A new website for your SME: the checklist from A to Z

Five points decide whether a new SME website turns out well: one clear goal and quotes compared over three years, domain and accounts in your company's name, the legal notices and cookie rules, a redirect for every old URL, and follow-up after launch. You can download the full checklist.

Those points apply whether you have your site built by an agency or a freelancer, or get a website built with AI from us. Where a rule comes from the law or from Google, the source is included.

Choose one goal and compare quotes over three years

First decide what the site has to deliver: quote requests, appointments, phone calls or job applications. Every page then gets a next step that fits that goal.

Then compare quotes on content and on the cost over three years. Ask every provider the same questions:

• How many pages and languages, and who writes the copy?
• What does year two cost in hosting, licences and maintenance?
• How does the traffic from your old site move over?
• Are the legal notices, privacy statement and cookie banner included?
• How do you change something yourself, and what does a change through them cost?

A worked example over three years is in how much does a website cost in 2026? If you cannot deduct VAT, as under the exemption scheme for small businesses ^[1], compare prices including VAT.

Check subsidies before you sign too: with most schemes you lose your entitlement as soon as the work starts. The overview is in subsidies for your website in 2026.

Put domain and accounts in your company's name

Without ownership you cannot freely switch suppliers later.

• Domain name. A .be domain is tied to the holder, not to the registrar ^[2]. The transfer code to switch registrar goes to the holder's email address ^[2]: make your company the holder, with its own address.
• Google accounts. In Search Console an owner can add and remove users ^[3], in Google Analytics 4 an administrator does that ^[4], and a Business Profile has one primary owner ^[5]. Those roles belong to you; the agency gets a user role.
• Code and hosting. Ask where the code is kept, whether you get a copy of it and whose name the hosting account is in.

Get the legal basics right

• Identification. State your name, the address of your establishment, at least two ways to get in touch and your enterprise number ^[6]. If you sell online, an email address and a phone number are mandatory ^[6].
• Privacy. If you ask for personal data via a form, you tell the visitor straight away who you are, why you process the data, how long you keep it and what rights they have ^[7].
• Cookies. According to the GBA, the Belgian Data Protection Authority, an analytics cookie in principle requires prior consent ^[8]. No pre-ticked boxes ^[8], and a "reject all" button on the same layer as "accept all" ^[9].
• Consent Mode. For Google tags with visitors from the EEA, you pass that consent on to Google ^[10]. Cédric explains how in Consent Mode v2 in practice.
• Accessibility. If consumers conclude a contract online via your site, it falls under the European Accessibility Act ^[11], in force in Belgium since 28 June 2025 ^[12]. According to the FPS Economy, micro-enterprises have until 28 June 2030 ^[12].

On launch day, redirect every old URL

Every old URL with traffic or links points with a 301 to the best-matching new page. According to Google, keep those redirects in place for at least a year as a general rule ^[13]. Also remove every noindex from the staging environment ^[13].

Submit your sitemap in Search Console and import your site from there into Bing Webmaster Tools ^[14]. Test forms and tracking before you start ads. The full step-by-step plan is in migrating a website without losing SEO.

Don't know which pages of your current site bring in traffic and enquiries? The free website scan maps that out before you remove anything.

Follow up during the first 90 days

• Weeks 1 to 4: check indexing and error pages in Search Console weekly, and enquiries in Google Analytics. A sudden drop on launch day is usually a tracking problem.
• Month 2: ask your standard customer questions in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity and note whether you are mentioned. That is your baseline.
• Month 3: put the figures next to your main goal and choose what to improve first.