Understand before you estimate
Ask who will use the work, what is difficult today, and what a useful result would look like. Ask about existing content, deadlines, and who can approve decisions. Repeat the problem back in plain language to check that you understand it.
Describe the outcome and boundaries
Explain what you will deliver and what is outside the scope. For a small website, define the pages, content responsibilities, contact flow, and handover. Avoid promising an open-ended list of changes. Clear boundaries help both people plan.
Make the process easy to follow
Break the work into reviewable stages such as discovery, design, implementation, and testing. Explain what feedback you need at each stage and how changes will be handled. Confirm timing, price, payment arrangements, and responsibilities together before work begins.
Use relevant evidence
Show one or two pieces of work that demonstrate the kind of problem you can solve. If you are starting out, a clearly labeled practice project is useful. Never present a sample exercise as paid client work or claim results you cannot verify.