What should a business website quote include?

1. Purpose and structure

Start with the customer and the action the website should support. An installation business collecting enquiries has different needs from a business taking bookings. A promise of five pages says little about how services will be explained.

Ask for a page list and the purpose of each page. Distinguish the number of URLs from the number of individually designed layouts. Services may share a layout, but each needs its own content.

• Which services need dedicated pages?
• How should customers initiate contact?
• Are language versions included?

2. Content and materials

Establish whether the quote includes writing content from a business interview, editing your existing copy or simply inserting supplied text. Clarify responsibility for project descriptions and answers to customer questions.

Real project photographs can demonstrate experience, provided you have permission to use them. Agree the source and cost of additional imagery. Do not replace real evidence with invented testimonials or images presented as completed projects.

3. Design, editing and functionality

Ask whether the work includes an individual design or adaptation of an existing theme, mobile layouts and defined review rounds. A structural change after implementation is different from a copy correction.

If you want to update the website yourself, agree an editing method. Not every website needs an extensive CMS. You should know what you can change yourself. Calendar, CRM and payment integrations should be explicitly scoped.

4. SEO and measurement

‘SEO included’ is too vague. Separate technical preparation from ongoing content and visibility work. Ask about titles, descriptions, indexing, sitemaps, internal links and preservation of existing URLs during a rebuild.

If analytics is included, agree what it measures. Clicking an email address shows contact intent but does not prove an enquiry was received. Measurement should match your actual sales process.

5. Handover and ongoing costs

Agree acceptance criteria, domain and hosting access, file handover and usage rights before work begins. List recurring costs separately, including hosting, domain renewal, licences and support. Define the difference between fixing a defect and adding a feature.

Link the schedule to material delivery and stage approvals so that launch dependencies are clear.

• What is handed over?
• Who controls domain and hosting access?
• What are the agreed recurring costs?
• How are issues and changes requested?

Preparing your enquiry

Describe your business, main services and the problem with your current website. Include its URL, required functionality and available materials. Mention any budget constraint or fixed deadline.

This makes proposals easier to compare. You do not need to choose a technology first: start with what the website should do for your customers.