Guides
Answers to the questions people ask me before they hire anyone. No sales pitch in them, and no assumption about which country you are in unless the piece says so.
How much should a restaurant website cost?
A straightforward five-page restaurant website costs roughly $800 to $2,500 to build once, or $80 to $200 a month on a setup-fee-plus-monthly arrangement. Below about $500 you are usually buying a template with your logo dropped in. Above about $5,000 you are paying for design work that a restaurant with one location rarely needs.
What a cleaning company website needs to get bookings
A cleaning company website earns bookings on four things: a quote request that asks only property type, number of bedrooms and how often; the areas you cover written out in text; real prices rather than "contact us for a quote"; and pages that work on a phone held one-handed. Everything else is decoration.
How to put your menu online without a PDF
Put the menu on a web page as ordinary text — sections as headings, each dish as a line with its price and description. Do not link to a PDF and do not upload a photograph of the printed menu. A text menu loads instantly on a phone, can be read by search engines and screen readers, and can be changed in a minute.
What contractors should show on a website to win quotes
Show finished work with before-and-after photographs, credentials and registrations written out in plain text, services split by trade, and a callback request that collects the job details. A client holding three quotes decides on evidence, and most contractors give them none.
Setup fee plus monthly, or one-off: which is better for a small business?
A one-off price is cheaper over three years and leaves hosting, updates and every change to you. A setup fee plus a monthly fee costs more in total, needs far less money on day one, and keeps somebody named responsible for the site. Choose one-off if you have somebody who will maintain it; choose monthly if you do not.
Do I need a trade licence to have a website in the UAE?
Nobody needs a trade licence to register a domain or put up a website. You need one to conduct business in the UAE, and a website advertising services to UAE customers is evidence of doing exactly that. So the licence question is really about the business, not the site.
What UAE businesses need on a website for VAT and licence display
If you are VAT-registered in the UAE, say clearly whether your published prices include the 5% VAT and put your TRN on invoices. There is no general legal requirement to display a trade licence number on a website, though some regulated activities and e-commerce payment providers ask for company details.
Arabic-first or English-first for a Gulf business website?
Lead with the language your customers buy in. In Dubai and Abu Dhabi, a service business selling to residents and international customers is usually right to lead in English with a full Arabic version alongside. A business selling to Arabic-speaking nationals, to government-adjacent clients, or in Saudi Arabia, should lead in Arabic.