I've seen the light and I now can share with your travel company how to crack the nut of international expansion in as little as 30 days.
I should be in line for some big consultancy fees for this knowledge I am about to impart.
So, Bing Travel, are you concerned with how to expand into Europe?
And, Fly.com, does a launch in Germany whet your appetite?
And, UpTake, what about you? Do you want to streamline a launch into China? There are lots of people in that country and undoubtedly a bunch of them would be interested in accessing some inspirational travel-planning ideas.
The simple answer to all of your needs is Translations.com, which specializes in website localization and translation services.
Matt Hauser, director of technology sales for Translations.com, was one of almost three dozen entrepreneurs given 12 minutes each at PhoCusWright's Travel Innovation Summit in Orlando today to pitch their new products as the next big thing.
Translations.com undoubtedly has an ample track record and does some good stuff, but Hauser made it all seem a tad too easy.
Hauser says Translations.com's GlobalLink OneLink product can turn your English-language website into a foreign language website for another market in as little as 30 days, with no software to install and no technical integration necessary.
OneLink can host the servers or clients can do so themselves, and the whole project can be outsourced, he adds.
Somehow, I think relaunching your website in a foreign country is a whole lot more complicated than that, and actually I'm sure Hauser would agree.
However, there was a bit of some over-selling in his pitch, which often can be the case when companies with new solutions are looking to get some traction.
For example, if UpTake were to expand into China, I think the company would have to buy a few new PCs in addition to getting its home page translated.
And, Fly.com might have to hire a few new sales reps -- or borrow them from parent company Travelzoo -- in Germany if it were to attempt to tackle that market.
When I hear these kinds of pitches, where tasks seem overly easy, all I can say is, "I'm from Missouri."
For people who don't speak American, "I'm from Missouri" basically means you'll have to show me to prove it.
I wonder how Translations.com translates that expression into Japanese.
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[Full disclosure: I am a PhoCusWright contractor.]