Thanks to the internet, the world is becoming smaller, and it’s now easier to reach more people than ever before. Website translation helps you be heard and seen by potential customers in other markets.
In the digital age, websites are the shop front of your business and it’s likely that your marketing and digital team has put a lot of time, effort and resources into your company website. So, if you’re thinking about reaching new, international markets, you’ll want your site to look as good and make the same impact on your non-English speaking users.
Stay ahead of the competition with our 8-step guide to growing your business globally through website translation.
1. Analyse your target market
Before you set off on the localisation journey, planning your route will help to save time and money in the long term. Don’t just choose the big economies and translate for those markets, ask yourself:
Which markets are you targeting?
Who is your target customer?
What languages do they speak?
What are the consumer habits in the regions you are targeting?
Starting with 1 or 2 core languages can help you to see the results of your multilingual website before expanding further.
2. Don’t use free translation
If you care about the quality, cost and security of your translation projects, don’t use free translation tools online. We feel so passionate about this that we’ve got a whole blog post dedicated to it:
3 reasons to avoid free online translation
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Getting the translation right, first time, is going to save you a lot of time, money and resources, and will ensure that you make a good impression when your multilingual site is visited for the first time. Which leads us to step 3…
3. Partner up
When it comes to taking your website global, it’s worth investing in a translation provider (or partner) you can trust.
Website localisation is by no means easy – but that’s not to say that you have to deal with the complicated tasks on your own; choosing a professional translation provider means you’ll have expert advice on-hand.
4. Use a CMS translation connector
Copying and pasting is a waste of time and likely to incur errors, especially when you don’t speak the language of what you’re copying or pasting.
Most CMS systems have connectors developed which allow you to send your website content directly for translation without it ever leaving your CMS. What’s more you can easily select which pages or posts you want to send for translation, select the language(s) and the content is sent directly to a translation professional.
Check out our CMS connectors:
WordPress Connect
Magento Connect
Drupal Connect
If you don’t use one of these systems, do not fret – you can still use our website proxy or API tool for a seamless connection.
6. Don’t just translate, localise
Translation converts text from one language into another, localisation goes one step further and adapts aspects such as font, colour, images and design to be culturally relevant and resonate with your target audience.
You obviously want your multilingual websites to be as appealing as the English site in order to engage and convert users in your international markets.
Colours in culture
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Translation, Localisation or Transcreation
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7. Don’t forget about multimedia content
We live in a world surrounded by multimedia; videos, podcasts, webinars all now form part of many business’ marketing strategy. So, don’t forget to translate these too if they’re going to be important to your target market.
8. Set up analytics for your multilingual sites
Once you’ve had your website translated, don’t forget to set up analytics for your new language sites. Whilst you might not understand the language, this data can act as follow up market research. Maybe you’ll spot that certain products or pages perform better in one market over another, allowing you to continually tailor your global strategy to achieve the best results.
