What Language Does Your Website Speak?
January 3, 2019
Over the past decade, the World Wide Web has created numerous opportunities for manufacturers, distributors and retailers to expand their customer base by connecting with non-English speaking consumers worldwide. Nonetheless, reaching out to such a potentially large customer base is not as easy as 1-2-3. Assuming your products or services are well suited for other countries, as well as non-native speakers in the United States, there are several cultural and language-related hurdles that must be negotiated to deliver an effective marketing message that captures these additional sales.
Obviously, the Internet provides incredible digital access for companies to grow revenue and increase profits. However, with only 20% of the global population speaking English (and many of those people are not native English speakers), more than half of the websites in cyberspace are still available in only an English version. You can immediately see the potential impact that multilingual content could have on your website's overall traffic. Unfortunately, many of the people responsible for their company's online marketing efforts do not fully understand the intricacies involved to ensure their online message is translated accurately.
Gaining a competitive edge with the right website localization could be your next big marketing move. But, multilingual websites can be a tricky for non-polyglots. First, it is important that the appropriate search engines can find your website's content when a non-English search query is made. Secondly, it is essential that your site's localized content maximize your business opportunities by providing an excellent customer experience for the user. So, you can forget using that free automated translation tool or cheap website plug-in to interpret marketing content that best positions your offerings.
The most positive impact on online users of differing languages comes from a full translation of your website and social media, which often has a higher volume of foreign traffic. Moreover, if your plan for expanding your business to other areas of the world represents significant growth opportunities, it is time for you to consider a professional translation service that specializes in the transcreation of content to ensure your text, idioms, colloquialisms, examples and humor are accurately received. At ProLingo, we are always aware of how subtle differences in interpretation affect your multilingual communications. Call today to speak with an experienced linguist about your website translation.
