Usually right about the direction and often wrong about the priority — the honest test is whether they can name a specific customer or opportunity the business lost for not having one. If they can, act. If the answer is that businesses ought to have websites, that’s a preference rather than a case.
The moment it happens
“My son says we need a website” — is the next generation right is a question with more in it than the website. There’s a real generational asymmetry: they understand the internet better than you do, and you understand the business better than they do. Both facts are true and both matter to this decision.
The conversation usually stalls because it’s being had as a disagreement about technology when it’s actually a question about priorities.
What they’re probably right about
Give them credit where it’s due:
Customers do check. Someone considering a supplier they’ve been referred to will look them up. If nothing exists, that check produces a blank, and you never hear about it.
Your trade is likely being searched. Even businesses that run on referral get name searches, and the difference between appearing and not appearing is real.
WhatsApp catalogues have a ceiling. Fine for existing customers, weak for corporate buyers, tenders and gateway applications.
A site is cheap relative to what you spend on other credibility. Signage, printing, a shop fit-out. A modest site costs less than most of those and is seen by more people.
What they may be wrong about
Priority. A website may be the fourth most useful thing available, not the first. For local walk-in trade, a verified Google Business Profile with photographs and ten reviews typically produces more enquiries, faster, for nothing. Ask whether that’s done first.
Expected outcome. The belief that a live website brings customers on its own is widespread and false. If the case rests on “we’ll start getting orders”, the case is weak — a website converts people who are sent to it. Traffic is a separate purchase.
Scope. Enthusiasm tends toward an elaborate site with features nobody will use. Five good pages beat fifteen mediocre ones, and cost a third as much.
Who does it. “I’ll make it myself” or “my friend does websites” is where family projects die. It starts, gets to seventy percent, and the person gets busy with exams or a job.
The three questions to ask them
Not to shut the conversation down — to make it a real proposal:
1. “Name a customer or opportunity we lost because we had no website.” A specific one. If they can, that’s your trigger and it settles the matter. If they can’t, it’s not urgent yet.
2. “What will it do that our Google listing and WhatsApp don’t?” A good answer names something specific — tenders, corporate quotes, prices published, questions answered. A vague answer means the priority question is still open.
3. “Who will keep it updated in six months?” This is the one that matters most. The largest category of small business sites is live-but-abandoned. If nobody names themselves and means it, you’ll be paying for something that describes your business as it was this year.
Who should own it
An honest allocation, because family projects fail on ownership more than on money:
| Role | Who | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Deciding whether to buy | You | It’s your money and your business judgement |
| Deciding the budget | You | Same |
| Choosing the vendor | Together | They can evaluate the technical claims; you can evaluate the person |
| Being the single point of contact | Them, if willing | Someone must answer the developer within a day |
| Approving content and design | You | It’s your business’s voice and your customers |
| Keeping it updated | Them, in writing | The commitment that decides whether this was worth it |
One rule worth stating: one decision-maker for approvals. Design decisions made by a committee of the whole family are the most reliable way to stretch a two-week project into three months. There’s a separate piece on that.
If you decide to go ahead
Three things to insist on regardless of who is enthusiastic:
- The domain in your name, in an account you can access — not in your son’s account, and not in the vendor’s. This is not a trust question; it’s about what happens when he moves cities for work.
- A written scope and the year-two renewal cost before paying anything.
- A named person for updates, with a quarterly reminder in a calendar.
What to do this week
- Ask the three questions and listen to the answers rather than the enthusiasm.
- Check whether your Google Business Profile is verified and complete — do that first regardless.
- If proceeding, agree who is the single point of contact.
- Insist the domain sits in an account you control.
- Agree in writing who keeps it updated, and put a quarterly reminder in a calendar.
If you want it done the certain way
Bring whoever in the family is pushing for this and we’ll answer their questions and yours in the same conversation — including if the honest answer is that a Business Profile and reviews would do more for you this quarter. Domain in your name, published price, year-two cost stated upfront. WhatsApp us; we reply in about five minutes between 9am and 7pm.
Related reading
- The exact moment your business needs a website
- Who should approve the website budget?
- When the whole family reviews your website design
- When a relative recommends “their website guy”
FAQ
My son wants to build a website for our family business — should we?
Ask him to name a specific customer or opportunity lost for lack of one, what it will do that your Google listing and WhatsApp don’t, and who will update it in six months. Concrete answers make the case; general modernity doesn’t.
Who should manage a family business website project?
You decide whether to buy and the budget; the family member with the interest can be the single point of contact and own updates in writing. Approvals should come from one person, not the whole family.
Should the domain be registered in my son’s name?
No — put it in an account you control. Not a trust issue but a continuity one: people move cities, change jobs, and lose access to old email addresses, and the domain outlives all of that.
