Do I really need a contract for a small website?

Yes. Small projects are where most disputes happen, because nobody wrote down what was included. A one or two page contract that matches the proposal is enough for most small business sites. For larger projects or unusual terms, have a lawyer review your template once.

Should I send three price options?

Two or three options work well when they differ in something the client cares about (number of pages, booking, monthly edits). Three versions of the same thing with different prices just make the decision harder.

How long should a proposal stay valid?

Fifteen to thirty days is common. A validity date gives the client a reason to decide and protects you if your costs, such as domain prices, change in the meantime.

Is an electronic signature valid?

In the US, the E-SIGN Act and state laws generally recognize electronic signatures for this kind of agreement. Keep the record of who signed, when and which version of the text.

Website proposal and contract: a template that closes

Rafaell Sousa

updated Oct 5, 2026 · 4 min

The short answer

A proposal that closes is short, specific and easy to say yes to: the client's goal in their words, exactly what you will deliver, the timeline, one clear price for the site and one for the monthly plan, what is not included, and a single next step. The contract then turns that scope into rules: revisions, payment schedule, who owns the site and the domain, what happens if either side cancels. Best of all, the client signs and pays in the same place.

Why most website proposals do not close

Most proposals lose for one of three reasons. They are about the designer, not the client ("we are a passionate team with ten years of experience"). They are vague ("a modern, responsive website"). Or they end without a clear next step, so the client puts the PDF in a folder and forgets it.

A proposal is a decision document. Its job is to make yes the easiest answer. Everything you add should either make the client more confident or make the decision simpler. If it does neither, cut it.

The structure of a proposal that closes

Keep it to what fits on one screen or two pages:

The goal, in the client's words. "More bookings from people who find you on Google", not "online presence".
What you will deliver. The pages, by name. The forms and what they do. Booking, store or login if included. The domain and email.
How it works. Three or four steps: content, first version, one round of changes, launch.
Timeline. A date or a number of weeks, and what you need from the client to keep it (content by a certain day).
Price. One number for the site. One number for the monthly plan, with what it includes. The domain, if separate.
What is not included. Copywriting, photography, logo, extra pages, extra revision rounds. Saying this up front avoids most arguments later.
Next step. One action: approve, sign and pay the deposit. Not "let me know what you think".

Write the scope so nobody can misread it

Scope is where the money is lost. Compare:

Vague: "Website with the necessary pages and contact form."
Clear: "Five pages: Home, Services, About, Gallery, Contact. Contact form that sends to the panel and to one email address. One round of consolidated revisions after the first version. Client provides text and photos by the 10th."

The clear version is longer by one line and saves you weeks.

The clauses every website contract needs

The contract does not need legal language to work. It needs to answer the questions that cause disputes. This is general guidance, not legal advice; have a lawyer look at your template once if you can.

Scope: refers to the proposal, so the two documents match.
Revisions: how many rounds, what a round is, and the hourly rate for more.
Payment: deposit, milestones, final payment, and what happens if a payment is late (work pauses).
Client responsibilities: content and approvals by agreed dates; delays move the timeline.
Ownership: when the final payment clears, the site belongs to the client. Say what you keep the right to (showing it in your portfolio, reusing your own generic code).
Domain: registered in the client's name. Always. If you register it for them, it is still theirs.
Hosting and monthly plan: what is included, how it renews, how either side cancels and with how much notice.
Third parties: you are not responsible for outages of providers outside your control.
Privacy: if the site collects personal data through forms, who handles it and how (GDPR if the client has visitors in Europe, state privacy laws in the US).
Cancellation: what the client pays if they stop halfway (the work done so far, the deposit is not refunded).

Close the gap between yes and payment

The moment of highest intent is when the client finishes reading and thinks "OK, let's do it". Every extra step after that (print, sign, scan, send, wait for the invoice, find the card) is a chance to stall.

The best flow puts everything in one place: the client reads the proposal, signs the contract and pays, in one sitting. If your tools cannot do that, at least send the contract and the payment link together with the proposal, not a week later.

Follow-up without being annoying

If there is no answer:

Day 2 or 3: a short message asking if they have questions about the scope or the timeline.
One week later: mention the validity date and offer a quick call.
After the validity date: a polite close ("I will consider this paused; if it becomes a priority again, I will update the proposal").

Then stop. Chasing past that rarely works and costs you more than it brings.

How to do it on Basely

In Sales, the proposal is a public page with its own link. You build it with the site, the platform plan, the domain and your monthly fee, with the site price and your monthly fee set by you and the plan and domain priced by the platform. The client opens the link, reads what is included, signs the contract and pays by card on the same page. No PDF, no scanning, no chasing a payment link a week later.

The contract is generated from what the proposal contains. It states that Basely is the tool and the payment channel, and that the domain in the proposal belongs to the client. Payment is only accepted after the current version of the contract is signed.

Basely keeps 15% of the site price only. Each service renews on its own subscription, so if the client cancels one, the others stay up. After payment, the site moves into the client's account with their own login, and you keep taking care of it from your panel. You still write the parts only you can write: the goal in the client's words, the scope and what is not included.

Write your next proposal with the seven parts above and send it as a link the client can say yes to on the spot.

Try it on Basely

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See how it works

Questions

Do I really need a contract for a small website?: Yes. Small projects are where most disputes happen, because nobody wrote down what was included. A one or two page contract that matches the proposal is enough for most small business sites. For larger projects or unusual terms, have a lawyer review your template once.
Should I send three price options?: Two or three options work well when they differ in something the client cares about (number of pages, booking, monthly edits). Three versions of the same thing with different prices just make the decision harder.
How long should a proposal stay valid?: Fifteen to thirty days is common. A validity date gives the client a reason to decide and protects you if your costs, such as domain prices, change in the meantime.
Is an electronic signature valid?: In the US, the E-SIGN Act and state laws generally recognize electronic signatures for this kind of agreement. Keep the record of who signed, when and which version of the text.