You run a company that does well in Romania and you're looking toward Austria or Germany. The first thought is simple: translate the website and you're done.
Most of the time, that's where the trouble starts. A hastily translated site shows the foreign client exactly what you don't want them to see: that their market was an afterthought.
When a multilingual website is worth it
Not every company needs a website in several languages. If all your clients are in the same city, a second language only gives you more text to maintain.
It's worth it when you have a concrete reason:
- You already sell or deliver in another country, or you're about to
- You get enquiries from people who don't speak your language
- There's a large community in your area that searches in another language
- You work with foreign partners who check you online before they reply
Automatic translation or adaptation
Automatic translation is good for understanding a text. It is not good for convincing someone to work with you.
A client in Vienna spots a mechanically translated text right away.
A website translation done well is really an adaptation. The same offer, said the way a local company would say it.
In German it matters even more. You address people with "du" or with "Sie", you write for Austria or for Germany, you use the words people actually search for.
The client isn't reading a translation. They're reading a company and deciding whether to trust it.
Separate URLs and hreflang, in short
Each language needs its own address. For example, one page at /ro/servicii and its counterpart at /de/leistungen.
The setup where the same address switches language at the click of a button looks convenient, but Google sees a single page. The other languages stay invisible in search.
This is where hreflang comes in. It's a tag in the page code that tells the search engine: "this page also exists in German, for Austria, at this address".
The result is simple. Someone searching from Vienna gets the German page, someone searching from Timisoara gets the Romanian one.
The local details that make the difference
Language is only the beginning. A site built for another country shows it in the small details.
The currency and the way you display prices. The format of dates and phone numbers. A contact where the person actually reaches someone who speaks their language.
Then there's the legal side. In Austria and Germany, visitors expect an Impressum page and clear information about personal data, and the requirements differ from the ones in Romania.
They're worth checking with a specialist, not translating by guesswork.
How to start without getting tangled
You don't have to translate everything on day one. Start with the pages that sell: the homepage, the services, the contact page.
Add the rest as you see real interest from the new market.
The effort depends on how many languages you want, how many pages you have and how the site is built today.
If you're thinking about a new market, tell us where you want to go. We'll look together at what's worth translating and in what order.