Everyone understands the internet is truly global. Despite the fact that not everyone understands the same language, there are a lot of countries having more than one official language. Moreover, everyone has picked up certain words from certain languages along with phrases and sentences, to make things work.
English is the official language of the United States. Yet a large chunk of the population speaks Spanish and French. Canada is bilingual as it has both English and French in usage, yet French speakers are all over the nation. In Switzerland, German is the official language with French being the second official while Italian gets a free run too.
Both English and Cantonese are official languages in Hong Kong. In the Philippines, the population speaks Tagalog but English is also the official language. In Mexico, Spanish is the de facto official language but a sizable chunk of the population now speaks English, French and German.
In Italy, Italian is the official language but up north in South Tyrol, the Austrian dialect of German is spoken. Same goes for Bulgaria, where Bulgarian is the official language but Turkish is spoken in the South where Ethnic Turks dominate the landscape. Similarly in Lebanon, Arabic is the official language along with French, English and Armenian.
These countries are just a handful of examples of how multiple languages can be prevalent within a country. As a matter of fact, it is quite rare to come across a country where more than one language isn’t spoken.
Businesses can take advantage of this well-known fact to expand the potential client base to a broader group of people. A multilingual website will certainly help companies attract new clients at both local and international levels.
What are the benefits of a multilingual website?
People love browsing websites for obtaining information or for purchasing goods/services in their native language. English is indeed the universal language. Yet it does not mean that everyone speaks it properly.
Numerous Research reports exhibited that almost 72% of consumers spent most of their time on websites written and designed in their own language. 56.2% of consumers stated that the ability to obtain information in their own language is more important than the price.
This indicates that over half of the consumers surveyed revealed that they are willing to pay more if the information available is in their native language. Hence, Professionals from the best web design agency in Dubai have now decided to explain to use the benefits a website in multiple languages can bring:
A multilingual website helps in making trust
For most, conducting online purchases from a website in a foreign language requires a large leap of faith, especially if it’s written in a language no user understands. In short, it is like an American purchasing something from a website totally in Russian.
People feel more comfortable with and place more trust in brands offering them information in their native localized language. The ability to read and comprehend anything written on the website raises a user’s trust in it.
Additionally, the fact that companies have gone beyond the rules to cater to the audience’s request for the native language web pages shows that these companies are customer-centric, and they really do care.
Multilingual websites bring in more sales
Each language added to a website has the potential for monumentally raising a firm’s sales. Besides targeting the local market, the presence of a multilingual website will hence attract users from other countries too.
Meanwhile, internet penetration in the United States, United Kingdom and Germany have nearly reached saturation points, countries like France, Italy and Japan along with some are seeing a constant rise in internet usage, online shopping especially. For those who wish to do business in new markets, the opportunity for them is tremendous.
Multilingual Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Google, Yahoo and Bing rule supreme in the west. Yet there are other countries that have their own search engines in their native languages. Plus, StartPage is a new one making strides. But to index a website in local languages, companies need to understand those search engines too.
A multilingual website needs a multilingual SEO (keywords in other languages that is). The website will show up on those search engines which hence give companies access to a whole new market.
Multilingual websites give companies an edge over competitors
It is true that the internet is loaded with numerous websites. But a lot of them do not always feature the same kind of content. A multilingual website stands out in the crowd and makes it more than likely for users to remember it. This can help a firm stay ahead of competitors. Even some app development companies are now making apps that are available in multiple regions around the world.
Best practices for a multilingual website that should not be overlooked
One of the best practices involves featuring one language per page. Having content in more than one language on a single page will confuse users. It should be avoided as it will hurt the optimization score. Hence, it is best to have separate pages for different languages.
Users should be enabled to toggle easily between various languages. Clearly, labelled links should be provided between content pages of different languages so users can make the decision about their preferred language.
Read More: How To Do Multilingual SEO Keyword Research With Translation Services
Conclusion
Companies must hire a competent translator to translate the site. Google, Bing, StartPage and other search engines allow them to easily translate content into other languages through their translators, but a real person can help ensure no grammatical error is present. Their expertise will help the website sound better and look more professional.
