When a small business in Dubai asks me for a website, the brief usually starts with features: a booking engine, an animated hero, a blog, a chatbot. I start from the other end. A visitor arrives from Google Maps, an Instagram bio or an ad, almost always on a phone, and wants three answers quickly. Is this what I need? Can I trust them? How do I get in touch? Everything on this checklist serves one of those three answers. Anything that doesn't can wait.
The first screen does most of the work
On a phone, the first screen is what someone sees before they scroll. If it doesn't say what you do, the rest of the page rarely gets a chance. I write this line before I design anything, and I rewrite it until a stranger could repeat it back.
- What you do, for whom, and where, in one line.
- One primary action: call, WhatsApp or book.
- A real photo, not stock, wherever possible.
- The area you serve (Dubai Marina, Al Quoz, all of the UAE) if location matters to the buyer.
A quick test I use: show the first screen to someone who doesn't know the business for five seconds, then ask what you sell and how they would contact you. If they hesitate, fix the headline before touching colours, fonts or animations.
Contact the way UAE customers prefer
Many UAE customers would rather send a WhatsApp message than fill in a form, and plenty still prefer to call. Give them both, make each one a single tap, and keep a short form for people who prefer email.
- Click-to-WhatsApp button, visible on mobile.
- Tap-to-call phone number in international format.
- Address with a map and clear directions, if customers visit you.
- Opening hours, including Ramadan changes when relevant.
- A short form with as few fields as you can manage.
For the WhatsApp button, use a click-to-chat link with your number in international format (971, then the number without the leading zero) and a pre-filled first line such as "Hi, I'm asking about..." so the conversation doesn't start blank. Then track clicks on the WhatsApp and call buttons as conversions. Without that, you can't tell which pages bring enquiries. I cover the setup in conversion tracking with GA4 and Meta.
Trust signals UAE buyers look for
People in Dubai have seen businesses appear and vanish, so they look for proof that you are real, licensed and still operating. Vague claims like "trusted by hundreds" do nothing. Specific, checkable details do.
- Genuine reviews or testimonials, with names where customers agree.
- Licence details or registrations relevant to your sector.
- Photos of the team and premises.
- Clear pricing, or at least a starting point and what affects the price.
- An address that matches your trade licence and your Google Business Profile.
Place proof close to the contact buttons, not on a separate testimonials page nobody opens. If you work in a regulated sector such as healthcare or real estate, the rules on what you can claim are stricter, so read the industry notes on clinic marketing or real estate marketing before writing copy.
Technical basics
None of this is glamorous, but it decides whether Google can understand the site and whether a visitor on mobile data waits for it to load. This is the table I work through before launch.
Websites · Dubai
Technical checks before launch
| Item | What good looks like | How I check it |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile speed | Core Web Vitals in the "good" range: LCP 2.5 seconds or less, INP 200 ms or less, CLS 0.1 or less | PageSpeed Insights, then Search Console once there is enough data |
| HTTPS | Every page loads on https with no mixed-content warnings | Open several pages and check the browser padlock |
| Own-domain email | [email protected] or .com, not a free webmail address | Send a test and check it doesn't land in spam |
| Service pages | One page per service, each with a unique title and description | A site: search in Google or a crawl tool |
| Structured data | LocalBusiness schema whose name, address, phone and hours match your profile | Google's Rich Results Test |
| Measurement | GA4 and Search Console connected, with calls, WhatsApp clicks and forms tracked | Click each button yourself and watch the real-time report |
More detail in Core Web Vitals explained and the plain-English guide to LocalBusiness schema. Google says Core Web Vitals are used by its ranking systems but that there is no single page experience signal, so treat speed as a visitor problem first and an SEO problem second.
Legal basics
I'm not a lawyer and this isn't legal advice, but two documents come up on almost every UAE site I build.
- A privacy notice explaining what you collect and why. See PDPL basics for your website.
- Terms for online sales, bookings or deposits if you take payments.
If your company is registered in DIFC or ADGM, your data protection rules come from the free zone rather than the federal law, so check which one applies before you write the notice.
The order I build it in
Websites · Dubai
From blank page to launch
Write the offer
One line on what you do, for whom and where, plus the three questions customers ask most.
Gather proof
Real photos, reviews you have permission to use, and licence details.
Build the contact layer
WhatsApp, call and form, all tracked and all tested on a phone.
Write one page per service
Each with its own headline, details, price guidance and call to action.
Run the technical checks
Speed, HTTPS, schema, Search Console and analytics.
Launch and review
After a few weeks, look at enquiries and Search Console and improve the weakest page first.
Skip these
Sliders, auto-playing music, pop-ups on page load and pages of generic "why choose us" text. They slow the site and push the important information down.
This list is the starting point for every website I build in Dubai, quoted as a fixed price in AED. If you're building it yourself, work through it in order and you'll avoid most of the problems I'm usually asked to fix later.