The visibility and activity of Belgian businesses on the Web has considerably improved since 2014. This emerges on Thursday from the Internet barometer established by Email-Brokers. Although these are amongst businesses with the highest social media presence in Europe, that said their Internet sites are frequently hardly dynamic and they do not benefit from a framework tailored to their needs.
Belgium now has 894,612 active URLs, of which a large majority (679,459) have opted for the “.be” extension. This number has increased by 30% in five years. This is not the sole positive development emerging from the specialist barometer of commercial databases since, having started from bottom place, the country’s businesses are European leaders as regards their presence on social networks. Nearly one in three (31.83%) now benefit from these interfaces, so as to make themselves known.
Another good point is that websites are more regularly updated than in 2012 (58% are now not updated compared to 86% back at that time). However the founder and CEO of Email-Brokers, William Vande Wiele, states that for all that, companies still have some way to go online. “Only 13% of sites are adapted for consultation on the go, using a tablet or smartphone.” This results in a sacred missed opportunity for a large majority of businesses.
Mr Vande Wiele considers that in addition, the absence of restrictions on the Belgian Web “penalises businessmen and businesswomen a great deal.” More than half of “.be” URLs from e-commerce sites are not, in fact, Belgian. The CEO adds, “Such businesses take advantage of the reputation of Belgian businesses and the consumer trust which may exist in many cases.” He has no hesitation in speaking of “identity being usurped.”
The Brussels Times
