Recent article by Howard Oliver, CEO, What If What Next

The issue of international Web sites has been broadly discussed recently because of the Olympics. The purpose of this article is to examine the importance and functions of multilingual Web sites.

The multilingual Web site is still in its early stages, but it will inevitably become part and parcel of an Internet presence. It is a trend that your company should be part of, whether you operate a small company looking to take off and establish a foot-hold in foreign lands, a mid-sized firm looking for new markets or a large-scale global enterprise.

Hundreds of other global businesses such as Apple, Microsoft, eBay, Amazon, and Coca-Cola are using multilingual Web site marketing to get in contact with many more people from different language groups around the planet. These people might include partners, suppliers and, of course, potential customers! The Internet has made it so much easier to establish your brand on a global scale.

Gaining the ability to communicate with new international audiences in their own language will boost sales and create awareness of your brand, service or product. With every language added to a Web site, there is the potential for an increase of more than 100% in sales.

Click here for the complete article.

I like to use 2 social networking sites at a time and then some very industry specific forums that would be places the cleitns of my clients might hang out.

Twitter and Plaxo are my current fav’s

I would caution you to avoid sites that are saturated with consultants talking to other consultants.  Social networking is all about networking with customers not your peers or worse competitors.