Here's how to attract a top notch web design firm to bid competitively on your web site project.

Write a strong RFP that details your business strategy and gives designers a solid idea as to what will be built. Don't tell them what it should look like at this stage. It they're good they'll come back to you with their best ideas, price and more.

This is an example of the kind of Consulting Service I can bring to your web project and how you can get the most out of your tight budget.

Bud Kraus
Joy Of Code
bud@joyofcode.com

You have been selected to provide a proposal for the development, design and production of a new online organization's resource that will connect consumers of fine stationery products to local store-front dealers.

This document details the state of our organization and our web site development requirements to launch our site no later than May 18, 2008.

The 3 major sections of this document are:

Authors and Contacts

The principal authors of the Background section of this document are Sheila and Richard May, Founding Members of The Stationers Guild and co-owners of Thérèse Saint Clair, a stationery store located in Greenwich, CT.

Richard May - Founding Member
richardmay@optonline.net
203 661 2927.

The principal author of the Specifications and Requirements section is Bud Kraus, a web design instructor and consultant based in Nutley, NJ.

Bud Kraus - Web Producer
bud@joyofcode.com
973 235 1452

Quotation Due Date: October 15, 2007

Your complete Submission must be received by Bud Kraus no later than Monday, October 15, 2007 in the matter described in the Submission Requirements section.

Download This Document As A PDF.

BACKGROUND

Overview

The StationersGuild.org (a/k/a the "Guild" will operate as a trade promotion organization for independent stationery stores in the United States, Canada and perhaps, the United Kingdom. We are implementing an internet-based strategy designed to enhance both the visibility and viability of independent store-front stationers.

Implementation of this strategy is the responsibility of 4 to 7 of the leading stationers in the United States (the “Founding Members”), headed by Sheila and Richard May. As the membership grows and StationersGuild.org becomes self-sufficient on an operating basis, the ownership and/or direction of the Guild may be transferred to its membership. Funding for the development and implementation of the Guild’s initial strategy will be undertaken primarily by the founding members.

Mission

Our mission is to provide consumers with clear, objective and highly relevant information on their research topic(s) but to encourage the site visitor to finalize the sale with a Guild Member store in their neighborhood.

Public visitors who find the StationersGuild.org website through the use of a search term (i.e. “Bar Mitzvah invitations”) tend to be motivated shoppers:They are looking for specific products or services with the intention of buying them. Buying fine stationery or invitations is a tactile and visual experience that cannot be adequately simulated on the internet. With an infinite number of paper, printing and personalization options available to the buyer, it is a sale best concluded face-to-face with an experienced stationer.

Competitive Environment

We estimate that there are approximately 1,300 independent stationers in the United States. Of that total, fewer than 800 stores are doing more than $25,000 a year in “personalized stationery”, which is defined as custom-designed social or business stationery, personalized invitations and announcements (i.e. wedding invitations, birth announcements, sympathy acknowledgements) and personalized holiday cards from Vendor Albums. Vendor Albums (i.e. Crane Baby Announcements or Vera Wang Weddings) are purchased (in actuality the albums are leased) by a qualified stationery store to show potential clients (the store customer) paper and printing samples available from the Vendor. The stationer and client sort through the myriad of design and printing options available to create a custom design which is then printed by the Vendor.

Boxed stationery and invitations (“Imprintables”) which are sold and often personalized at the store are considered “in-house printing”. While both activities are often performed by stationers, the distinction between “personalized stationery” and “in-house printing” is most important in segmenting the stationery market. Personalized stationery continues to be the “premium” end of the market for most independent stationers. Personalized stationery for leading stationers is often 8 to 10 times the dollar volume of in-house printing.

Online printers and e-mail has seriously impacted the “imprintables” market for most stationers. Many of these print houses, online stationers (i.e. http://www.finestationery.com and http://www.twio.com ) and a few Vendors are now providing the public with the option of personalizing their stationery and invitations online. As the vast majority of these online “stores” have a limited selection of Vendor lines and a cookie-cutter solution to personalization, the public is being “sold” a seriously flawed and compromised imitation of fine stationery. Unfortunately, leading stationers that could provide the public with a viable alternative to the online print shop are not adequately represented on the Internet. It is precisely that void that the StationersGuild.org is designed to fill:Provide the public with compelling information on fine stationery to help them make an informed purchasing decision.

Goals

Our web site has 4 goals:

Success Criteria

The Internet is a very compelling and inexpensive way to promote and sell products. Conceptually, anyone can (and many have) established their own online stores and now compete with established store-front dealers. Chain stores (i.e. Papyrus and Blue Tulip) are adding to competition by attempting to market “personalized” stationery under a corporate mass-merchandising umbrella. Not surprisingly, our own vendors are also selling online or promoting their products through online dealer-labeled store-fronts managed by them (i.e. Birchcraft and Sweet Pea). The competitive environment is in a state of rapid change and it is difficult to predict the outcome. If a knowledgeable and motivated dealer network is worth preserving to market increasingly sophisticated products and designs, then the following must occur:

  1. Independent dealers must become more visible on the Internet;
  2. Independent dealers with a shared interest in the industry must pool resources to leverage the marketing dollar and differentiate themselves from Internet mass-marketers;
  3. Vendors must actively and enthusiastically support its independent dealers on the Internet.

The StationersGuild.org provides a unique platform for both dealers and vendors to inexpensively leverage their brands, knowledge and credibility in the Internet market place. Dealers and vendors must actively support this initiative in numbers if we wish to re-establish standards for fine stationery and the sustain the craftsmanship required to make it.

Organization

The StationersGuild.org and StationersGuild.com are website domains that have been registered with Network Solutions. The StationersGuild.org - a company in formation - will be registered as a limited liability company or corporation in either Delaware or Nevada.

Users

The website is designed to address the needs of three distinct groups:Guild Members, the Public and Advertisers (primarily the Vendors).

Consumers

It is clear that the Internet is radically changing the manner in which people search for and buy products. While there are many people who would never consider buying stationery over the Internet, there is a large and rapidly growing number of others who clearly prefer the convenience and ease of shopping online from their home or business computer. As such, the target audience for the Guild is the consumer “in the middle” who doesn’t have a strong conviction in either direction and is open to suggestions on how best to make a meaningful shopping decision. The Guild, representing several hundred independent stationers, will provide these consumers with an alternative sales channel to the Internet and hopefully a compelling message for them to do so.

As the internet rapidly displaces printed resources as the Search Engine of Choice, stationers have little choice but to develop a web presence. According to The Knot (a leading wedding website portal; http://www.theknot.com/ ) the Alpha Female (Knot’s definition: upwardly mobile, professional, average age of 27, stressed with balancing job/spouse/family) now spends 89 minutes a day on the internet. It is not surprising that the internet has become the search tool of preference for women seeking custom wedding invitations and birth announcements:very attractive markets for independent stationers. The Knot estimates that over 90% of potential brides use the internet to search for wedding invitations. StationersGuild.org will fill the void on internet searches by providing highly relevant information on these personalized products to consumers and more importantly, the local stores in their neighborhood that sell these products and services.

Specifically, StationersGuild.org will contain summary information on most Vendors in clearly defined market segments (wedding, stationery, holiday cards, and baby announcements) and hyperlinks to all Vendor websites who advertise on the Guild website. The site will be a resource on printing processes(engraving, letterpress, thermograph, lithography), paper options, etiquette and will include short informational video clips (i.e. How engraving dies are made”;“How to select your wedding invitation”). As content builds from Member submissions and search data is pooled and analyzed, StationersGuild.org can become a resource for industry trends.

Preliminarily (subject to confirmation by the other founding members) the website will be search-engine optimized for the following target markets:

Guild Members

Initially, StationersGuild.org will focus on building Guild Membership to insure that there are an adequate number of stores for the site to deemed relevant to the public. While geographic diversity is more important than the actual number of members, 50 to 75 geographically-diversified Members would be more than sufficient for the site to be deemed relevant.

Guild Members will be given the option of simply listing their store on the Guild website (i.e. the Basic Listing) or to opt for their own customizable page on the Guild website (i.e. the Preferred Listing). As pricing has been determined to be a source of some sensitivity, the Basic Listing will be pegged to the cost of advertising in the local Yellow Pages and the Preferred Listing will be somewhat less than what it costs to advertise on an industry web portal (i.e. The Knot for wedding invitations at http://www.theknot.com/ )

As most stationers do not compete nationally and many do not even have a website, our site will provide Member stores with an immediate online presence and, through pooled resources, a far more credible alternative to online stores. In short, the Guild provides Members an inexpensive and effective way to promote their personalized services on the internet to a discerning clientele.

The Vendors

Major diversified personalized stationery vendors (i.e. Crane Paper Co., William Arthur, Checkerboard), other smaller companies (i.e. Press NY, Page) and imprintable invitations and note cards companies (Sarah LeClere, Odd Balls, Royal Imprints) collectively referred to as the “Vendors” will be encouraged to become a website Sponsor (or Advertiser).

Vendor participation is absolutely essential to the success of the website. As Vendors merchandise their brands, introduce new products and offer sales promotions, it will provide the StationersGuild.org administrators with meaningful and ever-changing content to keep the site relevant for the public. While the Guild website is in no way a proxy for the Vendor’s own website, it should generate additional visibility for their brand when showcased in a broader forum with other brands. Furthermore, it should lead to greater page-views as interested consumers click through to a Vendor’s website. Most importantly, this is an inexpensive way for Vendors to promote their product line and support their dealer network of independent stationers: the Guild Members.

SPECIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

Site Specifications

Our specifications are designed to yield deliverables that give us the greatest opportunity for achieving the above stated goals for our Guild.

The Design Deliverables detail all elements to be produced and in many instances illustrate the way we need to have our work product made. In this section our primary focus is on client side requirements.

The Site Map details how our site is divided into three major sections - Product Descriptions, Member Account Creation And Management and All Other Content.

The Technical Requirements section concerns the known server side needs for our site. It details hosting requirements, content management system, programmatic options and related server side needs.

The balance of this section provides additional information you need to formulate your Proposal.

Objectives

We believe that web sites which place the user in the center of the design have the greatest opportunity for success measured at every level. Our specifications are the blueprints for what we believe must be made for our organization.

The Guiding Principals are:

  1. An esthetically pleasing design which is elegant and easy to use.
  2. A consistent navigation interface which effectively orients users to our site.
  3. Copy which has been keyword researched.
  4. Proper use of W3C markup grammars.
  5. A keyword search tool providing relevant search results.
  6. Data collection interfaces allowing Guild Members to easily input data and manage their content.

While not directly impacting on the user experience our site must also include the following:

Design Deliverables

Our web site is to be designed and produced in accordance with these requirements.

It is of critical import that the work product be well commented paying particular attention to troublesome areas. The final deliverable must include documentation detailing all aspects which vary from the agreed upon design and production criteria.

Web Design Standards

All pages, static or dynamically generated, must adhere to the following World Wide Web Consortium Recommendations.

In no instance will any markup be used that is not an official W3C Recommendation unless the need for such markup is clearly stated in your proposal.

All exceptions must be approved by the Guild (or its Agents) and noted in final documentation.

User Agent Compatibility

Our site is to serve the widest possible audience using the greatest number of display devices and environments. Therefore, our site's design must transform gracefully for older and future technologies.

Irrespective of the user agent the design must be able to preserve design integrity with viewport minimized or maximized in any environment.

We favor relative units of measurement wherever possible.

Because we realize that complete design uniformity across all user agents is not possible that is not our goal. However, design must have integrity within any particular user agent.

Our design need not have integrity for the following browsers:

Exceptions to these objectives must meet with the approval of the Guild membership or it's Agents. Final documentation must detail all user agents tested and a report of design issues.

Navigation

A web site's navigation mechanisms and content organization may be the most important elements of any web site.

As with all repetitive page elements server side includes must be used for navigation markup (nested lists and anchors). This will give us the ability to rapidly change site navigation to meet the changing needs of our Guild.

The navigation interface is to consist of an underlayment of XHTML and CSS as opposed to one featuring image rollovers powered by a scripting language.

We favor repetitive links (global navigation) to be placed at the end of all source code.

Other Guiding Principles

We recommend a navigation mechanism such as the Ultimate Drop Down Menu to reach many of these objectives. It is easy to work with, highly customizable, independent of the need for Javascript and, in most instances. browser compliant .

Branding Elements

We favor a design direction which is contemporary and
sophisticated and one which professional women (age group of 25 to 45) would
find visually compelling yet reassuring. A site redesign that appeared in Dynamic Graphics (pgs. 62-63 June/July 2007) for Stanford University Office of Technology Licensing (new site is not up at the time of publishing this document) conveys the feeling of our site we feel is most appropriate to represent our Guild.

A logo suitable to convey the essence of our mission will need to be created for this project. Such logo must also be formatted for print and other media.

All embedded and background imagery is to be properly compressed and optimized. All masters will need to be delivered upon project completion or when requested.

Any other design elements (composites and related work in progress) - work in progress -- will need to be made available upon request.

The Guild will provide input as noted below.

Templates

We have identified the need to create the following templates for our site:

In addition, the style of our site will change depending on seasonal and other needs We have identified the following styles for our site:

These styles shall be derived from the Standard style.

Search Engine Optimization

We wish to build a content-rich website that will be the definitive internet resource for consumers seeking to purchase fine stationery invitations through their local store-front dealers.

A primary objective of our web site is to consistently rank high (page one results) for search terms such as:

and other search terns deemed relevant by your keyword research or by Guild Members.

This will be accomplished through best coding and copy writing practices, which include, at a minimum:

This shall apply to all pages whether static or dynamically generated.

Our site must allow search engine spiders and robots to traverse links and gather page data to maximize the possibility of a successful, relevant search.

While we will be providing much of the copy for the Product Descriptions section (see Site Map below) we feel these keywords should be included in the keyword meta tag for the corresponding pages:

Wedding Invitations Page
wedding invitations, wedding stationery, wedding stationary, wedding shower, wedding calligraphy, engraved wedding invitation, wedding program, rehearsal dinner, save the date, wedding thank you, place cards, rare cards, direction card, letterpress invitations
Fine Stationery Page
engraved stationary, stationary, business cards, letterhead, letterpress stationary, note cards, fold-over notes, monogram stationary, personalized stationary, custom stationary, legal stationary, social stationery, engraved business cards
Baby Announcements Page
birth announcements, baby announcements, engraved birth announcements, letterpress baby announcements
Special Occasions Page
bar mitzvah invitations, bat mitzvah invitations, christening invitations, baptism invitations, corporate events, moving announcements, sympathy announcements, corporate invitations, retirement invitations, golf events
Invitations And Announcements Page
invitations, announcements, invitation
Holiday Page
christmas cards, holiday cards, christmas, photo cards, hanukah cards, corporate holiday cards, engraved christmas card

Non-ethical or "black hat" SEO practices will be strictly forbidden

Site Map

Our site is trifurcated into these major content groupings:

The following sets forth the pattern of downward navigation for our site.

Product Descriptions

These pages serve to educate the public about stationery products and services available at most local stores. (Since each page is similar in purpose it will be recommended that the site's main template be representative of a page from this section.)

Each list item is a single page.

  1. Wedding Invitations
    (Vendors that provide the variety of wedding invitation products target : brides and mothers of brides, planners est market: 35%.)
    • Paper Trail
    • Save The Date
    • The Invitation - print process explanation
    • Rehearsal Dinner
    • The Wedding
    • The Reception - place cards, seating cards, table cards
    • The Brunch
    • Thank You
  2. Fine Stationery
    (Social and Business - vendors which supply target market: law firms, boat parties est market: 15%.)
    • Social Stationery
    • Business Stationery
    • Boxed Stationery
  3. Birth Announcements
    (Baptism, Christening,, Birth related events est market: 10%.)
    • Baptism And Christening
    • Bris
    • Baby Shower
  4. Special Occasions
    • Bar And BaT Mitzvahs
    • Christening and Baptism
    • Quincianera
    • Sympathy Acknowledge
    • Moving Announcements
    • Corporate Events
  5. Invitations And Announcements
    • Birth Announcements
    • Birthday
    • Children's Birthday
    • Anniversary
    • Retirement
    • Showers
      • Baby Showers
      • Wedding Showers
    • Moving Announcements
  6. Holiday
    • Christmas
    • Hanukah
    • Corporate Holiday Cards
    • Holiday Cards
Membership Enrollment and Account Management

The second major group concerns the Guild membership enrollment and account management process. Basic members are entitled to enter simple identification data which is dynamically generated and displayed on the Find A Stationer Near You page. They may also subscribe to our list-serv.

Preferred members get the Basic members benefit plus access and/or ability to

Enrollment

Both types of membership - Basic and Preferred - involve a 3 step process.

(Every page will link to an enrollment page which explains member benefits and the eligibility/enrollment process.)

Enrollment begins with the following content:

Step 1: Application (Initial Data Collection)

Step 2: Approval

Within 48 hours, the requestee receives an email announcing the the acceptance - or rejection - of application to the Guild.

If accepted this email includes the url which will refer the new member to the site to complete the enrollment process. (Automatically logs new member back to account).

Step 3: Account Completion

There are 4 components to the final account creation process:

Payment

Members may pay with VISA or Mastercard. (AMEX and PayPal will not be allowed)

Additional Information.

(Other information to be completed regardless of type of membership type.)

Create A Page

Preferred members may create one page (featuring a Smart URL):

Select A Template (one of three choices).

Members may then populate their page with the following options:

Members are also given options to upload up to 3 images to complete their page.

Email Options

Members have the option to receive our monthly newsletter.

Account Management

Once logged in (from dedicated login page) Members review and/or edit previously submitted data.

Basic Members have the ability to:

Preferred Members have the ability to:

All Other (unrelated) Content

This is a list of the known, non-associated pages that are miscellaneous in nature and/or heretofore not specifically noted..

Global Navigation

Each publicly available page is to have the following links and/or search pages

All publicly available pages will include the following links and text fields:

Global navigation for members logged in (My Account) is as follows:

Technical Requirements

Our site is to be developed as vendor and platform neutral as possible.

We prefer server side solutions which support flexibility, open sourced and are not proprietary. This gives us the advantages of scalability and portability.

Any proprietary and/or third party software or applications must be met with the prior approval of the Guild or its Agents.

All scripts developed for our project must be efficient and well commented. Anti-tainting measures must be in place where required.

Hosting

We believe a virtual host is the best solution for our needs.

The host will need a proven, above average or superior demonstrated online performance record, provide 24 X 7 telephone support and not knowingly be the target of a takeover or merger.

We are open to the platform type and realize that its selection will be a function of the applications needed or developed for this project. Selected platform must support wide range of file types including popular multimedia download and streaming technologies to accomodate potential needs.

Sufficient server space must be available to allow for a staging *testing) site following launch.

Host company must allow us file access via FTP, Telnet and other common network applications and protocols.

Content Management System

Our CMS is the engine which allows store-front stationers to become Guild members and to manage their online accounts.

It will be responsible for these functions described below and within the Site Map section pertaining to Membership Enrollment and Account Management.

Security
e-Commerce

Our site requires appropriate secure certificate, Merchant Services (authorization and settlement, etc).

Secure data (credit card) may not be permanently stored on our hosting server.

Session Cookies

For members logged in to their accounts we prefer sessions to remain open for 1 hour.

Associates Program

We will need a link referral mechanism by which our vendor-advertisers will know when a referral has been made from our site.

Search

Users must be able to generate both simple keyword match searches along with more advanced , relational database search results

For example, a query such as "Vera Wang Wedding invitations in Akron, OH" will return the answer as either "None in that area" or a matched based on text or zip code(s) proximity.

Email Newsletter

We will need simple data collection for public users to subscribe to our monthly newsletter. (This is not to be confused with the newsletter that will be sent monthly to Guild Members).

We will be using a third party service to handle our email needs.

Other Programmatic Needs

In addition to programmatic requirements defined above and elsewhere we will need:

Site Metrics

We require web based analytic feedback reports updated on a daily basis. The tool used must allow us the capability to arrange the data by date, week, month and year in any of the following records:

The data should also be available in spreadsheet and/or word document formats.

We also need to have Google Analytics page tracking code embedded in both static and dynamically generated pages.

The above describes the minimum requirements for our site.

We are aware of solutions, such as ActualMetrics - Urchin Software but are interested in your recommendations.

Project Timeline

Our site must be online, fully operational and open to the public no later than May 18, 2008, opening day of The National Stationery Show in New York City.

Our project will pass through four phases following the identification and selection of vendor(s).

Phase 1: Search And Select

September 1 - Mid November

Your proposals must be received by Bud Kraus no later than October 15, 2007 in the manner as described below

Identification of awarded vendor and contract finalized to occur on or about November 15, 2008.

Phase 2: Hold

Mid November - Jan 1

Our project has a built in hold due to the exigencies necessitated by the Holidays experienced by SG Members. However, during this phase we will be working with the selected vendor resolving pre-production issues.

Phase 3: Build

Jan 1 - March 1

Phase 4: Launch

March 1 - Soft Launch

May 1- Final Launch

Ownership Contributions

Members of the Guild will be providing much of the copy for the site. This includes (but is not limited to) the Products Description section of the site. It also includes copy to to be used for the email notifications, web resources for store-front owners (available only to Preferred Members).

You shall edit copy we supply to ensure that it:

Submission Requirements

Answers to the following must be included in your submission to us which MUST BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2007. The completeness and accuracy of your submission will be a factor in helping us make our decision.

Your submission is to include the following

  • The Check List (our PDF - see below)
  • Description Of Your Workflow Process
  • Your Project Experience
  • Workforce
  • Identification Of Third Party Vendors
  • Specimen Contract And Quotation

You may submit additional information which will help us in our decision process.

The Check List PDF and all other submission documents is to be sent to Bud Kraus, bud@joyofcode.com, 973 235 1452.

We will not accept a partially completely submission or submission made on a piecemeal basis. Only submit your quotation once all of the documents are ready for submission.

Please submit your proposal to us in a text based format - email, word documents or html files are fine. Please do not send us your proposal in PDF format (accepting our PDF file which you need to complete as part of your proposal.)

Please compress all documents into a .zip or .sit file format prior to submission.

All submitted documents and information we learn from you will be held in strictest confidence.

Should you be selected the information submitted will serve to form the basis of a contract under which the deliverables for this project shall be designed and produced.

Check List

Please download this PDF, complete and return as part of your submission.

Return the completed form, along with balance of your submission documents as described above.

Workflow Process

Please describe in detail your workflow so we can understand the process by which our site will be developed, designed and produced.

We know there is wide variance in the way web sites are made.

Fully note and describe the Project milestone sign offs.

Experience

Please provide a list of all Projects you have completed in the past 3 years with hyperlinks for our review.

Each listed project must be accompanied by a brief description of the services provided for the corresponding project. Make certain to make clear which elements of a project you did not do.

References from your listed projects would be most appreciated. Provide the name, email address and phone number so we may make contact if necessary.

We would like to know if you have received any awards for your work during the past five years.

Please let us know if you have any educational or training experience which further qualifies you to do this work,

Workforce

Are the people who will work on this project your employees? Will some or all involved be freelance hires?

Have these people worked together before?

Please indicate the numbers of people you anticipate working on this project and and approximate total number of man/hours needed to complete our project.

Third Party Vendors

We recognize that you may not be able to furnish all the services needed to complete the specified deliverables.

Please indicate which services you will need to out source. We will need to know the names of your sub-contractors and the services which they will provide. A very brief description of their experience will be appreciated.

Specimen Contract and Quotation

As a part of your quotation please submit your contract that will be used as a basis upon which this project will be completed.

We will need to know your project fee and the terms under which payment is to be made. For services to be provided by third parties we will need to know their fees as well.