Tutorial: A Professional WordPress Website for Belgium

A professional website has become essential for every business in Belgium. Whether you are self-employed, run an SME or are launching a startup, your website is often the first point of contact with potential customers. WordPress powers more than 43% of websites worldwide and remains the most flexible, accessible way to build a professional WordPress website without knowing how to code. This tutorial guides you from A to Z, taking Belgian specifics into account: legal obligations, hosting, multilingualism and payment.

Why choose WordPress for your Belgian business

WordPress.org vs WordPress.com

Be careful not to confuse the two:

Recommendation: For a Belgian business, choose WordPress.org (self-hosted). This version offers the most flexibility, control and room to grow, which is why we use it throughout this tutorial.

Benefits of WordPress for Belgian businesses

• Multilingualism: plugins such as WPML or Polylang let you build a bilingual FR/NL website (essential in Belgium)
• E-commerce: WooCommerce supports Bancontact, the most widely used payment method in Belgium
• SEO: excellent search engine optimisation capabilities with plugins such as Yoast SEO or Rank Math
• Community: a large WordPress community in Belgium (regular meetups in Brussels, Ghent and Liège)
• Scalable: your WordPress website can grow with your business, from a showcase site to full e-commerce
• GDPR compliance: many plugins make compliance easier

Step 1: Choose a web host

Selection criteria for Belgium

• Server location: favour a host with servers in Belgium or neighbouring countries (Netherlands, Germany, France) for faster loading speeds and GDPR compliance
• Support in French and/or Dutch
• SSL certificate included (HTTPS is compulsory)
• Automatic backups
• One-click WordPress installation
• Sufficient disk space and bandwidth

Recommended hosts for Belgian businesses

Tip: For a Belgian business just starting out, Combell is an excellent choice: a Belgian host, support in French and Dutch, servers in Belgium, and one-click WordPress installation. OVHcloud is a more affordable alternative with solid quality.

Choosing your domain name

Your domain name is your website's address (e.g. www.your-business.be).

Recommended extensions for Belgium:

Tips for choosing your domain:

• Use your business's name (consistent with your CBE registration)
• Keep it short and easy to remember
• Avoid hyphens and numbers where possible
• Check availability on dnsbelgium.be (the official .be domain name registry)

Step 2: Install WordPress

Most hosts offer one-click WordPress installation:

Installing with Combell (example)

1. Log in to your Combell control panel
2. Go to the "Web Applications" or "WordPress Installer" section
3. Click "Install WordPress"
4. Fill in:
   • Site name: your business's name
   • Language: French (or Dutch)
   • Username: choose an administrator name (avoid "admin" for security reasons)
   • Password: use a strong password (minimum 12 characters, with uppercase letters, numbers and special characters)
   • Email address: your business email
5. Click "Install"
6. Installation usually takes one to five minutes

Manual installation (advanced)

If your host does not offer one-click installation:

1. Download WordPress from https://wordpress.org/download/
2. Create a MySQL database via your control panel
3. Upload the WordPress files to your server via FTP (FileZilla)
4. Go to your domain in your browser
5. Follow the installation wizard (choose language, connect to the database, create the admin account)

Step 3: Configure the basic settings

Once installed, log in to your WordPress dashboard: https://your-domain.be/wp-admin/

General settings

1. Go to "Settings" > "General"
   • Site title: your business's name
   • Tagline: a short sentence describing what you do (e.g. "Web development for Belgian SMEs")
   • Timezone: UTC+1 (Brussels)
   • Date format: dd/mm/yyyy (Belgian format)
   • Site language: Belgian French

Permalink settings

Permalinks define the structure of your website's URLs. A good structure matters a great deal for SEO.

1. Go to "Settings" > "Permalinks"
2. Select "Post name" (recommended structure: your-domain.be/page-name/)
3. Click "Save"

Homepage settings

By default, WordPress displays the latest blog posts on the homepage. For a business website, you will want a static homepage:

1. Create two pages: "Home" and "Blog"
2. Go to "Settings" > "Reading"
3. Select "A static page"
4. Homepage: select "Home"
5. Posts page: select "Blog"
6. Save

Step 4: Choose and install a theme

The theme determines your WordPress website's visual appearance.

Recommended free themes for Belgian businesses

Popular premium themes

Installing a theme

1. Go to "Appearance" > "Themes" > "Add New"
2. Search for the theme you want (e.g. "Astra")
3. Click "Install", then "Activate"
4. Follow the theme's setup wizard if one is offered

Step 5: Install the essential plugins

Plugins add functionality to your WordPress website. Here are the must-have plugins for a Belgian business website:

Essential plugins

For a bilingual Belgian website (FR/NL)

Belgian tip: If your customers are spread across Wallonia and Flanders, a bilingual FR/NL WordPress website is strongly recommended. In Brussels, French is generally enough, but Dutch is a plus. For international customers, add English.

For an e-commerce website

Important: For e-commerce in Belgium, make sure you integrate Bancontact as a payment method. It is the most widely used payment method in Belgium. The Mollie plugin (mollie.com) is the most popular solution: it supports Bancontact, Visa, Mastercard, iDEAL and many more.

Installing a plugin

1. Go to "Plugins" > "Add New"
2. Search for the plugin you want
3. Click "Install Now", then "Activate"
4. Configure the plugin according to the instructions

Step 6: Create the essential pages

A Belgian business website must contain at least the following pages:

1. Homepage

Recommended structure:

• Hero section: catchy title + subtitle + call-to-action (CTA) button
• "Our services" section: presentation of your three or four main services with icons
• "About" section: a short presentation of your business
• "Testimonials" section: feedback from satisfied customers
• "Contact" section: contact form or button linking to the contact page

2. "About us" page

• Your business's story
• Your mission and values
• Your team (photos and biographies)
• Your certifications and accreditations

3. "Services" or "Products" page

• Detailed description of each service/product
• Pricing (if applicable)
• A call to action for each service

4. "Contact" page

• Contact form (name, email, phone, message)
• Postal address
• Phone number
• Email address
• Embedded Google Maps
• Opening hours

5. "Legal notice" page

Compulsory in Belgium (Book XII of the Economic Law Code). This page must contain:

• Company name and legal form (e.g. "Espero-Soft SRL")
• Registered office address
• Enterprise number (CBE): 0XXX.XXX.XXX
• VAT number: BE 0XXX.XXX.XXX
• Contact email address
• Phone number (recommended)
• Supervisory body (for regulated professions)
• Competent court in the event of a dispute

6. "Privacy policy" page

Compulsory under GDPR. This page must detail:

• What personal data you collect
• Why you collect it (purposes)
• How you process and store it
• Who you share it with (processors: Google Analytics, Mailchimp, etc.)
• Users' rights (access, rectification, erasure, portability)
• The data controller's contact details
• How to contact the Data Protection Authority (APD) to file a complaint

Tip: Use a privacy policy generator adapted to Belgian law, or have a GDPR specialist lawyer draft your policy.

7. "Terms and conditions of sale" page (for e-commerce)

Compulsory for online sales in Belgium. It must contain:

• Right of withdrawal (14 days for online sales)
• Delivery terms and lead times
• Payment terms
• Statutory warranty (2 years minimum in Belgium)
• Complaints procedure
• Out-of-court dispute resolution (the European Commission's ODR platform)

Step 7: Optimise SEO for the Belgian market

Configuring Yoast SEO

1. Install and activate Yoast SEO
2. Follow the setup wizard:
   • Site type: "Organisation"
   • Organisation name: your business name
   • Logo: your business logo
3. For each page, fill in:
   • Focus keyphrase: the page's main keyword
   • SEO title: a title optimised for Google (max 60 characters)
   • Meta description: an appealing description (max 155 characters)
   • Slug: a clean, readable URL

Belgian keywords

Adapt your keywords to the Belgian market:

• Include city names: "web developer Brussels", "accountant Liège", "lawyer Namur"
• Use local terminology: "self-employed" or "independent professional", "company" or the specific Belgian legal forms
• Think about bilingualism: optimise pages in both French and Dutch if you are targeting both language communities

Google Search Console

1. Create an account at https://search.google.com/search-console/
2. Add your website
3. Verify ownership (via the Yoast SEO plugin or a DNS record)
4. Submit your sitemap (automatically generated by Yoast: your-domain.be/sitemap_index.xml)
5. Monitor your rankings and fix any reported errors

Google Analytics

1. Create an account at https://analytics.google.com/
2. Create a GA4 property for your website
3. Install the tracking code via a plugin such as Site Kit by Google (free)
4. GDPR note: set up the cookie banner so that Google Analytics only activates after the user has given consent

Step 8: Secure your website

Essential security measures

A secure WordPress website protects your business and your customers' data.

1. SSL certificate: make sure your website is accessible over HTTPS (usually included free with your hosting)
2. Updates: keep WordPress, themes and plugins up to date (enable automatic updates where possible)
3. Strong passwords: use unique, complex passwords for the WordPress admin area and the database
4. Security plugin: install Wordfence or iThemes Security
5. Automatic backups: set up UpdraftPlus for daily or weekly backups (stored on Google Drive, Dropbox or Amazon S3)
6. Login attempt limiting: enable this feature in your security plugin
7. Two-factor authentication (2FA): add an extra layer of security for admin access

Step 9: Configure the cookie banner (GDPR)

In Belgium, using non-essential cookies (analytics, marketing) requires the user's prior consent.

With the Complianz plugin

1. Install and activate Complianz – GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent
2. Follow the setup wizard:
   • Select "Europe" as the region
   • Select "Belgium" as the country
   • Declare the services you use (Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, etc.)
   • Customise the cookie banner's appearance
3. The plugin automatically handles:
   • The cookie consent banner
   • Blocking scripts before consent
   • The consent log (GDPR evidence)
   • The cookie policy (an automatically generated page)

Step 10: Launch your website

Launch checklist

Before making your WordPress website public, check:

• All pages are created and the content is in place
• The contact forms work (send a test message)
• The site is responsive (test on mobile and tablet)
• The SSL certificate is active (green padlock in the address bar)
• The legal notice is complete
• The privacy policy is in place
• The cookie banner works correctly
• Google Analytics is configured
• The site is submitted to Google Search Console
• Loading speeds are acceptable (test on PageSpeed Insights: https://pagespeed.web.dev/)
• Internal and external links work
• Images are compressed and have alt tags
• SEO tags (title, meta description) are filled in for every page
• Redirects are set up if you are replacing an existing website

Indicative budget for a WordPress website in Belgium

For comparison: a professional website built by an agency in Belgium costs between EUR 2,000 and 15,000 depending on complexity. Building your own WordPress website represents a considerable saving, but takes time and a learning curve.

Useful resources

• WordPress.org: https://wordpress.org/
• WordPress Belgium (meetups): https://www.meetup.com/WordPress-Meetup-Brussels/
• Combell: https://www.combell.com/en/ (Belgian host)
• DNS Belgium: https://www.dnsbelgium.be/ (.be domain name registry)
• Mollie: https://www.mollie.com/ (online payments with Bancontact)
• PageSpeed Insights: https://pagespeed.web.dev/ (speed test)
• APD: https://www.autoriteprotectiondonnees.be/ (GDPR)
• FPS Economy – E-commerce: https://economie.fgov.be/fr/themes/vente/commerce-electronique

Conclusion

Building a professional WordPress website for your Belgian business is an achievable project, even without advanced technical skills. By following this tutorial step by step, you can launch a working WordPress website in a single day and refine it over the following weeks.

The key points not to overlook for the Belgian market are: the compulsory legal notice (company name, CBE number, VAT number), GDPR compliance (cookie banner, privacy policy), multilingualism (if you are targeting both major language communities), and integrating Bancontact if you sell online.

WordPress keeps evolving, with new features and plugins that make entrepreneurs' lives easier. Feel free to join the Belgian WordPress community (meetups, forums) to keep learning and exchanging ideas with other users.

---

This article was written by the Espero-Soft team for the blog dedicated to entrepreneurs in Belgium. To have your own custom WordPress website built, contact Espero-Soft.