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Got questions about getting a website? Our FAQ page is here to help! You can find clear answers about what we do, what we charge, and how our process works.
Pricing & Payments
Find answers to common questions about our Pricing and Payments.
The subscription plan lasts for a minimum of 12 months and is month to month after that. Cancel anytime after the 12 months have passed. If you cancel, you don’t keep the site (otherwise everyone would just do that and we'd be out of business!).
You just have to sign a new 12 month contract.
If you cancel before the 12 months, you owe the full cost of what the site would normally cost (AED6999) minus whatever you already paid. We prioritize long term relationships with our clients. And we want clients to share the same philosophy.
Every invoice comes with a 7 day grace period to be paid. If an invoice is not paid within 7 days, there will be a AED 100 late fee applied. If you're on a subscription, and there are multiple monthly invoices that are overdue for months and late for months, we can cancel the contract and the client will be responsible for paying the full price of the site. We are generally very flexible and understanding of certain situations and often times offer assistance and help. But if there is no communication or replies to our messages, we have to take certain precautions to make sure we are paid for our time and effort in making the site and not being taken advantage of.
We send email invoices via PayPal, which include a secure link to add your payment details. Subscriptions are paid using a credit or debit card, and we accept all major cards. Lump sum projects are also paid through PayPal. We do not accept checks or money orders.
When you sign a contract, either lump sum or subscription, if we cannot design something you are 100% happy with and no longer want to move forward, then we will refund whatever you paid to get started. If we do end up moving forward with building the site, there are no refunds after that point. From then on, refunds are at our discretion.
Plans
Find answers to questions about our plans.
Yes, subscriptions are indefinite. You keep paying every month after the 12 month minimum. It generally takes us 2-3 years to make what we would have made if we sold a lump sum site. So ideally we'd like to have clients last at least 5 years to make getting paid over that period of time worth the wait and financially viable. And at that point, the website will be generating more than AED 539 a month in value for the client, so the site will essentially be paying for itself at that point and we hope our clients continue to see the value in the work we do to keep paying every month so we can continue to do what we do.
No, there is no buyout price to stop paying on the monthly package. As noted in another question, it takes 2-3 years including hosting fees to make what we would have made on a lump sum site. We have this rule because subscriptions really only work out financially if a client stays for 5+ years to be beneficial enough to wait that long for payment. It’s not feasible to be waiting 2 years or so for full payment on every site and then have to replace that monthly subscription. It’s much more beneficial to have just been paid in full up front from the start. We also rely on this monthly recurring income for consistent and reliable income so we don’t have to sell sell sell every month to pay the bills and we can spend more time working on our clients sites and spending time on their support calls and emails. Doing this allows us to be more hands on with our clients and provide a better service than any other agency or web developer. So if we had clients buying out of their subscriptions every month, we’d end up having to sell more and more to replace that income and the model begins to break down, and then so does our service.
Yes! We offer AED 250 a month subscription add on for unlimited edits and support. These are done with a 12 month minimum commitment as well. There's no turning it on and off every other month. Once you end it, if you want to reinstate it you’ll need to sign another 12 month commitment.
The biggest difference is long term versus short term costs. On subscription, you’ll be paying more over time but it will be in small manageable and affordable monthly payments. The lump sum just gets it all out the way in the beginning and you save more money over the long run because you also paid for the design and development up front. So when deciding which package to choose, it all depends on cash flow and long term versus short term goals. If you don’t want to spend that much up front and value the service that comes with it, then the monthly is your best option. If you don't want or need the monthly service packages, you can get it all out the way up front and save money over the long term.
Yes and no. SEO consists of two parts - On-page and Off-page. On-page SEO is everything ON the page like your content, load times, accessibility, and arrangement. Off-page is everything OFF the site like link building, guest posting, citations, etc. We do some on-page SEO with our packages such as incredibly fast load times, accessibility, your meta tags, google search console, sitemap generation, and some content creation. But that’s not the whole story. SEO is more than that. It’s an active and on-going process and that’s what our SEO partners takes care of, but he is separate from our website packages. If you’d like to have professional SEO work done, let us know and we will happily connect you with us.
No we do not. E-commerce is a lot more work to set up than a regular business site. Since it has such high costs, we cannot afford to set them up for AED 539 a month.
Yes, you always own your domain. We never take hostages!
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Find answers to common questions about Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
At Zumeirah, our SEO and GEO service rates are tiered to match your business goals and the competitive landscape of the Dubai market. Our base AI Starter package begins at AED 2,500 per month, focusing on local map dominance and fundamental schema. For brands seeking total market authority and AI recommendations, our Growth Dominance and Authority Elite tiers offer more aggressive, omnichannel strategies. Every project is customized based on your specific industry's technical requirements and the scope of the Zumeirah 5-Phase Roadmap.
Absolutely. In 2026, SEO has evolved from simple keyword matching to Entity-Based Authority. For businesses in competitive markets like Dubai, "Good SEO" is now the foundation for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). By following our 5-Phase Roadmap, Zumeirah helps brands move beyond the "front page" to become the primary cited source in AI Overviews and conversational search results. While it remains a long-term investment (typically showing measurable growth in 3–6 months), the results are compounding our strategies have delivered up to a 190% increase in organic traffic and a 270% surge in organic clicks for local brands.
Realistically, no and any agency promising #1 rankings in 30 days is likely using "black-hat" tactics that could lead to a permanent Google penalty. At Zumeirah, we don’t just "do SEO", actually we build Digital Authority. While our Phase 1: Entity Discovery & AI Audit begins optimizing your visibility immediately, it typically takes 3 to 6 months to see substantial movement in high-competition Dubai markets. However, our framework is designed for faster wins in Local SEO by targeting specific neighborhoods like Jumeirah or Downtown can often yield quicker Google Map Pack visibility. We focus on sustainable, compounding growth that has proven to deliver up to a 190% traffic increase for our long-term partners.
At Zumeirah, we treat SEO as a high-performance growth system, not a set of "tricks." Our process follows a strict 5-Phase Roadmap that blends technical precision with expert, human-led copywriting.
Phase 1 & 2: We build a "Machine-Readable" technical foundation using Entity-Based Schema and speed optimization so search engines can index you instantly.
Phase 3: Our SEO specialists who have extensive backgrounds in professional copywriting having hand-craft every word of your content. This "Answer-First" strategy ensures your site doesn't just rank on page #1, but is actually cited by AI assistants as the primary authority in your niche.
Phase 4 & 5: We secure high-authority UAE-based backlinks and use real-time analytics to scale your visibility across traditional search and AI overviews.
In short: We don't just find keywords; we build Digital Authority that resonates with both human customers and AI algorithms.
Yes! At Zumeirah, we specialize in a Hybrid Search Model that blends Google PPC Ads with our long-term SEO and GEO strategies. While our 5-Phase Roadmap builds your organic "Entity Authority" over 3–6 months, Google Ads provide instant visibility and high-intent leads from Day 1. We use PPC as a "Testing Lab" to identify which keywords convert best in the Dubai market, allowing us to focus your SEO efforts on what actually generates revenue. Whether you are a local startup or a global brand, we leverage a background in managing million-dollar budgets for Fortune 500 companies to ensure every dirham of your ad spend delivers a measurable ROI.
Yes! At Zumeirah, a comprehensive technical audit is the mandatory first step of our 5-Phase Roadmap. We go beyond traditional checks for broken links and speed; our 2026 AI Visibility Audit analyzes how Large Language Models (LLMs) like Gemini and ChatGPT perceive your brand.
We identify "Entity Gaps" like a technical or content-based flaws that prevent you from being cited in AI Overviews or recommended by voice assistants. No matter how good your content is, it won't perform if your Nested Schema is broken or your technical foundation is unreadable to search bots. We fix these fundamental flaws first to ensure your website runs flawlessly and is fully prepared to dominate both traditional search and the new generative AI era.
While SEO is a long-term investment, the 2026 search landscape allows for faster "Technical Wins." At Zumeirah, our 5-Phase Roadmap is designed to show early signals, such as improved indexing and keyword impressions within the first 4 to 6 weeks. However, meaningful organic traffic growth and consistent AI recommendations typically require 3 to 6 months of sustained authority building.
If you are starting a new site, you are competing against brands with years of established reputation. Our strategy focuses on "Overtaking through Technical Superiority" like using Nested Schema and AEO-driven content to prove to Google and AI assistants that you are the most relevant, up-to-date expert in your niche. This structured approach is how we’ve successfully delivered up to a 190% traffic increase for our Dubai-based clients.
Website Development
Find answers to common questions about websites development.
We generally finish a website from start to finish within 2-4 weeks and is all dependent on how soon clients respond to our content and image requests as well as our availability. Sometimes it can be 2 weeks, sometimes 3.
No, otherwise everyone would do that and we would go out of business! But you keep your domain and assets.
Yes. We don’t take hostages. Even if we bought the domain for you, when you cancel your subscription with us we transfer the domain to you.
You send an email to "[email protected] or [email protected]" and it will go into our ticketing system where I and my team can read and fulfill them and mark them as solved.
Let's Talk About
Your Website Design Project
Let's build a beautiful and functional website together, made just for you. Get in touch and let's get started!
