Would you like to be able to reach an international audience and for your website to expand? If you want this, you must start an international SEO process, which must be made up of different aspects. Thanks to this, your website can be more profitable and scale much more , to achieve that goal you have, which is the foreign market..
But, you should know that if you are going to design a website, which is based for an international audience, localization is always going to be the priority . Localization is a necessity that every company has when it wants to reach cross-border markets. However, it is essential to use other types of complements that help you achieve success.
Localization is about being able to adapt the content that your website has, so that it can meet the requirements that you have established, such as cultural and linguistic ones..
It is also important to know that when you have poorly done translations, along with content that is separated, it will not generate any sales. Therefore, if you want your website to reach international audiences, check out this post, as you will find everything you need.
Keys that will help you prepare your website for international audiences
If you are thinking of designing your website, with a view to reaching international audiences, it is time for you to start thinking about a world with images, colors, coding and content. But, before you start designing it, you should ask yourself a very important question: How can I design my website for a global audience? That is why, below, you have some keys that will help you achieve this goal..
1. Be patient, the process takes time
The important thing is always to be able to hit the right moment. On the one hand, it is understandable not to be so perfectionist when working on a website that will take you many years. On the other hand, it is also a mistake to rush their launch, since they are always left with multiple errors and will not be able to be loaded correctly.
In today's digital world, design coding trends are changing rapidly. Therefore, it is most likely that it will take a long time to create your website, ending up with one that is not updated and is not compatible with new advances.
For this reason, it is very important that you include different areas in your creation . Within these areas are coders, translators, copywriters and designers. Of course, you must establish a period for its creation, since these people need time to create a website that can connect with global audiences.
2. Your global audience must be at the center of your design
Being able to understand your audience is going to be key for you to be able to design a website that is functional for it. For this, you will need to understand what your business needs are , as well as where your customers are coming from and who are the future buyers. Thanks to this, you will be able to interact much better with them.
Another option, so that you avoid having to rebuild your website in the future, is to know which markets you would like to enter in the near future. It is always important that you keep track of what language they speak, as well as their holidays, since this could affect your sales.
Chances are you don't know the answers about it, so you'll have to do some research. The results you get will probably be different for each type of segment. In this way, you must design in your mind a global audience. What does this mean? Well, that you optimize the user experience, so that the place from which they are visiting the web does not interfere or matter .
3. Be aware of the use of images
It is important to know that images on a website have two types of problems. Not all images, as well as colors, are interpreted in the same way in different cultures . On the other hand, images come to have an effect when the load time on your website is very high.
For this reason, you must be very selective when choosing the images that you will place on your website, because not all of them will be appropriate in the same way, since each audience is different.
4. Use Unicode
Unicode is a standard that is part of the computer industry, which allows the coherence of the text to be better represented, regardless of the script that is being used. This technique caters for different languages such as English, Arabic, Russian and Chinese. Also, it works for languages that are read from left to right (LTR) as well as right to left (RTL).
On the other hand, it is a function that has more than one hundred thousand characters and more than ninety different scripts . Its most common character encoding is UTF-8, because it is an encoding that can represent all the characters found in it.
Currently, UTF-8 is the default encoding system for websites. Therefore, by adopting Unicode, your website will be able to support almost all languages.
However, this is a somewhat advanced option. If you have a simple website and are using a CMS like WordPress or Wix, you don't need to worry about this.
5. Hreflang tags
Hreflang tags are those that allow search engines to understand that your website has similar content for different languages , getting users to be directed to the correct version.
You can also check out this great guide on SEO techniques for 2022 that we published a few weeks ago.
6. Site speed
If you want everyone, globally, to have the same experience using the web, you'll need to use a Content Delivery Network (CDN). Thanks to this, the loading times of the website will be faster globally .
If the case is that you are offering your products or services in a market that has slow internet speeds, the best option is a CDN, since it will greatly improve the user experience.
However, avoid overloading your website with images that are large or videos that cause the bandwidth to be depleted. If this is the case, they will not be able to load in some regions and will slow down the website.
7. The phrase 'less is more' is true
It is much easier to locate websites that do not have so many images in their designs. Keep in mind how Google has managed to stand out, in products that have been able to scale, by using interfaces that are minimalist.
By having many images, websites tend to load much slower . In addition, you will need to find images that are appropriate for all the markets you are targeting.
8. The translation
The vast majority of people believe that translating their website just by adding an app or plugin is enough. And they are partially correct, since, although the automatic translations in many cases can be very good, they should always be reviewed, at least once, by an expert or native speaker.
Although there are tools for this such as Google Translate, which is a way to quickly translate a short text, many times what is obtained is the essence of what is said and not its translation as such.
Mostly, when there are expressions in the languages or differences in their grammatical structure, not even the tool will be able to offer the essence of what is being said. As a result of this, a "totally confused" sentence is achieved .
Text translations are very easy to correct because you only have to translate and correct them once, but in the case of communicating with users, it is a bit more complicated. However, there are tools to create chatbots that allow you to translate chats in real time (as well as Crisp) in order to offer customer service to anyone regardless of what language they speak.
Globalizing your website requires a good strategy
Going global is rewarding when viewed from a customer relations and business perspective. However, it is a project that requires patience and dedication. In addition to on-page strategies, don't forget that traditional or off-page advertising strategies such as networking events or guest posting can also drive international traffic.
Remember that a website cannot develop all its functions overnight. Therefore, it is ideal that you create a long-term strategy, so that you can meet your goals. Designing a website for an international audience can seem difficult. But do not be afraid, the ideal is that you go step by step and always looking towards the future. It will be much easier when you think about the global objectives that you want to achieve from the beginning. Bearing this in mind, it is also important that you keep localization in mind from the beginning, as well as having a team of professionals to help you create your website. Try it!
