Are multilingual websites necessary for organisations?

There are always advantages to translating your website, even if there is no link between your product and a specific language. There are most likely native speakers of other languages who are a relevant target audience for your products and services. 

When asking ChatGPT about the benefits of having a multilingual website, we got this clear answer:

"The most significant benefit of having a multilingual website for an organisation is the ability to reach and communicate effectively with a wider audience. This can lead to increased customer engagement and potentially more business opportunities, especially in a globalised economy where companies often operate in multiple languages. Additionally, providing content in multiple languages can help build trust and credibility with customers and partners in different regions."
- provided by ChatGPT, a language model developed by OpenAI.

Here are a few more advantages of having a translated website:  

Low cost, high reward

With today's simplified CMS systems, it is easy to clone and create new pages, and employees can most likely do it. The only step that most often needs to be outsourced is the translations. For translations, we recommend Comactiva, who most recently translated our website's Japanese and Chinese versions. One or two customers you potentially gain from having a localised site will pay for the translation cost. You can count on a charge of 300-800 euros for translating your 3-5 essential pages, including the header and footer.

Your company is instantly valued more

Gaining customers in different markets can open up many opportunities and give you insight into new demand areas. Also, remember the advantage of having a multi-language site if you want to sell the company.

You don't have to translate every page

Your website likely contains tens of pages; if you have a blog, this can quickly grow to hundreds. However, when localising your website, you don't need to translate all of them. Instead, define the essential pages, forms and other elements and go from there. Most importantly, the prospect can take their first step in their language and understand that you are open to cooperation. Look at how most visitors navigate the site to determine which pages to translate. If you're the only agency that knows the client's native language, you're already home.

It's positive from an SEO perspective

"Well, did you know Google has a tool that translates the entire site with the click of a button?" Translating most elements directly in the browser through Google's translation tool is always possible. However, the customer needs to find your website in the first place before they can translate it. By creating localised versions of your site, finding new customers organically in other languages becomes possible. You can also link directly to your site with the correct domain, for example, .se, .co.uk, or .fr. This boosts your chances of being found in other markets even more.

Check Google Analytics to see if your current users are based in other countries or their browser is set to another language. If you find them, there is no need to hesitate - you're already attracting foreign visitors without a search presence in their local language, so imagine what you can do by translating the site.

By showing your potential customers seeing that you communicate in their language, you prove you have the expertise and capacity to start solving their problems. However, it's good to have an employee who speaks some of the translated languages so that communication between you and your new prospects works as smoothly as possible.

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