International branding is one of the principal needs for those businesses which want to connect with a global audience. For this, the company needs multiple websites that can be understood by people from different nations. When presented in a local language, any website can convey more about the business, its USPs, and its brand. For this, a business house needs to create one site for each country, where the business is scaled. Managing such a huge gamut of websites can be a Herculean task for the IT team.
At this stage, WordPress Multisite can be a big help.
What is WordPress Multisite, and Why Should We Use It?
WordPress is the most popular CMS of all time, but now it comes with features that scale it like never before. One such feature is WordPress Multisite, which came into existence in version 3.0 of this very powerful and most-used CMS. This feature supports the building of a network of websites from a single WordPress installation. You can create hundreds and even millions of websites from a simple WordPress site. The finest example of this functionality is WordPress.com, which hosts around 37 million blogs.
The biggest benefit of WordPress Multisite is that companies can create multinational websites with minimal effort. They can create a global presence and enjoy international branding with consistent, multilingual websites for diverse audiences. Most importantly, a Super admin can modify and update any and every site in the network from a solo WordPress dashboard. This makes multisite management an effortless game. Most importantly, the subsites can have different themes and plugins so that they have an individual look and feel.
Businesses that want to own multiple sites with certain similarities and yet want to make them diverse, can use WordPress Multisite. It saves a lot of time required for developing websites for each domain and country. Apt for educational institutes, multinational companies, franchise businesses, etc. that require scaling their main website into numerous subsites.
Details about the sites on the Multisite network
- Each subsite can then be customized as per the requirement of branding in that particular country or sector.
- When required, the subsite can have different themes and get equipped with plugins that are poles apart from the main site. So, subsites are not meagre duplicates of the main site, but rather unique websites with their individual look, feel and features.
- Sites that share themes and plugins are hosted on the same server. If required, companies can add more domains to the network.
- The registered user can access one site or multiple with a single account. Users can enjoy diverse roles on every subsite. It can range from an admin to just a registered user.
Why WordPress Multisite is the Best Choice for International Branding?
Well, it simplifies the time and effort required to build and manage multiple sites for one business. All you need to do is create a main site and multiply it by a number of times. Translate sites as per the linguistic needs, and modify them with relevant themes and plugins. And that’s it! You are ready to rock the international market. It creates a brand that resonates with the core business yet digresses in feature and form as per the need of local aesthetics of the audiences and nations. What else can abridge and even streamline the effort required for international branding?
Major Benefits of WordPress Multisite
- Serves all kinds of audiences: You can create different versions of the website by changing the logo, content, language, CTAs and more. This creates a website that resounds with the perception of a specific audience and country.
- Effortless addition of new websites to the network: Simply localize the main site and make it adaptable for the local audience. It takes away the burden to build new websites from scratch.
- Unique content on each site: It gives the power to publish content as per the requirement and relevance in a subsite. The subsite gets an individual touch and can be updated as per the preference of the local audience.
- Flexible administration: The best part is that the Super admin can have control over the entire network and can give admin roles with limited access. This distributes labour and helps other resources to manage the respective websites of other nations.
- Maintains brand consistency: Even though you can use separate themes and plugins, they can be fine-tuned to maintain brand consistency over the entire network of websites. This makes the brand more relatable across the globe.
How can We Use WordPress Multisite for International Branding?
To be precise, the work starts from the domain level. The first step is to gauge how you want to format the multinational sites based on the kind of brand presence you want to create in each country.
Categorically, there are three approaches:
Top-Level Domains
Differentiate the local versions of the main site through the Top Level Domains. Therefore, technically each domain will have a different suffix. Like:
https://testexample.com (USA)
https://testexample.es (Spain)
https://testexample.fr (France)
This generates an impression that a unique site exists for the audience of each nation. It makes the site more relatable for the local audiences of diverse nations. It also establishes brand presence as you are giving importance to the local audience.
Sub Directories
This approach works best when instead of a main site, you create subdirectories for different languages. Technically, it would look like the following:
https://testexample.com (USA)
https://testexample.com/es (Spain)
https://testexample.com/fr (France)
This makes it less appealing from the branding perspective, as it clearly shows that it’s the country version of the website. However, it also displays that yours is an international company stretched across the globe. This creates an impactful impression of the brand.
Sub Domains
When you use the main website as the base for multisite branding, you rely on creating the subdomains, which are the international versions of the main site. In this case, the URLs will look as follows:
https://testexample.com (USA)
https://es.testexample.com (Spain)
https://fr.testexample.com (France)
When checked from an SEO point of view, the subdomains are unique websites with their own process, ranking, SERP results, etc. This ensures the success of local SEO and earns ranking for sites in the local market.
Create localized, relatable content!
Even though you can translate your content to the local language of a particular country, you need to make it natural and fluent. Local admins should manage this by revamping a few or all of the pages to resemble the cultural parameters, business goals and tastes of the audiences. WordPress Multisite supports all this without any hassles. It supports quick translation of the navigation menus, pop-ups and other directional entities on the web pages.
Altering the meta, URLs, image descriptions etc. is also possible. This generates an impression that the brand website is created for its specific audience and is not just a translated version of the main corporate site. Localization is necessary and should be implemented keeping the demographic, cultural and virtual choices of people.
Incorporate Local SEO strategies!
Once you have a well-translated website ready, you need to optimize it with local SEO and enhance the brand by altering geotags, local images, image descriptions, contact details, Hreflang tag attributes and information that helps crawlers to index the local site. Creating a Google My Business profile and adding websites as per their respective directories will also help a big deal. Remember, you create a local website to get business from that part of the globe. So, build SEO strategies to grab top ranks on the search engines as well.
Tips for Successful International Branding Using WordPress Multisite
It is a fact that doing business in another geographical location could be an entirely different ball game, especially when you have a B2C model. You need to understand the mindset of the buyers and present the product in their format to expect good sales. A nice-looking, locally translated website is not sufficient to grab the loyalty of the regional audience. The following tried and tested tips will help in international branding:
Market research is the first step!
Know the market you have ventured into. Ask your local business team to research the requirements, purchasing habits, cultural expectations, advantages and drawbacks of the target audience. Apply qualitative and intuitive methods to create buyer personas, customer journeys and end-user experiences to create an impactful brand.
Engage local branding agencies!
Local digital marketing companies and branding agencies have a knack for the local market. They know the taste of the audience and the methods to present products in that manner. Hire these experts to optimize brand presence in the local setup of countries where your team cannot play a pivotal role. It will add to the success of your international branding efforts.
Choose native writers for creating content!
Translation can be weird sometimes and may not make sense. To resolve this, choose a team of native writers to curate content that is easily understandable and conveys the message of your brand, without losing its essence. When your social media platforms will have copies and campaigns curated in accordance with the taste of the local buyers, you will end up engaging them and converting them into long-term customers.
Team up with local partners!
Streamline your company’s workflow by connecting with local companies that facilitate packing, delivery, etc. Your headquarter team may not understand the hassles, complexities and solutions of the local market of another country. So, it is wise to collaborate with local vendors who are related to your business. They help to take the business forward with their services. Partnering with local companies will be an intelligent addition to your international branding efforts and deliver optimized results.
Final Words…
WordPress Multisite is the best step forward for setting up an internationally reputed brand. It minimizes development effort and time by a huge margin. Apart from this, your company needs to put in additional efforts, resources and ideas to connect with the local audience of every country. When done meticulously, you will create a benchmark for successfully creating a global brand with a diverse audience.
KrishaWeb is a pro, who has an expert team for implementing WordPress Multisite. If you need any assistance in this field, then feel free to connect with us!
