The reasons for you to try content localization for your e-commerce business. How to boost your e-commerce business with content localization.

Key Content Localization Strategies for Webmasters

E-commerce is currently very competitive as many businesses have preferred e-commerce to other methods of conducting businesses. Moreover, more and more businesses are trying to reach foreign markets in an attempt to increase their customer base, and evade stiff and unnecessary competition. It is because a lot of businesses are seeking international markets that content localization becomes very necessary.

Read on to learn more about content localization.

Content Localization at a Glance

Content strategy refers to the actual planning, development, as well as the management of content in any given media. The content strategy looks at more than text only because content can be distributed and re-distributed through several media sources. The importance of strategy when creating content for your website is the fact that you may create incongruent content that is often purposeless, which might harm the credibility of your website because of possible miscommunication with your target audience. Content created without a strategy may also fail to engage your target audience. Stated differently, content strategy will explain the purpose of the content, the importance or value of that content to your target audience as well as what you intent to benefit from that content as a business.

At the same time, content strategy will allow you to target the different ways that your information will be shared, received and responded to by the different audiences. For instance, social media is a common medium for sharing content, such as Twitter, Facebook (News - Alert), and Instagram. However, not everybody is on social media, and definitely, not everybody will like to get critical content from social media. This is where localization comes in. You need to learn about your target audience and strategize about how your content will reach that audience while at the same time addressing their linguistic and cultural differences.

Why you Need Localization in Content Strategy  

Website localization simply refers to the adaptation of a website’s original content to match the language and culture of the target audience. It is a critical aspect for any business attempting to expand its customer base to foreign markets. As a business, localized content will ensure that your products fit the conditions of the local market in any country while at the same time eliminating potential cultural barriers. In content localization, you do not need to create new messages for every target market, but you can simply translate your original message to incorporate the language and culture of your new market.

Ideally, proper content localization will depend on the goals of your business; hence, the need to determine your business goals as far as reaching new channels is concerned. These goals should then be communicated to everybody in your business through various channels such as newsletters, business plans, as well as customer survey reports.

However, because you do not want to risk miscommunication with your target audience, you should always make use of Website translation experts that will properly adapt your original message to suit the language and culture of your new product. Any slight mistranslation of your content could cost you a lot of potential customers. On the other hand, the benefits of professionally translated website content include:

• Your website traffic grows significantly;
• There is increased ease in reaching global audiences;
• Increased brand awareness by customers.

It is for these reasons that you should invest in professional website translators who will capture the nuances and present your content in a way that will best be responded to by your target audience.

Make a Comprehensive Plan

Planning is part and parcel of content strategy. Coming up with content without any conclusive planning means that there is no clear roadmap to follow. In other words, the lack of a plan during content creation simply means that there is no vision for a future when it comes to that content proving useful for your business. If there are no clear objectives on the type of content to create and the possible distribution channels, you will not achieve much.

That is why you need to plan before creating content thoroughly. Definitely, prior to creating your content you must have identified the target audience; you probably know the ideal type and channel of distribution that such an audience will prefer. So what does content planning really entail?

Basically, content planning will involve coming up with what is called a content matrix. First, you have to know the type of content that you want. “Type” here basically refers to the form that your content will be received. Will you make a video, will you write an article, will your content involve images, or will it involve articles incorporated with images? Meanwhile, as you settle on the type of content you want to create, always keep in mind who your target audience is and whether they will be agreeable with your type of content.

Secondly, you need to establish the ideal channel of distribution for your content. For instance, if you decide to make a video, you may distribute it via YouTube, or any social media platform such as Twitter (News - Alert) or Instagram. Other channels of distribution for website content include the website itself and blog posts. Again, as you come up with the distribution channel, make sure that you have your target audience in mind.

The other aspect of the content matrix that you will need to look at while planning your content is the Key Performance Indicators (KPI). KPIs are the metrics that are used to assess the factors that will considerably affect your business’ bottom line.

They will vary from industry to industry depending on the nature of your business. Some of them include bounce rates, traffic sources, clicks per user, sign ups, as well as shares per user. Based on the nature of your business, you should be able to identify the KPIs that really affect your business.

Create Your Content!

Finally, it is time to create your content. However, for maximum performance, you will need to invest a lot when creating your content. You always need to remember that you are not the only one trying to reach that particular group of customers; what about your website content sets you apart from other websites and consequently engages your customers? Good website contents are created by professionals. For instance, if you want a quality article written, you might want to hire professional copywriters.

Similarly, if you want a unique website, you will need to engage the services of a professional to design the layout of your website as well as its navigation and even graphics. However, before you can create any content, let your audience, their culture and possibly trends be your inspiration. As their cultures and trends change or shift, so should your content, let it move with the customer to keep them engaged.

One important thing to always keep in mind is the fact that you will need the services of a professional website translator, such as Translate.com. They will ensure that you get professionally translated website content.