Want to make your site accessible from Day One? Here's the advice you need.

By Laurel Delaney

Many companies offer affordable packages for building a website. But it's up to you to decide in what language to communicate. Although English is spoken throughout the world and useful for some websites (such as GlobeTrade.com), only 28 percent of the European population can read it.

The percentage is even lower in South America and Asia. It's best to slowly build a website over time that communicates sensibly and effectively with the world. If you are thinking of building a site, these 10 tips might make your experience easier.

1. Don't waste time thinking that Web globalization is only about translation. It is more often about customer support, fulfillment, and user-friendliness.

2. Design for overseas markets with multiple languages, but start slowly with one market and one language. Be consistent and offer more than just a few pages of translated content.

3. Build your site for speed. Get to the point fast. Most of the world connects to the Internet via a dial-up connection.

4. Make your site graphically pleasing but don't overload it with large, bulky content that might slow down the user experience. If your content is more dynamic than static, consider creating a blog.

5. Market yourself and your business. Did Richard Branson make Virgin or did Virgin make Richard Branson? To succeed, you must have faith in yourself and use good marketing skills to get noticed. 

6. Have money in the bank. You don't know how long it's going to take to begin making money with your site, so have a financial cushion to see you through rough spots. 

7. Develop a business-value proposition early. What is unique about the site? My experience is that plenty of big companies would like to reach small businesses interested in going global. If I could capture this audience, large companies might pay for advertisements, sponsorships, and other promotions on the site to gain exposure.

8. Determine whether your site will implement e-commerce. Users will often choose to purchase products from a site in their language rather than from one that isn't. If your website doesn't appeal to many of those customers, you might be losing business you didn't even know existed.

9. Get help from friends, family, and business colleagues. I set up an advisory board to gain ideas for improvements. Seek out people you respect and feel comfortable with, and who know and understand your industry. Sometimes, the team you assemble becomes more important than the initial business idea.

10. Execute on ideas. I promise subscribers that my e-newsletter, "Borderbuster," will be published on the fifth of every month, and I see that it always is. I also deliver on promises to companies and contacts. Remember, the best idea is worthless if it stays in your mind or on a shelf.

Begin with the end in mind: Know your audience. Have users from different countries test your site for effectiveness on elements such as translation, currency, time zones, and payment methods. A satisfied international customer is one who thinks the world of you and your business and remains a customer for life. 

Laurel Delaney runs GlobeTrade.com, which specializes in international entrepreneurship.