10 Great Reasons to Translate Your Website

Posted on June 20th, 2022.

For most companies, a localized website isn’t a “nice to have” for serving new and existing online customers—it’s a must.

Why? It varies depending on industry vertical, existing global market share and other factors, but nearly every company has at least a few great reasons for translating their sites for multilingual and global customers. Here are 10:

1. You want to expand your brand reach.

Targeting multilingual and global markets is a great way to sustain company growth, and localized websites are the best way to reach them. They’re key for:

• Drumming up brand awareness
• Educating potential customers, distributors, or partners about your brand and its offerings
• And providing engaging customer experiences by serving new customers in their preferred languages

2. Your brand is gaining popularity abroad.

Sometimes your reputation precedes you, and your brand takes off in a new market unexpectedly. If you discover unexpected overseas interest in your products or services, keep the momentum going by translating your website. This shows your appreciation for your new customer base, and gives them a platform to directly engage with your brand.

3. You already do business abroad.

If you’re already conducting business beyond your domestic market, it’s a best practice to provide localized information and support for international customers. Customers are far more likely to do more business with your brand when they can read product descriptions, understand shipping and payment options and transact in the language they’re most comfortable in.

4. Your competitors aren’t doing it—yet.

Having a translated website can differentiate your brand from the competition. Entering into a new market before your rivals can help you a gain market share faster, and empowers you to set the standards for quality and services that your competitors will have to meet later.

5. Your competitors are already doing it.

Your competition may already be serving online customers in their preferred languages. To be relevant in those markets, you should translate your website, too. Luckily, there are translation solutions that get you in new markets fast, with brand-perfect translations that can give you an edge in UX and customer experience.

6. The law demands it.

Sometimes translation is more than just a best practice. In some markets and industries, it’s a legal requirement. Failing to meet these regulations won’t just result in lost business, but in penalties and fines, too.

7. The data suggests it.

Examine your website analytics. Besides your domestic market, where else is visitor traffic coming from? Are global visitors spending time navigating your site, or are they bouncing? Are they converting? Can they convert? Answering these questions with analytics data can reveal untapped markets that can be better served with multilingual websites.

8. You want the SEO benefits.

Your website is more than a platform for customers to engage and transact with your brand. You also reap SEO benefits from online content, which boosts search rankings and organic traffic. Multilingual websites multiply these benefits. Translated content is full of SEO-rich keywords that greatly helps with discovery, when users search in their preferred languages.

9. You want the boost in traffic and revenue.

Global users who can’t read your website won’t find you, and if they don’t find you, they won’t convert.

Making your content available in new languages will attract new customers, grow your website traffic, and ultimately lead to conversions. Conversions need not be limited to on-site transactions. Even non-transactional websites benefit from translation in the form of completed contact forms, informational downloads, and phone calls to sales reps.

10. You want to deliver a world-class customer experience.

Giving your multilingual and global customers an authentic online experience is the best reason to translate your website, and can incorporate any or all the reasons above.

When you want to make new customers aware of your brand, support offerings you already provide, or do a better job of serving a market than your competitors, you do so by giving customers a CX that’s just as good as your origin website’s. Your customers don’t just deserve that stellar experience—they expect it. Don’t let them down.

Source