We’re combining our 3 lead web services to help your website launch in international markets with a bang.

All good things come in threes - that’s certainly true when it comes to launching your website in a new language and country. Follow these 3 key steps to start seeing results from your website:

Step 1: Brand Research - find out how suitable your brand or product name is for international markets

Step 2: Keyword Research - investigate what people actually search for to find your product, and use this information to your advantage

Step 3: International Blast - put the results of the research into practice, localise your homepage & contact form, and start generating enquiries, with a method that is usually cheaper and more effective than pay-per-click advertising

However, during February we’re offering these 3 services as a package for £590 - so you get one free when you buy them together.

To kickstart your website in a new language, or test a market you’re intending to target, simply email us, or call +44 (0) 113 8150460.

It’s a statistic we often repeat on this blog, but the fact is that online customers are four times more likely to buy from a website in their own language, so companies who have multilingual websites soon reap the rewards of the time and resource investment they make in website localisation.

Here’s how localisation of even just a few pages can power your export sales to new heights.

While the internet is a boon to international trade, many companies in English-speaking countries are failing to be forward-thinking by communicating internationally.

Localising websites entails adapting products and materials for a particular market and includes - but is not limited to - translating text into the markets’ relevant languages.

A fully localised website shows shows appreciation and respect towards a foreign culture and conveys that you are interested in your potential customers and their respective cultures. It likewise takes into account conventions and preferences specific to each country such as currencies, measurements and cultural differences.

The benefits of localisation are enormous and include penetrating overseas markets you most want to succeed in, increasing market share - and muscling out the competition. It also ensures you can be found in the most popular search engines in each specified market, country or language.

With English accounting for less than 30% of website content, closely followed by Chinese with 22.6% with ‘other languages’ making up 17.8% - the opportunities for growing your business via localisation are unprecedented.

Reaching out to customers in multiple languages brings both short and long term ‘wins’.  In addition to the immediate boost to sales, a multilingual website is excellent for testing new markets and opening new doors to international trade.

Summary of key tactics to achieve success

Localise your website - just a few pages will demonstrate serious intentions and improve your search engine ranking in the country you are targeting.

Always use a professional translation service - avoid being tempted to use a free machine translation which is not geared for translating marketing copy which has been carefully crafted to stimulate interest and sell to readers.

Focus on core products and services - launching a selection of your bestselling products or services increases your chances of success in a new market.

Conduct multilingual keyword research - pinning down what customers are actually searching for and adapting your website and online advertising accordingly is critical to ensure your site is the one they browse and then buy from.

Measure results - As you would with your UK site. Visitor statistics are invaluable in evaluating your return on investment and deciding where to concentrate further resources.

Are you planning to take advantage of international opportunities by localising your website? Then let’s talk - email sales[at]web-translations[dot]co[dot]uk or call +44 (0) 113 8150460.

Within Europe, 70% of online sales are generated by “the big online three”; €48 billion from the UK; Germany €39.2 billion and France €25 billion.

The French online market has grown rapidly in the last couple of years. In 2010, eCommerce alone accounted for €31 billion of the €36.2 billion France sold abroad. In the first half of 2011, turnover for all French ecommerce websites combined reached €17.5 billion (£14.9 billion, $23.6 billion; that’s a 20% year-on-year increase, according to a study by the Invest in France agency.

France now has 90,000 retail websites, including 20,000 created during 2010. In the first quarter of 2011, the iCE 40 index (which is made up of the top 40 ecommerce sites in France) showed a year-on-year growth of 11 % and according to FEVAD, France’s ecommerce and remote sales federation, in 2012 ecommerce is set to accumulate sales of €45 billion (£$61 billion, £38.4 billion), putting it on a par with telecommunications and aerospace sales. Ecommerce currently employs nearly 60,000 people in France.

According to the research conducted by Invest in France, the most popular ecommerce sites in France during the first quarter of 2011 were: eBay (9.1 million visitors per month), Amazon (9.1 million visitors), PriceMinister (7.8 million visitors) and la Fnac (6.9 million visitors).

Many French online shops intend to expand internationally in 2012, so this is a booming market, as is mobile commerce. SEO, Email Marketing and Logistics are all important considerations for French eCommerce companies. The recent availability of .fr domains across the EU also opens up opportunities in the French market.

If you’re interested in launching your company website in France, get in touch: sales[at]web-translations[dot]co[dot]uk/ +44 (0) 113 8150460.

Web-Translations has been commissioned to implement the Leeds City College online rebrand and help engage new audiences as part of the college’s commitment to Entrepreneurs.

In a move that will see the college opening up a whole host of creative services to entrepreneurs in and around the area, from screen printing and laser cutting, to retail and office units, Leeds City College is to streamline its web presence to help illustrate more clearly what they have to offer and engage with young businesses from around the region.

Bringing together the current offerings of Factory4, The Unit and The Workshop, the new website will see all 3 current offerings sit under a new brand called ‘Inc’, with a strapline of ‘Inspiring Enterprise’. The sub-brands will then be Inc Enterprise (formerly The Unit), Inc Creative (formerly The Workshop) and Inc Workshop (formerly Factory4).

Although Web Translations are primarily specialists in helping organisations do business internationally online, and do not specialise in web design projects, Leeds City College felt the experience of the company’s M.D, Daniel Rajkumar, aligned the company with the college’s target audience. Daniel’s previous experience as Commercial Director for web design company Clever Clover will stand him in good stead for this project.

Rifat Bashir, Business Incubation Manager at Leeds City College (shown above on the right) said: “It was important for us to choose an agency who really understood our core values. The fact that Daniel set up Web-Translations straight from Leeds University Business School, is a member of many entrepreneurship organisations, and has won several awards for entrepreneurship over the last 9 years convinced us that he and his team would understand our audience”.

The website will provide information for those who are interested in renting office space, or in undertaking creative workshops, as well as information about mentoring services available. It will also have full social media integration to enable entrepreneurs from around the region to share knowledge, advice and experiences through Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Daniel Rajkumar said: “We are delighted to be working with Leeds City College on this project as I think the services they are offering are fantastic resources for people starting out in business. I’ve always found Leeds to be a great place for business people being supportive of each other and I hope our work on this project provides a further resource to bring entrepreneurs together”.

To speak to Web-Translations about your website or international brand strategy, call +44 (0) 113 8150460 or email sales[at]web-translations[dot]co[dot]uk.

Once you make the important decision to localise your website for a foreign market, and select a provider to deliver the project, your work is not quite yet done. It’s equally important to identify which sections of the website should be included in the localisation project, not least from a budgetary perspective.

We usually advise clients who are embarking on their first localisation to omit the following sections:

- News

- Meet the team, or equivalent

- All blog posts

The reason being that this type of contact can quickly become out of date, unless a strategy is in place to manage multilingual updates.

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In today’s competitive business environment, it pays to be the first company to market with a new product or service. Here are our tips on how to beat your competitors and take full advantage of global opportunities in your sector.

1. Be the early bird - get there first!
Localise your homepage for multiple markets - then you have the pick of where to focus your attention & resource rather than being forced out of the markets your competitors already operate in.

2. Forge your own path
China, Russia, and other fast-growing economies will compete with you in markets you hadn’t even begun to consider. Don’t follow the herd, but blaze your own trail. This takes confidence and a strong business plan but it is the only way to keep competitive advantage.

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We’ve expanded Web-Translations and opened an office in Bath to meet the needs of our growing portfolio.

Andrew Carter (pictured right, below) who has been with us for over 2 years as a freelancer, has now become a full-time employee, and is heading up the new satellite office with his latest recruit, Jonathan Power (pictured left).

Andrew says: “I worked with Web-Translations on a freelance basis for 2 years, and became a full-time employee just a few months ago. I enjoy working with a wide variety of clients, and love knowing that whatever their aims are we have a product in our multilingual website “toolkit” that will help them succeed in international markets.” (more…)

As of the 6th December, AFNIC - (manager of the registry of .fr domain names) will lift restrictions on the availability of the .fr domain (among others) to European businesses.

If you don’t already have a French website for putting this domain to use, there has never been a better time…

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It is with a sense of anticipation that we enter into our 9th year, celebrating the recruitment of four new team members and carefully planning our expansion into Germany.

For as long as we’re helping our clients to grow their profits from international markets, we can be confident of the growth of our own business. While organic growth has been steady, I feel that the business could be achieving more rapid growth. However, such growth wouldn’t be possible without access to funds. In today’s market, capital doesn’t come easy. While the base rate of interest is remarkably low, the banks are using the opportunity to improve their margins, failing to pass on the rate reduction. Before the economic crisis, I obtained a loan at 4.5% over base. However, the rates I’m currently being offered are in excess of 17% APR.

Obtaining funding to grow has been unusually challenging…
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Diageo announced a 5% growth in annual profits today, an increase that Chief Executive Paul Walsh largely attributes to its activities in emerging markets.

While sales fell in Greece, Spanish and Ireland (all economies that have struggled in the last few years), Diageo’s acquisition of the leading Turkish spirits company Mey Icki, and its performance in North America and Asia-Pacific have offset the downturn in European trade.

This makes them the latest in a line of successful global companies who are spreading the risk of underperformance in developed markets such as Western Europe by expanding into countries further afield, or the path less trodden by competitors. (more…)