Design

Certain design elements that work in one country may not work in others. While audiences in one country may appreciate a clean and simplistic design interface, audiences in other countries may desire lively interfaces with plenty of eye-catching text and graphics. You must make allowances for font, image and layout differences. For instance, is the localized text going to be a right to left language so that your layout needs to be inverted or will the amount of text expand or contract making it necessary to leave enough space for this.  An example of this would be a English to Spanish translation which will generaly yield 15% more text in Spanish than in English.

Translation

The quality of the language translation into the other languages during the process of website localization can make or break your localized website. If the translation is not up to par, audiences may be turned off from further navigation. Successful language translations should speak to your target audience - a website for business professionals should reflect a more formal translation, while casual translations can be used for younger audiences. In some cases machine translation can be used to convey the general message of your site, but if you want to establish a lasting relationship to your client a well-translated human translation is worth the investment. Experienced translation agencies can help you with these critical decisions. 

Imagery and Symbols

Website localization for international audience requires seeing the website from the eyes of your target audience. That means avoiding certain imagery and symbols that could be considered unattractive or offensive to the target audience. For example, visitors from countries whose religions hold modesty in high esteem may be turned off by the imagery of women in scantily clad outfits. Political and religious images, weapons and alcohol are just a few of the images that web designers may have to avoid, depending on the target audience.

Colors

Certain colors have a symbolic meaning, and those meanings do differ between countries. For example, while white is often associated with weddings and cleanliness, white is associated with funerals and morning in Japan. When designing a website that reaches a broad span of international viewers, it is best to stick with neutral colors.

Scripting

The last thing you want to do when translating your website is to construct sentences with code. Doing so can multiply the burden placed on your coding team, as they'll have to construct new cold for each added language. Other issues to consider in website localization include making sure the website is set up to accept international payments.

There are some translation services that are more experienced than others in assisting clients so make sure you find someone with experience.