With Europe connected, the Euro strong against the dollar for now, and rising European consumer expectations, it makes sense to service current and prospective European customers in their native languages - and that's the prime point of Xtranz, a new translation service for adult and other Websites.
"It is now necessary, for anyone who wants to seriously attract foreign surfers, to service these clients in their own language," Xtranzonline.com's Shaun Loftus said in a March 21 statement. "Think about it ... would you join a Website where you are unable to read and understand the terms and conditions, or hand over your credit card without reading the subscription form?"
Xtranz describes itself as a group of experienced European-based Webmasters whose métier is translating non-European Websites into culturally-appropriate, European-directed marketing language. Those translations, they say, can help with such critical functions as foreign search engine placement, newsletters, advertising, and even locating affiliates and alternative marketing.
The company’s experts can translate Websites - fully or partially - into Spanish, Italian, French, Russian, German, and Portugese, a representative said, and Xtranz is willing to list Websites using its services with all relevant European search engines. It'll also translate European Websites from those native languages into English for the American Web market and search engines - and even help with translations for credit applications and other small business details.
"We can provide you with design services tuned to appeal to this market, and can even assist you in banner translation, design, and placement," Loftus said. "Europe is ready to start spending money on the Internet, and smart Webmasters will be entering this market in force. The first Webmasters in can dominate this marketplace."
Neilsen reported 580 million Internet users around the world in 2002. The five largest European Internet populations are Germany (41.8 million), 30.4 million (the United Kingdom), 25 million (Italy), 23 million (France), and 17 million (Spain).
"As an Internet Webmaster and a Web-war veteran, I have been watching sales decline across the U.S. due to a sluggish economy and a certain level of market saturation," said Loftus, who got her start launching an FTP site on an early Apple home computer in 1984. "As a part time resident in Europe, I see a Web-connected population, with money in their pockets, unable and unwilling to fully utilize the Web due to a massive language barrier. It's now time for American companies to reach out to this new market or to lose it, as Europe becomes more and more Net savvy. Hopefully, with this service I can help American Web sites bridge the gap to the new marketplace, while making the Internet more accessible to the rest of the world."
Loftus partnered with Lisandro Cazzoli, a University of Florence doctoral candidate in languages. "As a lover of the World Wide Web and a linguist, I find it especially annoying to read badly translated Web sites," Cazzoli said in his own statement. "I am particularly fond of my own native tongue, as most are, and I find that I get more wrapped up in the misuse of my language than in the message of the Web site. Because I love language and the Web, the opportunity to help translate the Web is exciting and gratifying."
For now, Xtanz is concentrating on Europe and the United States, but Loftus and Cazzoli said they plan to make their first inroads into the Asian Web market within a year. For free consultations, contact [email protected]
