What possibilities! Theoretically, you can reach customers around the world today with your website. And in many cases, it actually makes sense to design a website in two or more languages. If you already have visitors from different countries, want to reach a multilingual customer base or an even larger target group, you can easily create multilingual websites with Jimdo – clear, understandable and in a modern design!
In this article, we’ll show you how to create multilingual websites in 4 steps and give you tips for websites in different language versions.
Sites with different languages are special because they display the same content multiple times. In order for your visitors to be able to orientate themselves well and quickly find the information they need in the right place, it is important to build up your website in a particularly clear way.
To make this easy, have some general hints in advance:
1) The first navigation level is your “language selection”
Your visitors select the language in the first navigation level. Therefore, only the languages can be seen as subpages, e.B. “German” and “English”. All other subpages follow on the second or third level.
2) Schedule the content in all languages
When we talk about multilingual websites, we actually mean a website where the same subpages with the same texts exist in different languages twice or several times in parallel with each other.
So think carefully about how you structure the navigation so that everything works smoothly! Making a website multilingual in hindsight is a bit more cumbersome than implementing it right from the start.
3) Translation tools are a possibility, but perhaps not the best solution
There are tools on the Internet that automatically translate your content. If you install such a tool on your website, visitors can change the language with one click. However, the texts quickly sound robotic and reduce the quality of your content.
Create multilingual websites in 4 steps
Create the language selection: the first level
In the first step, you create a subpage in the first-level navigation for each language you want to offer. Names each page by one language. Use your (existing) home page and then delete all other subpages in the first level (save content beforehand, don’t forget!).
Once you have done this, your navigation on the first level will only consist of subpages for the languages you want to offer on your website – for example, in “German”, “English” and “Francais” we are here in the picture:
The first level of navigation becomes a language selection for your visitors.
The most important step has already been taken! When you visit your site, your visitors will see directly that you are offering different languages.
The content: Create your content for the “first” language
Now it’s time to get to the heart of your website: Add the subpages for your “first” language you need. Ideally, you make a plan in advance – usually a short navigation with only a few subpagesis recommended.
Then try adding all the information, all images, buttons and texts so that you are ready to publish for your “first language”. For example, your navigation might look like this:
For your “first language” already put on all the subpages you need. This makes it easy to transfer to the other languages later.
The advantageof filling your “first” language with content: you can now simply duplicate the subpages and use the finished setup for the other language(s). We will come to this in the next step.
Add navigation in the other languages: the second level
In the next step, you will complete the navigation for the other languages. To do this, it’s best to simply duplicate the finished subpages of the “first” language and move the copied page down so that it is in the second level after the language selection. Remember, of course, to also translate the name of the bottom.
Of course, you could insert the subpages manually without duplicating them. However, duplicating later saves you from repeating the build-up with the blocks on each bottom.
For example, if you have transferred the subpages of your “first language” to the second language, your navigation looks like the picture:
The subpages under “German” were duplicated and the copies simply moved to “English” and translated. This quickly creates navigation for the other languages.
Translate your content
The basic framework is already in place: you have the language selection on the first level. On the second level, on the other hand, are the respective subpages.
Now you start translating the content on your subpages. Remember:
Texts
Headings
Buttons (CTAs)
Old texts
As mentioned earlier, we recommend translating your content as completely as possible. However, if certain content is not relevant for a language, you can of course omit it. The best option is to use a professional website translation agency. Once you’ve done these four steps, you can pat yourself on the back – your website is now multilingual and you’re ready for international customers!
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