When I first started building websites for people, I would usually create proposals that I was not very confident in. A lot of times, I was just guessing as to what I should actually ask the client to invest, due to me being unsure about exactly how much time my projects were going to take. This became especially difficult when considering things like revisions, potential size of the website, and unforeseeable situations like the client changing their mind.

Why Website Outlines Matter

What I started doing was transitioning my conversations with clients from simply asking them about what they wanted on their website into a conversation that was really about getting to know their business and their goals. From that conversation I built a website outline. A website outline is very simply what the pages on the website are, the hierarchy, and how the pages relate to one another. So while a business owner talked to me about their business, I would start thinking of the things the website needed and how they would be organized.

A Winning Strategy

As time went on, I noticed that I got more projects because I was one of the very few people that were actually giving that client or prospect a clear vision of what was going to be built for them. Meanwhile, all my competitors were not doing a great job of that, and since prospects weren't sure that they were going to get their desired end result with them, they hired me instead because they got a very, very clear understanding of exactly what they’d be getting.

The Takeaway

If you're having any trouble pricing the investment for a website, just follow these steps: ask them about their business, dissect what it is that their business does, and then translate that into a website outline that you share with the business owner so you can gain agreement. When you do that, you're absolutely going to close a lot more sales.

Want a Head Start?

We have put together a no-cost training that goes over how to design and frame your web design proposal document. We have refined our current process over the past 16 years after building thousands of websites for our customers. This training will help guide you to ensuring your clients have a clear vision of what you are building for them. In this free training, we will show you what to include in your proposal as well as what to say to get your prospective clients to buy.

Mike Schmidt
Founder
AgencyCoach