Here is our new post in the web design company resources series where I’m giving out material that we use on a daily basis here to run our state-of-the-art web design company from our New York location! This time, I am attaching a great web design proposal template in a MS Word format!
To tell the truth, we don’t really submit proposals anymore as we try to minimize paperwork, specifications documents, scope documents, and other things that just make everyone waste time, talk in the air about things that can’t really be planned in a creative process such as features, goals, milestones etc.
Rather, we work with an iteration process which is much more efficient, powerful, real, and in general produces results rather than bullshit documents. So instead of spending a week discussing a specs document back and forth and finalizing a proposal for a website project, we spend 1 day drafting a few design concept for the landing page and take it from there. In a week of work, we’ll already have the main design approved for the beta launch, and most of the design concepts for the entire project.
Of course it is more difficult to generate a sale without all the crap that is usually expected (such as scope documents, in-depth proposals, lengthy contracts written in legal jargon, etc). But when you think about it, skipping on all these unnecessary steps has a number of great benefits:
1. You’ll need less sales staff and more web design and development staff (which is what we do in the end!) so you’ll be able to accomplish more, especially if you have projects of your own. When a web designer has nothing to do, he can always work on improving your own web design company website, or adding a new section to it. That’s how our website evolves and remains at the top of the industry year after year. That’s also how we’re able to be so productive and initiate so many great projects.
2. You’ll filter clients who don’t believe in your philosophy. Clients who like to talk a lot, meet, waist time, talk to their co-workers and partners before they can get back to you, have internal meetings and then external meetings before giving you the go ahead to move on to the next step… you get the picture. So you’ll have more time generating sales with clients with whom you’ll have a great relation and who will help you take your company to the next level.
3. You’ll spend less time on clients who will not end up working with you (for whatever reason). Much less time. Here at Noam Design, we have a great conversion rate not because we have great sales people but because we filter and pick the projects/clients we are interested in working with on the next award winning website. We’ll know right away if it’s worth discussing further with an inquirer – and they’ll know too if our approach speaks to them. It’s a win-win situation.
4. Most importantly, you’ll be happier doing what you do and your company will thrive. Your workplace will be a better work environment for you and your company’s staff.
Still, there are cases where it is appropriate to submit a proposal – and we have the perfect web design proposal for that! It’s easy to customize to any project, and even easier to adjust the proposed budget, timeline, phases of work, deliverables, and scope. Download it in a Microsoft Word format and feel free to customize it for your own clients! Don’t forget to change the header, footer, and mentions of Noam Design…
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57 Comments
debbie
November 3, 2009 at 6:30 pmThank you thank you thank you for the web proposal. I’m just starting out and this was greatly needed.
Kelly
November 11, 2009 at 11:18 amThis is great. Thank you very much!
Karin
November 17, 2009 at 4:41 pmThanks for posting this proposal. I have found your whole blog very useful and informative.
StevieC
November 29, 2009 at 11:00 pmVery professional and a great resource – thanks!
Kevin
December 8, 2009 at 6:19 amThanks for this!
Will
December 17, 2009 at 9:04 pmThank you for sharing your approach — here I was thinking that maybe I was the only person on the planet tired of all the to-and-fro red tape of getting a proposal through, and starting to think that I was unprofessional in believing in good working relationships that just get the job done.
In this brave new world you’re a breath of fresh air, so I wish you continued success.
Ethan
December 19, 2009 at 2:50 pmThis is a great proposal! I just got a big project using this template so I just wanted to thank you.
Georgia
December 24, 2009 at 12:44 pmAwesome resource – thanks!
Edwin
January 15, 2010 at 2:21 amGreat resource. Its true that most designers do not need the proposal but rather just show their portfolio. But this looks really professional. Thanks~
Ahmed
January 24, 2010 at 2:45 amThanks sooo much for this proposal it’s great and it supported me soo much . great thanks.
hussien
February 8, 2010 at 5:15 amthat is a great proposal , thank you
John
February 22, 2010 at 7:34 pmGreat proposal template… very professional and comprehensive. Thank you!
Jimmy
February 24, 2010 at 10:10 amThnx Mike.
Excellent proposal. Its helping me so much.
Noam
February 27, 2010 at 11:09 am@Jimmy – you’re welcome!
nitin jain gurgaon
March 24, 2010 at 1:41 pmThis is a great document, I’ve seen many proposals but this one surely exhibits Professionalism like no other!
Patty
April 13, 2010 at 11:02 amAwesome! Thank you for helping those who are starting out.
Toronto SEO
April 14, 2010 at 9:53 amIts so clean & functional. Our in-house one we have been using was bloated & time consuming. Thanks for sharing.
Lee
April 25, 2010 at 5:55 pmI downloaded the zip file, but is is mostly xml documents. how do I assemble them into a word doc?
Noam
May 7, 2010 at 7:29 pmSome browsers change the file extension to .zip (and that’s why you see xml files in there). Just rename the file and change the extension from “.zip” to “.docx” and it will work.
Lee
April 25, 2010 at 5:57 pmNevermind, its a docx file. Figured it out.
Rajani
April 29, 2010 at 6:16 pmfriends, I downloaded it but all are xml files, can anyone help me how to incorporate in word?
Noam
May 7, 2010 at 7:29 pmSome browsers change the file extension to .zip (and that’s why you see xml files in there). Just rename the file and change the extension from “.zip” to “.docx” and it will work.
Jake
April 30, 2010 at 11:46 amDamn—I have Office 2003—will this template not open for me?
Noam
May 7, 2010 at 7:27 pmSure! Or you can always use Open Office.
jimmy
May 11, 2010 at 7:39 amAwesome template! I like it a lot.
Thanks for sharing.
Sharon Brown
May 13, 2010 at 2:49 pmThank you! My business is fairly new and thus far has had a very informal proposal process. This will be helpful in making it a little more formal without the mumbo jumbo!
Rene
May 20, 2010 at 5:30 amJust what I needed! The proposal is excellent – thanks so much!
Long Bui
June 1, 2010 at 4:24 amLoved the proposal! I’m using a customized version of it with more details about SEO such as examples of the external SEO tactics (link building through content creation an other ways) and more details on “creating a buzz”, etc
Aaron
August 8, 2010 at 12:58 amThank you so much, made my life much easier
dards
August 10, 2010 at 2:52 amThanks a lot this is what I was looking for. Very detailed and very professional.
Ariel
August 21, 2010 at 9:12 pmNoam, Thank you for the template. I needed to do a proposal for a client. And this is perfect for what I need.
dean
August 24, 2010 at 12:11 pmI totally agree with your philosophy. Thanks for the proposal, I’m going to keep on file and only use when I need to.
Mohan
August 28, 2010 at 9:34 amgood template, thanks for sharing
SiewShuen
September 1, 2010 at 5:06 amThanks for the effort ! Great help to me especially i haven’t got any experience in writing such proposals
Thanks.
Titus
September 3, 2010 at 11:18 amThank you so much for the website proposal template. I really need it. Thanks…
vanessa
September 5, 2010 at 8:20 amBloody marvelous, Thanks for sharing saved me bucket loads of time!
Anita
September 7, 2010 at 1:37 pmThank you! Most of my work has been on a handshake basis and this proposal is wonderfully adaptable and has made me rethink part of my actual process! Thanks, again!
Malisse
October 18, 2010 at 1:26 pmThanks Noam for this wonderful layout! I have used it as the basis of my proposal form, and it has saved me a TON of time. Awsome job, and thanks again!
sodeeq
January 29, 2011 at 9:01 amThanks! Really appreciate this.
griz
February 18, 2011 at 1:52 pmi just get a zip file with a load of xml files – no word doc? am i missing something?
Noam
February 18, 2011 at 3:19 pmSome browsers change the file extension to .zip (and that’s why you see xml files in there). Just rename the file and change the extension from “.zip” to “.docx” and it will work. Or you can use a better browser such as Firefox
.
Melvin
April 14, 2011 at 11:02 amThanks for sharing this nice proposal!!! Just got new big projects
:D:D
IdeaRecon
April 18, 2011 at 4:44 pmThanks a bunch for the proposal template. It’s just what we were looking for!
Lauren
August 19, 2011 at 12:42 pmThank you, this is the all encompassing proposal I was in much need of. It has been helpful is covering all the bases when starting projects.
Bill Bowman
September 6, 2011 at 11:47 pmGreat Proposal Template and thanks for sharing. Although won’t need it for most clients. Nice to have it for those corporate types!
indezoo
November 21, 2011 at 2:09 amthis is really helpful…thank you for sharing!!!
Dean Holness
November 24, 2011 at 2:36 pmThis is brilliant guys. You just save me loads of work. Much Appreciated !!
Shekhar
December 1, 2011 at 1:53 pmThanks for the sharing this proposal. Hope I win the business!
Brandon Johnson
September 17, 2012 at 12:19 pmYour web design proposal template is the best I have seen on the web. Thanks very much for sharing your hard work with the world!
jion
September 30, 2012 at 7:19 amHi, I agree with you about the use of templates. I have found that a lot of so called ‘reputable’ website designers are using generic templates for many different sites; these sites rarely seem to rank well. They are then selling SEO services to go with them. Sound a bit like a scam to me!
Mohammad Hateem
October 9, 2012 at 2:50 amThanks for sharing such a great proposal information for all of us.
I really like this thanks.
Ty
October 15, 2012 at 10:41 amThank you, your design proposal template is superb compare to others. you are really doing a great job.
kelson
October 17, 2012 at 10:31 amyour did a good job.I highly appreciate ur initiative of helping most of businessmen,students and so on.exellent work……..
Dave Macdonald
November 13, 2012 at 4:15 amLove your approach!
We have adopted something very similar, now we spend more time actually doing and less time talking about what we could do.
Web Design Chandigarh
December 8, 2012 at 7:13 amThanks for sharing such a great proposal information for all of us.Your web design proposal template is the best .
40 free business templates for web developers and designers | Attendly
January 7, 2013 at 4:04 pm[...] Noam Design (Word) [...]
Sachin
February 15, 2013 at 4:43 amThank you so much, I am also making one website for Aptitude questions answers, but I was very much confused that how should this of site design should look like, I have got very nice thoughts in mind after reading this article.
Thanks again