By Dan Stark, AltaStreet

One website quote includes writing the copy. Another only covers loading the copy you supply.

Both say “content included.” You pick the lower total… then find out your team has a writing project before the site can move forward.

When you compare financial advisor website quotes, start with what each provider will deliver, what your firm has to supply, and what you’ll keep paying after launch. The totals only mean something once those answers are clear.

AltaStreet’s financial advisor website pricing page lays out the investment options. The proposals themselves show whether those options cover the job you need done.

Put both quotes into the same worksheet

Start by writing down the site you need: named pages, content to create or move, forms, integrations, and any launch dependencies. Do that before you look at how each provider would build it.

Then copy the worksheet below into a working document. In each quote column, record the status, the specific deliverable, who’s responsible, and the proposal page or agreement section that backs it up.

For status, use Included, Optional, Excluded, Client responsibility, or Unclear. If a proposal doesn’t answer an item, it stays Unclear. Silence doesn’t mean included… and it doesn’t mean free.

These rows are a starting point. Split any row that covers different responsibilities or prices. Writing the copy and loading it into the site, for example, may be separate jobs.

Hold every provider to the same test, including AltaStreet. More included work only helps if your firm needs it.

Check what “pages” and “content” actually mean

A 10-page scope should name all 10 pages. Ask whether team bios, service pages, location pages, disclosures, and landing pages count toward that total.

A reusable layout isn’t a finished page, either. One service-page layout might support five services, but someone still has to write, build, and review all five pages. Confirm which of those jobs the price covers.

For copy, ask each provider where its work starts:

• Original writing: Who runs the interviews, develops the message, and writes the pages?
• Editing: How finished do your drafts need to be, and how much revision does the quote include?
• Migration or loading: Who supplies the approved text, checks reuse rights, and fixes outdated material?

Say one quote requires your firm to supply every page. Another includes interviews, original writing for the named pages, and two review rounds. Neither arrangement is automatically wrong. They just ask for very different amounts of your team’s time.

Before you compare financial advisor website design proposals, make sure the page list, writing responsibility, and required functionality describe the same project.

Separate launch SEO from ongoing work

“SEO included” needs a task list.

For launch, ask whether the scope covers page and keyword planning, titles and descriptions, URL mapping, and redirects where URLs change. Also ask about relevant structured data, indexing checks, and setup or verification of your firm’s tracking accounts.

Then ask what continues after launch. Research, new content, technical monitoring, local profile work, and reporting each need a defined scope, schedule, and owner if they’re part of the engagement.

Keep those two lists apart when you compare financial advisor SEO services. If a quote rolls both into one “SEO” line, ask which part is one-time launch work and which part you’ll pay for every month.

Treat an “AI visibility” line item the same way. Ask what will actually be delivered. Google’s AI features guidance says AI Overviews and AI Mode don’t require a special AI file or schema. That doesn’t make every related service unnecessary. But the label alone doesn’t explain the work, and it doesn’t guarantee visibility.

Define compliance support and the approval process

“Compliance included” might mean adding approved disclosures, preparing pages for review, submitting them through the review system your firm uses, or making changes after reviewer comments. Get the actual tasks in writing.

Your website compliance process should identify who submits the pages, who reviews and approves them under the requirements that apply to your firm, and who makes the approved changes. Then find out how many revision rounds the quote includes and whether it covers the records handoff.

Also ask what happens when review changes copy or design your team already signed off on. Does the quote cover that… or does it turn into added work?

Have whoever handles compliance review for your firm confirm the review path and any timing dependencies. A provider’s launch date shouldn’t assume an approval the provider doesn’t control.

Compare the first year and the full commitment

Build one cost view for each quote:

Project and setup charges + 12 months of required recurring fees + required costs outside those fees + selected options

Count each charge once. If hosting or a license is already bundled into the monthly fee, don’t add it again. List any recurring charge that starts before launch on its own line. Check taxes, usage charges, and renewal prices where they apply.

Here’s a hypothetical example. The figures are invented, not AltaStreet or competitor prices. Both quotes assume monthly billing starts at launch, and the totals cover only the charges listed.

Quote A comes in $1,400 lower on the listed charges. That gap says nothing about the cost of the writing Quote A hands to your firm. Before you treat the scopes as comparable, get a price for having that copy written, or confirm your team has the time and ability to supply it.

Keep unknown costs marked Unclear. Don’t enter $0 just because a proposal doesn’t mention a fee.

Then look past the first year. Record each agreement’s minimum term, payment milestones, renewal rules, price changes, and cancellation terms. Ask each provider to confirm its total required payments over that minimum term, plus any charges that can still vary.

Compare both quotes over the same 12-month period. Then show each full commitment separately, so a lower monthly number can’t hide a longer obligation.

Confirm what support and ownership cover

Ask what the recurring fee buys. Hosting, software updates, content edits, security monitoring, and emergency response are different responsibilities. Confirm the included work, response targets, limits, and the rate for anything beyond the allowance.

Don’t stop at “you own the website,” either. Record who controls the domain registration, hosting, CMS, analytics, and any other accounts. Then separate original copy and design deliverables from licensed images, fonts, software, and platform features.

For each asset or service you rely on, ask what happens if the relationship ends: what you can keep using, what you can export, which licenses you’d need to replace, and what transfer help costs. Ownership, account access, and the ability to run the site elsewhere need separate answers.

Get the unresolved items into the agreement

Before you sign, send each provider the items you marked Unclear and ask for answers in writing. Then make sure the proposal or agreement you sign reflects every change you agree on.

Pay close attention to what counts as finished. A form deliverable can spell out its fields, where submissions go, and what a successful test submission looks like. A migration deliverable can list the approved pages and files. A review milestone can name who signs off and what happens if feedback runs late.

For added work, confirm who can authorize it, how it’s priced, and how it affects the schedule. “We’ll work that out later” leaves you comparing an open question with another provider’s defined scope.

You don’t need the longest proposal. You need enough detail to know what you’re buying, what your team owes, and what happens after launch.

If you’re planning a new advisor website, talk with AltaStreet about the scope your firm needs.