Is your website targeting a global audience? If your answer is in the affirmative then it is important for you to convey your message effectively, across different geographies and cultures. To make your website global friendly, you need to take care of certain aspects like enhancing the user experience, providing multi-lingual content and improving website speed , to name a few. Here are some ways to tailor your website for a multi-cultural audience:
1. Customize Content for Multiple Languages
It is very important to create substantial content for any globally appealing website. The focus should be creation of same context, meaning, intent and expression. If you are creating a multi lingual website then make sure to customize the text to make your website appropriate for a foreign audience as well.
- Take the help of skilled translators, who are adept in translating and can come up with nearly similar phrases and idioms, while converting the content from one language to the other.
- Avoid using facts, terms and comparisons that people outside your country may not know.
- Don’t use much humour because it is very difficult to translate it into other languages and cultures.
- Make sure that the content and the visuals are not controversial in any way and are appropriate for different cultures. For example in America, the peace sign is a two finger salute but it is considered insulting in the UK.
- Avoid using Google translator, if you want your audience to take you seriously because the tool is not 100% accurate.
Remember that you can’t afford to exhibit misinterpreted content if you want to have a worldwide reception.
2. Have a Definitive Colour Arrangement
The meaning of various colors is not the same in every nation, so choosing the best website color scheme for your site can prove to be quite tricky and complicated, yet crucial.
You must smartly play with colors to appeal to the masses for a perfect global website design. To zero in on the right color, take into account your industry and also your target audience.
3. Provide Fast Loading Speed
Make sure that the pages of your website open efficiently and swiftly, which is significant irrespective of your audience. The enhancement of speed is extremely vital when trying to spread to a global market.
If your website takes up more than a few seconds to load a single page or to show content, most users won’t reload it and will give up and go to another website.
Make use of a Content Delivery Network. CDN or a Content Delivery Network is fundamentally an assemblage of web servers found at several places all around the world.
4. Reduce Text in Images
If you regularly make use of static images for headings, for call-out information or certain features of a logo, you might be blocking off a sizeable part of your audience. It is impractical to anticipate that all websites clear off all pictures with text, but thanks to the increase in web fonts, there are now many choices at hand for a web developer or designer for making actual text that is shaped the way you want it to appear, thus avoiding the need for lots of images that are text-based.
5. Avoid Inflexible Localized Options
Various websites select the default website language and domain based on a Geo IP tracker. For example, if you are accessing eBay from the UK, automatically, you are sent to www.eBay.co.uk and the language is by default fixed to English.
Some websites have flexible local settings, enabling users to access websites meant for any country. This is extremely beneficial because your browsing experience is not obstructed by your present geographical location.
6. Make Online Shopping Global Friendly
Among these important factors is the provision of an internationally convenient shopping experience. This is crucial for boosting the sales and also enhancing the user experience. If your website provides the option of international shipping then, you must let the customer know in advance if the product is eligible for shipping to his local address or not.
Giving your customer an additional option for conversion of the payment to the customer’s choice of currency will make your website global friendly. To prevent abandoned carts, you must also permit the customer to recheck the charges for delivery and other taxes before beginning the checkout process. Make sure to offer several modes of payment. People from diverse places use different methods of payment.
It is highly recommended that you hire a top web design firm to develop a global website for yourself. It will not only save your setup investment but will also boost your sales considerably!
