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Featured Industry: eCommerce
Globalizing Your Website
There is more to selling your goods and services to a global audience online than translating your website. It is imperative to consider the language, cultural, and regional differences, as well as the laws and regulations of the countries you are targeting. From a global perspective, issues such as design usability require cultural sensitivity, along with the appropriate use of color, animation, and more.
Global Communicator offers the following things to consider as your organization strives to go global and reach the millions of prospective non-English speaking customers online:
- Make a Business Case. Why should your site be in languages A, B, or C, and is there a business case that justifies the cost of doing so? After determining the appropriate markets to target, you then will develop the sites thorough proper localization that accounts for the differences across languages and local cultures.
- Internal Buy-in. How many times have you formed a project team only to be stymied by a lack of buy-in from the executive team? It happens – all the time. Therefore, it’s imperative to get commitment at senior levels in order to establish the proper organizational structure. Also, you will want to involve local business units to facilitate the project’s progress cross-functionally.
- Localization. Website localization involves adapting to the needs and cultural preferences of a target market, including:
- Language. If you can't professionally manage a website in another language, then don't publish it. It is not enough to have someone who is fluent in the language in question haphazardly replace the English copy with the target language. You need someone who can professionally write in the language and about your industry or product specialty. Effective translation from data to design requires understanding how cultural parameters influence your website visitors.
- Culture. When a company decides to localize its site, it often learns the colors to use or avoid (i.e. yellow is viewed as a feminine color in Japan) and appropriate dress codes of a given culture. The web text is translated (or portions of it), and the company launches the site. But cultural differences run deeper than colors and language; they reflect beliefs and values. Consider incorporating the nuances of a culture's social hierarchy, tendency toward individualism or groups, and gender roles.
- Content. The information provided must be adapted to address the interests and needs of local users. Elements such as promotions and marketing campaigns should be specifically targeted to the local market.
- Design. According to Frank Gaine, senior consultant at Usability by Design, in our left-to-right culture we know that the top right and bottom left of any screen are usually cold spots and that important controls in them can be missed. The opposite is true in right-to-left cultures, and even minor changes (like the order a row of buttons appear in) can radically improve usability there.
- Internationalization. Designers are becoming more aware of the global scale of websites and are taking into account different language character sets, date formats, and currencies. Users from other countries have special needs related to entry fields for names and addresses, measurements and dates, and information about regional product standards.
- Laws and regulations. Legal information such as privacy policies, disclaimers, and copyright information must adhere to local market regulations and laws.
Website globalization is a multi-step process that must account for a wide range of details, such as localization, technology, design, and more. Determining the issues upfront should make the process go more smoothly.
For additional tips on website translation and localization, please contact us or visit Global Language Solutions’ resources section.
References:
Insights from Human Factors International
Gaine, Frank. "The cultural importance of usability testing," e-consultancy.com, February 2005.
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