Websites are critically important for global businesses as they give leverage to search engines. People depend upon search engines to look for products and services that they want. The search engine comes up with the most relevant results related to your search. People tend to purchase products from websites more than social media. However, certain rules govern search engines that show the order and ranking of your website with the help of search engine algorithms.
The quality and volume of your content and how overwhelming your content is influence the traffic on the website and this in return improves the ranking of your site. This technique is called search engine optimization. Understanding all these things will ensure that your website is ready for launch and it will get more traffic leading to more sales. For optimal results, consider professional website translation services to reach a wider audience and expand your global reach.
Why It is Necessary to Translate Website into Multiple Languages
Customers opt to buy products and services from the website which is in their native language. Therefore, if they are unable to understand the language then they will not buy anything from it. Top-notch companies of the world are aware of this fact so they translate websites into multiple languages. For instance, Microsoft has translated its website into 110 languages, Toyota has translated its languages into 75 languages and Google has translated it into 80 languages.
No doubt that English is a universal language however a study of the Asia Pacific region excluding Australia revealed that English as a universal language accounts only for 6.7% of the population. If you go for factual study from other regions then you will get to know that English is a primary language and the majority of the people around it use it.
If checked from an SEO and website ranking point of view, it is very important to rank well in a single-speaking country. However, an English website doesn’t need to work well for other geographical regions. For example, an English website that is ranked at the top in Australia will not work properly for the Japanese target market because the Japanese target audience will search through Japanese terms. Businesses must develop and translate their website in such a way so that they can take leverage from global opportunities. Here is where professional website translation services come in.
Essential Steps to Follow When Translating Your Website
Translation of a website is a cumbersome task. This task is based on different factors and includes the involvement of different stockholders. For this difficult task, many companies hire professional translation agencies.
Translation Company Should Know the Built of the Website
The build of your website will determine the speed of the translation. Moreover, the structure of the site will make the translation company decide how to manage the content. Many CMS platforms such as HubSpot, Drupal, and WordPress have a feature to import and export data. Moreover, they also support multilingual plug-ins. If your website is built on HTML, then the translation company can translate raw source files. Moreover, if your website is using a translation proxy then when the foreign user lands on the page, the proxy helps to replace the source text with the translations that are present on a server. It is very important to know your site coding well. This will help the translation company to carry on with the translation process efficiently and cost-effectively.
Updating the Information on the Website
You must understand the update cycle of the website. Do you need to update the website frequently? How many times do you need to translate your pages for updates? Who is responsible for multilingual pages? Do you do it by yourself or hire a translation company? If your website needs to be updated regularly then map out your expectations and share them with the translation company. While keeping the translation company on board you can make sure that appropriate resources are available for you.
Decide Which Page to Translate
Sometimes, it is not necessary to translate all the pages of the website. This is because you must delete certain regions or cultural-related content on foreign language sites. For this, you must review the entire site before going for professional website translation services and identify which page requires translation.
The Content Should Resonate with the Target Market
You cannot use the same phrases and references for international markets. For instance, you cannot use the SSN or toll-free number outside the US market. If they are required, you must use other appropriate terms that are applicable in that market. You also need to decide which part of the information needs to be removed. Identifying such scenarios before translation will help you to come up with the new text and give you assistance about how to handle such content.
Understanding the Expansion and Contraction of the Languages
You must know that during the translation process, some texts expand while others contract. For example, languages like Spanish, German, and French occupy 30 to 40% more space on websites. Ask your designer to show you a sample of the web with 30 to 40% space so that you can assume how your translated content will be adjusted and what it will look like. Give attention to detail to call-to-action buttons. They may have limitations of word count and you may need to rephrase the content.
Wrapping Up
With the emergence of evolving technology in our lives, there are many other technical aspects that you need to keep in mind while going for professional website translation services. If you hire the right translation company then technology assistance with linguistic skills will ease the difficulties of website translation. Professional translation companies employ a team of native translators who can provide you with seamless translation services while keeping regional and cultural nuances in view