An NRI guide to getting the family business in India online

A common enquiry at UgeWorks starts with "I am in Dubai, my father runs a hardware shop in Chennai, and nobody can find it on Google." This guide is that conversation, written down.

Start with what the business actually needs

Most family businesses need two things, in this order, and neither is an app.

1. A Google Business Profile, so the shop appears on the map when someone nearby searches. It is free and takes an afternoon. The Google Maps guide walks through it, including the rules that get profiles suspended.
2. A simple, fast website: what the business does, where it is, real photos, opening hours, the phone number, a WhatsApp button, and directions. Five pages at most. It should load in a second on a cheap Android phone on mobile data, because that is what customers in India use.

An online store, bookings or an app come later, if orders justify them. The website or app guide is the honest test.

Who talks to whom

This is the part that decides whether the project is pleasant or painful. The developer needs to talk to two people in two languages on two clocks:

• Your family, in India, in Tamil or their language, during the Indian day. They know the business, the products, the prices and which photos are current.
• You, in English, in your evening or weekend. You are paying, and you want to see progress without translating everything.

Choose a developer who can do both without you in the middle. At UgeWorks that is the default: calls in Tamil with the family in Chennai or Coimbatore, written updates and a weekly call with you in your time zone.

Ownership: the mistake NRIs make most

Because you are far away, it is tempting to let the developer "handle" the domain and hosting. Do not. Register the domain in your own account or your family's, with your own card. Hosting in your own cloud account. Code in your GitHub. If the developer disappears or the relationship sours, the business keeps its website. Every account should be one you can log into from abroad.

Content: photos beat everything

Ask your family to send phone photos of the shop, the products, the workshop, the people, in daylight. Real photos of a real place in Chennai do more for trust than any stock image. Price lists as a spreadsheet or even a photo of the board are fine; the developer turns them into pages for approval.

Enquiries go to India, not to you

The phone number and WhatsApp on the site should be the one that rings in the shop, answered in Tamil during Indian hours. You can receive a copy of website form enquiries by email, but customers should reach the business directly. A site that routes calls to Singapore is a site nobody calls.

Paying, from abroad, for work in India

You pay the developer from abroad by bank transfer against milestones; the invoice is in INR or a currency you agree in writing. Domain and hosting are small yearly renewals on your own card. Nothing recurring should be in the developer's name.

What UgeWorks does for these projects

A free first call with you, a Tamil call with the family, a fixed written quote within 24 hours, a preview link the family can open on their phones from week one, and launch with the Google Business Profile, Search Console and everything registered in the family's name. The Tamil Nadu page covers businesses outside Chennai; the hiring from abroad page covers the practicalities from your side.

Questions people ask

Sources

1. Tips to improve your local ranking on Google