BUILT FOR NIGERIAN REAL ESTATE

Relying entirely on social media is costing you the clients who almost said yes.

I build websites for short-let operators and property developers that turn diaspora interest into enquiries.

PORTFOLIO

Explore My Work

CONCEPT PROJECT

Acquire

A short-let operator concept built around the specific trust signals a guest needs before booking sight unseen — clear property details, location context, amenities, and one unambiguous way to enquire. Designed as a reference for what a conversion-focused short-let site structure should look like.

CONCEPT PROJECT

KEVAS is a premium short-let apartment concept website built for Nigerian operators targeting diaspora guests and business travelers. Designed around the specific trust barriers facing international visitors booking accommodation in Abuja from abroad.

CASE STUDY

Oakheart Africa

A full redesign and structural overhaul of a Nigerian non-profit’s website. The original site had content but no clarity — visitors could find information but weren’t being led anywhere specific. The rebuild reorganized five pages around three distinct goals: awareness, education, and action. Result: 99/100 mobile performance score and a site the client can now confidently refer people to.

THE REAL PROBLEM

WHO THE SOLUTION IS FOR

Most operators in this space have the same blind spot: strong social presence, weak web infrastructure. Instagram handles discovery. WhatsApp handles enquiries. And somewhere between those two, serious buyers — the ones ready to commit — fall through the gap.

But here’s what’s actually happening on the buyer’s side. A potential guest finds a listing they like, wants to know more, and immediately starts asking questions they can’t answer from an Instagram page. Who actually owns this place? Is it as good in person as it looks in photos? What happens if something goes wrong? Will someone actually respond when I reach out? 

For a diaspora buyer making a financial decision from thousands of miles away, those questions don’t go away — they either get answered or the buyer moves on.

The fix isn’t more content. It’s one place online that answers those questions before they’re asked, builds enough trust that reaching out feels safe, and makes the next step obvious. That’s what I build.

Short-let and serviced apartment operators​

Based in Lagos and Abuja, working with diaspora and corporate guests who book sight unseen.

Property developers

Selling land, off-plan units, or completed properties to Nigerians abroad. 

SERVICES

What I Do And Do Best

PROCESS

How It Works

Step 1 — You tell me what's not working

Before anything is designed, I ask specific questions about your property and your target buyer, audit the existing site (if any), and document the real state of things. 

Step 2 — I find the problem underneath the problem

Every client request has a literal meaning and an underlying one which most tend to miss. A short-let operator who says “I want better photos” often has a trust problem, not a photography problem. I translate what you’ve asked for into what your visitor actually needs to see in order to act. This step is documented and shared with you before a single page is designed.

Step 3 — Scope is confirmed, then I build

Deliverables, timeline, and revision rounds are agreed in writing before design begins. Design and development happen together in one process — no static mockups handed over at the end of a separate phase. You see the site taking shape, not a presentation deck about what the site will look like.

Step 4 — You receive a site you own fully

Your site is tested across multiple devices including desktop, tablet, and mobile. Optimized for performance, and launched on hosting you fully control. Handover includes everything you need to manage the site independently, so that there’s no ongoing dependency on me to keep it running.

Niche Focus

Strategy Before Design

Performance-Led Build

Full Handover

I build for one type of business. Short-let operators and property developers. That focus means every structural and copy decision is made with your specific buyer in mind — not adapted from a generic template.

Every project starts with a diagnostic step before a single page is designed. What is this visitor deciding? What do they need to see to decide in your favor? Design follows that answer, not the other way around.

A site that loads slowly loses bookings. Every build is optimized for speed — images compressed, plugins lean, code clean. The Oakheart rebuild scored 99/100 on mobile performance. That standard applies to every project.

 

You own the site completely after delivery. No ongoing dependency on me to keep it running. No locked-in maintenance contracts. Everything you need to manage the site independently is included at handover.

HEAR FROM OTHERS

CHIJIOKE OJI

Team Lead — Oakheart Africa

Client Review

The biggest challenge for me was the design and interface of my site. The original design wasn’t looking so professional, and things were a bit scattered. But now we have structure to a large extent, there is more organization to the website, and the feedback I’ve gotten from those I’ve shared the website with have been really good. Working with Daniel was worth it because he even did more than what was expected. For him it’s not just about the design, He wants to know about the project and he approaches it with care like it’s his. For him its not just about designing, but about the other person getting value.

HEAR FROM OTHERS

Client Review

The biggest challenge for me was the design and interface of my site. The original design wasn’t looking so professional, and things were a bit scattered. But now we have structure to a large extent, there is more organization to the website. And the feedback I’ve gotten from those I’ve shared the website with have been really good. Working with Daniel was worth it because he even did more than what was expected. For him it’s not just about the design, He wants to know about the project and he approaches it with care like it’s his. For him its not just about designing, but about the other person getting value.

CHIJIOKE OJI

Team Lead — Oakheart Africa

WHO I AM

A Quick Introduction

Behind Zahri Designs is a vision to help operators grow their business through creative and performance-driven digital solutions. I believe in building strong partnerships and delivering strategies that make a real and lasting impact.

Who I Am

Daniel John-Ati

Hi, I’m Daniel John-Ati. I build websites exclusively for short-let operators and property developers — designed to turn visitors into enquiries.

Most operators I’ve come across have strong Instagram pages. Great photos, beautiful listings, real presence. But that’s usually where it stops. A visitor finds a listing they like, wants to know more — more photos, more context, some sense of who they’re actually dealing with — and there’s nowhere to go. Just a bio link to WhatsApp or a DM.

What most operators don’t see is what’s happening on the other side of that gap. Their potential guest isn’t just looking for more information. They’re trying to decide whether they can trust this person with their money. Especially for diaspora buyers booking from the UK, Canada, or Australia — people who can’t physically inspect a property before committing — that trust question is the entire decision. And an Instagram page, no matter how well run, can’t answer it on its own.

That gap is the actual problem. Not “no online presence” — most operators have plenty of presence. The problem is there’s nothing built to bridge the distance between a visitor who’s interested and a visitor who’s confident enough to reach out. Instagram can only carry so much. A website carries the rest — the host’s story, the full property detail, the guest testimonials from people who’ve been there, the one clear way to enquire that doesn’t require sliding into a DM and hoping for a reply.

That’s what I build. Not a digital brochure. A site that does the part Instagram can’t — closes the trust gap, answers the questions a skeptical buyer is already asking, and gives your photos somewhere to land that actually converts interest into action.

If your bookings are coming entirely through DMs right now, there’s a structural reason for that. And it’s fixable.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

You Probably Have Questions
And I've Got Answers

How long does a project take?

The Growth Site — the standard offer for operators and developers, takes 21 business days from signed scope to handover. Rush delivery in 14 days is also available for an additional fee.

Design, copywriting, enquiry form integration, and performance optimization are included in every project. I configure the site on hosting you provide but renewals for hosting, domain registration, and any third-party plugins are the client’s responsibility after handover — I don’t manage hosting directly.

No — hosting is purchased directly through a provider of your choice, billed by them, and owned entirely by you. What I do is help you identify the right hosting plan for your site’s size and expected traffic, configure it correctly during setup, and maintain the site on it after launch through the monthly maintenance retainer. Providers like Hostinger, SiteGround, and Namecheap all work with this setup. If you’re unsure which to choose, that’s part of the onboarding conversation.

Yes. Remote projects are managed entirely via email and recorded walkthroughs — no in-person meetings required. All pricing is in USD regardless of where the client is based.

It depends on what’s feeding it. The site is built to convert visitors into enquiries — not to generate traffic from nothing. If you have an existing audience on social media, referrals, or paid ads, the site converts that interest into action. If there’s currently no traffic source at all, that’s worth discussing before we start — because a well-built site with no visitors produces the same result as a poorly built one.

Every project includes a post-launch support window. 10 days for a Launch Site, and 20 days for a Growth Site — covering technical issues arising from the original build. However, new pages, design changes, and additional features are quoted separately. An ongoing maintenance retainer is available from $7/month after the support window ends.

No. Zahri specialises in web design and on-page performance. Traffic generation, social media management, paid advertising, content creation is outside scope. The site is built to convert the traffic you already have, not to create it.

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