The verdict in three sentences
For an M&A boutique advisory firm in Doha, the website is first a discreet background check: a family business owner or a fund looks at it before agreeing to a first call. A redesign is justified as soon as the site no longer shows clearly the sectors covered, partner seniority and publicly announceable deals, or when it has no Arabic version. Budgets run from about USD 15,000 to 60,000 with a local agency, against Kolonell's fixed grid of USD 2,900, 4,900 or 8,900, and the real risk lies in URL migration and the review of regulated content.
Which signals show your website is costing you mandates?
M&A clients are not looking for a service catalogue. A founder considering a sale, a family office studying a Gulf acquisition or a private equity fund looking for sell-side advice ask three things: does this team know my sector, who will actually work on the deal, and can they keep quiet? Your website either answers those questions or leaves them open.
| Observed signal | What the client concludes | Redesign priority |
|---|---|---|
| Three-line partner bios with no track record | Junior team or high turnover | High |
| Empty "Transactions" page or frozen since 2022 | Low activity, or confidential deals poorly explained | High |
| No Arabic version | Distance from Qatari family groups | High for onshore work |
| Generic contact form with no confidentiality wording | Doubts about discretion | Medium |
| Slow mobile site (over 4 s) | Dated image with time-poor executives | Medium |
| No page per sector (energy, real estate, healthcare, logistics) | Generalist positioning, so less credible | High |
One point should be clear: only real and publicly announceable deals belong in a tombstone gallery. A boutique that often advises under NDA can say so plainly and present mandate types instead (family business sale, minority raise, carve-out), with no names or values.
Budget: Doha agency, freelancer or fixed grid?
The figures below are 2026 ballpark ranges, drawn from typical local agency quotes and public agency rate pages. Local amounts in QAR are converted to USD approximately.
| Option | Indicative budget | Typical timeline | Watch points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate agency in Doha (West Bay, Lusail) | approx. USD 15,000 to 60,000 | 8 to 16 weeks | Arabic often included, on-site project manager |
| Freelancer or small local studio | approx. USD 3,000 to 12,000 | 4 to 10 weeks | Reliance on one person, copywriting rarely included |
| Kolonell Starter | USD 2,900 | 3 to 4 weeks | Short site, one language, suits a boutique of 2 to 4 partners |
| Kolonell Growth | USD 4,900 | 3 to 4 weeks | Sector pages, detailed bios, SEO structure |
| Kolonell Premium | USD 8,900 | 4 to 6 weeks | Multilingual tier: languages and Arabic RTL scope set in the quote |
| Ongoing maintenance | Market assumption: USD 300 to 800 per month | Ongoing | At Kolonell: on quote after the 3 included months |
Every Kolonell tier includes a project manager reachable in your time zone, native English or French copywriting and 3 months of support. Gated areas (client data room, investor portal), CRM integrations and custom applications are on quote. Tier details are on the international offer page.
Timeline and risks: where redesigns go wrong
The 3 to 4 week timeline (4 to 6 for Premium) starts once content is ready: approved bios, the list of announceable deals, sector copy reviewed by partners. In an M&A boutique, internal sign-off is what takes longest.
| Phase | Indicative duration | Main risk | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inventory and scoping | 3 to 5 days | Missing pages that receive traffic | Full export of URLs and page views over 12 months |
| Content and partner sign-off | 1 to 3 weeks on the client side | A deal cited without the client's consent | Written list of authorised transactions |
| Design and build | 2 to 3 weeks | Arabic version treated as an afterthought | RTL scope fixed in the Premium quote |
| Compliance review | 2 to 5 days | Wording that reads as a financial promotion | Review by your compliance function before go-live |
| Switchover | 1 day | Loss of Google positions | 301 redirect map and Search Console monitoring |
| Post-launch checks | 2 to 4 weeks | Broken links, silent forms | Testing and crawl error review |
On compliance, the regulatory status of an M&A boutique depends on whether it operates onshore or within the Qatar Financial Centre, which has its own rules, including on data protection. Onshore, Law No. 13 of 2016 on personal data privacy frames what your forms collect. These pointers stay general: your in-house or external counsel confirms the applicable framework. This is not legal advice.
Downtime can also occur during the DNS change: schedule the switch on a Friday, a quiet day in Doha, and keep the old hosting live for a week.
Questions to ask any provider, and when a local agency is the better choice
Before signing, ask: who writes the sector pages and how well they understand M&A; how the Arabic is produced (human translation, native review, tested RTL layout); who builds the redirect map; who owns the code and hosting accounts; what happens after the support period.
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A Doha agency remains the better choice in several cases: if you want weekly in-person workshops, if the project includes video shot on site with your partners, or if Arabic must be the primary language with a visual identity designed Arabic first. A remote studio such as Kolonell suits a boutique that wants a fixed price, a fast site and native-level English copy, with Arabic scoped in the Premium tier.
Mini case study
Illustrative example: Al Bidda Capital Partners, a four-partner boutique in Doha focused on family group disposals. Its 2021 site is English only and shows no deals. It receives a local quote of USD 36,000 over 12 weeks.
It picks the Premium tier at USD 8,900, with Arabic defined in the quote. Budget gap: 36,000 minus 8,900, which is USD 27,100. Internally, each partner spends 6 hours reviewing their bio and two sector pages: 4 × 6 = 24 hours in total. The boutique publishes three deals its clients announced publicly and describes the others by mandate type, without names.
FAQ
How much does an M&A boutique website redesign cost in Doha in 2026?
Local agencies charge roughly USD 15,000 to 60,000 depending on size and Arabic scope. At Kolonell the grid is fixed: USD 2,900 for Starter, USD 4,900 for Growth and USD 8,900 for Premium, the multilingual tier.
Can we show deals closed under confidentiality?
No, only deals that are publicly announceable and approved by the client belong on the site. You can describe 5 or 6 mandate types without names or values to show your expertise.
Is the Arabic version included?
Multilingual work sits in the Premium tier at USD 8,900: languages and RTL scope are set in the quote. Allow 4 to 6 weeks once content is ready.
How do we avoid losing Google traffic during the redesign?
Inventory every URL, build a 301 redirect map and monitor Search Console for 2 to 4 weeks after the switch. A temporary dip is still possible, but it stays limited when every old page has a destination.
Can a data room or investor portal be added?
Yes, but gated areas and integrations are always on quote, because their security and access rights vary widely between projects. They are often added in a second phase, 2 to 3 months after launch.
Let's scope your project. An English and Arabic redesign on the Premium tier, or a short Starter site, delivered in 3 to 6 weeks once your content is approved. See the international offer or request a free quote: detailed reply within 48 hours.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
