10 Tips for Effective Web Content Localization

For every web user, it’s all about content and experience. Regardless of where a user is based, the “quality of translation” will mean nothing to them. Web users simply want good content that gives them a natural online experience. Translated web content should not be considered an extension of the original source content. Each language website is a separate and valuable digital asset. Web content must be tailored to effectively resonate with multilingual and multicultural audiences.

Here are some industry expert tips for website localization:

• Know Your Audience. First and foremost, know who will be reading and engaging with your web content. This must include definitions by country, language, demographics, cultural preferences, access to technology, dominant payments systems, legal and financial regulations and much more. You may need more than one language variant for each country. For example, in Switzerland, there are four language spoken with varying cultures. Giving the user the option to choose a language rather than country allows better targeting.
• Cultural Adaptation. Local language web content must be developed for that specific audience. This process will involve a combination of localization, translation, internationalization and transcreation. Some technical content, for example product support FAQs, must be accurately translated and stay close to the source. For more subjective marketing content, linguistic copywriters can provide content, which retains the overall concept and brand values, utilizing marketing copy that is written specifically for the target, local audience.
• Teamwork is Global. Work with cross-functional teams. This means many internal teams working towards similar goals and objectives. Localization and language service buyers, as well as marketing, IT, web design, development all play an important role in developing web content and must establish good communication and teamwork. Sharing the same goals and objectives at a cross-functional level will help working relationships and produce effective multilingual web content.
• Be Discovered. Having an awesome multilingual web experience is a waste of time if no one can find you. Multilingual SEO and SEM are keys to success. It’s not a case of translating key words used for the source web content. Unique key words for SEO purposes that are specific to the target audience must be identified in advance of publishing our web content.
• Support Local Payment Systems. Not everyone uses PayPal. In China, Alipay is the most widely used online payment method. In the Netherlands, people are used to paying through the secure e-commerce payment system, iDEAL. If e-commerce is part of your web experience, understand the security and global restrictions in currency and payment methods.
• Listen to Users. Once you have launched multilingual web content, pay attention to what users are saying about you in social media and online forums. If there is a glitch or cultural error in web content, you can guarantee it will be openly discussed. Understanding user generated content (UGC) in all languages can help stay aligned to users and customers.
• Reading Styles Matter. People consume web content in different ways. In the west, many people read a web page in an F-shaped pattern. Arabic countries read right to left therefore F-shape approach will not work. The same layout for every language version will not work.
• Text Expansion Rules. Allow for text expansion in spacing. Russian is 40% longer than English! How much character room do you need on a web page for it to be consumed and adherent to your style guidelines? Prepare and plan for all languages or you will need to create customized sites per language.
• Use Internationalization Standards. The process of adapting software to different languages to meet national standards. Elements can include UI, date displays, calendars, currencies, public holidays, address layout, telephone number format and much more. Good internationalization not only meets the needs of users, but also may be a legal requirement for local regulatory standards.
• Accommodate Mobile Platforms. If users are accessing web content via mobile devices, then your web content has to be adapted for mobile too. Reading content from a mobile device is totally different from reading content on a laptop. Mobile users tend to look at images more than text — remember they could be on the move. The same applies for scrolling. Key messages have to stand out at the top with concise messaging to avoid scrolling.

One final word of advice is remember to keep refreshing and developing new content for all websites. This will keep online users engaged and also keep sites ranked high in the relevant search engines, whether it is for Google, Baidu, Qihoo 360, Naver, Yandex or Yahoo! Japan. When you need expertise in web localization, give us a shout! Welocalize’s web experts can help guide you through the right questions based on best practices and proven digital marketing industry leadership.