Localization is increasingly important for anyone who wants to expand their business to a global market. Nowadays, you can’t just expect your current website to attract and convert a global audience. Localization enables businesses to cater to a global audience by respecting different languages and cultures. If you want to successfully expand your business to a global market, you’ll have to look into localization. But what does localization mean, and how do you achieve it?
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at localization, its benefits, and how to achieve this on your website successfully. We’ll also examine how a proxy service can help you test your localization strategies. Keep reading to discover what you need to do before expanding your business globally.
In this article, we’ll be discussing the following topics on localization:
- What is website localization?
- What are the benefits of localizing your website?
- What can you do to start localizing your website?
What Is Website Localization?
Website localization is adapting your current website for a new audience. This strategy considers the new audience’s language, culture, and other aspects to adapt the brand’s message effectively. Recent statistics have shown that 55% of consumers will only purchase products if the descriptions are in their own language. While language is an important aspect of an effective localization strategy, it’s not the only component that should be considered.
What Are The Benefits Of Localizing Your Website?
A recent survey discovered that localization increased search traffic by 47%. Simultaneously website visits were boosted by 70% and conversions increased by 20%. Not only can a good localization strategy improve your search traffic and website visitors, but it also has many other benefits. Some of the benefits include:
- Improved SEO and SERP results
- Improved brand Image
- Improved audience reach
- Increased credibility and trustworthiness
- Improved customer engagement
What Can You Do To Start Localizing Your Website?
Before expanding your business, it’s important to consider localization and how you’ll be adjusting your existing content for the new areas you’re expanding to, and how to get there. Here are a few crucial steps to get you on the right foot.
Define Your Localization Strategy
This is the first and most crucial step of localization. Unfortunately, you can’t just translate your web content and then call it a day. When creating a localization strategy, you’ll have to do extensive market research to understand the language, phrases used, and cultural impact. You’ll have to see how you can align your product offerings to meet these needs. You’ll have to evaluate purchasing behaviors and payment options to see what works best for the new audience. Using a proxy service to change your IP address and make it appear as if you’re in that country is a good idea so that your team can conduct better market research more effectively.
Design Pages Bearing Localization In Mind
It’s also important to keep localization in mind from the get-go and as early as the designing process. When translating content, you can expect a big difference in the content length shown on your page. Languages such as German can expand the text of your content up to 35%, whereas languages like Swedish can contract it by the same amount. You can save yourself a lot of money, and headaches, by designing your webpages, images, and layouts regardless of the text.
Do More Keyword Research
This is another important aspect to bear in mind when expanding your business. You’ll have to do localized keyword research and double-check that those words are used in your content. Phrases have different meanings in other countries, and even the way users search is different. As such, you should do sufficient keyword research for your new audience and work that into your localization strategy.
Translate Your Web Pages
Translation of your content is critical. This is probably the most important step and must be conducted meticulously. While free translation tools are available, it’s not recommended to use these and then think the job is done. Even with all the advances in machine learning and translation, there are many nuances in language that these translators miss. As such, it’s best to use a professional native speaker to translate your content accurately. This will ensure it reads well, makes sense, and is optimized for the new audience regarding popular phrases, words used, and cultural referencing.
Test Localization Frequently
Test your localization frequently to ensure that it’s still displaying correctly. The easiest way to do this is by using a proxy service to change your IP address. This way, you can make it appear that you’re online from another country, and you’ll see the local content. This means you can look at your website the same way potential consumers would and check that it runs correctly.
Final Thoughts
Website localization is important for businesses hoping to expand to a global market. Not only will it make your website more appealing to the new audience, but it’ll also improve your SEO and search result rankings. Expanding to new markets means understanding those markets and the consumers therein. It also means adapting your website and content to meet these consumers where they are.
