Building a Global Web Site?

 Going global on the Internet is easier than it is in the physical world, but there's still plenty of risk and uncertainty involved.

Language barriers are the biggest issue. Unless you're focusing on the Canadian, British, or other English-speaking markets, you can't expect many locals to be interested in a site written in English. (Even then, regional differences in "proper" English can be a problem.)

Your first step is to translate your site into the local languages of the countries you want to address. Free online translation services such as Language Ware will do some of the work, but these services are not good enough to use by themselves. You'll also need to pay a human translator or service to truly customize your site. (Most automated translation services also offer human translators.)

If you want to reach a particular overseas audience, you'll need localized content -- not just the stuff you wrote back in Toledo translated into Portuguese. That means hiring local writers and producers and working with them to create content -- everything from articles to product descriptions -- appropriate to their culture.

This can get expensive, especially when you're trying to penetrate a dozen new markets at once. You may be better off partnering with a local content provider -- a major newspaper, for example -- or with a Web building agency experienced in creating multinational sites.

Start small with a single target country and see how things go. While the rest of the world is catching up to the U.S. in Net usage, they're still a relatively small part of the total online audience. You may find that the returns you get from smaller overseas markets don't yet justify the time and expense of creating a truly localized site.