social media presence and their website, you should suggest that a solution to that in your website design proposal. 

Social media has become a very, very useful set of communication tools that can be used to express a company’s values and beliefs over the past few years. Make sure to offer the target audience a measured amount of transparency. Social media gives a brand an opportunity to reveals its personality while developing a level of trust with its customers. On top of this, the results of your actions are almost immediately apparent. 

Many service providers commonly have issues connecting the dots of proposed solutions to clear business benefits. Those benefits are the things that your clients value and appreciate the most at the end of the day. They are what you should keep in mind as you create your website proposal, no matter what industry the client is in or where you plan to go in the future. If you constantly draw the conversation back to the business benefits of your web design proposal, the client is much more likely to pick you out of the crowd as their web designer. 

Dedicate a few of the paragraphs in your web design proposal to your solutions. Be sure to answer any future questions the client is likely to have. You need to be concise and extensive with your list of proposed solutions. This will help the client get a clearer picture in their mind of what you’re saying. Make reference to your previous work before your client even asks you for it. This is a good way to back up your words with examples. This is also a good place to mention all the services you provide, like hosting, logo design, or even website maintenance plans. 

Include a Smart Timeline to Deliver Your Website Proposal 

Now that you know the actual content of a website design proposal, you need to define the schedule of delivery. This next step is producing a timeline for your client. 

Keeping your client constantly in the loop allows them a sense of stability. They may not ask for the info, but they’ll definitely appreciate it. Create a number of specific touch points where you’ll ask for feedback from your client or otherwise involve them to a degree in the decision making about the website design. 

With your timeline (largely for your own sake), be sure to take into account: 

• further research,

• creating of website and page wireframes,

• sitemap designs

• initial designs + design revisions

• development of designs or other necessary coding

• setup of CMS and configuration

• testing (specify which browsers and which devices)

• debugging

• client testing and setup

These are all phases where you are likely to need client input. Be sure to clearly show this to them on your proposed timeline. This allows them to stay in the loops and offers a clear view of all the work they need to be doing to make this website design come together in time and to a high standard of quality. Whenever necessary, create gaps in the timeline to allows the client to take their time to respond. Otherwise, you’ll end up with poor time management on your hands. 

Make sure that the timeline in your website design proposal is easy to read (write it in an easy to read font too, btw). Also, make it clear that all times are based on approximations. This is important because things do go wrong and timelines do have to shift. By warning that the times are an approximation, you're not making any promises you can't keep. Do make clear that you need timely responses to your own inquiries and be sure to do the same to any questions your client has.  

Now, the Price Tag

The important part! The thing that matters most to you as the web designer. It’s where web design proposals usually succeed or fail. 

Before you make your website design proposal final, ask your client what their budget is. 

At this point, you’ll want to know what you are making the proposal for. Is it a proof of concept or prototype of a web app? Or maybe a full scale web app that you need to create?

This can be an intimidating task since it often feels like you're overstepping your bounds. You might think that this is just not information that's typically shared at this point in negotiations.

You’re wrong about that.

Having your client’s budget before you create your website design proposal is a win-win. Your client definitely already has a budget in mind. They know very well they’re prepared to pay you for a website design. 

If you don’t know what this number is, you’re taking a gamble. You’re taking the time to carefully craft a proposal and you don’t know if your client is willing to pay what you’re asking in the first place. It will make it much easier for you if you know what your client’s budget is in the first place and they know that you won’t be offering anything they can’t afford. It works for everyone and will help keep your proposal on track. 

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