8 Effective International And Multilingual Website Design Tips

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8 Effective International And Multilingual
Website Design Tips
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Do you want to broaden the horizons of your
business by dissolving the geographical barriers?
Make an entry to the World Wide Web with your own
business site and localize it to address the
language preferences of your target customers.
Design your own multilingual and multiregional
website by following the best practices below
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1. Market research 2. Languagetranslation 3.
Cultural assessment 4. Ease of Access 5.
Domain and URL strategy 6. Choice ofgraphics
7. RWD optimization 8. Online features and
functionality
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1. Market research Conduct market research to
identify your potential target markets and learn
about the legal, technical and administrative
requirements involved in international trade. 2.
Languagetranslation Invest in a multilingual
Content Management System while building your
company website to manage the website in multiple
languages.Get your translation done by a
qualified language professional, who can also
knowledgeably interact with your web developer.
Avoid online translator tools so that quality of
content is not compromised which in turn impacts
user experience and search engine rankings.
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3. Cultural assessment Get a cultural
assessment done to find out the cultural
considerations of your target market in order to
build an emotional connection with them. It will
also help you design a multiregional website for
your target customers. Unlike multilingual
websites which have more or less similar content,
multiregional websites display audience-specific
content. 4. Ease of Access Link your
multilingual websites to your English-language
site by providing prominent access on each page
of the latter. It may either be a pull-down menu
or a separate page altogether depending on the
number of languages. But remember to list each
language in its own language (español for
Spanish, for example).
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5. Domain and URL strategy  Consider
registering international domains if
multiregional websites are part of your expansion
strategy. Also use the same URL structure for all
your foreign language sites to make it easier for
search engines to relate them to each other. 6.
Choice ofgraphics  Try to choose graphics that
are culturally neutral and do not offence or
portray any specific ethnicity.
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7. RWD optimization Responsive Web Design (RWD)
uses fluid design wherein components of a web
page are assigned percentages instead of fixed
width. As a result, as the screen size changes,
the elements change proportionately. Therefore,
work with your translation partner to prepare
your translated text accordingly. 8. Online
features and functionality  Incorporate
interactive features and functionality on
multilingual websites such as Print or Email This
Page, RSS feeds, and more. Also consider adding
multi-currency support if your site has
an e-commerce component.
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Designing multilingual websites can be tricky as
it even involves subtle cross-cultural aspects
which if ignored can make your investment go
waste. Therefore, start with a proper plan and
implement it in a progressive manner to minimize
cost and get the best possible outcome.
Originally published at http//bit.ly/2bb8N1M
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