You might have encountered the word ‘LOCALIZATION’ and you might think of it in any context that might suit what you are describing or talking about. However, Website localization is different from the normal day to day use of localization. Website Localization is the process of refining website content through culture, language and flow to provide the most useful and relevant experience for users i.e putting up information on websites in a format the user who visits the website will understand. You might feel you don’t need to localise your website however research has shown that consumers are more likely to make a purchase from a website if it contains information in their native language.
Your Website represents the beauty of your company, it shows what your company stands for and your values. I refer to a company’s website as your “MINI-YOU” it is a form of you but this time in form of technology so there is a need to always ensure you are well represented, translation might not work for all things in case you feel translation is enough. Localization has the power to grab the attention of a new customer to your website. Translation might not do that, since your audience have to go through the process of translating whatever is on your website. But with localization the work is easier on both you and the audience.
If your website and your contents are relatable in languages people understand of course they won’t mind sleeping and waking up on your page in fact they trust you more than you trust yourself.
The essence of localization is to ensure that your website makes sense in a linguistic and cultural context for everyone coming from different country.
Here are the tips on how to deliver an effective website localization process.
- You need to identify your target Market: You will deliver an effective website localization if you identify your target market and where you think your product will be more useful and even successful. Begin with those areas first and be open minded, new markets may open in the nearest future.
- Put your team together: You need people who will understand what makes your customer tight. If you want to stand out from the crowd and also increase your sales, don’t cut corners, don’t adopt the DIY method. Ask for the others opinions, ensure you and your team members are usually on the same page and you are not an island of knowledge. Make mistakes, mistakes are highly welcome, they make you do better. Don’t expect every team member to be perfect.
- Get your keyword research done: After you identify your target market and you put your team together, you need to get your lists of keywords prepared. Know the keywords that operates both home and abroad.
- Identify the language of the Internet: Research has shown that 26% of internet users are English speakers. 26% doesn’t cover the population of those using the internet. Therefore you need to identify the language other people speak and channel your localization towards there.
- Watch out for the best website localization format: Gone are the days when you put all your website content into an Ms word file or Excel sheet so you can get them translated and your website created in another language. On your team, you should have a tech savvy who can handle your HTML FILES, XML FILES, INDESIGNS and basically anything you can of. With the current technology in place your gets going.
Just like making profit is so important to your company, there is a need for you to take your company’s image which is your website very importantly as it’s represents who you truly are.
iVoice Africa offers the very best quality Website localization and translation services to fit your media needs. Our team of professional artists would be eager to get to work to bring your scripts to life. We also provide translation and localization services. Reach us via +234 7026276411 or via email @ info@ivoiceafrica.com today
