Team
12.06.2024
Website translation and localization: Personalization for new markets
Why should you translate and localize your site?
Many businesses today want to scale through globalization and access to different markets. This is especially true for the e-commerce industry. But sometimes it's not enough to make your site multilingual because of the peculiarities and traditions of different cultures and peoples. This will require more than just translating your store's product cards, but a deeper concept like localization to take into account all aspects when entering international markets.
Localization of content is necessary to establish a genuine connection with different cultures and traditions. This is just as important as translation, since a personalized approach can lead to increased sales.
What is the difference between translation and localization?
Translation means converting content from one language to another. This helps improve the user experience (UX) by increasing traffic, sales, and revenue.
Localization adapts content to a specific region or community. This includes not only translating, but also taking into account cultural nuances, date, time, unit formats, and other elements to create an authentic user experience.
Differences between translation and localization
Social evidence: enable reviews from local users.
Subtext and context: taking into account cultural values, morals, color schemes, and the use of emojis.
Legal issues: compliance with local laws, such as GDPR in Europe.
Design: the need to adapt the site layout depending on the length of words and phrases in different languages.
Translation focuses on linguistic accuracy, while localization adapts content to cultural and regional characteristics, which requires taking into account the context.
Best practices for translating and localizing websites
Understanding the target market culture: learning about holidays, cultural references, and idioms.
Local SEO optimization: using unique URLs for local content, adding relevant links, and using hreflang tags correctly.
Intuitive language switches: providing convenient options for switching languages.
Offering local payment options: adapting payment systems to your local preferences.
Ending
Localization is very important for an effective marketing strategy if you are targeting different audiences around the world. Adapting content to your site plays a key role.
The Labpics team also conducts an audit of your site with its subsequent adaptation and redesign. Come to a free online consultation to learn more.