In this digital age where everything is just a click away, online visibility is almost equal to conversion and profit. The more accessible and visible your website is to your target market, the better your chances are of getting ahead of the cutthroat competition. Because better online visibility means a better opportunity to share important information and breakthroughs. Also, better online visibility could mean a better opportunity to share your advocacies.
More often than not, if you open your website to users with different languages, you are also expanding your scope of service and your prospective market.
Regardless of the industry and domain, the importance of online visibility is something that cannot be denied. Then again, most of the content available online is in English. This can be limiting your audience reach. To remedy this, the best option is to launch multilingual web pages.
If you are still not convinced of the necessity of having your website translated into different languages, check these out reasons.
Launching Multilingual webpages means expanding your market reach.
According to eConsultancy.com, only 31 percent of online users account for those who understand the English language. If you stick to an English only webpage, you are limiting your visibility to a portion of this meager 31 percent population.
However, if you add another language, say for instance, German and Italian, you automatically add around 70 to 80 million online users to your prospective market. Just imagine how your market reach would expand if you add more languages.
For instance, you own and manage a rehab facility. You currently have around 50,000 online users. If you translate your webpage into different languages, it would be very easy for you to convert these 50,000 online users to 500,000 or more. Once you have expanded your online reach, it would be easier for you to persuade your market.
Get ahead of the tough competition.
If you go out of your way to reach out to the non-English speaking population by translating your webpage into their language, you will most likely get their trust. According to Kwintessential, if you have more multilingual pages, you will immediately have more customers, thus, gaining a better position in the tough competition.
Again, let’s go back to our example. This organization offers assistance to addicted individuals to find the right treatment option. There are actually a lot of organizations that are offering the same kind of service.
If they want to stand out and get ahead of the competition, they have to be proactive and offer something that has not been offered by their competitors. An example of this service that they can offer is translating their English website into different languages. In doing so, even if they are only based in one country, they can make their services known in other parts of the globe, thus, getting as much attention and views as they can.
Choosing a second language is a more cost-effective option.
Launching a multilingual website is actually less costly compared to opening a new office in a different country. You achieve the same purpose but with less expense. You can also manage and oversee these different markets without having to physically move from one location to another.
Translated websites mean empathy
For the customer, going the extra mile of delivering your message in their own language simply means that you care for them. Not all businesses and organizations are willing to do this. If you are proactive enough to beat your competition, you will not only gain a prospective market but most importantly, you will gain your audiences’ trust and confidence.
Search Engines will love you more.
What leads people to one’s website are search engines. In France, Japan, and China, MSN, Yahoo, and Google are not designated as default engines for searching online. In these countries, they have homegrown ones which gain patronage because they are centered on the needs and habits of their users and are presented in native languages. Unless these search engines are accessed in a specific language via your own multilingual website, then chances are, you will not be found in the searches. Therefore, to tap into these markets, you have to translate your website into their language.
Also, most of the bigger and reputable search engines like Google were also advancing to develop abilities to facilitate searches through foreign languages. If you have a website translated in these languages supported by Google, then you have higher chances of being included in the top searches.
Cultural Sensitivity
One of the greatest barriers to communication is culture and language. If a certain website is translated into different languages, it has the capacity to overcome cultural and language barriers. By permitting access of users in the native tongue, the user can feel that they are in their comfort zones since they are able to interact, understand, and navigate the website with ease.
As a result, the users will be informed of the brand you’re carrying and of the product you’re selling, thereby making it easier to follow-up with a sales initiative.
Translating your English only website into as many local languages as you can, can be costly at the onset. However, if you try to list down the benefits and the advantages you, your advocacy, and your organization can get out of it, you can most certainly say that the benefits outweigh the cost and that it’s a very good investment after all.
You can start with one language at a time and who knows, in no time, you will find your website available in almost all major languages of the world.
Author: The Digital Marketing Guru
The Digital Marketing Guru is a full-service digital marketing agency. We’ve been providing a wide range of services to clients of all industries since 2010. Our digital marketing services include consulting and management options for a variety of online marketing tactics including search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) ads, copywriting conversion rate optimization (CRO), and more. We also offer expert web design and development services for both eCommerce and B2B companies. Don’t just partner with any digital marketing agency; work with a company you can trust.