In Belgium, the language of your website is no small detail. A Flemish prospect who lands on a French-only page will most likely go to a competitor who speaks their language. The reverse is just as true in Brussels and Wallonia.
Who are your clients, and where are they?
Before translating, look at where your enquiries come from. A bakery in Namur doesn't have the same needs as an accounting firm in Brussels or a renovation company working across the whole country.
- Local clients in Wallonia: French is often enough; English can help with expats.
- Brussels: French and Dutch at minimum, English strongly recommended.
- Flanders or nationwide: Dutch is essential.
- France and Belgium: a French site, plus a Dutch version if you target Flanders.
Translating is not copy-pasting
Text run through a machine translator is spotted instantly, and it drives people away. Belgian Dutch also has its own habits: people say kmo rather than "mkb" for an SME, "offerte" for a quote, and the formal "u" is still the norm in B2B.
Every version should be proofread by a native speaker and adapted: examples, cities mentioned, sometimes even the selling points.
What Google expects from a multilingual site
- One URL per language, such as /fr, /nl and /en, rather than a button that swaps the text without changing the address.
- hreflang tags, which tell Google which version to show to whom.
- Translated titles and descriptions for every page, not just the body copy.
- Automatic language selection on the first visit, based on the browser language, with the option to switch.
How much does it cost?
At SWC Agency, each extra language adds €390 to a showcase website, proofread translation included if you provide the French copy. We write and reply in French, Dutch and English, so your Flemish clients can contact us directly.
This website, for instance, exists in three languages and picks the right one automatically when you arrive.