Website Localization for the Small Business

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By: Armando Riquier

In the 1960's and 70's, small businesses were not necessarily interested in growth, or the Internet, and even less about website localization. However, that mindset is outdated. Many small commercial enterprises in the United States and abroad, were in reality owned and operated by a family. Unfortunately, consumers were persuaded to accept the idea of 'super' markets that offered more convenience and a diversity of products. Shoppers no longer had to make separate trips to the butcher, baker, fish monger, and druggist (pharmacy). However, such a convenience came with a price tag - impersonal and hurried services, traffic congestion, high costs, and sadly, the failure of numerous family businesses.

Growing a Business the Modern Way

Today, it's almost indispensable for the small business, family owned or not, to strongly consider pursuing expansion. This involves tedious tasks such as securing a dependable and fully operational website which permits a company to conduct electronic commerce, commonly called 'e-commerce'. Along with an e-commerce enabled website follows the need for more expansion and what is known as 'website localization'. What exactly is website localization? In a nutshell, it's the process of reconstructing a web site published in its original language, and geared towards a specific culture, into a site meeting the needs of foreign visitors.

Small businesses can significantly step-up their sales by not only serving 'cyber' consumers, but also, foreign customers. While the U.S.A is truly the world leader in computer deployment, and English is the world predominant language, other factors must be taken in consideration. Website localization hasn't become an important subject of interest for no reason. Consider that only around 35% of Internet users are English speaking, and not all of them speak it as a native language. Many of these English-speaking users would still prefer a site in their mother tongue. This is evident by the fact that just about 50% of search engine queries are submitted in a language other than English. If these Internet users opt for searching in their language, how much more would they prefer to conduct business in their own native language? It has been figured that people are four times more apt to respond to content if it's in a language with which they're at ease, a concept everyone should be able to understand.

Website Localization in Action

A real life example of the importance of this can be seen in the increase in sales that a Bulgarian company experienced after their website localization. The Bulgarian actor Hristo Shopov gained fame in the U.S.A with his role in the movie, The Passion Of The Christ, and Americans became interested in purchasing other films which he starred in. The website Balkanatolia.com was prepared to well serve an English-speaking customer base because they made the wise decision to engage themselves in website localization. Search engine queries in English containing the name of the actor or of one of his films, easily led to the English language version of the Bulgarian website. Once there, the visitors, whether Bulgarian or English-speaking, could easily choose to view the available content in their own language. Their website localization service had provided them with a dual-language platform for secure e-commerce and this was very successful.

In short website localization will improve a company's credibility and image and can greatly increase sales as a result.

Information about the Author:

About the Author:
Armando Riquier is a freelance expert translator and writer collaborating with Tectrad, a company providing quality, professional website localization services. Tectrad can translate your Web site in record time and in the following languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Dutch.

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