Reaching a new target audience with your website content is dependent on a variety of factors. The language, culture, color standards, use of graphics, and so many other pieces of your content play into whether you’ll successfully target your organization’s desired audience. One way to increase the success rate of reaching out to a new audience is to pursue website localization.
Website localization is the process of adapting your web content to a specific locale or market. It involves the adaptation of graphics, content (including idioms, jokes, etc.), design and layout, measurements, dates, and more. The goal of website localization is to make your online presence feel as though it were originally written and created in the target language/culture.
Website localization best practices
While undertaking a new website localization project can seem overwhelming, there are a few key best practices that can help to reduce the stress surrounding them.
Identify your target region, culture, and language. Going into a localization project with all of the information you need about the target audience your organization is trying to reach will help to ensure you don’t waste time and money on your localization project. Be sure you have an understanding of the dialect(s) used in the area, the predominant culture in the area, and the target market for your product or service.
Gather your brand assets. Before starting a website localization project, gather your logo, stock photos, downloads, and any other content that you’ll want to be on the localized version of your website. If you have the native, editable files (from InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.), those are of the most benefit to your localization team, who will take great care to ensure the colors, fonts, and messaging of your assets will reach your target audience.
Define your project scope. If your website has a wide variety of pages or a lot of content, it’s of benefit to your organization and your project to determine which aspects of your website will best reach your target audience. If you don’t know where to start with identifying the content that would be best for your localization project, you can work with your Language Service Provider to help make that determination.
Make use of linguistic assets. Translation style guides and glossaries can benefit your website localization project positively, increasing the consistency of your translated terms across the website. Additionally, Linguistic Assets help to streamline the process by letting each of the translators working on your project know beforehand what should and shouldn’t be translated, and if there are official translations for particular brand language.
Be sure to work with a provider who uses Translation Memory software as well, so these assets are saved and used across your projects. Additionally, Translation Memory ensures consistency across documents, streamlines the translation process, and can save you money on repeated content.
Hire an expert. You know your industry, but localization experts can help you to reach that new market more effectively than localizing in-house. Your combined expertise will allow the project to be completed in a more timely and effective manner.
We can help you get started on your next localization project. Call us at 530-750-2040, or request a free quote today.
Ash is the Marketing Coordinator at Avantpage, Inc. Ash works to create high-value, targeted content that allows consumers to connect with us at Avantpage. They are a strong proponent of everyone having equal access to communication and information. They have written and created content for a variety of online platforms, and have been published in over 30 online platforms with varying topics. But Ash is other things too! An avid athlete, Ash enjoys spending their free time rock climbing, partaking in aerial circus sports, and practicing acroyoga.