Tips for Successfully Localising Your Business Website

Localise your business website

The internet has brought many benefits to the world, and among them, is the ability to shop and do business online from just about anywhere on the planet. If you have an online business, being able to tap into new markets across the world could make the difference between a good business and a great one.

Before the internet, running a business meant either operating an actual physical storefront or supplying stores with a particular range of products. While land-based storefronts are still a thing, setting up a website has become the new virtual shop, with the added benefit of reaching millions in an instant.

However, to reap the benefits that internet technologies have made possible, you need to find a way to tap into as many diverse markets as possible. This means overcoming common barriers such as multiple languages, cultural preferences, religious observances and more. So how do you go about doing this? Simple. You localise your existing website to suit whichever market you have targeted in your drive for expansion.

If you’re considering the move towards localisation of your website, but are not quite sure how to get started, the following tips should help push you in the right direction.

Analysis of Your Target Market

The first step towards the localisation of your business website is to thoroughly analyse your target market. In doing so, you’ll not only save yourself a tremendous amount of time, but you will also be able to avoid costly errors along the way. It may also be beneficial to consider smaller markets rather than the usual larger economies, as these may represent greater untapped markets. In this case, you’ll need to look for those subtle nuances which can’t be covered by blanket approaches.

When analysing potential markets for website localisation, ask yourself the following questions:

• Who is your typical target customer?
• Which specific markets do you intend to target?
• What is the main language spoken by that target market?
• What are the main consumer habits typically displayed within that target region?

Avoid Free Online Translation Tools

While it may be very tempting, especially to your operation bottom line, to make use of free online translation tools, it is best to avoid these at all costs. Why? Free online translation tools may not be able to offer you accurate translation services, which could result in users being unable to fully understand your services or products. At worst, you may even end up offending users with poor or inaccurate translations. Investing in a professional translation of your content will result in tremendous cost savings in the long run, as you would have managed to get it right the first time around. This includes all the subtle language nuances, colloquialisms and other peculiarities of the target market.

What are CMS Plug-ins?

CMS stands for Content Management System, and it provides a simple way to create web pages and manage your online content. WordPress is one of the most well-known and popular CMS platforms on the net and you’ll be able to find a host of useful plug-ins that go along with it. This includes some great CMS language plug-ins, which assist you in managing your various language sub-domains or web pages. These CMS plug-ins will help you to add the content pages that have already been professionally translated, to the right pages within each of your blogs or localised web domains.

Making Further Tweaks

Once you’ve gotten your content translations worked out and mastered, the next step is to take your site to the next level with localisation. While the translation is essential for your target market understanding what you’re all about, localisation looks at tweaking a range of website features to make them really feel at home. This means making your images, website colours, and overall design, culturally relevant to your target audience.

By following these simple tips, you can easily create localised versions of your main website, and have them be just as appealing and intriguing as your English site. This will result in more traffic as word spreads within your target market, that your site offers the best service, presented in the most authentic and appealing way.