YNOT EUROPE – When website owners and developers think of website localization, often they consider the top languages in which they should target their website. The top 10 languages in terms of numbers of internet users are:

1. English
2. Chinese
3. Spanish
4. Japanese
5. Portuguese
6. German
7. Arabic
8. French
9. Russian
10. Korean

It would be nice if a website owner could have their website translated into these 10 languages and consider the localization task complete. However, those of you who have experience with localization know it is not quite that simple. Culture, product use and language variations all need to be taken into consideration when localizing a website, even if we are considering only one language.

Take English for example: 536 million internet users employ English as their language of choice online. However, only 50 percent of those people reside in North America. If your website is full of U.S. English and American slang, you probably won’t notice too much backlash if you are trying to target only North American users. If you are trying to expand your sales in Europe, then U.S. English is not the English dialect of choice in the market.

So, now you not only have the top 10 languages to consider, but you also have four or five dialects for each one. Large, multinational companies learned this lesson long ago, and many developed country specific websites so their marketing messages can be tailored to the individual language and cultural needs of each country. However, if your company is small or new, you probably cannot afford the expense of setting up country specific sites, each one of which may contain multiple languages.

The key is to be smart about your choices. Let’s go back to the English example of a website that is trying to expand its sales or readership in the UK. The first thing this website owner should do is remove the U.S. slang from the site. Most British readers will forgive the U.S. English spellings, but not the slang. And, occasionally, the website should include articles or references to the UK market, depending on what is relevant and appropriate for the business. As the business grows, the website could consider a dedicated .co.uk website that mirrors the .com website but is specifically tailored for UK-based users.

If the website owner is not ready to target the UK market but would like to grow sales, the owner could consider making minor changes to make the website friendly to Americans and Canadians living abroad. According to the U.S. State Department, more than 4 million Americans live abroad. To tap into this market, the website should accept foreign billing addresses and foreign credit cards. This is a relatively simple change to make to tap into 4 million additional customers.

There is no single answer that fits all localization needs. Successful website owners and localization experts know this. You do not need to spend a fortune, but you need to spend time to develop a plan and be smart about the final choices you make when expanding your website into new regions, even if the language is the same as your home market.

This article was contributed to YNOTEurope by TranslationsXXX, an adult website translation service employing certified translators in 30 languages.