Benefits of Website LocalizationMaximising profit today involves reaching beyond national markets. Accessing an international customer base is vital if a business wants to expand and participate in international trade.
‘Localization’ relates to act of modifying a product to make it both usable and suitable to a target market. Website localization therefore refers to process of taking an English, western-orientated, website and moulding it to conform to a foreign audience.
The World Wide Web, as its name suggests, is a means by which businesses can reach an international audience. Companies are now recognising that a key step in successfully approaching and selling to international customers is through website localization.
Website localization brings with it numerous benefits. The three main benefits of localization are:
Website localization crosses language barriers
32% of internet users around world are non-native English speakers. With PC ownership and access to internet most rapidly increasing outside of North America and Europe, this figure will increase even more. Website localization breaks linguistic barriers and opens doors to other continents.
Companies are now waking up to fact that English is no longer ‘the’ international language but one of many including French, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese. With number of companies now realising benefits of website localization, there are more pages in foreign languages than ever before. This means if your company’s site has not undergone localization process yet, it will be playing catch up in future.