Prepared for [CLIENT NAME] Last updated on [DATE].

The enclosed content is the sole property of Water Your Plants LLC. It may be only be disclosed to employees and owners of [CLIENT NAME].

This proposal is valid for 30 days after being sent.

📖 Abstract

• Develop a best in class, responsive website for the new [PROJECT NAME].
• Utilize modern tooling and best practices to deliver a thoughtful experience for the [CLIENT NAME] audience
• Employ forward-thinking development for the maintainers of the site as it evolves, both for the content managers as well as any code owners.

⏳ Process

Our development process is broken up into four phases: Core Development, Content Integration, User Testing & QA, and Post Launch Support.

Core Development

With approved design mockups in hand, we begin the web development process. Live staging links will be provided at designated checkpoints along the way as we work towards a live beta of the site. It's also recommended that we have a weekly standup during this phase. This a top to bottom build of all deliverables listed in the statement of work. There may be bits and pieces of polish left until QA, but this generally includes:

• Frontend template development
• CMS architecture and placeholder content
• Interactions and animations
• Staging hosting environment

Content Integration

We work with the design team to provide a content outline to you that specifies all required copy and asset specifications. We will then train all teams on entering content directly into the CMS, along with example pages and products fully populated.

User Testing & QA

Once initial content is populated, we start this phase; it has two parts:

1. We deliver a bug tracker to triage requests, and update you on progress as we head to launch. We reserve a fixed period, typically 1 week, for both teams to go through the staging site and make notes on tweaks, fixes, and suggestions on anything that doesn't feel quite right.
2. We pause User Testing, and enter QA. This period is reserved for addressing any requests before launch. We provide frequent check ins through this process, and are often in communication on a daily basis as we work through the list. Completing any requests made after this process starts will be addressed at our discretion.

<aside> ℹ️ Check out what a QA tracker looks like here. We also have an internal launch list for go-live approval that you can see here.

</aside>

Launch & Post Launch Support

After completing QA, it's time to launch this thing! Typically, this entails us making DNS updates to point the the current domain to the new website. We then hand off all hosting information, 3rd party service credentials, and other documentation.

After launch, we reserve a 30 day period to be available to you for a smooth launch. Generally this is for small fixes that went unnoticed, tutorials of the CMS, and general support. This 30 day period includes a 10 hour budget.

Example Deliverables

• Bug fixes
• Client team training
• Low-level optimization and enhancement of existing codebase
• Incorporation of plugins or apps
• Updating content and assets within existing website pages

👷‍♂️ Technology Stack Info

What is a Headless Website?

A headless website simply means that the frontend ties together one or more API services to create the pages. Where as a typical Shopify website houses the content CMS (blog posts + pages), the OMS system information (inventory + product catalogs), as well as the actual file hosting (assets, data, HTML), a typical Headless experience uses multiple services to accomplish this.

Is this still Shopify?

This is still a Shopify website, and as such, you have access to the Shopify feature + plugin ecosystem. You can still use companion services like Klaviyo, Yotpo, and Rewards programs. One caveat to this, is that the entire frontend (e.g. the template) is not on Shopify. This means for any plugins that need access to the Shopify theme – e.g. install this promo bar in your theme editor - will not work in the same way. For plugins and functionality like this to work, it needs to be built into the Headless frontend ourselves, or utilize services that work on normal HTML websites.

Why choose Headless over using Shopify for everything?

This opens up all sorts of possibilities. Two of the most pivotal are static hosting, and utilizing a custom CMS. Static hosting uses a CDN (content delivery network) to host pre-built copies of your website as close to the end user as possible. Every time you make a change, the website is pre-built and ready to serve in the fastest possible format. Using a different CMS than what Shopify provides allows for extremely customized, and self-serve content management.