How do you build a website, step by step?
To build a website for your business you set a goal, register a domain, choose hosting and a platform, plan the pages, write the content, design and build, add the features you need, cover search, speed and privacy basics, test, launch and then keep it maintained.
Here is the order, with a rough time each step takes a first-timer working part-time:
- Set the goal and audience (half a day)
- Register a domain (an hour, longer for .co.th paperwork)
- Choose hosting (an hour or two)
- Choose a platform (a day of reading and trying)
- Plan pages and structure (half a day)
- Write content and gather photos (one to two weeks, usually the slowest step)
- Design and build (several days to a few weeks)
- Add features (a day to a week, depending on what you need)
- SEO, speed and PDPA basics (a day or two)
- Test (a day)
- Launch (a few hours)
- Maintain (an hour or two every month, ongoing)
These are honest estimates for a beginner, not promises; a simple four-page site might take a couple of weekends, while a bilingual store can take months of evenings. The guide is platform-neutral. At each harder step we point out when paying a developer starts to make more sense, so you can decide with open eyes. If you are still asking whether you need a site at all, start with why a business needs a website.
Set the goal and the audience
Write one sentence that says what the site must achieve. "Get table bookings for weekend dinners." "Bring in B2B enquiries from factories in the Eastern Seaboard." "Sell our skincare range to customers across Thailand." Every later decision, from platform to page count, follows from it.
Then decide who reads it and in which language:
- Thai only suits most local shops, clinics and service firms whose customers search in Thai.
- English only can work for businesses serving expats, tourists or international buyers, though Thai staff and partners may still look you up.
- Both is common in Bangkok: a hotel, a language school or a foreign-run firm often needs full Thai and English versions, not a translated summary.
A bilingual site roughly doubles the writing and checking, so decide early. Also note how customers prefer to contact you. Many Thai customers would rather tap a LINE or WhatsApp button than fill in a form, while corporate buyers may expect email. For a new company with a tight budget, the startup website guide helps you decide what the first version really needs.
Pick a domain and hosting
Step 2: the domain
Your domain is your address online. Keep it short, easy to spell when said aloud in Thai or English, and free of hyphens where possible. The main choice in Thailand is between .com and .co.th:
- .com is quick to register with any registrar and familiar to international visitors.
- .co.th signals a Thai-registered company and is managed through THNIC, the .th registry. It has eligibility rules and asks for supporting documents, so check THNIC's current requirements before you apply.
Some firms register both and point one to the other. Register the domain in the company's name, on an account the company controls, not a staff member's personal email.
Step 3: hosting
Hosting is the server that stores your site and sends it to visitors. Hosted builders and Shopify include it in their subscription. WordPress needs separate hosting. When comparing hosts, look for servers in or near Southeast Asia so pages load quickly for Thai visitors, automatic backups, a free SSL certificate for the padlock in the browser, and support that answers during your working hours. Avoid the cheapest shared plans for anything beyond a tiny site; slow hosting is one of the most common reasons a site feels sluggish on mobile.
Choose your platform
Step 4 is the decision that shapes everything else. There are three broad routes.
Hosted website builders
Drag-and-drop builders include hosting and templates in one subscription. They are the fastest way to get something online and need no technical setup. The trade-offs are less control over speed and structure, monthly fees that never stop, and harder moves if you outgrow them. Design tools have joined in too; our review of building a business site with Canva shows where that kind of tool fits and where it runs out.
WordPress
WordPress is free, open-source software that you install on your own hosting. It runs a large share of business sites because it is flexible, has themes and plugins for almost anything, and handles Thai and English content well with the right setup. It asks more of you: updates, backups and security are your job. Our step-by-step guide to building a WordPress website walks through the setup in detail.
Shopify or WooCommerce for selling
If selling products is the main goal, start with an e-commerce platform. Shopify is hosted and quick to start; WooCommerce adds a store to WordPress and gives you more control. Both can be set up for Thai payments and couriers, though the details take care.
AI site generators are a newer option. They can produce a first draft fast, but the output still needs your real content, checking and structure; read more on AI in website development before relying on one.
Plan pages and write content
Step 5: plan the pages
List the pages before you touch a template. A sensible first site for most service businesses has:
- a homepage that says what you do, where, and how to get in touch;
- one page per main service or product group, because each answers a different search;
- an about page with the real people and location;
- a contact page with address, hours, map, phone and chat buttons;
- a privacy notice, which you need once you collect personal data.
Sketch how the menu groups them. Keep it to a handful of top-level items so it fits on a phone screen in both languages.
Step 6: write content and gather photos
This is where most DIY projects stall, so start it early. Write each page around the questions customers actually ask you: prices or price ranges, what is included, how long it takes, where you are, how to book. Use short paragraphs and plain words. If you are bilingual, write the Thai version for Thai readers rather than translating the English line by line; the tone and the questions differ.
Use real photos of your premises, products and team wherever you can. A phone camera in good daylight beats generic stock images, which visitors spot immediately. Name image files clearly and write a short description of each for the alt text. Keep all content in one shared folder so nothing is lost when you start building.
Design and build
Step 7 turns the plan into pages. On a builder or with a ready-made WordPress theme, you pick a template close to what you want and adapt it. A custom design costs more but fits your content exactly, instead of forcing your content into someone else's layout.
Mobile first
Design and check every page on a phone before a laptop. Make buttons large enough to tap, keep the contact options visible, and avoid wide tables or pop-ups that cover the screen. Most visitors to a Thai small business site are likely to arrive on mobile, often from a map listing or a link shared in a chat.
Thai typography
Many templates are designed with Latin fonts and treat Thai as an afterthought. Choose a proper Thai web font that pairs with your English font, give lines generous height so tone marks and vowels above and below the line are not clipped, and test headings with real Thai text. Because Thai has no spaces between words, long headings can break in awkward places; shorten them or adjust the layout.
Keep it light
Resist stacking plugins, sliders and animations. Every extra script slows the page on a mid-range phone. Page builders make editing easy but often add a lot of code; if speed matters, a lean theme is a better base. This is also the step where many owners decide the time cost is too high and hand the build to a developer, keeping the content they have already prepared.
Add the features your business needs
Step 8 is where a brochure becomes a working tool. Add only what supports the goal you set in step 1.
- Contact forms and chat buttons. Keep forms short: name, phone or email, message. Add WhatsApp and LINE buttons for customers who prefer chat. Make sure form messages reach an inbox someone checks daily, and add a consent checkbox that links to your privacy notice.
- Bookings. Restaurants, clinics, salons and tour operators often need visitors to pick a date and time. Our guide to choosing an online booking system for a website compares the common approaches.
- Selling online. A store needs Thai payment options such as PromptPay, cards and cash on delivery, shipping rates from couriers like Thailand Post, KEX Express (formerly Kerry Express), Flash Express or J&T, and, for registered businesses, e-Tax invoice handling. Test each payment and shipping option with a real order before launch.
- Connections to other systems. Stock, CRM or delivery tools can exchange data with your site; the basics are explained in API integration for business websites. If your accountant wants orders and invoices to flow straight into their software, read how to integrate a website with accounting software in Thailand.
- Members-only content. Courses, member directories or paid resources need logins and access rules; a membership website is a bigger project than a standard business site, so plan it separately.
Each feature adds testing and upkeep. If you are not sure you need something, launch without it and add it once customers ask.
SEO, speed and PDPA basics
Step 9 covers three things visitors never see directly but always feel.
Search basics
Give every page a unique title and meta description that says what it offers and where. Use one clear main heading per page, descriptive URLs, and links between related pages. Google's SEO Starter Guide is a sensible free reference and explains these points without jargon. Set up Google Search Console so you can see which searches find you, and create a Google Business Profile, because many local customers find a business through maps before they reach its site.
Speed
Compress images before uploading (our guide to image optimization for websites shows how), avoid heavy sliders and video backgrounds, and keep plugins to a minimum. Google's Core Web Vitals measure loading (Largest Contentful Paint), responsiveness (Interaction to Next Paint) and visual stability (Cumulative Layout Shift); the web.dev article on Web Vitals explains each one. Test on a real mid-range phone over mobile data, not only on office Wi-Fi.
PDPA
Thailand's Personal Data Protection Act B.E. 2562 (2019) has been fully in force since 1 June 2022 and is overseen by the Personal Data Protection Committee (PDPC). If your site collects names, phone numbers, emails or uses tracking cookies, you should publish a privacy notice, ask for consent where it is required, and have a cookie banner that lets visitors refuse non-essential cookies. Wording depends on what you collect, so take proper advice for anything beyond a simple contact form.
Test, launch and look after it
Step 10: test
Open every page on an iPhone, an Android phone and a laptop. Send a message through every form and confirm it arrives. Tap every WhatsApp, LINE and phone button. Switch languages on every page type. Refuse cookies and check the site still works. On a store, place a test order with each payment method and check the confirmation email. Ask someone who has never seen the site to find your prices and contact you; watch where they get stuck.
Step 11: launch
Connect the domain, make sure the SSL padlock shows, and remove any "discourage search engines" setting used during the build. Submit your sitemap in Search Console. If you are replacing an old site, redirect old page addresses to their new equivalents so links and rankings are not lost.
Step 12: maintain
A site is never finished. Every month, update the platform, theme and plugins, check that backups run, and test the main form. Every few months, refresh prices, photos and opening hours, and add pages for questions customers keep asking. Sites that are left alone for a year tend to break quietly, usually at the contact form.
When the site no longer fits the business, a rebuild may be due; newer tools can speed that up, and our look at AI website redesign tools covers what they do well and what still needs a person.
Your build checklist
Keep this list open while you work and tick items off as you go.
- Goal written downOne sentence on what the site must achieve, plus languages and preferred contact channels.
- Domain registeredIn the company's name, on a company-controlled account; .com, .co.th or both.
- Hosting and platform chosenServers near Thailand, backups and SSL; builder, WordPress or a store platform.
- Page list and menuHome, services, about, contact, privacy notice; a menu that fits on a phone.
- Content and photos readyReal text answering real questions, real photos, Thai written for Thai readers.
- Mobile and Thai text checkedReadable Thai font, no clipped tone marks, tappable buttons.
- Forms and chat buttons testedEvery message arrives; WhatsApp and LINE buttons open correctly.
- Search basics doneUnique titles and descriptions, Search Console, Google Business Profile.
- PDPA coveredPrivacy notice, consent on forms, cookie banner that allows refusal.
- Launch and upkeep plannedRedirects from any old site, monthly updates and backup checks.
Or let us build it
Building a site yourself is a good way to learn, and for a very simple site it can be the right call. It stops being good value when the hours you spend on design, Thai typography, payments, PDPA wiring and testing are worth more in your own business, or when the result is slower and harder to find than it should be.
If you reach that point, we can take over from wherever you are, using the goal, page list and content you have already prepared. Our custom website development covers design, build, both languages, forms, consent and launch. A typical project takes about 15 days; large e-commerce catalogues can take longer.
- Starter, from THB 10,000: up to 5 pages with custom design, WordPress, mobile-first, contact, WhatsApp and LINE buttons, on-page SEO and PDPA cookie consent.
- Business, from THB 30,000: up to 15 pages in English and Thai with two revision rounds, a custom WordPress theme with no page builder, blog, forms, booking or enquiry flows, keyword mapping and schema markup.
- E-commerce, from THB 50,000: Shopify or WooCommerce with PromptPay, cards, COD and Thai couriers, product import and e-Tax invoice setup, staff training and a launch checklist.
These are indicative, one-time starting prices; your written quote sets the final figure. For a closer look at what drives the WordPress website cost, see the pricing breakdown, or send your plans by WhatsApp or call on +66 93 004 4098, or email service@websitedevelopmentbangkok.com.
- Starter
from THB 10,000indicative, one-time
For a new business that needs a credible 5-page site quickly.
- Up to 5 pages, custom design
- WordPress, mobile-first
- Contact, WhatsApp and LINE buttons
- On-page SEO and PDPA cookie consent
- Business
from THB 30,000indicative, one-time
For established companies with more pages, two languages and lead capture.
- Up to 15 pages, English and Thai, two revision rounds
- Custom WordPress theme, no page builder
- Blog, forms, booking or enquiry flows
- Keyword mapping and schema markup
- E-commerce
from THB 50,000indicative, one-time
For stores selling in Thailand with local payments and shipping.
- Shopify or WooCommerce
- PromptPay, cards, COD, Thai couriers
- Product import and e-Tax invoice setup
- Staff training and launch checklist
Indicative starting prices, one-time. The final price is set in the written quote for each project, and payment terms are set out in your quote.
Who reviewed this guide
Written by the Website Development Bangkok team and reviewed by Litesh Dhir, Co-founder, SEO & Web Development.
Who builds your site
Litesh Dhir
Builds and ranks the websites: the systems behind the 17 client sites whose Search Console numbers we publish.
More about usNext reads
Sources
- THNIC: .th domain registration
- WordPress.org: Download WordPress
- Google Search Central: SEO Starter Guide
- PDPC Thailand: Personal Data Protection Committee
- web.dev: Web Vitals