Samy LazraqTwo in three Miami-Dade residents speak Spanish at home (US Census Bureau, ACS 2024). So a Miami company adds a language switch to its site, and it looks done. Then a client clicks Español, fills in the form and gets a confirmation e-mail in English. Or searches in Spanish and finds nothing at all, because Google only ever saw the English pages.
A second language is more than a translation of the words on screen. This article covers what a real English and Spanish site needs, how to check one, and what it costs.
The short answer
A bilingual website is one where each page exists twice, in English and in Spanish, with its own address, title, description, forms and e-mails. Capturit, a French web and film studio, designs both languages from the first mockup. Up to twelve pages in English and Spanish start at $14,900, at a fixed price, live in six weeks, with the code handed over at launch.
Four things a translation plugin leaves behind
An address for each language
Each page should exist twice, under /en/ and /es/, and tell Google which is which. That is how a search in Spanish lands on the Spanish page. A plugin that swaps words in the browser gives Google nothing to find.
The titles Google shows
Page titles, descriptions and image texts need to exist in each language. Otherwise a Spanish visitor sees an English result on Google before ever reaching your page.
Forms and replies
The contact form, its confirmation e-mail and the booking button should speak the visitor's language. This is where a translated site usually gives itself away, at the exact moment someone tries to become your client.
A layout that holds in both
Spanish often runs longer than English. A headline or a button that fits in one language can break in the other, which is why we draw both from the first mockup and read each page in place before launch.
Do you need Spanish at all?
Look at who buys from you. Buyers from Latin America search in Spanish, and so do many of your neighbors. If they are your clients, a Spanish page gives them something to find, and a form they can trust. If your clients all search in English, you can start in one language, from $8,900, and add the second when it pays.
How the Spanish gets written
The text is translated, then read in place on the page before launch, because a sentence that is correct on its own can still look wrong in a button. After launch you edit either language from your dashboard, without opening a ticket or waiting for anyone.
This is also a question to ask any studio on your list: who writes the Spanish, who checks it on the page, and who can change it next year?
How to test a bilingual site before you buy one
Take a site the studio has already built, open it on your phone, and run these checks. They take five minutes.
- Switch to Spanish and read the address bar. Did it change?
- Search Google in Spanish for the company. Is the result in Spanish?
- Send the contact form in Spanish. What language is the reply in?
- Look at the menu, the buttons and the image captions. Is anything left in English?
- Ask who edits the Spanish after launch, and what it costs.
What it costs
- Up to five pages, one language
- $8,900
- Up to twelve pages, English and Spanish, one integration
- $14,900
These are starting prices. Yours is fixed after a first call and does not move once we start. You pay 40% to start, 30% when you approve the designs and 30% when the site is live. There is no monthly license: at launch you receive the code, the content, the dashboard and the domain.
To see what other studios publish, read our list of web design agencies in Miami.
Your film and your site, from one team
Capturit started as a film studio, so your site can open on your own pictures rather than stock photos. A brand film starts at $5,900, or $5,300 with a site, and photos are available by the half day or the full day. All of it stays optional: if your images are good, we build with them.
We work with Miami hours in mind: our calls fall between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. your time, and every message gets an answer within one business day. If you are wondering what it is like to hire a studio in France, read what American companies get.
Questions about bilingual websites
Do you translate the English pages, or build the Spanish version separately?
Both languages are designed from the first mockup: each Spanish page has its own address, title and description, its own forms and e-mails. The text is translated, then read in place on the page before launch, and you edit either language from your dashboard.
How long does a bilingual site take?
Six weeks from the first call to launch, for up to twelve pages in both languages.
Why not a cheaper template site?
A template starts from the same design as thousands of other sites, and translating it usually leaves half the page in English. We draw your site from scratch, build both languages properly, and hand you the code.
Will my website be ADA compliant?
It will be built to WCAG 2.1 AA in each language and tested with a keyboard and automated checks before launch, so a screen reader switches voice between English and Spanish.