A family-run skincare brand in Bristol notices a steady trickle of orders from Spain and Germany. A software start-up in Leeds gets demo requests from Poland. A boutique hotel in Edinburgh sees more and more bookings from France. For small businesses, the moment to translate the website often arrives quietly, through customers who are already trying to buy.
Translating a website is one of the most effective ways to grow internationally, but it is easy to get wrong. This checklist walks through the decisions that matter, in the order they come up.
1. Decide Which Languages to Start With
Start with data, not guesses. Look at your analytics for visitors by country and language, check where enquiries and orders come from, and ask your sales team which markets ask the most questions.
One or two well-chosen languages done properly beat ten languages done badly. You can always add more later once the process works.
2. Choose What to Translate
Not every page needs translating on day one. A practical first phase usually covers:
- home page and main product or service pages,
- pricing, shipping and returns information,
- contact page and forms,
- terms and conditions and privacy policy,
- key transactional emails such as order confirmations.
Blog posts and older content can follow in a second phase, starting with the articles that bring in the most traffic.
3. Check Your Website Is Ready
Your developer or platform should support multiple languages before translation begins. Check that text is not hard-coded into images, that buttons can expand for longer words, and that the system can serve different URLs per language. Most modern platforms handle this with plugins or built-in features.
The W3C Internationalization resources explain the technical basics, from character encoding to language tags, in plain terms.
4. Pick the Right Translation Partner
A professional translation company brings native translators, review processes and project management. For small businesses, this matters because there is rarely an in-house linguist to check the work.
Ask potential partners whether they work with your website platform, whether they use translation memory to keep costs down on updates, and whether a second linguist reviews every text. Many small firms prefer a local provider they can call; working with a translation company uk based, for example, can simplify invoicing, contracts and communication.
5. Translate the Sales Message, Not Just the Words
Product descriptions, headlines and calls to action are marketing copy. A literal translation often sounds flat. Specialist marketing translation services adapt tone, idioms and persuasive phrasing so the text sells in the new language as well as it does in English.
Give translators a short brief: who your customers are, how you want to sound, and words you always or never use.
6. Localise the Practical Details
Customers notice small things. Prices in the right currency, dates in the local format, phone numbers with country codes, sizes and measurements they understand. Payment methods matter too: some markets rely heavily on bank transfers or local payment apps rather than cards.
Shipping times, return policies and customer service hours should be clear and realistic for each country.
7. Think About SEO From the Start
People search in their own language and often use different terms than you expect. Research keywords in each language rather than translating your English keywords directly. Make sure each language version has translated page titles, meta descriptions and URLs, and that search engines can see which page belongs to which language.
8. Test Before You Launch
- Click through every translated page on desktop and mobile.
- Check that forms, checkout and emails work in each language.
- Look for text that overflows buttons or menus.
- Ask a native speaker, ideally a customer, to try a purchase.
9. Plan for Updates
Websites change constantly. New products, price changes and seasonal offers all need translating. Agree a simple process with your translation partner: who sends new content, how fast it comes back and how it gets published. Translation memory means you only pay for new text, not for sentences that were already translated.
10. Measure the Results
Track traffic, enquiries, conversion rates and average order value per language. If one language performs well, invest more in it. If another struggles, check whether the problem is the translation, the product fit or practical issues like shipping costs.
Treat each language as its own small market with its own numbers.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Relying on automatic browser translation instead of real translated pages.
- Translating the home page but leaving checkout in English.
- Forgetting legal pages, which customers and regulators expect in their language.
- Launching without anyone able to answer customer emails in that language.
Final Thoughts
A translated website tells customers abroad that you take them seriously. By starting with the right languages, preparing the site properly, working with professional translators and testing before launch, even a small business can open the door to new markets without overstretching its budget.