In the era of globalization, an international website is an essential tool for a business that wants to break through and target an audience located in different parts of the world, speaking different languages, and having different cultural characteristics. A well-built website like this can attract users and buyers from various and diverse audiences, significantly growing your business. Israeli companies like Meitronics, Palson, Geniger, and Maabarot are successfully implementing international websites and enjoying growth in foreign markets. So how do you do it in the best way? There are quite a few challenges to face when setting up an international website. It is worth investing in planning and considering all the components to do it in the most correct and efficient way possible.
We have gathered a few tips to help you build a website that will provide you with the best results:
- Adapt content to multiple languages
Content adapted to many languages is a crucial foundation for a successful international website. It is important that it is not just a translation of the content, but a complete recreation and adaptation of the meaning, intent, and context according to the target language. It is very important to optimize the content on your site so that it is suitable for international customers. Make sure that the meaning of the content doesn’t change when translated into other languages and that the message you wanted to convey comes across correctly.
The decision to maintain dedicated websites for each country/language presents several challenges that require attention:
- Accurate and correct translation: You need to review the translations to ensure they are accurate and appropriate. Although it is a significant investment to implement a manual process carried out by suitable team members who speak the local language, it is an investment you should not skip. Using translation software may be cost-effective in the short term, but you risk incorrect and nonsensical translations. Keep in mind that you will need to allocate time for your team or resources to employ additional employees/freelancers for this task. Investing in local editors has proven to be worthwhile in the long run.
- Update across all sites: You need to ensure that the content is regularly updated on all country-specific sites and that content updated on your main site is also updated across the additional sites. One way to do this is by ensuring there is a CMS system that updates local editors about new content. There are several other methods, in this link you can find an article detailing these methods.
- Automated processes: As much as possible, it is recommended to automate the translation and entry process for all the sites. Otherwise, you will spend considerable time inputting translated content into the country-specific websites.
- Don’t skimp on translated content: It is important to ensure a reasonable amount of content is translated and not leave country sites with sparse information.
- Localization: Beyond translation, localization needs to be performed according to the target destination, and it is also essential to adapt keywords. This way, you will also achieve a higher ranking in search results in the target country.
- Involve local teams: Involve your local teams in managing and maintaining the local site. This way, they will feel more responsibility for updating these sites.
- Ensure content matches the target audience:
When preparing content, pay attention to the following points:
- Seasonal content (for example, winter clothing) that fits one hemisphere of the globe but not the other, which is currently experiencing summer.
- Terms related to specific cultures that may not be understood in other cultures – you may need to explain them.
- Use of measurements: Miles or kilometers? Fahrenheit or Celsius? Make sure to use what is relevant to the local target audience, or implement an API tool that performs these conversions.
- Call-to-action (CTA) buttons: Leave space for longer text that may be needed when content is translated into other languages, and be sure to separate the text layer from the image.
- Dates: There are countries where the weekend falls on Saturday and Sunday, and countries (like Israel) where it doesn’t.
- Images: Avoid using images that contain text that search engines cannot identify or translate, and ensure the use of images reflecting international conventions – like a stop sign, for example.
In conclusion, it is recommended to maintain a central content calendar (editorial calendar) that manages all expected content updates. This will make it easier for you to control the content update process across your website and all subsidiary sites.
- Avoid rigid local settings
Many international websites route domain and language by default according to the location of the users (Dynamic GeoIP). For example, if you visit the eBay website in the UK, you will be automatically routed to the www.eBay.co.uk site in English. This is an example of a rigid local setting. In contrast, there are websites that allow users to browse websites adapted to any location, meaning their local settings are flexible, and no matter where they are accessing the site from, their physical location will not be a limitation.
- Limit text in images
It is important to remember that Google or other translation software does not translate text embedded within images as a graphic element when translating your website content for international customers. If you embed a lot of text in images or use graphic elements combined with text instead of headings, logos, or other information, you may miss out on potential customers who do not understand the language.
- Correct Color Selection
Different colors have different meanings in different cultures, so this is a complex but important task. It is important to “play” with the colors in a way that appeals to the largest common denominator. Consider the industry you are in as well as your target audience – and choose colors accordingly.
- Friendly Checkout Process
A website that provides its customers with an easy purchasing process through a shopping cart improves its online sales data. If you offer international shipping, pay attention to the following points:
- Inform customers in advance if the product can be shipped to their address
- Allow customers to convert payment to local currency. You can add an API to the site that handles currency conversions.
- Show customers all information about shipping fees and taxes before starting the checkout process. This way you can avoid abandonment during the process.
- Provide multiple payment options. Customers from different locations prefer different forms of payment.
- Optimize for Local Searches
One of the big dilemmas regarding building an international site is whether there is a need to do targeting for both language and country. There are cases where the same language (English or Spanish, for example) is spoken in several countries. So the answer to this question is not clear-cut, and it depends on your products, your target audience, and other variables.
- If you plan to offer the same products at the same prices everywhere, there is no need to maintain separate local sites. You can create subdirectories on your main site, for example, www.YourBrand.com/uk for the UK. In such a case, you will need to integrate geo-location options in your Google Webmaster account.
- In cases where location and targeting are not critical according to the business model, such as a technology blog with an advertising-based business model or a SaaS service, it may not be necessary to localize for every country, at least not in the first phase. The site Skype for example, focuses on the language and not the location.
- When dealing with an audience in many countries but speaking the same language, it may not be necessary to localize for each country, at least not in the first phase.
- On the other hand, you might decide to create different versions of the same site to offer products and promotions tailored to the location, and apply location-based keywords. In this case, the main address – the top-level domain (TLD) should be tailored directly to the country, for example www.YourBrand.uk. In this case, it is important to plan all content, meta description, title, keywords, etc., in the local language.
- Handling duplicate content: Due to the possibility that duplicate content across multiple sites may affect SEO (search engine ranking), it is recommended to consult with international SEO experts. You may need to implement redirects from sub-sites to the main site in the same language. This link provides a detailed explanation about the meaning of duplicate content and its impact on your SEO.
- What do competitors do? Before you start building your website, check how leading sites are structured in the markets you are targeting. You can use the Industry Analysis tool on the SimilarWeb site to find leading sites in the countries and sectors you are targeting. Pay attention to the structure of the most successful sites. To focus and refine the results, you can use services like impersonal.me or I Search From to simulate a search from your target location. Pay attention to the structure of the queries for the most popular searches.
- Check Website Load Time on Slow Connections
Page load speed is an important factor in international sales. The loading speed of pages varies in different locations depending on connection speeds, so it is important to optimize speed and improve content loading times in different locations.
A good international website relies on a CDN (Content Delivery Network) – a network of servers located in various places around the world to improve page loading speed in different locations across the globe.
It is recommended to consult with professionals experienced in international website development during the site’s development process.
- Consider local market constraints
- Compliance with legal requirements: Are there legal restrictions in the target country regarding language localization? Some countries legally require offers and promotions to be in the local language.
- Contractual restrictions: Is there a contractual obligation to partners, distributors, or customers to provide information in the local language?
- Market recognition: How well-known is your brand in the market you are targeting? How clear and understandable is your offering? You may be trying to sell new, unfamiliar products or services that require more detailed explanation than in your domestic market. This will influence your content strategy for those markets.
- Competition: Pay attention to what your competitors are doing. Are all of their pages translated into the local language, or only the homepage and main pages?
- Avoid competition with your local distributors
- To avoid direct competition with your local distributors, it is important to differentiate between online product management and physical stores. One way is to allow local distributors to offer more innovative and upgraded products at higher prices, as was done by the Israeli company Meitronics.
Interested in setting up an international website? Contact us for more information