10 signs that you need to professionally translate your website

To a certain point, Google Translate can be an effective way to serve your content in many languages. But as your business grows and website needs evolve, a professional website translation will help meet these needs. 

Below are ten signs that it's time for you to invest in a professional website translation.
 

1. You're already an international retailer

Providing multilingual product information is key to international sales success. Common Sense Advisory found 75% of consumers prefer buying products in their own language. With a single language site, you’re missing out on all these potential customers.

2. Growth is a core focus for you

A business often sees periods of exponential growth, before reaching a plateau or decline. This happens more if you’re in a single market, where growth potential is more limited. A multilingual website can break plateaus and prompt growth by targeting new markets. 

3. To gain a competitive edge

There are two things to consider here. First, if your competitors have a multilingual website, they have an edge over you. Second, if they don’t have a multilingual website, you’re gaining an edge by doing something that they're not doing. Whatever your competitors are doing, translating your website will help you catch up or give you a competitive advantage.

4. Add strength to your brand

A website that looks native will always appear more trustworthy than one that doesn’t. Customers are more comfortable with and likely to buy from websites that look familiar to them. A multilingual site also lets you tailor content to suit the needs of each audience.

5. Regulatory requirements

Depending on your industry, you may be legally required to display your content in multiple languages. This could be allergy information for food or process information for manufactured goods. If it's stated by law, it's imperative to have a high-quality translation. A professional translation will ensure no errors or miscommunications occur.

6. You ship to many countries

International shipping requires a certain level of localization and translation to make it customer-friendly. Translating to the right currencies, shipping rates and units of measurement influence customer purchasing choices. These vary by country and standardized shipping information will not work across regions.

7. Brand popularity has reached new regions

Some brands often garner interest from overseas before they have even reached that country. This provides readymade and untapped growth potential if you can harness it. Providing brand information with a professionally translated website is conducive to improving this growth and attracting even more visitors.

8. Analytics show that you need to

Your website analytics can be a great indicator of when you need to translate your content. Analyze your traffic to understand where it is coming from and from what languages. If a certain language is bringing a lot of traffic, it may be worthwhile translating to this language to grow it even further.

9. For better UX and SEO

A translated website with the appropriate subdomains can improve SEO friendliness across languages. Professional translators can keep context and tone of voice, whereas a machine translation cannot. Professional translators can also include SEO keywords which improve visibility in search engines.

10. To improve conversion rates

Increased search engine visibility gained by adding new languages will drive more site traffic. This increase in traffic then gives you the opportunity to get more conversions. When visitors land on a professionally translated site it appears native to their market, creates trust and increases conversion chances.