Website Translation and Localization

Increase your Revenue through managing your online presence across different languages, click here to contact us

 

The internet means that having an effective website increases the chances of trading internationally – as long as your website can answer 2 important questions:

1- Can the world find your website?

2 – Once found, can the world read what you have for sale?

If you can answer yes to both these questions, then the world, in terms of International Trade, really is in your hands!

 

However, if you need to look again at these questions then here at Choice Translations we can help.

Having a great product or service is only half the battle. The way in which you ensure that potential customers are aware of it is hugely important, whether you’re a solo entrepreneur, a small business or a multinational company.

The global nature of the Internet means that you need to open your products up to the market and the best way is to have some, not necessarily all, of your website and product details translated into the languages of the markets you from where you want to maximise potential sales.

Localization

English is, to some extent, the lingua franca or common language of the Internet. It’s the single most commonly used language online, but many people worldwide use English as a second language, and research has shown that multilingual users put more trust in websites in their own native language.

There are various ways you can adapt your content for different target markets. Different language micro-sites can be set up, navigable from a central ‘landing page’ or obvious and easily identifiable links on your home page. Separate product pages for each target market can be set up, and of course as a very simple and cost effective method - have a basic enquiry page listing what you do and how to contact you set out in the various languages of the markets you are interested in hearing from.

The optimum choice, however, is a fully localized site with its own country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD), such as .de for Germany or .fr for France. This will give your site a more ‘local’ and trustworthy feel. It will also help boost your local search engine rankings, as the algorithms employed by Google and other major search engines take domain location into account.

Note: Native speaking translators, as always used here at Choice Translations, are always preferable to machine translation for your actual content. Automatic systems can be fine for a straight ‘dictionary’ translation, but they can be prone to contextual errors and can certainly face difficulties with aspects of linguistic usage such as slang, regional variations and abbreviations. Native translators will help prevent any linguistic and cultural errors and add a more human and local feel to your content.

Make use of social media

Social media sites offer a great platform for communicating directly with your customer base. You can let people know what you’re doing, respond to queries and answer criticisms, whether they are warranted or not.

The major social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, have worldwide appeal and have different language settings and versions. It’s certainly worth keeping up a presence on platforms you’re already familiar with, but in certain territories other local competitors have larger shares of the market. In China, for example, the market is dominated by Qzone and Renren and, depending on your target markets, it may be worth researching the biggest social media players and setting up a presence on those – both to build buzz about your brand, and to successfully track mentions of your brand (and by proxy your brand’s reputation) on these foreign language social networks.

If all this sounds like a lot of extra work, it is – but there is help out there and that’s where our Specialised Website Translation service here at Choice Translations Ltd comes in.

Your reputation, however, is one of your most valuable assets and the global nature of the Internet means it is more important than ever to monitor and manage your reputation across as many different languages and markets as possible.

For more informtion on how our Web Site Localisation and Translation service can help, please click here to contact us.