Translating your website boosts sales and offers several long-term benefits. But how do you know which languages to provide? A cohesive language strategy is essential. Read on for 4 tips on how to select the languages that will reach target audiences and serve you best.
Check your metrics
Before jumping into localizing your website, find out where your customers are. Successful companies incorporate in-depth research into their language strategy. Identifying their best foreign markets makes it easier to create relevant pages and perfectly adapted content in the right languages. Rather than translating everything into the most widely spoken languages, prioritize markets with a considerable demand for your products/services. Your visitor metrics and performance analytics are essential to determine which languages you should target.
Monitor your competitors
Doing your research on local and global competitors will reveal gaps in the market and valuable lessons.
To hone your language strategy, check your competitors’ websites and stay on top of their search rankings, social media and other online activities. How are they communicating with customers? Are their tactics effective, or do they not quite hit the mark? Which markets have been left out? If consumers in those regions show interest in foreign companies and what you have to offer, localizing your website to their languages will give you a competitive edge.
Think about your target audience
When you’re selling a product or service, knowing your customers and their lifestyle is a must. Understanding your client base allows you to allocate your budget to the most appropriate content. In some cases, keeping it simple is exceptionally effective. For example, even though airlines operate globally, data may show that certain markets have high traffic from expats. Adapting booking pages and relevant travel information to their languages is a quicker and more cost-effective way to accommodate these visitors.
Choose the right dialect
Offering one ‘universal’ variation of a widely spoken language may not necessarily engage all markets and could even alienate some. Terms relating to your products/services could differ – not to mention date/number formats, idioms, grammar rules and what tone of voice is deemed acceptable.
Take the time to research the culture and consumer expectations behind each locale as you would for different languages.
Thanks to the digital world, even the smallest company can build a worldwide customer base by choosing the right language. If you’re not sure where to start, get in touch with Attached for a personalized strategy and more information about website audits. If you’re not sure where to start, Attached has the expertise and tailored advice to point you in the right direction.
Discover more essentials for your multilingual website, or get in touch for a site audit and personalized strategy.