Website localisation is the practice of making your website available to customers outside of your country. You might be wondering: why do I need to do that? Well, as a business, you want to maximise your outreach to as many people as possible, don’t you? Your localised websites are the best tools to do so.
Company websites are critical to international business development success. Think about it: your website is available 24/7, meaning that people will always be viewing your website than will be viewing any other business outreach methods you employ.
Making your business website relevant to people in different countries is a priority. Here are some tips for making your website localisation easier and more effective.
Ensure your website is perfect in English first
The first thing you need to do is make sure your first website, that is your website in English, meets your target audience’s needs. If your first website doesn’t meet the needs of Americans and/or English speakers, then it won’t work in foreign markets either. Plus, you’re going to be translating this website – so the base copy must be perfect, or you risk losing a lot of money and time paying for multiple translations.
You should consider globalising your first website – remove any images or phrases that are offensive or inappropriate in other cultures. Again, this makes the translation process a lot easier.
Don’t just translate – localise!
Localising your website means learning about the specific region and culture you are localising within – not merely translating your website and hoping it works!
Make sure the translation works for the region you are targeting – don’t use Spanish in Barcelona, where Catalonian is the spoken language! Similarly, don’t use Mexican Spanish in Spain, or European Spanish in South America… You get the idea!
“A little bit of knowledge about the region you are targeting goes a long way,” says Dominick Ireland, a business writer at Ukwritings and Academized.
Getting website localization right
While translation only requires rendering your website from one language to the other so that the content is linguistically equivalent, website localization requires more preparation and takes a more detailed approach to reappropriate the content for another language. Careful and in-depth research of your target market is key in making sure that your content resonates with the audience while being culturally and socially appropriate for the particular country or region you are developing the website for.
Aside from transforming your website content so that it fits the culture and sensibilities of your target audience, other factors to consider include the tone of the messaging, the medium you use (video, images, etc.), and even the aesthetic choices you make.
So when is website localization better for your strategy than translation? It would depend on a variety of factors including your business objectives and what your competitors are doing. Looking online for a complete guide on website localization would help you better figure out when is the right time to localize your website and if it fits into your business and marketing strategies.
Learn the difference between website translation and TEP
TEP stands for ‘translation, editing and proofreading’. This means that the quality of translation you get is much higher – it also costs more. Ultra-low translation rates will only include translation. There will be no editing process or proofreading of the translation to ensure it makes sense. If you’re going to go for low-cost translation, you may as well use Google translate!
Get one language done well
Rather than translating your website into several languages, focus firstly on one language and do it well. Remember, your website is a spokesperson for your business – if you translate it wrong, your business will lose credibility with your target audience. You should always aim for quality translations of less languages than hundreds of bad translations!
Again, if you are serious about reaching a new market internationally, you should be using professional translators – not Google Translate!
Translate Website Menus
“A common mistake when translating websites is that the content is localised, but not the navigation menus,” says Elsa Bauer, a marketer at Boomessays and Essayroo. “This obviously causes difficulties in using the website and makes visitors frustrated!”
Ensure the entire website is translated into the target language, not just the content.
Be aware of what images you are using
As noted above, going international means learning a little bit about each region you are targeting. Using photographs that are okay in the US in countries that have different gender or racial norms can cause you to lose customers. Be sensitive to what cultural norms exist in each target country and consider your content and images in relation to these norms.
Create new websites
Rather than just translating your first website, you may as well take a different URL for your target country (like a .uk for the UK, or .de for Germany). It takes around the same amount of time to create a new, dedicated website, and can help with search engine optimisation!
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