Step-by-Step Guide: Managing Website Localization Successfully
Alexander A.
- August 16, 2023
- 5:51 pm
The Complete Guide to Website Localization
Expanding your business globally requires thoughtfully adapting your online presence for local relevance. Website localization is the comprehensive process of tailoring website content culturally and linguistically to genuinely resonate with international audiences.
This in-depth guide covers proven best practices and strategies to effectively localize your website for each new market you want to engage. Follow these steps to remove friction, establish authentic connections and unlock organic growth opportunities worldwide.
Understanding the Value of Website Localization
At its core, localization moves far beyond basic translation to deeply engage foreign consumers on their own terms by understanding regional needs, preferences and cultural norms.
Proper localization implementation fundamentally removes barriers and establishes trust with international visitors by demonstrating respect for their identity. This enables seamless organic growth into global markets.
Consider the example of Dr. Oetker, the German multinational baking brand. When expanding into Italy, they faced the challenge of selling German frozen pizzas in the homeland of pizza.
Dr. Oetker overcame this obstacle and became Italy’s top frozen pizza brand by localizing their identity. They adopted the locally appealing Italian brand name Cameo instead of stubbornly selling under their German Dr. Oetker title. This small but meaningful localization decision proved enormously successful.
This example highlights how vital even subtle cultural nuances are in localization. Customers respond positively when you recognize and adapt to their unique needs rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach. Localization reflects your commitment to forging genuine connections.
The benefits of thoughtful website localization include:
- Entering new international markets seamlessly by removing cultural barriers
- Gaining a competitive edge through demonstrating local understanding
- Improving overall user experience for visitors from diverse cultures
- Fostering greater customer satisfaction, loyalty and engagement
- Opening up new revenue streams from previously untapped foreign markets
Thorough research on localization ROI shows that every $1 invested in localizing your website generates an average return of $25 in incremental revenue. The numbers speak for themselves – localization is a proven high-yield global engagement and growth channel.
Understanding The Core Elements of Localization
Localization is often conflated with basic translation, but in reality it is a much more multi-faceted, nuanced process. Effective website localization requires examining and optimizing the full user experience holistically across multiple dimensions.
Some core elements to consider localizing include:
- Translating on-page text into languages appropriate for each target region
- Adapting images, videos, graphics and icons to be culturally appropriate and avoid inadvertent offense
- Adjusting messaging tone, promotions, and overall content to align with local preferences
- Following relevant regional regulations and requirements that might impact site content
- Using proper location-specific date formats, currencies, units of measurement and syntax
Together these elements enable creating an end-to-end experience tailored specifically for the target market rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach. Effective localization is comprehensive and leaves no detail overlooked.
It’s also important to note that localization goes deeper than surface-level text translation. Translated content must still be adapted to employ familiar local vernacular, relevant cultural examples and idioms, preferred communication styles, fitting imagery and colors, and more.
Simply converting text verbatim without refinement misses crucial nuances required for deep engagement. Localization must reflect native understanding on multiple levels.
Content Inventory and Detection
The first challenge is identifying the full scope of textual and visual content across your site needing localization, which can be buried across pages and apps.
Rather than fruitlessly attempting to manually inventory content, use smart translation software like ConveyThis to programmatically detect all text elements on your site eligible for translation. This includes pages, blogs, apps, PDFs, dynamic content and more.
The tool scans the entire structure and instantly produces a full content audit, saving vast manual effort. You also gain assurance that no resources are overlooked.
Define Translation Rules and Guidelines
Next, establish guidelines to guide translators for consistency. Define terminology glossaries outlining brand-specific words and phrases that should never translate literally.
Also provide style guides describing tone, allowed grammars, formatting rules and other preferences. This aids translating cohesively across different linguists.
Execute Translations
Now comes translating the text itself. ConveyThis instantly provides machine translations using state-of-the-art AI engines as an efficient starting point.
You can then refine important site sections manually or assign professional human linguists as needed. The choice depends on requirements, languages and resources.
ConveyThis allows collaborating with internal and external translators directly in the platform for streamlined execution. The integrated translation memory records translations to help maintain messaging consistency over time.
Launch Localized Sites
After translation, the localized content needs to be published online across language-specific versions of the site.
ConveyThis automatically structures translated text into language-specific subdirectories for a turnkey launch. This enables presenting localized experiences without IT work.
With the 4-phase process complete, your multilingual website is ready to engage audiences in their native tongues. Apply this workflow across all target regions.
Reach New International Markets Seamlessly
Products and services tailored for one culture don’t always resonate universally without adaptation. Nuance creates engagement.
For example, understanding that certain color combinations can signify mourning in some Asian markets can inform better design choices. Localized messaging better connects.
Thorough localization removes unseen cultural barriers to provide welcoming, relevant experiences that feel aligned specifically for international visitors. This facilitates organic expansion beyond just home regions.
Improving Overall User Experiences Globally
Beyond conveying messaging, website localization also involves adapting page design and layout for ideal experiences across languages.
For example, elegantly accommodating variable text expansion ensures critical information doesn’t get truncated or wrapped inelegantly. Right-to-left languages also require page layout mirrors. Localized date formats create familiarity.
Visitors want sites available in their tongues, but also presented using local standards they’re accustomed to interacting with daily. Failing to provide this risks alienating international audiences.
Fostering Greater Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty
The greatest outcome of thoughtful localization is forging real, lasting connections with international website visitors.
Showing that you put in the effort to understand who they are and what resonates builds significant goodwill at a human level. It signals respect for their culture beyond just wanting their business.
This motivates higher levels of satisfaction, engagement with your brand, and repeat purchases. Localization helps shift from cold transactional experiences to humanized relationships that drive loyalty.
Conclusion
This powerful software eliminates the complexity from executing website localization at any scale or across endless languages. ConveyThis allows you to focus purely on conveying your brand effectively locally rather than technical details.
Start localizing your online presence in just minutes with ConveyThis. Tear down geographic barriers to engage global audiences through culturally tailored experiences reflecting their local needs and preferences. Let ConveyThis unlock your brand’s full international potential.
Ready to get started?
Translation, far more than just knowing languages, is a complex process.
By following our tips and using ConveyThis, your translated pages will resonate with your audience, feeling native to the target language.
While it demands effort, the result is rewarding. If you’re translating a website, ConveyThis can save you hours with automated machine translation.
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