Web design in Nairobi, from a designer in Dar es Salaam

A client in Westlands asks for your website during a meeting, and you hesitate before you send the link. The site was built a few years ago. The contact form goes to an old email address, and the team photo shows people who left last year. You decide it is time for a new website, and now you have to choose who builds it.

You can work with a designer in Nairobi, or with one who works online. I’m a website designer in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. I have no office in Kenya, and my projects run online. This article covers what to check before you choose any designer, what to know about a .co.ke domain, and how a project works across the border.

What to check before you choose a designer

Wherever the designer is, the same four checks apply. How to choose a web designer in Dar es Salaam covers them in more detail, and they work the same way in Nairobi.

1. Live links. Ask for links to websites the designer built, and open them on your phone and your laptop. A screenshot shows how a design looked on one day. A live link shows whether the buttons and forms still work.
2. Who does the copywriting. Ask if copywriting is in the price, and whether you read and approve the text before the design is finished. If you write it yourself, plan the time for it.
3. Who owns the domain. It should be registered in your company’s name, with your email address and your logins. There is more on .co.ke below.
4. The written quote. It should list the pages, what is included, the rounds of changes, the dates, the deposit, the balance and the currency.

If a designer cannot send you live links or a written quote, keep looking.

Phones or laptops, in Kenya

In Kenya, phones made up about 53% of page views in October 2026, desktops about 47% and tablets under 1% (StatCounter). In Tanzania in the same month, phones made up about 69% (StatCounter). StatCounter counts page views on the websites that use its tracking code.

So in Kenya, desktops gave almost as many page views as phones. Check both versions of your website before you approve anything:

• On a phone, the text fits the screen, the WhatsApp button opens a chat, and the form is easy to fill in with a thumb.
• On a laptop, the lines of text are short enough to read, the photos are sharp on a big screen, and your phone number and email are written out, so a visitor at a desk can copy them.

On my websites, each page is checked on a phone, a tablet and a desktop before the site goes live.

What to know about a .co.ke domain

Kenya’s .ke domains are run by KeNIC, the Kenya Network Information Centre. On its FAQ page, KeNIC lists .co.ke for companies, .or.ke for not-for-profit organisations and NGOs, and .me.ke for personal names. The shorter .ke is a separate address. You register through a registrar approved by KeNIC.

Three points from the same page are useful before you pay anyone:

• A domain is usually registered for 1 year, or up to 5 years, and then renewed with your registrar.
• The domain stays yours while it is registered and active, so make sure the renewal reminders go to an email address you check.
• If a company is paying, KeNIC says the domain should normally be registered in the company’s name. Moving it to the company later is slow and can cost extra.

Registrars set their own prices, and a first-year offer is often much lower than the renewal. Compare the renewal price, because you pay it every year after the first.

If you already have a .co.ke domain and hosting, I build your website on them.

How a project works across the border

Nairobi and Dar es Salaam are both on East Africa Time. A voice note you send at nine in the morning in Nairobi arrives at nine in the morning in Dar es Salaam, so there is no time difference to plan around.

I don’t hold meetings in person, in Dar es Salaam or anywhere else. A project runs on WhatsApp messages, voice notes and email, with Zoom or Google Meet when a video call helps.

This way of working is normal for me. Before websites became my main work, I directed creative projects for a safari camp brand with a studio in New York, and for two UK brands with a marketing team in the UAE. This came from Lairs Camps, from my brand work before websites:

Across a border, put more in writing at the start. Agree the dates for each step, how you will send your notes and photos, and who approves the copy and the design. Choose one person on your side to approve each step, and send all changes through them.

How to pay a designer abroad

Agree the currency before you pay anything, and make sure it is on the written quote. On my brief, you choose the currency you will pay in, and Kenyan shillings and US dollars are both on the list.

If you pay in US dollars from a Kenyan shilling account, your bank sets the exchange rate on the day you pay. Ask your bank what an international transfer costs before you send the deposit, so the full amount arrives.

With me, a 75% deposit books your start date, and the deposit is non-refundable. The other 25% is paid before the website goes live. Until then, the website stays on a test link that you can open from Nairobi.

What to send first

Send a short brief with:

• what your business does, in one sentence
• the pages you need, one line each
• your budget, in KES or US dollars
• the date you want the website live
• your current website and domain, if you have them, with the name of your registrar

Once the quote is agreed and the deposit is paid, send written notes for each page, your logo and your photos. My brief is at alansuccess.com/inquire, and it takes about three minutes. What to prepare before a website project has the full list.

Working with me from Nairobi

Every website goes through research, strategy, copywriting, art direction, design, build, testing and handover. Copywriting is part of every package. You send notes, the copywriting is done from them, and you read and approve every page before it goes live.

I build websites of up to 5, 10 or 20 pages, or a custom website designed from scratch, and Website Care looks after them each month once they are live. Services lists what each package includes, and Work shows seven websites I designed and built as my own projects, and two redesigns I proposed.

For more on copywriting, photos and care once it’s live, read What a business website in Tanzania needs in 2026. Those parts apply in Kenya too. What a website costs in Tanzania in 2026 compares published prices, and includes one Nairobi studio.

Short answers for Nairobi