Hot Topics: Translation Industry, Machine Translation Language Service, Online Communication, International Audience

You’ve Translated Your Website. What’s Next?Blog by Judd Marcello

So, you’ve made your store’s website accessible internationally, at least in the regions in which you’re aiming to grow your presence – congrats! But if you think it’s now just a matter of watching customers from all over the globe immediately stream in, I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news:

Translation’s only the first step.

It’s an incredibly important step, of course, but to really take advantage of translation and truly engage retail customers in varying countries and cultures, you must do more. Here are some of the next steps you should take.

Localize!

All the content on your site – marketing materials, product descriptions, even tabs and buttons – must be tailored specifically to the region and culture you’re targeting. Successfully localizing your site requires research and an understanding of the behaviors, values, and needs of local consumers. Then, you must adapt your already established brand voice to meet those requirements. Personalizing content not only makes your site and business more inviting to new international customers, but it also helps to avoid translation mistakes that can hurt your reputation—occasionally, beyond repair.

This is relevant to images and styles on your website as well – visual items are the first thing most visitors will notice on your site, and if they push the customer away (or offend them), there won’t be anyone around to read the carefully-translated text, or buy anything. It’s also important to keep in mind that communication styles vary around the world—so keep your brand consistent, but tweak the message as needed to make sure it aligns with the intended cultural context.

Bring people there.

You’ve made the site relevant and hospitable to your target customers, but you still need to get them there. Use marketing, social media, and make sure all outreach adheres to the same principles of localization and translation that your website has been privy to in order to drive people to your site. Partner with local or international influencers to gain access to an already-established audience, and build further credibility by association.

Link to the full article HERE