An internet study from last September revealed that 86% of Belgian websites had not been updated in the previous 12 months. In other words: only 14% of the 669.252 indexed Belgian websites was updated within the past year. Stunning figures.
Let’s look how this group of indexed Belgian websites is divided: 500.000 of this grand total of 669.252 websites are for professional purposes. The government is responsible for 9000 websites. The rest is divided in websites for private purposes (24.907), non-business related websites (73.784) and blogs or forums (64.466).
Most of the websites are static. Only 7% are dynamic websites, with - for example - a newsfeed that helps to inform their visitors. Furthermore, almost 17% of the indexed websites do not provide clear or accessible contact information.
Website as your online business card
Where a website helps to inform your customers or contacts, it often acts as an online business card and even helps to generate leads and business. It seems that the Belgian entrepreneurs are still not fully aware that their websites do not live up to their important role in communication and branding. The online customer behaviour changed significantly over the past years. People expect to find basic contact, product and business information whenever they need it. Customers do search online when they have a problem or when they are looking for products or services to buy. It’s up to Belgian companies to grab those important online opportunities.
Talking about opportunities
We notice an interesting evolution in e-commerce. In just one year time this segment has increased with 80%. Especially small businesses (45%) take the lead in incorporating internet business in their commercial strategy. Nowadays, web users can choose from more than 27.000 Belgian e-commerce websites to order online.
This message from the future leads us to the following tip we would like to give to all entrepreneurs. When you are thinking about optimizing you current website, just imagine what features your website would need if you would have to start from scratch today.
Source: Le Soir