To grow your business in international markets, the first step is to have a localized website and marketing collateral. People want to feel like you’re invested in their region and speak their language.
The challenge for marketers is that the localization process feels overwhelming and delays mean your message is constantly out of sync.
Is your website localized? Maybe a better question to ask would be: Is it localized well? Veteran localization pros know that localization is more than translating text from one language to another and great web localization is a science and an art.
At Cloudwords, we think about localization all day long, and here are 5 secrets we have learned that we believe every company can leverage to improve web localization process and performance:
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Understand the state of web translation – leveraging trusted vendors or colleagues to inform your team on the state of the market, key vendors, best practices, and possible landmines will help guarantee you don’t needlessly make the same mistakes others have made.
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Technically, the technical part is important – site and server location and configuration can play a big part in determining ease of use, marketing campaign success, and SEO strength. Unfortunately, once you have gone to market, undoing core technical decisions is extremely difficult.
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Design for global – creating a global site template is a great way to reduce design costs, and ensure global brand consistency, however local language and customs can necessitate different approaches in different locale (hint: the length of german words). Know your global goals and ensure designers understand them also.
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Use a multi-lingual management system – web and other technical infrastructure is usually managed centrally, so using the different, existing translation processes for each region is a recipe for slow roll outs, high cost, and outdated collateral (i.e., poor online customer experience).
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A global rollout needs a global plan – taking an integrated approach to a global launch will help your company pump success into all your global markets. We recommend setting milestones, goals, and resource allocations in advance to help you track success and change tact when necessary.
Want to learn more? Watch our webinar on the topic: “5 Secrets to Success for Localizing your Website” with Russell Lundstrom, author of “How to Translate a Website”.
Or if you would like to speak with an actual live person on the topic, click here to contact us.
