There’s no doubt about it; the Internet has made life a lot easier for all of us. It allows us to reach billions of people and communicate with them from anywhere in the world; in fact – with the Internet, the world is continually at our fingertips. Making website localization essential.
According to Internet Live Stats, almost half the world’s population (more than 3 billion people), have access to the Internet and use it for many purposes. This figure is immense, considering not all countries are as technologically advanced as the United States and other first-world countries.
By the end of this year, the number of internet users is expected to increase by 40%, with the growing use of mobile Internet.
English is the primary language used on the World Wide Web, but with the rapid pace of technology, non-English speaking users can browse the web now with a little help from localization. Website localization is essential for non-English speaking Internet users as is enables them to understand website content.
Who Benefits from Web Localization? Everyone! Internet users, companies, and marketers benefit from this process. So, if you’re looking to reach more people than ever before, here’s what you need to do:
5 Steps for Website Localization
As a marketer or business owner, being able to reach your target market with your content is paramount. If your audience uses a language other than English, you’ll need to localize your digital marketing content and test it linguistically. Here are steps on how to do this:
Step 1: Create a Localization Team
Localizing your site’s content is not a one-person task. It involves several people to successfully translate your website. If your company has several departments, you could think about consulting a member of every department so that everyone understands your localization goals.
Step 2: Decide on the Languages You Will Use
You should consider your target market, which countries they are from and which ones offer the greatest potential in terms of profit and return on investment. Being able to determine this will enable the localization process to be done conveniently.
Step 3: Plan Your Site’s URL Configuration
Subdirectories, subdomains and country code top level domains are three of the factors that you have to take into consideration when brainstorming for your site’s URL structure. This will greatly help in your marketing strategy.
Step 4: Choose the Best LSP
A Language Service Provider will be your partner in localizing your website’s content. Choose a reputable provider who is focused on your venture’s needs and goals.
Step 5: Coordinate with Your LSP
You should be able to input your company’s ideas, goals, and tactics to ensure successful online marketing. Localization of your website takes into account international search engine optimization and your LSP will identify the main keywords in your target languages regions to improve your SERP.
Last but not least, especially if you’re working with a budget, prioritize which pages to localize first. You can use several factors, such as your site’s visitors, relevance, or topic. Localization of your website is a huge project and one that can be rolled out according to your budget and timeline.