A website package is worth what its line items say, not what the tier is called. The specification is 10 lines a provider can either put in writing or cannot, and which of those happens is the most useful thing you will learn in the whole comparison.
Ask for all 10 against every tier at once, before you look at the prices. The 6 that usually go unwritten: what counts as a page, who writes the copy, who holds the image licence, how long a change takes after launch, whose name the analytics sit in, and what happens the day you leave. Those 6 decide the next 3 years. The build price decides the first fortnight.
Tier names are a pricing device, not a scope
A 3-tier menu exists because a middle option sells. That is what the format is for, and it means the tiers are usually separated along 1 axis. Line up bronze, silver and gold from most providers and the difference is page count, with identical hosting, support and inclusion labels down all 3 columns.
The test: ask for the 10 lines stated separately against each tier. If page count is the only row that moves, you are buying quantity rather than a specification, and quantity is rarely what held the old website back.
The bad answer at this stage is an inclusion written as an adjective. Premium design, SEO optimised and lightning fast are not deliverables, because there is no version of the work where somebody could have failed to provide them. A title tag written for a named search term on every page is a deliverable.
Page count, and what counts as a page
Get the definition, because that word does more work in a quote than any other. A page worth counting has its own URL, title tag, H1 and writing, and it is indexable. Anything else is a section, and sections do not compete in search results.
There are 2 common bad answers. A 5-page package where the services page carries 6 services in accordions on 1 URL: Google is shown 1 page, so you compete for 1 term rather than 6. Or a 10-page package where 6 pages are the same paragraphs with a different suburb dropped in.
The evidence for the second one is the website you are reading. It ran 90 URLs, 63 of them produced by template functions. Measured on the rendered HTML, 2 industry pages shared 80.4% of their 7-word phrase sequences, and 49 of the 90 had never served a single impression in Google. We deleted them and rewrote what survived by hand: 36 pages, overlap down to 20.7%. The 90-URL version looked better in a table.
The words, and what happens when nobody writes them
Copywriting is the line most likely to say one thing on the sales page and the opposite in the terms. Client-supplied content is legitimate, and cheaper, but only if you know before signing that a weekend of your own writing is in the price.
Ask 4 things: who writes it, what from, how it gets approved, and what happens to the timeline if the words arrive late. A short questionnaire and nothing else is a bad answer to the second, because nobody can write a plumber's service page from 6 answers and a logo. An offer to carry the copy across from your current site is the other one to watch: that site is usually why you are shopping.
On this offer we write it, from an intake form covering services, service areas, licences and the jobs you want more of. The 5 working day clock starts when that form is submitted, and if you take 3 days to answer a question it extends by 3 days.
Images: supplied, licensed, or borrowed
Ask where each image comes from and who holds the licence afterwards. There are 3 honest answers: you supplied it, it was licensed for you, or it came from a stock subscription belonging to the provider. The third is the one to chase, because that licence generally does not travel when the relationship ends, and the exposure lands on the business named on the website.
Then 2 practical questions: who resizes and compresses the files, and whether photographs of your own finished work are wanted. A 4MB photo off a phone will damage the speed of an otherwise fast site, and our own intake asks whether you have professional photos, phone photos or none.
Revision rounds, and what one round means
Get the definition of a round in writing, because the count means nothing without it. A round should be one consolidated written list of changes, addressed in full. Where a round is counted per email, 3 separate thoughts on 3 separate mornings spend the whole allocation before anybody has moved a heading.
Unlimited revisions is not the reassurance it appears to be. It is either priced in already or it gets rationed the moment the job runs behind, and nothing in the document says which. Ask what a further round costs, and what happens if you reach the end and still do not want the site. Ours runs 2 written rounds, changes returned inside 48 hours, and if you do not want it after both we stop and nothing is owed.
After launch: how a change is requested, and how long it takes
This is the line that decides how the next 3 years feel, and the one most often missing. There are 4 parts: the channel a request travels through, the turnaround in business days, which changes are included and which are charged, and the minimum billing increment on the charged ones.
An open invitation to email any time is a bad answer even when it is meant sincerely. It creates no obligation, no queue and no record, and it degrades the week the person saying it gets busy. Hourly billing with a 1-hour minimum is the other one to catch: changing a phone number takes 2 minutes and is invoiced as a full hour.
Ask for the exclusions too, because a maintenance line that appears to cover everything covers nothing you could enforce. On this offer, changes go through the client portal and are made within 3 business days: image swaps, copy edits, new pages, updated pages. What sits outside it is published on our agreement page. Written exclusions are a good sign in anyone else's package too.
Hosting, backups, and the tracking that settles arguments
Where the site lives
Ask which host, in which country, whether the SSL certificate renews on its own, how often backups run, how long they are kept, and who performs a restore. Hosting included, with no host named, is a bad answer, and so is a backup taken on launch day and never repeated. Ours runs from Sydney with SSL, daily backups and uptime monitoring, inside the monthly fee rather than as separate renewals in month 13.
Call tracking and form tracking
Without these, nobody can settle the only argument that matters at month 6. Ask for call tracking on inbound calls, form submissions logged where you can read them, a GA4 property inside an account in your name, and Search Console verified against your own email. The bad answer is quiet and common: everything configured properly, inside the provider's account, where the history stays when you leave.
Tracking is also what makes a guarantee enforceable. Ours is measured on it. No leads from SEO in your first 90 days and you stop paying until one arrives. A qualified lead is an inbound call of 60 seconds or longer, or a completed contact or quote form, and it excludes friends, family, existing customers, suppliers, sales calls, spam and paid traffic. A promise nobody measures is a sentence, not a remedy. The mechanics are on our guarantee page.
Ownership and the exit
These 2 rows belong in the document rather than in a conversation. Ownership covers the domain registration, the hosting login, the code, the analytics property and the Google Business Profile, each stated as sitting in your business name. Our article on who owns your website covers how to verify each one.
The exit row is the notice period, any exit fee, what is handed over, and who performs the migration. A package silent on leaving was not written with you in mind. Ours is a 12-month minimum, then month to month with 30 days written notice, no exit fee, and migration support in the final invoice. The domain, the code and the content are yours from day 1, in the agreement rather than on a sales page.
The checklist, ready to send
Paste it into an email and send it to whoever is quoting, including us. Every row is answerable in a sentence, and a refusal to answer one tells you something useful.
| Line item | Ask for this in writing | A bad answer sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| Pages | Indexable URLs listed by name, with the search term each one targets. | A range with no list, or sections counted as pages. |
| Copy | Who writes each page, from what source, and the timeline effect if it runs late. | Content to be supplied by the client, mentioned only in the terms. |
| Images | Source and licence for every image, transferable to you in writing. | A promise to find some images that suit. |
| Revisions | Rounds included, the definition of a round, and the rate after that. | Unlimited revisions. |
| Change requests | The channel a request goes through, and the turnaround in business days. | Email me any time. |
| Billable work | What is covered, what is charged, the rate, and the minimum increment. | An hourly rate with a 1-hour minimum and no list of inclusions. |
| Hosting and backups | Named host, country, SSL renewal, backup frequency, retention, restore time. | Hosting included. |
| Tracking | Call tracking, form logging, GA4 and Search Console, in accounts you own. | Analytics set up perfectly, inside the provider's account. |
| Ownership | Registrant, hosting login, code, analytics and Google Business Profile, in your name. | We look after all of that for you. |
| Exit | Notice period, exit fee, what is handed over, who performs the migration. | Nothing written about leaving at all. |
Our answer to the 10 rows is 1 published plan. The build costs $0, the site is live 5 working days from intake, then $297 a month including GST on a 12-month subscription, which is $3,564 across the year. The first invoice comes only after launch and after tracking is verified. If your website has not produced a lead from SEO within the first 90 days, you stop paying us until it does. There is no refund, and we do not promise rankings. We take 4 builds a month and 3 are open. If somebody answers the 10 rows better, take theirs.
Next: the questions to ask before you hire anyone, then what a recurring monthly fee has to contain.