was restructured into a virtual consultancy called
Global Reach, a group of top online marketers throughout the world. The goal is
to promote clients' websites in each targeted country, thus attracting more
online traffic: more traffic, more sales.
*Interview of December 11, 1998
= How did using the Internet change your professional life?
Since 1981, when my professional life started, I've been involved with bringing
American companies to Europe. This is very much an issue of language, since the
products and their marketing have to be in the languages of Europe in order for
them to be visible here. Since the Web became popular in 1995 or so, I've turned
these activities to their online dimension, and have come to champion European
e-commerce among my fellow American compatriates. Most lately at Internet World
in New York, I spoke about European e-commerce and how to use a Website to
address the various markets in Europe.
= What is the purpose of the Global Reach program?
Promoting your Web site is at least as important as creating it, if not more
important. You should be prepared to spend at least as much time and money in
promoting your Web site as you did in creating it in the first place. With the
Global Reach program, you can have it promoted in countries where English is not
spoken, and achieve a wider audience... and more sales. There are many good
reasons for taking the online international market seriously. Global Reach is a
means for you to extend your Web site to many countries, speak to online
visitors in their own language and reach online markets there.
= How do you see the growth of a multilingual Web?
There are so few people in the U.S. interested in communicating in many
languages -- most Americans are still under the delusion that the rest of the
world speaks English. However, here in Europe (I'm writing from France), the
countries are small enough so that an international perspective has been
necessary for centuries.
*Interview of July 23, 1999
= What practical suggestions do you have for the development of a multilingual
website?
After a website's home page is available in several languages, the next step is
the development of content in each language. A webmaster will notice which
languages draw more visitors (and sales) than others, and these are the places
to start in a multilingual Web promotion campaign. At the same time, it is
always good to increase the number of languages a
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