What should a website RFP include?

Your organization and goals, the audience, current site and what is wrong with it, scope (pages, features, integrations, content, migration), technical and compliance requirements, budget range, timeline, what you want in the proposal, how you will evaluate it, and key dates and contacts.

Should I include a budget in a website RFP?

Yes. A budget range lets agencies propose the best solution for what you can spend instead of guessing. Without one, proposals vary so widely they are hard to compare, and the best-fit agencies may not respond.

How many agencies should I send an RFP to?

Three to five well-researched agencies is usually enough. Sending to dozens creates more proposals than you can evaluate properly and discourages strong agencies from putting in the effort.

What are red flags when hiring a web agency?

Unclear ownership of the site and domain, a fixed platform for every client regardless of need, no plan for SEO during a redesign, no written scope, pressure to sign quickly, no references, and vague answers about who maintains the site after launch.

How long should agencies get to respond to an RFP?

Two to three weeks for most projects, with a question deadline about a week in. Larger or more technical projects may need longer.

Questions to ask a web design agency, and how to write a website RFP

The right questions tell you within one conversation whether a web agency understands your business, owns its process and will leave you in control of your site. A good request for proposal (RFP) gives every agency the same clear picture, so proposals are realistic and comparable. Ask about ownership, platform choice, SEO and migration, team, process, maintenance and pricing; write an RFP that states your goals, scope, constraints, budget range, timeline and how you will decide.

If you are still deciding whether to hire at all, start with one-click builder, DIY with Claude, or a studio. For a shortlist of agencies near you, see our web design agencies by state.

The questions to ask

Ownership and access

Who will own the website, code, design files and content? The answer should be you, in writing.
Whose name will the domain, hosting and software accounts be in? Yours, with the agency added as a user.
If we part ways, what do we get and how? Look for a clear handover, not "we can discuss it then."
Are any parts proprietary to your agency (a custom CMS, a page builder, a licensed theme)? Proprietary systems can make leaving expensive.

Platform and technical approach

Which platform do you recommend for us, and why? A good agency explains trade-offs. One that uses the same platform for every client is selling a tool, not a solution. See how to choose a website platform.
How will our team edit the site day to day?
What will it cost to run each year? Hosting, licenses, plugins, apps and support. See website platform licensing fees.
How do you handle speed, accessibility and security? Ask for specifics, such as Core Web Vitals targets and WCAG level. See website accessibility.

How will you protect our current search rankings? Expect a URL inventory, a redirect map and post-launch monitoring. See redesigning without losing SEO.
Who writes the content? Many projects stall because content is nobody's job.
How will you structure the site for search and AI answers? Look for schema, page-level metadata and clear content structure. See answer engine optimization.
How will you migrate existing content, and what will be cleaned up or dropped?

Integrations

Which of our systems will the site connect to (CRM, booking, ERP, payments), and how? See connecting forms to email or your CRM.
Have you integrated these specific tools before?
What happens if an integration fails at 2 a.m.?

Team and process

Who exactly will work on our project, and how much of it is outsourced or offshored?
Who is our day-to-day contact?
What are the phases, and what do we approve at each?
How do you handle changes in scope? Look for a written change process with prices before work starts.
How many revision rounds are included?

Proof

Can we see live sites you built on the platform you recommend?
Can we speak to two or three recent clients, ideally similar in size or industry?
What results have clients seen, and how were they measured?

After launch

What does support look like, and what does it cost?
Who handles updates, backups, monitoring and security? See the small business website security checklist.
What response time do you commit to if the site goes down?
Is there a warranty period for fixing bugs after launch?

Pricing

Is the price fixed or estimated?
What is included, and what is not? Content, photography, stock images, licenses, training and migration are common gaps.
What is the payment schedule?
What would make the price go up?

Red flags

Red flag	Why it matters
Vague answer on ownership	You may not control your own site
Same platform for every client	The recommendation is about them, not you
No mention of redirects in a redesign	Rankings and leads at risk
No written scope	Disputes later about what was included
No references or live work	Hard to judge quality
Pressure to sign quickly	Rarely in your interest
Very low price with no explanation	Cut corners, offshore handoffs or surprise extras

How to write a website RFP

A good RFP is short, specific and honest about constraints. Aim for something an agency can read in fifteen minutes and respond to properly.

1. About your organization

Who you are, what you do, who you serve, and what makes you different. Two or three paragraphs.

2. Goals and success measures

What the new site must achieve, in measurable terms where possible: more qualified leads, online bookings, fewer support calls, faster publishing, a stronger brand for a funding round. Say how you will measure success.

3. Audience

Who visits and what they need: customers, partners, job seekers, investors. Include anything you know from analytics or customer feedback.

4. Current site and pain points

Link the current site and list what is not working: hard to edit, slow, poor on mobile, outdated design, broken integrations. Share approximate page count and traffic if you can.

5. Scope

Be as specific as you can:

Approximate number of pages and page types (home, service, location, blog, team, case studies)
Features: forms, booking, ecommerce, portals, search, multilingual
Integrations: CRM, email marketing, booking, ERP, payments
Content: who writes it, how much migrates, photography and video needs
Design: brand guidelines available or brand work needed
Training and documentation

6. Technical and compliance requirements

Any platform preference or constraint, hosting requirements, security standards, accessibility level (for example WCAG 2.2 AA), privacy rules and industry regulations (HIPAA, financial advertising rules, and so on).

7. Budget range

State a range. It is the single most useful line in an RFP. If you truly do not know, say what you can spend in the first year including running costs, and use our website cost calculator and website cost guide to set expectations.

8. Timeline

Your target launch date and any hard deadlines (an event, a product launch, a contract end with your current host). Say whether the date is fixed or flexible.

9. What to include in the proposal

Ask for the same things from everyone so you can compare:

Recommended approach and platform, with reasons
Team and who does what
Process and timeline with milestones
Relevant work and references
Fixed price or estimate, with what is and is not included
Annual running costs and support options
Assumptions and risks

10. How you will decide

List your evaluation criteria and roughly how you will weight them, for example fit and approach, relevant experience, team, price and ongoing support. Agencies write better proposals when they know what matters.

11. Key dates and contacts

Questions deadline, answers shared with all respondents, proposal due date, shortlist presentations and decision date. Name one contact for questions.

Running the process well

Shortlist three to five agencies before sending the RFP.
Answer questions for everyone at once, so no agency gets an unfair advantage.
Meet the shortlist, ideally with the people who would do the work.
Score proposals against your criteria, not just price.
Check references before you sign.
Turn the winning proposal into a written scope with milestones, payment schedule, ownership terms and a change process.

The short version

Ask about ownership, platform reasoning, SEO and migration, integrations, team, after-launch support and what is not in the price. Write an RFP that explains your goals, scope, constraints, budget range and timeline, asks every agency for the same proposal format, and says how you will decide. Planning a project now? Send us your RFP, or ask us to help you write one.