How to write a website design RFP (request for proposal): template and example

Key takeaways

• A website design RFP explains your business, goals, requirements, timeline and evaluation criteria so agencies can send proposals you can compare.
• Agree internally on the problem, budget range, stakeholders and fixed decisions before writing anything.
• Ask agencies about specific past projects, especially redesigns that kept organic traffic, rather than their general process.
• Put ownership of design files, code and every account (analytics, hosting, domain, CMS) in the RFP, not in post-selection negotiations.
• Public entities must meet WCAG 2.1 AA under the DOJ’s ADA Title II rule, with the large-entity deadline now April 26, 2027.

A website design RFP helps you attract the right agencies and get proposals you can compare. Many RFPs miss. Some are so vague they draw generic answers, and others are so rigid they shut out the agencies most likely to improve on your thinking. A good RFP explains your business, goals, requirements and constraints clearly enough that qualified agencies can propose real solutions. This guide from Emulent covers what to include, how to organize it, and what a strong final version looks like, with a section-by-section template.

What is a website design RFP, and when should you write one?

A request for proposal (RFP) is a formal document that invites vendors to propose on a defined project. For a website, it describes your organization, your current site, your goals, technical needs, timeline and how you will judge proposals, so agencies can respond with a scoped, priced plan instead of a capabilities brochure.

Not every project needs one. For a smaller site, talking with one or two agencies and sharing a written outline is often faster and works as well. An RFP earns its effort when the project is large, when procurement or governance rules require competitive bids, when technical or strategic needs are complex, or when several departments have requirements to capture in one document.

Treat the RFP as the start of a conversation, not a final spec. You want agencies to bring their expertise and approach rather than tick boxes. The best RFPs give enough context for an agency to tell you something you had not considered.

What should you do before writing your RFP?

Get your team to agree on goals, budget and success measures first, because unclear thinking produces proposals you cannot compare. Skipping this step leads to choosing a vendor on the wrong information and finding the mismatch mid-project. Finish this internal work before you write.

On fixed decisions, Emulent typically recommends WordPress hosted on Kinsta. For ecommerce projects, we recommend Shopify. If your team has already settled on a platform, say so in the RFP.

What sections should every website design RFP include?

A complete RFP covers who you are, what you need, your technical requirements, your timeline and budget, and how you will decide. The sections below suit most mid-to-large projects, and smaller projects can use a shorter version with the same core.

• Organization overview: what you do, who you serve, your size and market position, and how the website supports your business goals. Write enough that an agency new to your industry understands your audience and competitors.
• Project background and goals: why now (a rebrand, a business shift, weak metrics, outdated technology) and your goals in priority order. Make them measurable, such as a 40% increase in organic traffic within 12 months.
• Current website assessment: URL, CMS, approximate page count, performance metrics and the problems you are fixing. This tells agencies whether the job is a redesign or a rebuild.
• Target audience: primary and secondary audiences, what each wants from the site, and any research on current engagement.
• Functional and technical requirements: CMS, hosting, integrations, accessibility standard, performance targets, browser and device support, security and industry compliance. “Must integrate with Salesforce via API” is a requirement. “Should work with our CRM” is not.
• Design and brand requirements: whether brand guidelines exist, whether the agency should follow or refresh them, and any directions you want explored or avoided.
• Content and migration: who writes new content, how many pages exist, how many carry over, and whether migration is in scope. Content responsibility is one of the most common sources of budget and timeline disputes.
• SEO requirements: clean page hierarchy and URLs, control of meta tags, schema support, Core Web Vitals targets and a redirect plan for every changed URL. If you have rankings to protect, ask how agencies will preserve traffic at launch.
• Timeline: target launch date and fixed milestones such as a product launch, event or fiscal year start. Ask agencies to flag timeline risks.
• Budget: your range, and whether it includes content, photography, stock licensing or maintenance.
• Proposal requirements and evaluation criteria: format, length limits, questions to answer, submission deadline and method, plus your criteria and their weights.

On accessibility, name a specific standard. State and local governments, public colleges and courts are covered by the DOJ’s 2024 ADA Title II rule, which requires WCAG 2.1 Level AA. On April 20, 2026, the DOJ extended the compliance dates by one year, moving the deadline for entities serving 50,000 or more people to April 26, 2027. Private businesses fall under Title III, which sets no fixed technical standard, but WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 AA is the usual benchmark in RFPs and settlements.

What questions should you ask agencies in your RFP?

Ask questions that make agencies describe specific past work, because generic questions get generic answers. “Describe a project where you redesigned a site without losing organic traffic” reveals far more about SEO skill than “describe your SEO approach.” These questions surface real capability and fit.

• Describe a project similar to ours in scope or industry, including the approach, problems and measurable outcomes such as traffic, conversion or load time changes.
• Who will lead our project day to day, and what is their experience? Proposals are often written by senior staff who will not do the daily work, and naming the lead early prevents a bait-and-switch.
• What does your discovery process involve, and what will you need from our team? The answer shows how much internal time the project will take beyond the budget.
• How do you protect existing rankings during a redesign? Agencies without clear answers on redirect mapping, pre-launch crawl comparisons and post-launch monitoring tend to treat SEO as an afterthought.
• How do you handle scope changes? The answer shows whether the change-order process is transparent or likely to bring budget surprises.
• What is your pre-launch quality assurance process? A specific answer covers cross-browser and device testing, accessibility checks, performance testing and link validation.
• What do you need from us to stay on schedule, and what client-side issues most often cause delays? Agencies that answer specifically have run enough projects to know.

What should a website design RFP template look like?

Use a cover page plus thirteen sections, and scale each one to your project’s size and your procurement rules.

• Cover page: organization name, project title, issue date, proposal due date, contact for questions and submission instructions.
• Section 1, about our organization: two or three paragraphs on what you do, who you serve, your market position and the website’s role in marketing and sales.
• Section 2, project overview and goals: why now, goals in priority order and the metrics you will use in the 12 months after launch.
• Section 3, current website assessment: URL, CMS, page count, monthly traffic, conversion rate on main goals and the problems to solve.
• Section 4, target audience: primary and secondary audiences, their goals on the site, how they decide and any customer research.
• Section 5, functional and technical requirements: CMS, hosting, integrations, accessibility standard (for example WCAG 2.1 AA), performance targets, browser and device support, security and compliance.
• Section 6, design and brand requirements: how binding your guidelines are, directions to explore or avoid, and sites you admire with a line on why.
• Section 7, content responsibilities: who writes and who migrates, which pages carry over, which are rewritten and which are new, and the page count if the agency writes.
• Section 8, SEO requirements: on-page structure, redirect plan, Core Web Vitals targets, schema, XML sitemap and Google Search Console setup.
• Section 9, project timeline: target launch date, fixed milestones and the planned start date.
• Section 10, budget: your range and what it includes or excludes, such as content, photography, stock images or maintenance.
• Section 11, proposal requirements: company overview, relevant examples, approach, team, timeline and itemized pricing, with format, page limits, deadline and method.
• Section 12, evaluation criteria: factors and weights. One example is experience 25%, approach 30%, team 20%, timeline 10% and price 15%.
• Section 13, procurement process: dates for questions, shortlist notices, presentations and final selection.

What contract and ownership provisions should the RFP address?

State your expectations on ownership, account access, warranty and ongoing support in the RFP, because your bargaining position weakens once you pick a vendor. Raising them early lets agencies price them in and screens out firms whose standard terms conflict with yours.

• Intellectual property: all deliverables, including design files, code, content and documentation, transfer to you on final payment. Some agencies keep ownership and license work back to clients.
• Warranty: the agency fixes launch bugs and defects at no extra cost for a set period, commonly 30 to 90 days. Ask each agency to describe its terms.
• Account ownership: Google Analytics, Google Search Console, hosting, domain registrar and the CMS admin account are created under your organization, not the agency’s, so you can keep running the site if the relationship ends.
• Maintenance and retainers: ask agencies to describe and price post-launch support so you can weigh the full cost of the relationship.

Ownership and access cause the most trouble when left out. Businesses sometimes finish a project and find they do not own the design files, lack admin access to their own CMS, or must pay the agency for every change. A single clause in the RFP prevents all three.

How do you evaluate proposals once you receive them?

Score every proposal against the criteria you published, so a polished document does not outrank a plain one that actually answered your questions.

• Have several team members score each proposal independently in a spreadsheet with one row per agency and one column per criterion, then discuss disagreements instead of averaging them away.
• Shortlist two or three agencies for presentations or structured calls to see how the team communicates and handles unexpected questions.
• Call two or three references per finalist from similar projects, and ask about timeline, communication, how problems were handled and whether the result matched the proposal.
• Favor proposals that show specific understanding of your business, audience and site problems. That attention predicts how the agency will approach the work.

One counterpoint: a heavy scoring process can favor agencies that are good at writing proposals over agencies that are good at building sites. The live presentation and reference calls are where you correct for that.

How does a strong RFP lead to better project outcomes?

A clear RFP pays off in vendor selection and throughout the project. Agencies that receive a specific RFP ask fewer questions, price the work more accurately and start with a better grasp of your goals. A well-prepared RFP also signals that your organization will be a good client.

Emulent helps businesses plan website strategy, write RFPs, review proposals and manage the build. If you are planning a redesign and want help scoping it, contact the Emulent team to talk through your project.