How to Overcome Language Barriers for Online Business

Although it might seem like it’s the 21^st century, and we have access to all kinds of information almost worldwide, language barriers still create severe problems for many people. And while it can be acceptable for interpersonal relationships and international friendships to solve these problems slowly and steadily, it’s not cool for business at all. When you do business online, it’s essential to overcome language barriers for many reasons and use the most relevant and advanced sources for that.

Online Businesses Against Language Barriers

Whether you do business purely online or just have an online branch for your real-life business, keeping your virtual outlet clean is important. That’s mainly because online reputation is just as considerable as your reputation in the real world. Ensuring your international customer can use your website completely and feel comfortable about that is one of the first steps to create a positive reputation on the web.

There have been many cross-disciplinary studies that showed the effect of website translation on customers, and in all of them, it was positive. So, overcoming language barriers online is undoubtedly a thing to consider, especially if you plan to expand and go international. This can be a serious challenge, but fortunately, we also have lots of resources and means to face that challenge decently. Here are some of them.

• Addressing professional translation service. Whenever we talk about business, professional work is always a must. To ensure your website is translated promptly and professionally with all quality standards being considered, it’s a must to hire a language specialist or two. On top of that, this is often cost-effective as lots of professional and certified online translation services offer great specialists at a fair price. So, starting to work with professionals regarding this matter should be your first step.

• Integrate UI/UX design. To move your language strategy even further, consider how can user interface and user experience design help with that. At the same time, think about how translating your website can influence the interface of your website and how it can improve the customer experience. Where would you locate a button or menu that switches between languages? Will your website have automatic location recognition? How will you adapt your website’s architecture to multiple languages? Answering these questions can significantly improve the convenience of using your website for the customers.

• Work on content and SEO for different languages. For your customers to find you more quickly, you must optimize the content of your website, not just translate it. If your website contains a blog section, it’ll undoubtedly be a bonus. By posting search engine optimized articles in different languages, you can attract equal portions of users from other countries. This will, in turn, attract more traffic and make your website more searchable across multiple languages.

• Localize. To eliminate language barriers once and for all, go beyond translation and localize the content of your website. Unlike mere translation, localization adapts the content produced in your language to the content published in the international version of your website. This is done to ensure that your customers don’t just understand what’s being written but can also associate that with what they see and feel every day. The main task of localization is to ensure that the customers don’t feel like they visit a foreign website, so it’s a very useful resource to consider.

Language Barriers Will Not Strike Back

After you have your website processed by professional language specialists, ensure the content’s consistency, and localize it, language barriers will not stand a chance. What’s more, they will likely become easier to eliminate in real life as well. So, by making a solid and decisive move against language barriers online, you manage to kill two birds with one stone. So, never neglect this kind of opportunity and always keep website translation and localization in mind as some of the first steps of your international strategy.

BIO:

Always full of enthusiasm and constantly being “on the move,” Merissa Moore never considered stopping. Working as a traveling blogger and author can be challenging, yet Merissa finds it fun as well. She’s convinced that it’s always a win-win situation and a dream job when benefits outweigh all the downsides.