HIALEAH, FL--(Marketwire - August 5, 2010) - You might know who your customers are, but does your website? With the rapid growth of the Hispanic population in the U.S., why are businesses slow to make their websites bilingual? Sharpe Properties, a commercial property management company located in Hialeah, Florida, where over 90% of the city speaks Spanish, wanted to make sure that the Hispanic customer was not forgotten.
United States Census Bureau statistics show that Hispanic-owned businesses increased by 43.6 percent between 2002 and 2007, more than twice the national rate of all U.S. businesses. Moreover, a study by Internet World Stats shows that from 2000 to 2010, while the number of Internet users in English grew 281.2%, users in Spanish grew an overwhelming 743.2%. Despite such findings, it appears that most English based websites fail to provide an equivalent website in Spanish.
For Sharpe Properties to effectively lease locations at its retail, office, warehouse, and apartment locations throughout Miami-Dade and Broward County to the Hispanic-owned businesses, it needed its website to speak their language.
As a founding member of Sharpe Properties, Barry Sharpe knows the importance of being bilingual. As the complete opposite of a typical Cuban-American that left Cuba to become an American citizen, Sharpe left America as an infant, and quickly became bilingual by being raised in Havana, Cuba for 15 years. Based upon his surroundings, Sharpe believes that "As a landlord who interacts with tenants and vendors that speak little to no English, it was imperative that our company website have everything in Spanish as well."
By creating the new web design, Sharpe Properties implemented a robust website in which with a click of the mouse, any page on their website will seamlessly swap from their version in English, www.SharpeProperties.com, to the Spanish version, www.sharpeproperties.com/default_es.aspx. As a result, Sharpe Properties has a website that clearly knows its customers.
About Sharpe Properties
Sharpe Properties is a privately held full-service real estate company that handles property management, leasing, construction and property tax appeals for commercial properties in South Florida. Sharpe Properties continually looks to expand its property management and leasing expertise to others within the South Florida areas. For additional information about Sharpe Properties, please visit www.sharpeproperties.com.
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Nikki Deas
Vine Communications