By Usman Ghazanfar · · 8 min read
This guide gives you a practical way to decide. It walks through what to check before you sign anything, the questions worth asking every company and the warning signs that should make you pause. Follow it and you will be able to compare providers on evidence instead of on sales talk.
Start with your own goals
Before you contact anyone, write down what the website must achieve. More phone calls? Online orders? Bookings? A credible presence for tenders and partners? Providers can only propose the right solution if you know the outcome you want, and you can only judge their proposals against a clear goal.
Also note the practical details: roughly which pages you need, whether you need English and Arabic, whether you plan to sell online and when you would like to launch. Even a one-page brief makes conversations faster and quotes more accurate.
Look at real work, not just screenshots
A portfolio should be a list of live websites, not only polished images. Visit them. Open them on your phone and see how quickly they load. Click through the menus, try the forms and check whether they look the same on a small screen as on a desktop.
Pay attention to what the company actually did on each project. Did they design it, build it, write the content or only install a template? Ask for a short explanation of the problem each project solved. Results, such as what the client needed and how the site addressed it, say more than visual style alone. If you want to see how I present projects, my portfolio and case studies set out the problem, solution and features for each one.
Questions to ask every company
Put the same questions to each provider you shortlist. The quality and clarity of the answers is often more revealing than the answers themselves.
- Who will actually work on my website, and can I speak to them directly?
- What is your process from first call to launch, and how long does each stage take?
- What is included in the price, and what would count as an extra?
- How many design revisions are included?
- How will you handle SEO, mobile performance and page speed?
- Can the site be built in English and Arabic if I need it later?
- Who owns the design, the code and the domain once the project is finished?
- What happens after launch: support, fixes, training and maintenance?
- Can you show me similar projects and, with permission, put me in touch with a past client?
Check the technical basics
You do not need to be technical to ask good questions about how a site will be built. Ask whether it will be fast on mobile, how images will be optimised, whether the pages will have proper titles and headings for search engines and how security is handled. Providers who care about these things will explain them clearly and without jargon.
You can also test their previous work yourself. Free tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights show how quickly a live page loads and where it can improve. If a company's own website and recent projects score poorly, that tells you how they treat performance.
Understand pricing and contracts
Insist on a written scope before any money changes hands. It should list the pages, features, deliverables, timeline and payment schedule. Milestone payments protect both sides: you pay as work is delivered, and the developer is paid for progress.
Make sure the contract states who owns the finished website. You should own your domain name, your content and the right to use the finished design. Ask what happens if you want to move the site to another host or developer in future. For a closer look at what influences quotes, read how much a website costs in Sharjah.
Communication and location
Location matters less than responsiveness. Plenty of strong web teams work with clients across the UAE entirely through video calls, email and WhatsApp. What matters is how quickly they reply, how clearly they explain things and whether they keep to agreed deadlines. Notice how a company behaves while it is trying to win your business, because that is usually the best it will be.
Practical details matter too. If you are VAT-registered, ask whether the company can issue a proper invoice, and what payment methods they accept. Clarify the working hours and the best way to reach them when something urgent comes up after launch.
Freelancer, studio or agency?
A freelance developer gives you direct access to the person doing the work, usually with flexible terms and lower overheads. The trade-off is that one person has limited capacity and a single point of failure, so ask how they handle holidays, illness and long-term support.
Agencies and studios bring a team with different skills and processes, which suits large or complex projects, and their price reflects those overheads. A smaller studio can sit between the two. Choose according to the size and complexity of your project rather than the label.
Red flags to watch for
Be cautious if a company shows several of these signs.
- They guarantee a number one ranking on Google. Nobody can honestly promise that.
- The price is far below every other quote, with no explanation of what has been left out.
- They cannot show live examples of their work.
- There is no written scope or contract, or ownership is unclear.
- They ask for the full payment before starting.
- Replies are slow or vague before you have even signed.
- They push a template without asking about your business or customers.
Making the final decision
Narrow the list to two or three companies and compare them on the same terms: clarity of scope, quality of live work, communication, technical approach, ownership and support. Choose the one you trust to deliver, not simply the cheapest or the one with the flashiest presentation. A website is a long-term asset, and a good working relationship is part of what you are buying.
If you would like me to be one of the providers you compare, read about my web design service for Sharjah businesses, see how I approach website redesign in the UAE or look at the trends shaping UAE web design. When you are ready, contact me and I will answer the questions above in writing for your project.