Your products or services are aimed at the global market? Do you want to communicate with a foreign clientele in France or any other country? You sell through WooCommerce and want to develop your catchment area? There are several reasons for a multilingual website, but what are the real benefits? Focus on current realities and good practices to take advantage of WooCommerce multilingual website.
Did You Know?
More than nine out of 10 businesses surveyed across eight countries prefer to purchase products that have been adapted to local language and market needs.
— Common Sense Advisory
For example, if you are involved in communication in the ecommerce sector, you are surely dealing with the global audience. To promote your business and your products, it would be a shame to limit yourself to the national space. Your goal should be to reach the whole world.
You may have a historical and loyal clientele, but always remember that your WooCommerce store is your business card, your presentation. If it is available in English only, it will be a barrier to converting many visitors who do not speak or understand the language.
The choice of languages in which you want to translate WooCommerce store is fundamental.
If it is available in French, Chinese, German, Russian or Arabic, you will be able to reach a much wider audience.
Multilingual WooCommerce Store: Key Benefits
The creation of a multilingual WooCommerce store has many advantages for businesses. For example:
1. Develops the Potential of Buyers
We only buy what we understand!
Translating the contents of a store offering products and services for online sales into several languages makes it possible to attract new customers through the use of their native language.
2. Increases Sales Substantially
The main language of your store is English? Realize the translation of the website into French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Dutch and you will achieve a significant increase in your online sales.
3. Shows Openness to Customers
Translating a store is showing the world your openness. A positive image, even perceived by your local clientele.
4. Enhances Customer Satisfaction
The creation of a multilingual store also creates a competitive advantage. By speaking directly to your customers in their native language, you offer them a positive customer experience.
You show your clients that they are important and that you invest in content translation for them.
5. Favors Positioning in Search Engines
In a global strategy, it is fundamental to be well referenced in different countries in question. Therefore, a multilingual store is essential in the various search engines of the targeted countries.
The proposed information is globally equivalent in different languages (or sometimes specific if you have a well-differentiated approach).
Make Your Multilingual WooCommerce Store
Before implementing multilingual in WordPress (WooCommerce), you must keep in mind all the technical considerations like SEO, backups, etc. When you want to create a multilingual, you must need to know about the importance. Read more: How to Make WordPress Website Multilingual
Create Multilingual WordPress Website Using WPML
As multilingual support is important to product pages, it is also important to other sections of a store. Let’s assume you have a blog where you write about, for example, Top 10 Products to Buy This Summer! and you want people to read your article around the world then there you need you to install WPML on WordPress (WooCommerce) website. Read more: How to Create a Multilingual WordPress Website Using WPML
How To Add Multilingual Support to WooCommerce Store
WPML also allows adding multilingual support to WooCommerce store. The extension is available for a multilingual WooCommerce store but it requires a premium WPML plugin which you can download on your official WPML website.
Best Multilingual Plugins: Weglot vs WPML
WPML is a premium plugin which allows you to add unlimited language translations on your website. It allows you to add powerful translation management, translation for theme and plugin texts, etc. WPML comes with over 40 languages. You can also add your own language varieties (like Canadian French or Mexican Spanish) using WPML Language Editor.
On the other hand, Weglot is a freemium plugin; the freemium version of this plugin allows you to add only two languages and if you want to add more languages, then you need to go with the premium version. Read more: Weglot vs WPML: A Comparison Between Multilingual Plugins for WordPress
Translate Product Pages Using Weglot Plugin
Weglot, a multilingual plugin, offers you a solution to convert your WordPress into a multilingual website. After choosing Weglot for your WooCommerce store, then you must need to understand how this plugin works and how to configure it.
Wrapping Up!
So apparently a multilingual WooCommerce store does not necessarily mean multi-country. For a store to boost its online sales and attracts customers, the latter must have well-written content, it must be well thought out, and most importantly: it must be multilingual. Glocalization, which consists of translating the content of a store and making cultural adaptations, must take into account the target audience to which the store is addressing.
Danish Naseer
Danish Naseer is a WordPress Community Manager at Cloudways. He is passionate about designing, developing, and engaging with people to help them. He also actively participates in the community to share his knowledge. Besides that, he loves to watch documentaries, traveling and spending time with family. You can contact him at [email protected]