Company websites are often the first point of contact for potential customers. Most companies make reasonable effort to make their website a good representation of themselves. This is particularly important for e-commerce websites. But somehow when it comes to attracting customers in international markets, most company owners assume that language of the country will not create a barrier for visitors’ engagement. Unfortunately visitors do not engage with websites if they do not understand the product or service offered.
Websites that are localised for the target countries enable customer engagement. Because visitors receive the information in their own languages. It is important that the localisation process is managed and avoiding the top mistakes will save time and money for the company.
Avoid the website localisation mistakes below and engage with your visitors.
1- Not planning and documenting the localisation process. Taking each stage into account as it unfolds, having no control over the process. Localisation should be part of your global strategy.
2- Not securing top level domain names for other countries or not having a clear domain structure for the translated site, either on a language or country basis.
3- Not making sure the content is in plain English and is free from culturally biased content. Are all pictures and colours appropriate for the target country?
4- Not checking with your web developer if the English website has multilingual support. Some website platforms may not have multilingual support or may not support certain languages, such as Arabic.
5- Starting translation before doing keyword research and thus not reflecting the keywords in the translated text, and also not adapting the content accordingly.
6- Translating your website without a clear business case. What do you expect to get out of the translated website? What is the purpose of the translation?
7- Not having a clear call to action on your pages that is specific that for the country. The call to action on the main website may not be relevant for the translated version.
8- Translating pages that are not relevant to the target country. (Most websites gain a lot of pages over the years, most of which may not be relevant for the product or service intended for the target country and can easily confuse the visitors).
9- Not taking into account the domain issues – not using country-specific, top-level domains, folders or not using language specifics.
10- Not updating the website regularly after it goes live.
11- Not setting Google Analytics and Google Search Console (previously Google Webmaster tools) properly to monitor traffic and issues with the site.
12- Not making your website visible for the target country. Without taking into account keywords and TLD usage, your website may stay invisible for the target country or language.
13- Not having a plan in place for when an enquiry is received from the website in another language.
If you would like to discuss any of the above points about the website localisation mistakes, please contact TTC wetranslate Ltd at info@ttcwetranslate.com or call +44 (0)1245 216930.
