Ever thought of localizing your business site for other audiences? With millions of small business sites targeting people all over the world, it’s now a necessity!
Regardless of your business size and purpose, localization is something you must do. This ensures that you’re catering to people, no matter what language they speak. But without experience, you’ll feel stuck since you have no idea how to start.
Don’t feel panic, we’re here with a list to help you understand the benefits and risks.
With this guide, we’ll give you more reasons to localize your website. Read on and learn how localization benefits your website and company brand.
1. Localization Helps Overcome Language Barriers
Did you know that 70% of the world’s internet users aren’t English speakers? The primary reason for this that the growth rate of owning PCs and internet access outside North America and Europe is faster. It’s expected to increase more as the years go by, so localization will become a necessity instead of a novelty.
The biggest benefit of website localization is to break linguistic barriers, opening the doors of your business to a wider audience. Most companies are now aware of the fact that English isn’t the only international medium of communication. It’s now one of the many, which include:
- Arabic
- Chinese
- French
- Spanish
With this, more pages on the internet now have foreign language versions than ever. It means when you haven’t localized your web page yet, you’re at a disadvantage. This will only grow in the future, so it’s better to invest now.
2. Localization Builds Your Company’s Credibility
If your company website is available in English while your competitors cover all major languages, you’re unlikely able to compete with their credibility. Whether you’re a local or international business, a localized website shows that you’re committed to inclusivity, which people appreciate.
Never settle for less and open your horizons to a wider world.
Localization also sends the message that you value, understand, and respect other countries. It’s a great way for people to humanize your brand more. With that, you’re more likely to establish trust and connection.
The reason you become more credible is that your visitors will have a more pleasant experience when interacting with your business. To contribute to this great experience, you must give your audience access to their native language. Otherwise, they won’t understand your content and dismiss your brand in a heartbeat.
Before you spend the time and effort beautifying your website, stick to the fundamentals. Ensure that your site visitors understand the content you’re showing to them. For a more in-depth guide on how to build a localized marketing strategy, click the linked article to learn more.
3. Localization Increases Your Business Revenue
Companies lose billions of dollars’ worth of potential revenue every year since they don’t invest in localization. The majority of internet users buying products online will naturally gravitate toward websites with the information they understand.
It means when you present your products and services using their native language, they feel more comfortable with you. With website localization, you’ll gain more access to thousands or even millions of new customers. For example, 30% of all internet users use Chinese as their main language, but only 2.8% of the World Wide Web’s content is using their language.
That’s a large disparity and a wasted opportunity for lots of businesses. So, if your target market includes native Chinese speakers, adding their language as a website option allows you to serve that market better. Before long, you’ll stand out and become a business leader in your chosen industry.
4. Localization Gives SEO Benefits
Competition online is fierce, and it will only get more difficult from there. That’s why as a business, SEO relevancy is a need if you’re striving to find a perfect SEO keyword combination. Otherwise, you won’t get continuous traffic to your website.
SEO keywords are highly competitive when it’s in English. But if you choose to compete using other languages, you’ll find that the competition is much lower. It’s natural since content using these languages are significantly fewer.
So, if you have a multilingual website, you open the possibility of ranking for some of the less competitive keywords rises. This results in higher traffic from other countries and building your Domain Authority (DA).
Domain Authority is important since it plays a huge part in determining your site ranking. If you focus on foreign keywords, you’ll also see improvements in your domestic keywords. It means you’re reinforcing your SEO efforts if you localize your website.
5. Localization Increases Customer Engagement and Brand Identity
As you continue to build credibility, your users will get more positive experiences on your website. This opens the possibility of furthering interactions with them later on. Always remember that making good impressions is true even when it’s online interactions.
So, if your potential customers find what they’re looking for on their first visit, they’re more liable to return. The best scenario is that these customers bring in more people through their recommendations. This lets you save advertisement money, increasing your bottom line.
Another benefit you get from localizing your website is your brand getting global recognition. If you show that you’re capable of speaking the language of your target market through your website messaging, customers become more inclined to identify with your brand.
That means your new-found market will rely on your business more. They will know you as a desirable solution to their problems.
6. Localization Prevents Shipping Problems
When shipping your products to foreign countries, localization decreases problems encountered during transit. It’s not that uncommon for businesses with no localized efforts to make errors in spelling or formatting a customer’s address. With localization, your checkout process becomes more seamless.
Investing in related software gives your users global shipping capabilities. All they have to do is to pick their country and put their address in the appropriate input fields.
Localize Your Website Today!
These are the reasons why you should localize your business website. Use these to encourage your company to start its localization efforts today.
Did this guide encourage you to localize your website? If so, read our other posts and learn other strategies to market your company.