Planning a business website in Portuguese and Spanish

iXlaser Studio

A second website language creates another route for customers to understand your service and contact you. It also adds content to maintain. Before requesting a multilingual website quote, decide who each version serves and how your business will handle enquiries in that language.

1. Define the audience and service area

List the services actually available to customers in Portugal and Spain. Separate language from location: a Spanish-speaking visitor does not necessarily need a Spanish office. State where your business is based and whether you deliver work remotely or on site.

For example, iXlaser Studio is based in Porto and offers website work remotely to businesses in Spain. The Spanish content should explain that arrangement rather than imply a local office that does not exist.

2. Agree which pages will be available

Create a page list with a column for each language. Prioritise the complete enquiry journey: home or landing page, relevant service, scope or pricing, work examples and contact. Identify any policy content that also needs a language version.

If a destination is only available in another language, say so beside the link. For a shop, include product information, cart, checkout and transactional messages in the discussion. Translating a marketing page alone does not translate the whole purchase journey.

3. Translate the information customers use

• Headings, service descriptions and FAQs.
• Menus, buttons, form labels and validation messages.
• Page titles, descriptions and meaningful image descriptions.
• Contact instructions and prepared email or WhatsApp text.

Review terminology for the intended audience, including Portuguese used in Portugal. Keep prices, inclusions and exclusions consistent where the offer is the same. Have a fluent reviewer check the wording and name the person responsible for future updates.

4. Make each version easy to find

Google recommends separate URLs for language versions, language annotations and a visible way to switch versions. Avoid forcing a language based on a visitor's presumed location. See Google's multilingual website guidance.

A practical acceptance check is to open a service page directly in each language, switch languages, and confirm that the equivalent page opens. Then follow its enquiry route. Check for missing translations at each step, including the footer and any confirmation screen.

5. Budget for the extra work and maintenance

Ask whether the quote includes translation, review, implementation and checks for each page. Confirm any platform subscription or translation-app cost. When the offer changes, update the source and every affected language version together.

Our €699 launch package includes seven content pages in one agreed language. Additional languages are quoted separately. The quotation guide explains other scope and external-cost questions.