Why does a business need a website?
A business needs a website because it is the one place online that you own. Your Facebook page, LINE Official Account and Shopee store all live on someone else's platform, under rules that change without notice.
A website sits on your own domain, shows up when people search Google for what you sell, and sends enquiries straight to you rather than through a platform's inbox.
That does not mean closing your social pages. They are good at keeping in touch with people who already know you. A website does a different job: it lets strangers find you, check that you are real, and contact you on your terms. The rest of this post explains those jobs in detail, compares the options side by side, and is honest about the few cases where a website can wait.
Seven things a website does that social pages cannot
1. It belongs to you
If a platform restricts your page, changes its fees or loses favour with your customers, a website and its domain stay put. Years of posts on a social page can disappear with one account problem.
2. It gets found on Google
People searching "dental clinic Sukhumvit" or "office cleaning Bangkok" land on web pages far more often than on social posts. Each page on a website can answer one of those searches, and LocalBusiness schema markup helps Google match the site to your address. Your Google Business Profile also has a field for your website, and a proper site gives that link somewhere useful to go.
3. No algorithm between you and your customers
On social media, only some of your followers see each post. A visitor to your website sees everything you put there, every time.
4. It reassures corporate and foreign buyers
Procurement teams, hotel partners and expat customers often check for a website and a company email address before they reply. Clear English and Thai pages on a corporate website answer their questions before they ask.
5. It answers the same questions all day
Opening hours, prices, the menu, parking, how to book. If your staff answer these on LINE twenty times a day, a clear page can take much of that load, even at 2 a.m.
6. Leads you control
Enquiries from your own forms land in your inbox, with PDPA consent that you collected and can show. You decide how long to keep them and who sees them.
7. It connects to your other tools
A website can pass bookings to a calendar or orders to an accounting system through API integrations with the software you already use. A social page cannot. DIY tools such as the Canva website builder can produce a simple page, though they reach their limits quickly on points 2 and 7.
Facebook page, LINE OA, marketplace or website: side by side
Many Bangkok businesses end up using more than one of these channels. The table shows what each is good at, so you can see where a website fills the gaps rather than replacing what already works.
| Facebook page | LINE Official Account | Marketplace store (Shopee, Lazada) | Own website | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who owns it | The platform | The platform | The platform | You |
| Found on Google searches | Sometimes, weakly | Rarely | Product listings only | Yes, page by page |
| Customer contact details | Held by the platform | Held by the platform | Largely held by the marketplace | Your own inbox, with your consent records |
| Control of design and content | Fixed format | Fixed format | Marketplace rules | Full |
| Best at | Updates to existing fans | Chatting with existing customers | Selling to shoppers already on the app | Being found, trusted and contacted by new customers |
Two points stand out. First, only the website row gives you full ownership and full control of how you look. Second, the running costs are different in kind: social pages cost staff time, marketplaces take a share of each sale, and a website is mostly a one-time build plus yearly hosting and upkeep. Check each platform's own pricing page for current fees, because they change.
When a website can wait
We would rather you spend money where it pays back, so here are the cases where a website is not the first priority:
- You are still testing the idea. If you are selling a few products to friends and followers to see whether anyone buys, a social page and a marketplace store are cheaper ways to learn.
- You only resell on marketplaces. If every sale happens inside Shopee or Lazada and nobody searches for your shop by name, a website adds less, at least until you want a brand of your own.
- Your customers all come by referral and you are fully booked. A small trade business with more work than it can handle may not need new enquiries yet.
Even in these cases, register your domain name now. It is inexpensive, it stops someone else taking it, and it gives you a professional email address while you wait.
What should your first website include?
A first business website does not need to be large. It needs to answer the questions customers already send you, in the languages they use.
- A clear homepage: what you do, where, and for whom, in one screen on a phone.
- Service or product pages: one per main offer, with prices or a price range where you can give one.
- About: who is behind the business and why a customer can trust you.
- Contact: address, opening hours, a map, phone, and WhatsApp and LINE buttons that open a chat in one tap.
- An enquiry form with PDPA consent and a privacy notice page, plus a cookie banner if you use analytics.
- Thai and English if your customers include both.
Make sure you can edit prices, hours and photos yourself. That depends on the content management system behind the site; our explainer on what a CMS is covers the choice. If you plan member-only content, courses or paid areas, read up on how to build a membership website first, because it changes the scope.
How to get it built
You have two routes. If you have time and like tinkering, you can do it yourself: our general guide on how to build a website helps you pick a platform, and the numbered walkthrough on building a WordPress website yourself takes you from domain to launch.
If you would rather spend your time running the business, hire someone. Our small business website design service starts with the Starter package, from THB 10,000: up to five pages with a custom, mobile-first design on WordPress, contact, WhatsApp and LINE buttons, on-page SEO and PDPA cookie consent. The price is indicative and the final figure is set in your written quote. A typical project takes about 15 days from the agreed brief to launch.
For larger sites with more pages or two languages, see our WordPress site pricing for what changes the cost.
Who reviewed this guide
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 usMore on planning a website
Sources
- Google Business Profile Help: edit your business information, including your website
- MDES: Personal Data Protection Act B.E. 2562 (2019)