ensuring effective website localization

Website Localization: What for?

Website localization is the process of adapting your website to appeal to a specific cultural or regional group by using appropriate language, pictures, and symbolism familiar to that group. When you attract customers to your website you want to keep them on your site long enough to get them interested in your product and get them to commit to a purchase. Effective website localization ensures that your product resonates with your target customer because they see it fitting in with their own cultural background, their value system and their lifestyle.

There are many different things to think about when you use website localization. It is not as simple as translating your site into the language of the people you wish to reach. If not done effectively it can have the reverse effect of scaring customers off rather than keeping them on your site. You do not want anything to offend their sensibilities.

Website Localization for Photos

Consider for example, the photos on your website. Do they reflect a group of people that represent the ethnic group you are targeting and are they wearing appropriate clothing? While Western cultures are quite used to seeing scantily clad women in advertisements, this might not be the right approach for reaching an audience that is primarily Eastern or Middle Eastern. If you are using a website localization service you will want to inquire whether they are specialists in the cultural background of the group that you wish to reach.

Website Localization and Language

In addition to photographs of people on your site you will want to pay attention to language. Do not depend on the fact that your website localization translator speaks French for example. Do they speak the French that is spoken in France or the French that is spoken in Quebec? People who purchase items on the Internet are four times more likely to buy from a website that addresses them in their native language. But if they sense that this is a foreign website, because of unfamiliar regional idioms or vocabulary, they may continue surfing until they find a site they are more comfortable with.

Website Localization and Visual Layout

Another thing to consider when you are laying out your plan for website localization is the visual appeal of the website. If you are trying to reach, for example, a Middle Eastern or Indian population, you should remember that they read from right to left, not from left to right as we do in the West. Chinese and Japanese speakers read from top to bottom. This might make a difference to your layout if you are depending on eye-catching graphics for visual appeal.
Consider also the symbology you use on your site and make sure you have not accidentally used an image or symbol that could inadvertently offend the people that you are trying to reach.

Test your Localization

The only way to be sure that your website localization is effective is to put it to the test. Before publishing the site, do a test site with people you trust from the culture you wish to appeal to. In this way you can be confident that when you publish your site it will hold maximum appeal for those you are trying to reach.