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Have you ever visited a poorly translated foreign website and wondered why the company hasn’t bothered to get it right? Building a “culturally-customized” website is not an action item for most businesses, except for those seeking an edge in global commerce.

Effective global websites require much more effort than simply translating content: from rewriting marketing pitches to reflect different cultural values; to reconceptualizing website design and colors; to getting small details right, such as formatting or currency, explains Prof. Nitish Singh, California State University, Chico, author of a pioneering book on this topic.

Some companies with vast resources such as IBM, Ikea and even MTV (the music network) have done a credible job of implementing culturally customized sites, says Prof. Singh. Not surprisingly, most companies lack both the necessary management support and the staff expertise to attempt this localization initiative. Still, Prof. Singh, who has developed a unique course and certification program for multicultural website localizations, says there is a shortage of these skills.

“If a person has a background in languages and international business getting some localization training is valuable leverage,” says Prof. Singh. “Now you have a skill which very few people have and that gives you an edge over people who are competing against you.”

With two-thirds of the world’s billion Internet surfers speaking languages other than English, there’s plenty of room for growth in this nascent field.