How to Choose a Web Development Company in Lebanon

A website is often the first thing a customer checks before they call you, visit your shop or place an order. Choosing who builds it is a decision you will live with for years, yet many businesses compare agencies on price and a few portfolio screenshots.

This guide gives you ten questions to ask any web development company in Lebanon before you sign. A good agency will answer them clearly and in writing. If an agency avoids them, that tells you something too.

1. Who will own the domain, hosting and code?

This is the most important question, and the one most often skipped. Your domain name (for example yourbusiness.com) should be registered in your name, with you as the account owner, not inside the agency's account. The same goes for hosting, analytics and any paid tools.

Ask for written confirmation that you will own the custom design and code once the project is paid. If you ever change agencies, you should be able to take your website with you without negotiating.

2. Can I see live websites you built, and talk to a past client?

Screenshots are easy to make look good. Ask for links to live sites and open them on your phone. Check:

• How fast do they load on mobile data?
• Do they still work, or are there broken pages and outdated content?
• Do they look like original work, or like the same template repeated?

If possible, ask to speak with one past client. A five-minute call will tell you more about deadlines and communication than any sales meeting.

3. Will the site work properly in Arabic and English?

Many businesses in Lebanon need both languages. A bilingual site is more than translated text: Arabic reads right to left, so the whole layout has to mirror, and it needs fonts that display Arabic well.

Ask how they handle right-to-left layout, whether each language gets its own page address (this matters for Google), and who writes the Arabic copy. Customers notice machine translation that nobody has reviewed. We cover the details in our guide to bilingual websites.

4. How fast will the site be on a phone?

Most of your visitors will arrive on a phone, often on a mobile connection. A slow site loses customers before they see what you offer, and page experience is also one of the signals Google uses to rank pages.

Ask what the agency does to keep the site fast: optimized images, lean code, and how they measure the result. A good answer mentions testing on real phones and tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights, and gives you numbers rather than adjectives. For the common causes of a slow site, see why your website is slow on mobile.

5. What do you do for SEO from day one?

Search engine optimization (SEO) should be built in, not added after launch. At a minimum, ask whether the site will have:

• A unique title and description for every page
• Clean, readable page addresses
• Structured data that helps Google understand your business
• A sitemap submitted to Google Search Console
• Help setting up your Google Business Profile, if customers can visit you

An agency that promises "page one on Google in a month" is a red flag. Nobody can guarantee rankings. What a good agency can deliver is a site that gives you a fair chance to earn them.

6. How will customers contact me or pay?

In Lebanon, many customers would rather send a WhatsApp message than fill in a form. Ask how the site will turn visitors into enquiries: WhatsApp buttons, click-to-call, quote forms, and where those messages will arrive.

If you plan to sell online, ask which payment options the agency has actually set up before (local cards, international cards, cash on delivery), and what fees and approval steps to expect. Payment setup can take weeks, so plan it early.

7. What exactly is included in the price?

Two quotes with the same total can cover very different work. Ask for a written scope that lists:

• The pages and features included
• How many rounds of revisions you get
• Who provides the text and photos
• Whether the domain, hosting and paid plugins are included, and for how long
• What happens, and what it costs, if you need changes outside the scope

A clear scope protects both sides and is the best way to avoid surprises at the end.

8. What is the process and timeline?

Ask how the project will run, step by step, and when you will see something real. A healthy process usually looks like this:

1. A discovery call to understand your business and goals
2. Structure and design for you to review
3. Development, with a preview link you can check
4. Testing on phones and different browsers
5. Launch, followed by a period of fixes and adjustments

Ask who your contact person is and how quickly they reply. Slow communication during the sales stage rarely improves once you have paid.

9. Will I be able to update the site myself?

Find out how you will change prices, add products or publish news after launch. Some businesses want a content management system they can use themselves; others prefer to send changes to the agency. Both are fine, as long as you know the answer, and the cost, before you start.

10. What happens after launch?

Websites need ongoing care: security updates, backups, fixes when something breaks, and small improvements over time. Ask whether the agency offers support and maintenance, what it covers, how fast they respond, and what it costs.

Also ask what they will hand over if you stop working together: passwords, files and documentation.

A quick checklist before you sign

Domain and hosting in your name, ownership of the custom work in writing, live examples you have tested on your phone, a clear scope and timeline, and a plan for support after launch.

If an agency can confirm all five, you are in a good position, whoever you choose.

How KamiKode answers these questions

We are a web development agency in Beirut, and we wrote this list from the questions we wish every client asked us. Our sites are bilingual, mobile-first and built with SEO from day one. Once a project is paid in full, you own the custom design and code we create for you, and you always have a direct line to the people doing the work.

Comparing agencies? Tell us about your project and we will answer all ten questions for your case, in writing.