Missing most of the potential audience
Translating website in multiple languages has many benefits. Few facts:
- 27% of internet users speak native English yet 57% of websites are only in English
- 72% spend most or all of their time on websites in their native language
- Over 50% will buy more likely if the website is in their native language
- Over 50% of consumers think that native language is more important than price
Looking at these facts you can easily see that you are missing over 50% of the worlds internet population just by not offering your site on other languages. You can do much just by adding Spanish, Chinese and Portuguese but you can actually reach 90% of global online economy by offering your website in 13 languages.
Translations and localization is easier to explain in Europe and Asia where you can find several languages inside the regions. How about in US? First thought can be that English is enough. However, even if you target only US market it's highly recommended to translate website at least in Spanish. The latino population US would be in top 20 economies in the world if it would be a country of it's own. It's huge potential you don't want to miss.
When asking why website should be translated, the answer is mainly so that page visitors can understand it. Website admins argue that using Google Translate widget is enough and page visitors can choose the language they prefer. Why translate then? Google Translate widget won't help you if visitors cannot find your site in the first place.
As mentioned, 72% spend most or all of their time in websites in their native language. They also search in their native language and if your website is not in the language they search they won't end up to your site - ever. Translations are important for search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is more important reason to translate website than visitors understanding it. Quality helps with SEO and understanding the content. For this reason, it is recommended to use professional translators or translate yourself if you know the language than use machine translations - at least for the few main languages. One can expand reach and save money by using machine translations in couple of additional languages but not with the widget but build in solution.
Localize Internet provides search engine optimized website translations without coding. Websites made with e.g. Weebly can be easily translated and translations can be added to the site simple and quickly. One can use our professional translator network or translate yourself with our in-context translation UI. Localize Internet provides meta tags and sitemaps for search engine optimization in all translated languages.
Check here how to do it: weebly-guide