Website localisation is the process of transforming a current website into a more accessible and usable platform for a foreign target audience. Contrary to popular belief, localisation is not just about translating the website into a specific language – it is an intricate process that considers cultural sensitivities as well. Here are six reasons why you should build a multilingual website for your business.
1. Expand Global Market Presence
When you localise your website, you gain access to consumers from across the globe, and not just people who speak the language that your website is in. Research has shown that 72.1% of consumers spend more time browsing websites in their own language, and 75% prefer to purchase products from localised websites.
For businesses looking to gain unprecedented access to global markets, website localisation is an effective way to expand their global market presence and attract international customers. With multilingual customer support representatives, you are also more likely to retain foreign consumers.
2. Build More Trust and Confidence in Consumers
A localised website is an indication to customers that your brand understands and respects their respective cultures, which builds consumer trust. Customers will also have more confidence in your products or services if they are able to receive timely customer service from a support team that speaks their native language.
3. Better User Experience
Did you know that it takes readers no more than 15 seconds to decide if they want to stay on a webpage? When deciding whether to stay or leave a website, these are the factors that people consider:
- Security
- User-friendly web design
- Relevant and readable content
- Website speed
- Eye-catching layout
- Mobile-friendliness
To increase the appeal of your website to foreign visitors, we recommend localising your website and adapt it to suit the culture, behaviour and online preferences of your customers.
4. Improved Global SEO Ranking
Most businesses probably already understand the importance of SEO and how it can increase the discoverability of your website among the overwhelming volume of information available on the Internet. But why stop at making your website SEO optimised in just one language? Localisation is the perfect way to consolidate your SEO ranking on foreign markets and help your website rank for content and keywords in multiple languages.
5. Give Your Business a Competitive Edge
Website localisation can help you get ahead of your competitors by giving you access to global markets. This is especially true if your competition doesn’t have localised websites yet. So, if you have plenty of resources and insightful content on your website, leverage that and make that information available to non-English speaking visitors too.
6. Elevate Your Brand Image
Finally, website localisation serves to enhance your brand communication with your international customers and website visitors. By making it a point to translate and localise information on your website, you can have better control over the type of messages that you want to convey to your consumers.
Delivering consistent brand messaging and experiences across all markets also enables you to establish a stronger emotional connection with your audience. By connecting emotionally with your customers, you can promote long-lasting brand loyalty and boost sales.
Conclusion
In summary, website localisation can bring a myriad of benefits to businesses, including access to global markets, a stronger global market presence and an improved brand image and reputation. Ultimately, all these benefits will translate into better profitability for your business. So, apart from web development and web design, it will be worth considering localisation for your company website as well. For more information on how to build a multilingual website, check out our ebook here.
