How Translating Your Website Can Drive Traffic and Boost Sales

Have you ever clicked through to a website that wasn’t already in your primary language without meaning to? If you clicked away from that web page almost immediately to find another option, you’re not alone. Over half of internet users will not make a purchase on a website if the information is not readily available in their native language.

With that said, you were directed to that site for a reason. There’s a real potential that the site you visited could have met your needs. In this scenario, you are part of the traffic (and potentially, the sales) that the website’s owner missed out on, simply because they did not have a website available in your primary language. The same can be said for your own website.

If your site is not optimized for visitors who speak another language, you are missing out on a ton of potential traffic (and leaving money on the table!). If you are looking to drive new traffic to your website–and keep them there long enough to turn them into potential customers–you should consider translating your website for your target demographics.

Why does a translated website perform better than one that isn’t?

If your first language is English, it can be easy to think about the internet only as it pertains to English. Although English is, currently, the most common language used on the internet, Chinese is not far behind, and Spanish is the third most common internet language as of April 2019. Did you know that both China and India have a much higher number of Internet users than the United States by a long shot?

If your target market speaks a language other than English, neglecting to translate your website could have a serious negative impact on site traffic and sales. This is a large number of users who likely won’t even visit your site and inquire about your services or products.

How do you determine where your foreign website traffic is coming from?

An easy way to find out where your foreign website traffic is coming from is by utilizing Google Analytics. Within Google Analytics, you can filter the Acquisition report by country. If you notice that a decent amount of website traffic comes from specific countries, it may make sense to prioritize translating and localizing your content for that audience.

However, it’s important to note that this alone does not tell you the language your website visitors speak. For example, your U.S.-based visitors could speak Spanish, and your Canadian visitors could speak French. If you plan to target these markets, translating your website into the languages most commonly spoken in these areas is a great way to help keep visitors on your site once they land there.

Quality matters. Don’t drive your new visitors away with faulty translations.

When you decide to translate the content on your website, it can be tempting to use a free translation plugin. It’s quick, it’s easy, and you can basically just add it and forget about it. But at what cost? These translations are almost always faulty. Entire blocks of text can be incorrectly translated, and the whole meaning you are trying to convey will be lost. This is an easy way to lose the customers you are attempting to engage, and it doesn’t say a lot about your brand’s image.

Using a professional translation service ensures that the consumers visiting your page have a consistent experience on your website, thus remaining engaged with your brand and increasing the likelihood that they will convert to paying customers. By choosing a reputable translation service provider, you’re setting yourself up for increased website traffic–and boosted sales!–in no time at all. If you are looking for guidance on how to make your website translation work for you, don’t hesitate to reach out.