When you’re targeting a global audience, website localization is crucial. It’s about more than just translating text; it’s about adapting your entire website to meet the cultural, linguistic, and practical needs of users from different countries. In this blog, we’ll explore key things to consider when localizing your website for international success.
Localization Strategy
Before starting the website localization process, determine your overall strategy. This involves adapting your brand’s message and content to suit new markets. Conducting market research and understanding your target audience’s language, cultural preferences, and shopping habits is crucial. Decide on tone, voice, and the design that suits your new target market.
Determine Your Localization Plan
Ensure you plan for local languages, social norms, and even design preferences. This includes understanding payment methods, colors, and layout preferences that work well in different regions. Research the cultural context of the markets you’re entering to avoid any missteps.
Language
To increase user engagement, localize the language of your website. Users prefer to engage with websites in their native language. Over 75% of consumers prefer to spend time on websites that are in their language. This is an important factor when designing a global presence.
Language Toggle Options
A classic way to allow users to choose their language is by providing a toggle bar. Alternatively, detecting the user’s browser language can improve their experience by automatically displaying the correct version. Be aware of data privacy regulations in certain countries when implementing this.
Fonts
The right font choice ensures that your localized content not only reads well but aligns with your brand identity. Fonts must be legible, appropriately spaced, and adaptable to different languages, particularly in regions with different scripts (e.g., Chinese, Arabic).
Font Selection
Consider using universally legible fonts like Noto Sans that are designed for a global audience. The font style should match your brand’s identity, and the size and space should accommodate different lengths of text in various languages.
International SEO and Information
Optimizing for international SEO is essential to ensure that your global audience can find your website. Research the keywords that resonate with your target audience and integrate them into your content. Don’t forget about local search engines that dominate in certain countries, such as Baidu in China and Naver in Korea.
Multilingual SEO Strategy
Create SEO strategies that include hreflang attributes, localized URL directories, and ccTLD. Additionally, invest in building inbound links from credible local websites to enhance SEO ranking in each target market.
Translation
Accurate translation is crucial for website localization. You’ll need professional translation services to ensure that the meaning is preserved, not just the words. A translation management system (TMS) can make this process more efficient.
Using Translation Management Systems
Implementing a TMS allows you to reuse translations, ensuring consistency across multiple languages. It’s also beneficial to integrate your TMS with your content management system (CMS) for seamless translation workflows.
Localizing Multimedia
Images, videos, and other multimedia elements also need localization. Ensure the visuals align with cultural expectations and that any text within multimedia is accurately translated.
Cultural Relevance of Multimedia
When localizing multimedia, not only should the text be translated, but ensure the imagery and graphics are culturally appropriate. For example, a photo that works in one market might be offensive in another.
Measure Website Localization
Once the localization process is complete, test and monitor the effectiveness of your changes. Collect feedback, track user behavior, and measure performance against key performance indicators (KPIs) such as conversion rates, SEO rankings, and user engagement.
Success Metrics for Localization
KPIs such as sales growth, increased web traffic from targeted regions, and higher engagement rates will help you measure the success of your localization efforts.
