Website localization is a method of modifying a website according to the target audiences language and culture. Having said that, website localization does not mean just translation of the content, it is found to be much more than that.
While opting to adapt website localization services, a business is needed to conduct a wide research on the general being of the target audience and then design the website according to the collected data with the help of technical tools.
This process is very complicated. But much more complicated is executing the web localization project. For a business to get successful from the web localization process, should execute the project based on a pre-defined strategy. The strategy to be adopted by a business for a web localization process is:
Step 1: A business should first know how much it is capable of spending on the process. The business should define its budget based on the intensity of the need, i.e. whether it is opting for partial translation or complete translation. Deciding on the budget will facilitate the smooth functioning of later steps.
Step 2: Secondly, the business should concentrate of clearly defining their target audience. This is actual foundation for the process of web localization. The further strategies are based on this step.
Step 3: After the above step, the business should start researching about the cultural, traditional, regional, linguistic and many other aspects of the target audience.
Step 4: After collecting the data, in order to customize the web pages, technical expertise is required. Hence, now the business should concentrate on technical aspects, such as using unicode; defining codes for translatable and non-translatable texts; styling the fonts, letters, numbers and other characters; usage of graphics and many other details.
Step 5: After the technical aspects, the web localization strategy involves developing content. The content should be accurate and precise. The style in which the content should be presented and the terminologies to be used should be decided. Inclusion of multimedia, applying SEO and most importantly separating the phrases or terms which are translatable and the ones which are not translatable by putting ‘English only’ options.
Step 6: And now it is on the part of the business to check whether the posted content is culturally sensitive or is in any way offensive. Experience should be used to eliminate such kind of problems.
Step 7: Finally, after the completion of the web localization process, it is necessary to the business to estimate the need for maintenance of website. It should be noted that how often the website is needed to be updated.
The above are the strategies to be adopted, to ensure the perfect implementation and success of web localization.
Website localization is a method of modifying a website according to the target audiences language and culture. Having said that, website localization does not mean just translation of the content, it is found to be much more than that. While opting to adapt website localization services, a business is needed to conduct a wide research on the general being of the target audience and then design the website according to the collected data with the help of technical tools. This process is very complicated. But much more complicated is executing the web localization project. For a business to get successful from the web localization process, should execute the project based on a pre-defined strategy. The strategy to be adopted by a business for a web localization process is:
Step 1: A business should first know how much it is capable of spending on the process. The business should define its budget based on the intensity of the need, i.e. whether it is opting for partial translation or complete translation. Deciding on the budget will facilitate the smooth functioning of later steps.
Step 2: Secondly, the business should concentrate of clearly defining their target audience. This is actual foundation for the process of web localization. The further strategies are based on this step.
Step 3: After the above step, the business should start researching about the cultural, traditional, regional, linguistic and many other aspects of the target audience.
Step 4 : After collecting the data, in order to customize the web pages, technical expertise is required. Hence, now the business should concentrate on technical aspects, such as using unicode; defining codes for translatable and non-translatable texts; styling the fonts, letters, numbers and other characters; usage of graphics and many other details.
Step 5: After the technical aspects, the web localization strategy involves developing content. The content should be accurate and precise. The style in which the content should be presented and the terminologies to be used should be decided. Inclusion of multimedia, applying SEO and most importantly separating the phrases or terms which are translatable and the ones which are not translatable by putting ‘English only’ options.
Step 6: And now it is on the part of the business to check whether the posted content is culturally sensitive or is in any way offensive. Experience should be used to eliminate such kind of problems.
Step 7: Finally, after the completion of the web localization process, it is necessary to the business to estimate the need for maintenance of website. It should be noted that how often the website is needed to be updated.
The above are the strategies to be adopted, to ensure the perfect implementation and success of web localization.