Conceptual illustration; not a photograph of a client project.
Give every agency the same brief
State the audiences, services, languages, content types and actions the website should support. List integrations and the existing pages that attract enquiries. Explain who supplies copy, translations, photographs and approvals. Comparing a five-page design quotation with a multilingual content migration makes price alone misleading. Ask each bidder to mark assumptions and exclusions.
Request the deliverables behind the design
A proposal should identify page templates, editable content, responsive states, form behaviour and third-party dependencies. Ask how staff will change a service page after launch. Clarify whether a feature is included, requires a paid plugin or will be a custom integration. Obtain a demonstration of the editing workflow before accepting a design that only the original developer can maintain.
Keep control of your business assets
Record who owns the domain, hosting, WordPress administration, analytics, advertising accounts and paid licences. Company-controlled accounts make renewals and handovers easier. Ask whether the source and database can be exported and which licence restrictions apply to fonts, photographs or plugins. Ownership should be documented before work begins.
Make SEO migration part of acceptance
Provide the current URL inventory and search data. Each valuable URL needs a keep, improve or relevant redirect decision. Check titles, descriptions, canonicals, internal links, sitemap and indexing settings on the final domain. A visually impressive homepage does not compensate for missing service pages or old links that stop working.
Test the complete customer journey
Use a phone and a desktop to find a service, read the scope, contact the company and receive a response. Verify form delivery in the real mailbox. Agree how defects, content changes and later enhancements are handled after launch. Ask for a handover session, backup procedure and maintenance responsibility, with any recurring cost stated separately.
Take this checklist into your planning meeting
- Common brief and exclusions
- Editing demonstration
- Company-owned accounts and source
- Migration and enquiry acceptance
Discuss your next step
Techvenation can help turn these questions into a defined scope for your business. Explore website development or discuss your requirements.
Continue your research
Website redesign checklist: protect search visibility during migration
Website development cost in the UAE: a scope-first guide