It’s a small world; and because of the Internet, it just keeps getting smaller. Your next-door neighbor is no longer your sole competitor. You’re about to butt heads with companies in Argentina, China, and India. Luckily, the World Wide Web has offered a new platform of business. In the past, only a handful of elite businesses concerned themselves with global trade. But, with the introduction of the Internet, many small businesses are going global and building multilingual websites that can speak to millions across the world.

Establishing a global web presence provides one of the most affordable means of tapping into the international marketplace. A multilingual website enables small-to-medium companies to compete with the big guys on a leveled playing field by increasing their global reach and improving their visitor satisfaction. And it can be surprisingly easy and affordable.

To get started, however, you’ll need to develop a web strategy.

Begin by researching your customers’ demographics, and understand it before you can narrow down the languages you want to target.

Next, working with your language partner, decide if you want to translate your entire website or set up a brochure site. This is a quick-start option where a few key pages are translated, such as your company profile, contact information and product or service highlights. It may be a good way to test the water…

Depending on the size of your website, the localization process may take from a couple of days to several weeks.

But be careful: targeting an international market takes finesse and cultural savvy. When selecting your language partner, look for a professional team with solid experience that will ensure your message and branding make it across the cultural divide.

Here are some important things to consider when choosing a professional language partner:

• Choose a professional company that is familiar with your industry. Language varies from business to business. There is jargon in any language, and unless your language partner is familiar with your business, your copy could get lost in translation.
• Choose a company that is capable of handling comprehensive campaigns.
  In addition to localizing your website, your company will likely need translations across many different channels of marketing such as interactive, print, radio and broadcast. Make sure your language partner can offer additional services such as typesetting and desktop publishing, graphics localization, cultural evaluation and adaptation, and language project management.
• Choose a partner that offers a village of professionals.
  Translation is a complicated process. It requires a team of highly skilled professionals working together in order to produce accurate translations that are effective for your target markets.
• Choose a partner that is technology-savvy and conversant of the translation tools available in the market.
  This technology will have a huge impact on the consistency of all content translated on your behalf and will also reflect on your bottom line via significant discounts down the line.
• Choose a partner that is very transparent about their translation process.
  Don’t let price guide your decision. If you are comparing two or more possible translation vendors, always ensure that they all include the same steps in their translation process before you compare their rates. Don’t let anyone cut corners without your consent.

Whether you are a large company with an established global presence or a small or medium company starting to explore international opportunities, a multilingual website will boost your image and help you communicate with the audiences that you want to reach. But remember, partnering with the right language provider is a big step in your journey into the global market, and can make the difference between success and failure.

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About Claudia Waitman

Claudia Waitman is President & CEO of Junction International, LLC, a WBENC certified, top-notch language consulting business offering a broad range of solutions in over 100 languages, including translation, website globalization, typesetting and DTP, and multicultural brand management.

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