Website localization is essential for any business whose website has an international target audience. It refers to the process of localizing your website into multiple languages for your target markets.
This includes translating your website’s static text into another language and adapting your website’s user interface (UI) and business practices to better represent the local culture of specific regions.
When you consider that 40% of people refuse to buy from a website that is not available in their local language, it is crucial to make your website as accessible as possible.
Furthermore, 65% of consumers prefer to receive information in their local language, even if it is of lower quality. This shows that there is a demand for localization, and companies must meet this demand to improve customer loyalty and satisfaction.
In this article, we will discuss how you can benefit from localizing your website in multiple regions, the prerequisites of this process, and how to implement it successfully.
Benefits of website localization
There are several benefits to localizing your website for different regions, including the following:
Enter new markets with ease and gain a competitive advantage
By localizing your website, you’re expanding your audience beyond English speakers. This means you’ll be able to enter international markets and reach more people who need your offerings.
Although 60% of websites are available only in English, only 25.9% of users speak English. This indicates a huge gap in the global market waiting to be exploited.
Additionally, users don’t have to rely on online translation tools to understand what you’re offering, ensuring that your intended message stays true. This ultimately increases your website’s conversion rate and business revenue.
Even if you don’t have an immediate plan to expand overseas, site localization will help you grow your business without investing in physical expansion resources.
Improve your website’s user experience
Localization allows non-English speakers to use your website, which can lead to more page views and conversions. For example, if a German user visits your ecommerce site in English, they may need help understanding what you do, what you sell, or how to make a purchase.
Additionally, if the site is merely translated, it may provide a confusing user experience if the following are not localized:
Size Measurement (EU Sizes vs US Sizes)
Preferred currency (conversion varies)
Preferred local payment options
All of these aspects tend to impact the overall experience and in turn prevent users from making a purchase.
Build customer trust and loyalty
Localizing your website helps you build customer trust and loyalty by providing a personalized experience that matches your user’s preferences and language skills. Plus, when you follow the privacy and security guidelines of your specific region, your customers will trust you more.
It also helps increase sales by helping you reach the right audience with localized ads and website content, which can lead to higher conversion rates.
Companies like KFC have been doing this for years. They create local versions of their websites in multiple languages for dominican republic whatsapp number data 5 million each country they operate in. This allows customers to find locally relevant products in their own language.
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KFC_-_France_-_1200x1200KFC’s French website displays French text and Euro currency with relevant localized terms
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KFC’s US website displays English text with relevant localized holiday offers
Drive revenue and brand growth
Ultimately, all of these aspects add up to positively impact your bottom line. You’ll expand your website’s presence and, in turn, your business’s presence. This expansion creates more awareness, attracts more users, and generates revenue.
For example, Napta , a SaaS resource and skills management tool, increased its rankings for its new German website topics cover on your page despite being only a month old.
Estelle Barthés, Marketing Manager at Napta, says: “We started optimizing our blog content a month ago. Even though our domain is super new, we’ve already gained a lot of positions for our main keywords. Really encouraging!”
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An increase in keyword positions since the Napta team started localizing their website into German
Site Localization Prerequisites
Before starting the localization process, it is vital to understand a few things in advance. Here are some prerequisites for the process:
Identify demand by speaking to internal teams
The process of website gambler data localization is a big task. It goes beyond translating your content and involves the following:
Modify the underlying code of the website to allow internationalization
Translate website content and make it culturally relevant
Adapt the website’s user interface to make it more relevant to different user bases
Getting the job done takes time, money, and labor. For this reason, it’s vital to understand whether there’s an existing demand in the first place.
To assess this, you need to speak to internal teams like marketing , sales, and customer support. They will be able to give you an estimate of which regions users are contacting them from, what languages they speak, and more.
Understand your market and target audience
Once you have identified which regions have some demand, you should conduct thorough market and audience research.
Matthew Ramirez, founder of Rephrasely , says, “Analyze your business goals and target audience to determine where you need to localize. This includes researching the demographics, culture, and language of the people who will be visiting your site. This is the most important step as it will help you determine your localization efforts.”
This will help you understand:
The types of languages they speak
The cultural nuances of the region
Other regions that speak similar languages
How your product or service can benefit these users
If you need to modify your offer and price range
How much ROI can you expect from the process
Once you have all this information, it will be easier to determine which market is worth pursuing and why you need to prioritize specific markets now.
Consider key elements before implementation
Here are some key elements that lead to a successful localization process:
Language and Regionalism: Translate your website text, content, and user interface elements into the target language, for example, your main website copy, page content, images, and videos.
Cultural nuances: Consider different cultural nuances, such as date and time systems, metric systems, local holidays, and phrases to avoid.
Payment systems: Ensure the correct currency is displayed, legally approved payment options are available, and accurate address boxes are available.
Shopify_-_Payment_Options_-_UK_and_CAN_-_1200x807Payment options and currency differ for the same product depending on the region
Communications systems: You need to translate terms of service, privacy notices, addresses, and phone number formats. You also need to ensure that your marketing and sales teams have relevant sales content in these languages.
User Navigation: Users need to be able to easily access different languages, which is why you need to place these elements at the right touchpoints.
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Users can access localized versions of the Napta website in English, French and UK German
Create a comprehensive localization strategy
Once you have all the information, you need to create a robust website localization strategy. This involves finalizing what needs to be localized, what resources you need, the project management structure, and tentative timelines.
You also need to consider potential obstacles in the process and prepare for them. Here’s what some experts have to say:
Robert Brandl, founder of ToolTester.com , says that before you conduct this process, there are a few questions you need to ask yourself:
Where should the website be hosted to ensure it loads quickly?
Do specific legal requirements (GDPR or country-specific privacy regulations) need to be considered?
How will international customer support be managed?
Will you charge prices in local currency?
Who will take care of international SEO?
Nicole Tang, Senior Program Manager at Finder.com says, “The most important thing is to have a translator on board. This goes beyond the actual translation of your content and includes helping you understand the cultural nuances of how to position your site so that it reaches your target audience.”
Mia Comic, content marketer at Instrumentl , says these are the most challenging aspects of the process:
Find experienced translation teams that can produce high-quality localized content
Inconsistencies in localized content, such as mismatched images or design elements
Search engine optimization for different languages
Ensuring brand consistency across multiple markets and languages
So, consider these aspects beforehand and then start the process.
7 steps to localize your website without any hassle
Here are seven essential steps to starting your website localization project:
Internationalize your website
It is best to internationalize the website before moving on to localization. It is the foundational element of the entire process as both the front and back ends are modified to accommodate localization efforts.
Essentially, developers account for this when the website is initially created and employ standards like Unicode to simplify this process. Issues like decimal numbers, currency, date formats.