With the Internet empowering people and businesses to expand beyond their country’s borders, we must now translate online content to remain relevant. Companies realize the importance of making their online presence multilingual. And it is crucial to make their online presence available and easy to understand for everyone, regardless of their language.
Thus, they might need tools that can help them manage various types of multilingual content, from articles and blogs to social media content and so much more. These tools can help them reach their purpose of expanding internationally to gain more customers and recognition.
One of those tools they can use is CMS, which stands for the content management system. It is a software application that you can create, edit, and manage digital content. People often use this software to make their online presence more efficient and organized. There are various types of CMS available, from open-source ones to paid options.
This article discusses everything you should know about multilingual content management systems and different tools that we can use to manage multilingual content efficiently.
Why Do We Need Multilingual CMS?
In a globalized world, online content must be accessible to everyone. Therefore, we need a multilingual CMS to manage content in multiple languages. It helps businesses translate their online content into different languages to reach a wider audience.
There are various benefits of using a multilingual CMS, such as:
- It helps businesses expand their reach internationally.
- It makes online content more user-friendly.
- It helps improve their SEO rankings.
- It increases website traffic.
Some of the most popular multilingual CMS platforms include Drupal, Joomla!, and WordPress. But multiple businesses prefer to use a translation platform online or a TMS (translation management system) to help their teams manage multilingual content more efficiently. Usually, they work with it as there are professional native speakers who can help even with rare languages. In some cases, it may be even cheaper than making your team or working with freelancers.
Benefits of Using Multilingual Content Management Systems
There are a lot of benefits that you can enjoy from using multilingual CMS for your website content. We already mentioned some of them, but that is not all.
Some of the other benefits that you can enjoy from using a multilingual CMS include:
- You can manage multiple languages in one place.
- You do not need to hire different people to manage different language versions of your website. It is significant as you do not need to supervise dozens of freelancers and worry if they meet the deadline.
- You can easily update and change your content without going through the process of translating it again.
- It helps you save time and money.
Some of the trusted tools you can use for this purpose include GitLocalize and Weglot.
Choosing a Useful Multilingual CMS
When choosing a multilingual CMS for your website, there are a few factors that you need to consider, such as:
- The size of your website.
- The number of languages that you want to support.
- The budget that you have.
- Your technical capabilities.
Taking these factors into consideration will help you choose the best multilingual CMS for your website.
API and Translation Management Systems (TMS)
An API, or short for application programming interface, is a set of rules and protocols that allow software applications to interact. It helps businesses automate translating their online content into different languages.
With the TMS, you can connect the software to the multilingual CMS. Once it is connected, the software can automatically translate the content into different languages. The translation will be stored in a database to retrieve and use later.
Some of the benefits of using an API include:
- It helps businesses save time.
- It helps companies improve their efficiency.
- It helps reduce the costs of translation.
Having a great online translation platform can help you reach out to more people without risking yourself getting misunderstood because of the language barrier. The last thing we want is to have a negative reputation because of our poorly translated online content, so we want to avoid that from happening.
What Happens if We Don’t Use Multilingual CMS?
If you do not use multilingual CMS, we might have many errors in the online content. We would have to manually translate our content into different languages, which can be time-consuming and prone to inaccuracies.
Moreover, if you do not use a multilingual CMS, you might miss out on potential customers who speak different languages. It is because they might not be able to understand our content if not translated into their language.
Lastly, poorly translated content can cause misunderstandings among your potential customers. In the worst cases, it can even damage your reputation. You would end up losing a chunk of your target market and, worse, be the enemy of the government if they are very strict with these kinds of matters.
It is principal to use a multilingual CMS for your website. It will help you save time, money, and effort in translating your content into different languages. Not to mention, it can also help improve your SEO rankings and website traffic.
Conclusion
There are various multilingual content management systems available. Each has its own set of features and benefits. It is crucial to choose the right one for your website so that you can enjoy all the benefits that it has to offer.
Consider your budget, technical capabilities, and needs before making your choice. Do some research and compare different options before making your final decision.
