You can now do business halfway around the world via the Internet -- shouldn't you take one more step and make your Web site easy to understand everywhere?

The issue of translating a Web site in order to present your company to local populations around the world is attractive, but translations can be expensive. For some editorial content, there has to be more than simply a translation, because of difference in values and attitudes in the two languages -- some parts of the text may need to be re-written in the other language. However, for other types of products/services, a translation might not be entirely necessary. For technical products, English is often sufficient, since buyers are used to working in English around the world. However, if you are wanting to penetrate more deeply into international markets than just the intelligensia who is conversant in English, you will need to translate or localize some Web pages.

For some products/services, you can start with just translating the most important pages of your Web site, to "hook" the interest of your visitor... and then continue in English for the details. This is better than no translation at all, and is a lot more affordable than a full-blown Web site translation. Ultimately, though, you will want to phase in a full Web site translation, perhaps over a year's time. You can prove results of the initial translation in terms of sales, then translate deeper into your Web site.

Which languages to localize into? Take a look at this chart of online populations. Localizing your Web site resembles software localization: you have to take into account how much of your potential market is in the countries where these languages are spoken. If you want to establish your Web site in a truly international environment, we recommend having English, Japanese, German, Spanish and French versions of your Web site, or at least the most important pages. The same focus must prevail in your online promotion activities. Japanese, Dutch and Scandinavian translation are next in importance, because of the huge online population in those countrie.

Global Reach can translate your Web site, as well as register it in the indexes of other languages. Please contact us to discuss your situation.

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You can also read a paper on Web site translations published by Weblations.

Global Reach offers a "Starter Special" for small companies who would like to put a quick presence in three languages without much expenditure. We will translate one Web page into German, French and Spanish, and register the translation in the main indexes in each country concerned.

Once you have a multilingual Web site, it will only be as effective as its visibility. You will need to promote your presence in the countries where those languages are spoken. Our organisation is made of top Internet marketers who cover all European languages plus Japanese. They are wizards at building Internet traffic in their own language, and know the right people in their online communities to be able to streamline the work... which means that they work efficiently and economically.

For more information write: gr-req@euromktg.com or call 888/EUROMKTG

Last revised on 21 June, 1998
URL: http://www.euromktg.com/eng/GR/trans.html