Get Your Family's Shop in Syria Online From Abroad

Why it often falls to the relative abroad

In many families, the person running the shop in Homs is busy from opening to closing, while a son, daughter, niece or cousin abroad is the one who notices that the shop doesn't show up on Google Maps. You see how customers search; they see the customers. That makes you a natural team.

The good news is that almost none of this requires you to be in Syria. The family answers a few questions, a local team handles the visit, and you manage the rest from your phone. HomsWeb has a team on the ground in Homs and a Canada-based partner who works with diaspora clients, so you have a contact outside Syria while the shop visit happens locally.

What to collect from the family

Most delays come from missing basics. Ask for these first, ideally in one WhatsApp message:

1. The exact business name in Arabic, as written on the sign, and how they want it spelled in English. Pick one spelling and keep it.
2. A location pin dropped while standing at the shop door, using WhatsApp's "send location". A pin from home or from memory is often wrong.
3. A nearby landmark people use for directions.
4. Opening hours for each day, including Friday, and whether hours change in Ramadan.
5. The phone and WhatsApp number that someone at the shop will actually answer.
6. What they sell or do, with prices or price ranges, even a handwritten list photographed is fine.
7. Any existing pages: a Facebook page, an old Google listing, an old website or domain.
8. Photos: five to ten if they have good ones, or a note that they want the team to take them.

Here is a message you can forward to the family as it is: "Can you send me: the shop name as on the sign, a location from the shop door, the opening hours for every day, the WhatsApp number you answer, and a photo of the price list. Someone from HomsWeb will come to take pictures; tell me which day suits you."

How the local team handles the visit

Once the basics are in, the Homs team arranges a visit at a time that suits the shop. The Business Spot includes up to 10 photos, and we can come and take them; for a bigger shoot there is a photo day add-on (half a day, $50). The family does not need to prepare anything special beyond tidying the front and the counter.

The team then writes the services or menu in Arabic and English, sets the map pin, and sets up the Google Business Profile: claimed, categories, hours, photos and WhatsApp number. Google's verification method varies by business, and postcards to Syria are slow and unreliable, so a short video filmed at the shop is usually the practical route. Being there in person makes that much easier. Our Google Business Profile guide explains the steps.

Review the preview together

Before anything goes live, you get a preview link. Open it on a video call with the family and go through it line by line: is the name right, are the prices current, does the WhatsApp button reach the right person, are the hours correct? Older relatives often spot details nobody else would, such as a product they stopped selling or a neighbour's shop sign in a photo.

The Business Spot includes one round of changes, so collect all the family's comments into one message rather than sending them one by one.

Paying from abroad

Payment is confirmed on WhatsApp before work starts, and nothing is paid until you approve the preview. Options include bank transfer, local agents or crypto, and family abroad can pay for a relative's business page directly.

The wider picture is improving but still mixed. Recent reporting by EnterpriseAM (June 2026) and PaymentsJournal (May 2026) describes the US lifting most sanctions during 2025 and Syria reconnecting parts of its banking system to SWIFT, Visa and Mastercard, while cash still dominates and card acceptance remains limited. That is why we agree the method with each client rather than offering one checkout button. More detail is in online payments in Syria in 2026.

Gifting it for Eid

A business page is a gift that keeps working all year. The Business Spot is $120/year and is live in days, which makes it realistic even if you start a couple of weeks before Eid. A simple way to present it:

• Collect the details quietly through a sibling or cousin who is at the shop often.
• Book the photo visit for a normal working day so the shop looks as it really does.
• On Eid morning, send the link to the family group with a short message.
• Show them how to share the link on WhatsApp status and with regular customers.

If the family business is bigger, such as a restaurant, workshop or office, Your Own Website (from $400 one-time) gives it its own domain and a full bilingual site. Compare both on the pricing page.

Mistakes to avoid from a distance

• Using your own foreign number as the business WhatsApp. Customers in Homs need someone at the shop to answer.
• Registering things in your own name only. With Your Own Website, the domain is registered in the client's name. Agree whose name that is, and make sure the family has the login details too.
• Setting it up without telling the shop. If customers message and nobody knows the page exists, the messages go unanswered.
• Old photos from years ago. Customers notice when the shop looks different in real life.

A simple plan for this week

1. Send the checklist message to the family today.
2. Message HomsWeb with the shop name and neighbourhood.
3. Agree the visit day and the payment method on WhatsApp.
4. Review the preview together on a video call.
5. Approve, pay, and share the link.

Ready to put your family's shop on the map? See how HomsWeb works, or message Mahmoud on WhatsApp from wherever you are.