Web design in the Campine (Kempen)

Web design in the Campine, or the Kempen as locals call it, is about a region that appears on no administrative map as a whole. Turnhout, Geel, Mol and Herentals lie in the province of Antwerp, Lommel and Pelt in Limburg. Still, people search for 'de Kempen': in Dutch, 'webdesign kempen' comes back literally in Google, and 'webdesigner kempen' and 'marketingbureau kempen' rank high on their first letters. In English, Google completes 'web design campine' with 'belgium' and 'belgie'. People who live in Kasterlee or Retie look for a tradesman 'from the Kempen', not 'from the province of Antwerp'.

The Campine also has a larger English-speaking community than its size suggests. The EU's Joint Research Centre has a site in Geel, the nuclear research centre SCK CEN and the research institute VITO sit in Mol, and the European School in Mol teaches the children of their international staff. Add the plants of international groups around Geel and Herentals, and you have firms whose management works in English in a region that buys in Dutch. This page is written for them.

The arrondissement of Turnhout alone had 48,769 companies at the end of 2025. Construction is second, with 7,796 firms.

In 2025, 4,425 companies started and 4,260 stopped. A region that grows, with an identity of its own, where your site has to say you belong.

Turnhout is the capital of the Kempen, with 48,490 residents, Cartamundi, Soudal and Miko, and the most generous grant for shop premises we came across in Flanders: 80 percent, up to 10,000 euros. What that means for your site is on web design in Turnhout.

Geel has 42,650 residents, BP's chemical plant, the Thomas More university college and the EU research centre. The city offers starters a conversation before they begin. For a company that hires, a careers page is often the most important part of the site here.

Mol has 38,793 residents, the research centres SCK CEN and VITO, and the Zilvermeer lake for holidaymakers. So two kinds of site: one for knowledge firms and their suppliers, one for tourism. The municipality answers the questions of new entrepreneurs in an overview of its own.

Herentals has 29,163 residents and an industrial zone of 341 hectares, home to De Beukelaer among others. The business desk helps with permits and setting up.

Lommel, on the Limburg side, has 35,451 residents, and with Lommel loont a starter grant of up to 8,000 euros, which runs until 31 December 2026. More on the Limburg side is in web design in Limburg.

None of those towns pays for your website directly. Campine money goes to shop premises and starters. We name per town what its desk offers, and promise no grant where there is none.

If your team works in English, decide per audience which language comes first.

Each language needs its own version with its own titles, linked with hreflang so Google shows the right one; how to do that on one domain is on multilingual website development. Whatever the language, a Belgian business site shows its company number and address (company number on your website).

Around Mol, Lommel, Retie and Kasterlee lie holiday parks, campsites and holiday homes. Their guests come from Flanders, the Netherlands and Germany, and look on their phone for a week in summer or a weekend in autumn.

• Choose a booking site of your own ifyou have a holiday home, guesthouse or small campsite with returning guests. A calendar that takes over the Airbnb and Booking calendars prevents double bookings, and a direct booking costs you no commission.
• Choose a site in three languages ifyou have many Dutch and German guests: Dutch, German and English, each with its own titles.
• Stay on the platforms ifyou are just starting and have no reviews yet; their visibility is then worth more than the commission.

For a holiday home in the woods of Retie the same parts apply as at the coast; they are on direct booking website, the calendar link on booking system for your website. For No.4 Lange Ast, a village house for eight in Kruisem, we built such a site in four languages, with a calendar that takes over the bookings from Airbnb and Booking; see the case No.4 Lange Ast. Kruisem is in East Flanders, and we say so.

Arendonk, Ravels, Retie and Lommel border the Netherlands, and Baarle-Hertog lies right inside it. For a shop or tradesman there, a Dutch customer is no exception. Usually a Flemish site with clear prices, hours and payment options is enough; if you deliver in the Netherlands or use other terms, you are better off with a separate version, linked with hreflang. How that plays out in Turnhout is on the page about Turnhout.

For a manufacturer in Geel or Herentals the site turns on two things: quote requests from buyers and applications from technicians. A page per product or service, references with place and year, a quote form that asks the right questions, and a careers page with what you offer. The same goes for the 7,796 construction firms in the arrondissement, with projects instead of references; see website for contractors and marketing for construction companies.

Around SCK CEN, VITO, the EU research centre and the university college in Geel work suppliers and spin-offs that sell to research centres and industry. Their site has to work in English, have a page per service and show references a buyer can verify. A careers page in two languages belongs with it: technicians come from all over Europe. What such a site looks like for a firm that also needs software is on custom software.

Someone typing 'loodgieter kempen' (plumber) or 'dakwerker geel' first gets Google's map. Three things help:

1. A complete Google Business Profile. Category, hours, photos, your service area; see create a Google Business Profile.
2. Projects with the town. A bathroom in Kasterlee, a roof in Retie: that is how you show where you work.
3. Reviews that keep coming. With the Google review link generator you ask for them without fuss.

Those three together, plus pages with the right titles, are what local SEO is about.

For a single page you usually pay 500 to 1,500 euros in Belgium; a company site with a page per service costs 2,000 to 6,000 euros, and an online shop 4,000 to 15,000 euros or more, excluding VAT. With us custom work starts at 1,500 euros, and the project price is fixed once we have settled together what goes in; the website cost calculator shows up front how the parts add up.

The Campine is far, though: Herentals is 70 minutes' drive from the Sint-Baafsplein, Geel and Turnhout 77, Mol 85 and Lommel 97. So we start with a video call, in English or Dutch, show the site on a test address and drive over for the photos. We have no Campine client yet; what we show are sites for clients elsewhere who had the same questions. The full way of working is at website design; if you also work in the city of Antwerp, read web design in Antwerpen.