Hiring a web development agency in the GCC is a significant decision. Your website represents your brand 24/7, influences customer perception, and directly impacts your bottom line. Choose the wrong agency, and you'll waste months and thousands of dinars on a site that doesn't perform. Choose wisely, and your website becomes your most powerful business asset.
After 15+ years in the industry—building websites for clients across Bahrain, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and Oman—we've seen what separates exceptional agencies from mediocre ones. Here are the ten things you should evaluate before signing any contract.
Portfolio of Real Work (Not Templates)
This is the single most important factor. Ask to see their portfolio and look critically at every project. Are the sites visually distinct from each other, or do they all follow the same template pattern? Can they show you the live URLs so you can experience the sites yourself?
Red flags to watch for:
- All portfolio sites look suspiciously similar in layout
- They only show screenshots, not live links
- Sites are slow, buggy, or have security warnings
- Design looks dated despite being recent projects
- They can't explain their design decisions for each project
Custom Code vs. WordPress/Templates
There's a massive difference between agencies that build custom-coded websites and those that install WordPress themes. Neither is inherently wrong, but you need to know what you're getting and price accordingly.
Custom-coded sites offer better performance, security, uniqueness, and long-term value. WordPress sites are faster to build, easier to update yourself, and cheaper initially—but come with ongoing plugin costs, security vulnerabilities, and eventual obsolescence.
Most agencies in the GCC use WordPress because it's faster and more profitable for them. That's fine for smaller businesses with limited budgets, but premium brands need premium solutions.
Local Presence and Communication
Working with an agency in your timezone—or at least your region—dramatically improves the development experience. You can have real-time conversations, meetings when needed, and faster response times.
Agencies based in the GCC understand local business culture, payment preferences (BenefitPay, Mada, etc.), Arabic language requirements, and regional design sensibilities. An agency from Europe or Asia may produce technically competent work but miss cultural nuances.
That said, location within the GCC matters less than you might think. A Bahrain-based agency can serve Dubai clients just as effectively as Dubai-based agencies—often at significantly lower cost due to Bahrain's competitive pricing environment.
SEO Knowledge and Implementation
A beautiful website that nobody can find is worthless. SEO should be built into the development process from day one, not bolted on afterward. Ask specific questions to assess their SEO competence.
Key SEO elements that should be standard:
- Proper heading hierarchy (H1, H2, H3 structure)
- Meta titles and descriptions for every page
- Schema markup for local business, products, articles
- Image optimization and alt text
- Mobile-friendly responsive design
- Fast loading speeds (Core Web Vitals)
- Clean URL structure
- XML sitemap and robots.txt
Mobile-First Approach
In the GCC, over 80% of web traffic comes from mobile devices. If an agency designs for desktop first and then "makes it responsive," they're doing it backwards. Mobile-first design ensures your site works beautifully where most users actually experience it.
Test their portfolio on your phone. Really use the sites—navigate, try to find information, attempt to contact the business. If it's frustrating, imagine your customers having the same experience.
Performance Focus
Site speed directly impacts conversions and SEO rankings. Google's research shows that 53% of mobile users abandon sites that take longer than 3 seconds to load. Yet many agencies deliver bloated, slow websites because they prioritize flashy features over performance.
Ask for Core Web Vitals scores on their portfolio sites. Use Google's PageSpeed Insights yourself to test them. A good agency should be delivering sites that score 90+ on mobile.
Performance Benchmark: Our sites consistently score 95+ on PageSpeed Insights because we custom-code everything without heavy frameworks or unnecessary plugins.
Post-Launch Support
Your relationship with an agency shouldn't end at launch. You'll need updates, changes, security patches, and possibly new features. Understand exactly what support is included and what costs extra.
Questions to clarify:
- Is hosting included? For how long?
- Who handles security updates and backups?
- How much do small changes cost after launch?
- Is there a monthly retainer option for ongoing support?
- What happens if something breaks at 2 AM?
Transparent Pricing
Beware of agencies that won't give you clear pricing until deep into the sales process. While every project is different, experienced agencies should be able to provide ballpark ranges quickly.
Watch out for:
- Prices that seem too low (you'll pay in quality or hidden fees)
- Vague quotes with lots of "TBD" items
- No clarity on what revisions are included
- Hosting, domain, and SSL costs hidden until later
- Unclear payment schedules
Good agencies break down costs clearly: design phase, development phase, content, ongoing costs. They're upfront about what's included in their quote and what might cost extra.
Video and Content Capabilities
In 2026, video is no longer optional. Websites with video content significantly outperform those without. But video production is a specialized skill that most web agencies don't have in-house.
This creates problems: you hire one agency for the website, another for video, and they don't communicate well. The video doesn't fit the design. The website wasn't built to showcase video properly. The result is compromise.
Agencies that offer integrated video production (or have strong partnerships) deliver more cohesive results. At minimum, they should understand how to properly implement video in terms of compression, hosting, autoplay behavior, and mobile fallbacks.
Client References
Any reputable agency should be willing to connect you with previous clients. Not just testimonials on their website—actual people you can call or email to discuss their experience.
Questions to ask references:
- Did the project stay on budget and timeline?
- How was communication during the project?
- Were there any surprises or hidden costs?
- How has post-launch support been?
- Would you hire them again?
- What could they have done better?
Why Cinematic Web Works Checks Every Box
We wrote this guide because we meet these criteria—and we know many agencies don't. Here's how we stack up:
- Portfolio: Real work, live sites, diverse industries. Visit our portfolio and test every site yourself.
- Custom Code: We don't use WordPress or templates. Every site is hand-coded for optimal performance and uniqueness.
- Local Presence: Based in Bahrain, serving the entire GCC with same-timezone communication.
- SEO: Built into every project. Our sites rank and perform.
- Mobile-First: Always. Over 80% of our traffic is mobile.
- Performance: 95+ PageSpeed scores as standard.
- Support: Long-term partnership mentality. We don't disappear after launch.
- Pricing: Transparent, detailed quotes with no hidden surprises.
- Video: In-house production by our filmmaker-founder. Fully integrated, not outsourced.
- References: Happy clients throughout the GCC who'll vouch for us.
The Premium Choice: We're not the cheapest option in the GCC, and we don't try to be. We're the choice for businesses that understand the difference between a website that exists and a website that performs.