Focusscreen provides screens which you can place between students to stop them copying each other during exams.
Jens Franzén is a former teacher who started the company.
Why did you decide to build a multilingual website and how has it affected your business?
Well, we wanted to reach out to a wider market.
Why did you choose WPML?
Asked around in a Facebook group, several years ago, WPML was most recommended. Started using it and liked the features and the great support.
What is your approach to attracting new clients digitally (newsletters, blogging, promotions or any other methods)?
Facebook ads and Google Adwords
What are the common tools or plugins that you use?
When did you decide to expand your business outside your home country and what did you do to accomplish it?
Maybe two years ago. Installed WPML.
What is Kart Radiators: Kart Radiators manufactures go karting radiators and components and sells them across the globe.
Who gave the feedback: Alessandro Cané built the website.
Why did you decide to build a multilingual website and how has it affected your business?
Multilingual didn’t affect that much our businesses, but by itself, it helps in making our small company look more international and professional.
Why did you choose WPML?
WPML is the best.
What is your approach to attracting new clients digitally (newsletters, blogging, promotions or any other methods)?
At the moment no promotions at all.
What are the common tools or plugins that you use?
WPML and CF7.
How important was it to localize your website for each customer (offering a different version for Irish customers compared with the British website for example)?
Due to the development prices (and translation costs), English is enough.
When did you decide to expand your business outside your home country and what did you do to accomplish it?
We decided to open an e-commerce so it made sense to have it bilingual.
NiRo Music is a Swiss independent record label.
Robert Heizmann built the website.
Why did you decide to build a multilingual website and how has it affected your business?
Switzerland is a multilingual country (4 national languages), so we’re used to multi-language information and websites. NiRo Music is Switzerland’s most active international independent record label, this requires us to cover at least two national languages (German/French) and English.
Why did you choose WPML?
From all evaluated WP-plugins, WPML offers the best solution I could find, both in terms of functionality and service/support.
What features of a multilingual website have you enjoyed/benefited from?
Apart from synced pages and menus, I think the iCanLocalize translator network is very helpful.
What is your approach to attracting new clients digitally (newsletters, blogging, promotions or any other methods)?
For the record label it’s targeted mailings to media for radio/TV/media promotion; the use of streaming platforms (e.g. Youtube, Spotify), the use of sales platforms (e.g. iTunes, Amazon, cdbaby).
What business-related websites/blogs do you follow?
None regularly, many infrequently, I usually get information from the core (origin, initiator)
When did you decide to expand your business outside your home country and what did you do to accomplish it?
For all websites that offer services (as opposed to information only), it was the objective right from the start. Measures are making the services available in additional languages and travel to be on location when needed.
If you had any advice for a business starting to build a multilingual website what would it be?
Be clear from the start which languages you need. Set up the infrastructure with plugins (WPML, string locator, etc.) before you add content. Brand your business internationally.
DBG Classics creates garden greenhouses. It is built by passionate gardeners who spend their time attending agricultural fairs to increase their understanding of horticulture.
Black Donkey Lab built the website.
Why did you decide to build a multilingual website and how has it affected your business?
DBG Classics operates from Belgium, a country with three official languages (Dutch, French and German, but German is only a small percentage so instead we opted for English as a third language which has a much larger target market). A multilingual website is important to reach as many people as possible in their native language.
Our properly organized multilanguage website is a blessing to generate more leads and customers across borders.
Why did you choose WPML?
Because it offers the benefit of working with translators who implement their translations directly in the backend.
What features of a multilingual website have you enjoyed/benefited from?
Proper SEO for our three languages increased the number of visitors coming via the search engines. We focus on long tail keywords and we are very happy with the results.
What is your approach to attracting new clients digitally (newsletters, blogging, promotions or any other methods)?
We add content on a regular basis (we optimize all content for SEO purposes) and mainly focus on driving traffic from the search engines.
What business-related websites/blogs do you follow?
The blog of Yoast and the websites searchenginejournal.com and searchenginewatch.com
What are the common tools or plugins that you use?
We use Yoast as SEO plugin and WPML ICanLocalize translation services.
If you had any advice for a business starting to build a multilingual website what would it be?
Partner with a digital agency with expertise in the field of content creation, SEO and keyword research. Reinvest part of the generated profits into the website (content creation and translation costs) to accelerate the sales machine.
What is Armada Digital:Armada Digital trains non-profit companies to get the most out of the internet for their activities. This includes services such as mapping social network influencers, broadcasting events and social media.
Rui Hildt is one of the three people who run the company.
Why did you decide to build a multilingual website and how has it affected your business?
I live in a country with 3 official languages (Belgium), and with English on top of that, so it’s needed.
Why did you choose WPML?
WPML is GPL.
What is your approach to attracting new clients digitally (newsletters, blogging, promotions or any other methods)?
Newsletters, blogging.
When did you decide to expand your business outside your home country and what did you do to accomplish it?
I didn’t. :p
If you had any advice for a business starting to build a multilingual website what would it be?
Keep a single language as master, and translate from there.
Robot Makers creates special vehicles for construction and agricultural tasks among many others using the latest technology.
Matthias Schachter is in the marketing team.
Why did you decide to build a multilingual website and how has it affected your business?
The Robot Makers GmbH is offering innovative control technology for intelligent mobile machines in the fields of agriculture, construction and other special vehicles. As our target markets spread all around Europe it was necessary to create a multilingual website, that at least supports English as a second language. By this, we were able to attract customers from the Netherlands, France, UK, Macedonia, Spain, Italy and also the United States.
Why did you choose WPML?
WPML offers an easy possibility to realize a multilingual website without much effort. The integration into many plugins also offers the possibility to let our website grow by adding additional features. Therefore, we have accomplished a flexible and scalable website.
What features of a multilingual website have you enjoyed/benefited from?
Easy switching between the different languages, fast creation of translations, translation of media, integration of professional translation services, translation management.
What is your approach to attracting new clients digitally (newsletters, blogging, promotions or any other methods)?
We are offering some kind of blog concerning topics all around the field of mobile automation. Here you will find technical backgrounds but also news and information about the Robot Makers GmbH. Additionally, we are offering a newsletter that also treats topics in this area. Furthermore, we use different social networks to seed and spread our news.
What business-related websites/blogs do you follow?
I’m regularly visiting t3n.de and brandeins.de. All other information comes to me via Twitter, Pinterest or Facebook.
How important was it to localize your website for each customer (offering a different version for Irish customers compared with the British website for example)?
We don’t do such a specific localization. We just use English as a second language, because it is spoken by the most of our customers and potential customers. This gives us the opportunity to reach a large audience with relatively little effort.
When did you decide to expand your business outside your home country and what did you do to accomplish it?
The decision to expand our business outside the borders of Germany was already made when the company was founded back in 2011. As a member state of the EU and also due to the local proximity to France, Luxembourg, Belgium and also Switzerland (can be reached by car in about 2,5h) it was not a really hard decision. Therefore, we offered a website in the English language from the start and used our networks to get to know decision-makers from many different European companies in our specific fields.
If you had any advice for a business starting to build a multilingual website what would it be?
Don’t use plugins that require WordPress Multisite!
The Translation Management of WPML and the integration of professional translation services have helped us to optimize our internal workflow and therefore to speed up the publication of blog articles. Since then, we have attracted many potential customers from various non-German-speaking countries. I’m sure that this would not have been possible without a multilingual website.