What a business website in Tanzania needs in 2026

A customer finds your business on Instagram on a Saturday morning. She taps the link in your bio, waits for the page to open on mobile data, and looks for your prices, your location and a WhatsApp number. If the page is slow, or the WhatsApp button opens nothing, she goes back to Instagram and messages the next business.

This article covers what a business website in Tanzania needs in 2026, how to plan one, and what to expect from a web designer. I’m a website designer in Dar es Salaam, and these are the things I check when I plan a website. Near the end, you’ll find a longer article for each city.

Who opens your website, and on what?

In Tanzania, phones made up 69.15% of page views in October 2026, desktops 30.05% and tablets 0.8% (StatCounter). StatCounter counts page views on the websites that use its tracking code.

So plan the phone version first. On a phone, check that:

• the first screen says what you do and where you are
• the text is easy to read without zooming
• the buttons are big enough for a thumb
• the photos open quickly on mobile data
• the menu has only the pages a visitor needs

Three in ten page views still came from desktops, so check the laptop version with the same care.

How will customers reach you?

If your customers already message you on WhatsApp, make WhatsApp the main button on the website. Then check these details:

• The button opens a chat with your business number, with a short first message already typed in.
• The number is one your team checks during opening hours.
• The button is easy to reach on a phone, on every page.
• Your number and email are also written out, so a visitor at a desk can copy them.

Add a contact form for customers who prefer email. On my websites, I send a real test message through the WhatsApp button and the form before the site goes live.

Put your location and opening hours where a visitor can find them quickly, with a link to Google Maps.

Swahili, English or both?

Start with the language your customers use when they message you. If your enquiries come in Swahili, your website needs Swahili pages. If you sell to visitors or agents abroad, English comes first.

Two languages means two sets of copy to keep up to date. When a price changes on the English page, it has to change on the Swahili page the same day, so decide who will keep them matched.

If you choose both:

• Give each language its own pages, with a clear switch at the top, so a visitor reads one language at a time.
• Ask a fluent Swahili speaker who knows your trade to write or check the Swahili copy before it goes live.
• Keep the business name, prices and phone numbers the same in both.

What should your domain be?

Your domain is your website address. A .co.tz is the Tanzanian ending for businesses, and one Tanzanian registrar asks a company for its business registration certificate to register one. The shorter .tz is open to anyone, and at the same registrar it costs four times as much as a .co.tz to renew each year (both checked 4 November 2026). A .com works too. Choose the one your customers will remember and type correctly.

Whatever the ending, register the domain in your business name, with your own email address, and keep the logins. Use email on the same domain, such as [email protected], so your quotes and invoices carry your business name. How to choose a web designer in Dar es Salaam explains what to agree with your designer, and What a website costs in Tanzania in 2026 has the registrar prices.

Who writes the copy?

The copy is the text on each page. On a business website, it answers the questions a customer has before they pay: what you offer, who it is for, where you are, how prices work and what happens after they message you.

Scroll back through your last 20 WhatsApp enquiries and write down each question a customer asked. Each one belongs somewhere on the website, said the way your customers said it.

Give each page one main job. If you take text from your company profile, rewrite it for a phone screen, with shorter paragraphs and the most useful fact first.

On my websites, copywriting is part of every package. You send written notes for each page. The copywriting is done from your notes, and you read and approve every page before it goes live.

Do you need new photos?

Your own photos show customers your place and your team before they visit. A photo downloaded from the internet may already be on other websites, and you may not have the right to use it.

Before a shoot, list the photos each page needs. A list could include:

• the front of your building or your sign
• your team at work
• your products, rooms or finished work, in daylight
• close-ups of the materials, food or products you sell

Shoot in daylight and hold the phone or camera level. Take each photo both wide and upright. A photo at the top of a page is often cropped, so leave space around the subject.

If your photos are old or blurry, plan a shoot before the design starts. I also direct photo shoots and campaigns as an art director, quoted after a brief (art direction in Tanzania).

What should you expect from a web designer?

A good web designer asks about your business, your customers and your budget before they show you a design. Expect a written quote, live links to websites they built, a test link for your new site before it goes live, and the logins at the end.

On your side, have these ready:

• written notes for each page
• your logo files
• your photos, chosen
• two or three websites you like, with a line on why
• one person who makes the decisions

What to prepare before a website project has the full list. How to choose a web designer covers the questions to ask before you pay.

What happens once it’s live?

WordPress and its plugins need updates, with a backup first. The contact form needs a test each month. Your prices, hours and photos will change.

Decide before the site goes live who does this, and what it costs. Your handover notes show the everyday edits. Or choose Website Care, my monthly care plan, which covers updates, backups, a test message through your form, broken links, a monthly report on your visitors and about 30 minutes of small changes. What does website maintenance cover? explains care in full.

Handover was part of my brand work too, before websites became my main work. This came from ADINA Lodges, about the brand foundations I led in 2022:

More guides by city and topic

Each of these goes further:

• How to choose a web designer in Dar es Salaam, with the checks to make before you pay a deposit.
• Web design in Arusha, for lodges and safari companies.
• Web design in Zanzibar, for hotels and villas.
• Web design in Nairobi, for businesses in Kenya working with a designer in Tanzania.
• What a website costs in Tanzania in 2026, with published prices from Tanzanian sellers and the dates I checked them.

How I work with businesses across Tanzania

I’m based in Dar es Salaam and I work online. A business in Mwanza, Dodoma or Moshi works with me the same way as one in Dar es Salaam. Projects run on WhatsApp messages, voice notes and email, with Zoom or Google Meet when a video call helps. Every website goes through research, strategy, copywriting, art direction, design, build, testing and handover.

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. Every website is priced after a short brief, and I reply with the price within two business days. Services lists what each package includes, and Work shows the websites I designed and built as my own projects, and two redesigns I proposed.

Short answers on web design in Tanzania