How to Encourage Traffic to your Multilingual Website - Creative Word

Attracting foreign-language speaking customers to your multilingual website is straightforward – with the right help and advice!

The following tips are designed for businesses, both large and small, that are looking to increase traffic to their translated websites and successfully market their products or services to an international, foreign-language speaking audience.

 

1. Professionally Translate your Website

Expanding any business is costly and it is often tempting to cut corners (and costs) in order to meet budgets.

However, where language and translation are concerned, the best advice is DON’T!

Don’t skimp on professional translation services, thinking that Google Translate is (hopefully) good enough, as it’ll likely cost more in loss of custom and brand perception damage.

Don’t ask a bi-lingual friend, family member or employee as they are not experts in the language or culture, and would simply be doing you a favour without having any investment in the outcome.

Don’t make assumptions based on what you ‘think’ you know about a new market, the people, their customs, language and expectations, as this may not be accurate and making mistakes can damage your brand.

Therefore, it is best to use the guidelines below for effective and accurate website translation…

Do, seek professional advice and help from a specialist language services provider.

Do, select a provider that offer native-speaking linguists, and that specialises in the language(s) you require.

Do, find a language service provider that specialises in your industry, especially if it is a highly technical field such as, law, medicine, science or engineering. This gives more confidence in an accurate translation and can speed up the translation as terminology and industry-based processing is understood.

Do, select a language services provider that offers expert cultural links to the country/region you require and native specialists for localisation and translation.

 

2. Use Localisation and Translation Services

Translating your website is the first step to increasing traffic to your multilingual website but to really engage with foreign-language speaking customers it is vital to localise content.

Localisation offers an adaption of content so that it fits the target market and meets their expectations with regard to the following:

Language – dialect and colloquial language is used for best effect and customer engagement

Images – culturally appropriate images and those linked to correct geographical locations give a more ‘local’ feel to the website

Colour – adapting colour to fit with the cultural norms and traditional applications

Search Engine Optimisation – keywords are localised for optimal search engine results and for ease of customer use

Design and Layout – vital for translated text expansion or contraction which can leave ‘white space’ on webpages or undesirable layout when converting text direction from either right-to-left or left-to-right as with language pairs such as, Arabic to English

Logos and Taglines – not every logo converts well into another language so localising these for local markets is vital.

 

3. Analyse your Website Traffic

It is all well and good translating or localising your website but if you aren’t actively tracking what is happening you won’t know if it is working or what strategies are best for a particular region and language.

Using the data analysing tools available on web building platforms such as, WordPress, it is possible to check what pages customers are visiting frequently, how long they are spending on your site and if they are following through with a purchase.

This gives insight into customer’s regional preferences and helps with future adaptions, understanding customer requirements and expectations.

 

4. Know your Competitors

Profiling your competition is another effective method for insight into customer preferences and expectations.

Research popular competitors, see what they are offering and how they attract customers to their website and look at ways you can go above and beyond.

Consider aspects such as, pricing, website content, social media and market position to gauge comparisons and insights for potential gaps in the market or a competitive advantage.

 

For further assistance with language, translation, localisation or interpretation, please contact the team at Creative Word who will be happy to chat with you about your multilingual website.