Proposals are written to be persuasive. That is their job, and reading three of them will not tell you much about who you are dealing with.
Questions will. Below is a list worth asking every supplier you consider, including us.
The answers matter. So does the ease with which they arrive.
About ownership
In whose account will my domain be registered? It should be yours, from the start.
When does the website itself become mine?
Am I the owner on my business profile and advertising accounts, or is somebody else? You should be the owner. They should be a manager.
How do I get a copy of my leads, call records, and customer data, and in what format?
Is there any circumstance in which you would hold something of mine? Any hesitation here is the answer to several other questions at once.
About the ending
What happens in the first fortnight after I leave?
Who confirms my access and ownership on each account, and how do I get that in writing?
Does anything of mine get deleted?
A supplier with a rehearsed answer has thought about it. A supplier improvising has not.
About the money
What exactly is in the monthly figure, in items?
What will I be billed for by anybody other than you?
Is anything included up to a limit, and what happens past it?
If I pause, what continues to cost money?
About the work
Who writes the words and who supplies the photographs?
Will anything be published under my name without my approval? The answer should be no, without qualification.
Who do I contact when something breaks, and how quickly will somebody respond?
What happens if the site goes down?
Where do you put stock photography or generated imagery on a client's site? The answer should be nowhere, presented as the client's own work.
About what they will promise
Which of the things you have described are you contractually committing to?
Do you promise any result? If yes, ask how it is calculated and what happens when it does not occur. Then consider whether you want a supplier who promises things nobody controls.
What will your reporting distinguish between what you did and what happened?
Where does a number in your reporting come from?
The two that tell you the most
What would you tell me if the honest answer were that I do not need this?
What is the last thing you got wrong for a client, and what did you do about it?
Neither has a right answer. Both are difficult to fake, and the manner of the reply tells you how the next twelve months would go.
About your own side
Ask yourself two as well.
Have I written down what I actually want? A page is enough, and without it every proposal answers a different question.
Who on my side decides and approves? If that is unclear, the project will stall regardless of who you hire.
How to use the list
Do not send it as a document. Ask the questions in conversation, and notice which ones produce a straight answer, which produce a longer one, and which get redirected.
Then ask for the important answers in writing.
And ask us
Everything above we would answer without hesitating, because the answers are already in how we work. If any of them ever produced a difficult answer from us, we would rather you found out before signing than after.
If you want a look at your current situation before you talk to anybody, the free check covers your website, your Google profile, your search results, and your reviews. It is an outside look only, nothing is changed, the findings are yours to keep, and it does not depend on hiring anyone.