How to create a Multilingual WordPress Website in InstaWP Live using WPML

Although the internet is accessible to people all around the world, communication barriers caused by language could limit your reach. With a bilingual website, you may overcome this barrier and reach a global audience in an instant.

The best part is that it’s easier than you would think to make a multilingual website! This guide will show you how to use InstaWP and WPML, a powerful WordPress plugin, to transform your website into a multilingual powerhouse.

With WPML, you can translate your content effortlessly, manage different languages on your site, and ensure a smooth experience for visitors regardless of their native language.

Understanding Multilingual Websites

Implementing a multilingual website using WordPress is an appropriate choice for several reasons. Firstly, it allows you to increase your reach significantly. If you translate your website’s content, you can reach people who wouldn’t have found you otherwise. This has the potential to greatly enhance website traffic and brand exposure, drawing in prospective clients you may not have considered previously.

Secondly, your sales and conversion rates can be greatly enhanced with a multilingual website. People are more comfortable and trustworthy when they can shop in their native language. Visitors from other countries are more likely to become paying customers if you offer translations on your website.

Finally, a multilingual website shows your global interest and strengthens international relationships. Communicating in a person’s native language exhibits empathy and credibility, two factors that are crucial to building a loyal customer base and a positive public perception of your company.

Challenges Faced in Creating a Multilingual Website

While creating a multilingual website can be incredibly rewarding, it’s not without its challenges. 

• Translation Accuracy: Ensuring accurate and culturally relevant translations is crucial. Literal translations often miss nuances and can convey incorrect information, potentially alienating users or causing misunderstandings.

• Website Design and Navigation: Designing a website that accommodates languages with different scripts and orientations (like Arabic, which reads right-to-left) can be technically challenging. Additionally, the site must be intuitive and easy to navigate for speakers of all languages.

• Maintenance and Updates: A multilingual website requires regular updates and maintenance in all languages to ensure consistency and accuracy. This can be resource-intensive and requires careful coordination.

• SEO Complexity: Multilingual SEO is more complex than single-language SEO. It involves optimizing content for multiple language audiences, dealing with country-specific search engines, and managing various versions of the same site without incurring penalties for duplicate content.
  
  

Don’t fret! You shouldn’t let these obstacles stop you from expanding your website’s global reach! The advantages of reaching the global audience considerably surpass the early challenges.

The good news is that making and maintaining a multilingual website is now easier than ever with intuitive solutions such as InstaWP and WPML. By providing a detailed walkthrough, this guide aims to open up the fascinating world of multilingual websites to all.

How to Create a Multilingual Website in InstaWP using WPML

We assume that you already have a WordPress website and must convert it into a multilingual website.

If you don’t have a WordPress website, we recommend you create and launch a WordPress website with InstaWP.

1.   Setting the Stage

Before creating the multilingual websites, ensure the following:

• Check Compatibility: Visit the WPML documentation to check their minimum system requirements. This typically includes specific versions of PHP and MySQL that your InstaWP hosting plan needs to meet. If you do not have a hosting plan, you can get it from InstaWP Live.

• Domain Names: Choosing the right domain name isn’t just about how your site looks, it also impacts how users find you and how well your site ranks in search results. In other words, your domain is your website’s online identity and plays a key role in both user experience and SEO.

Following are the ways to present your website’s content in different languages:

• Separate Domains: Each language gets its own unique domain name. You can select the A Different Domain Per Language option in the settings of the plugin.
  There are a few things to prep before you jump in:
  • Domain ownership: Grab the domains you want to use. For those building from scratch, you’ll also need to edit your domain’s DNS settings. This is how you link your domain name to your website’s server location (think of it as the website’s address).
  • Subdomain savvy: Using subdomains? You’ll still need to own the main domain (like example.com). Double-check that your hosting plan allows the creation of subdomains.
  • Reliable hosting: Need a hosting provider that plays well with WPML? We’ve got you covered with InstaWP Live!
  • SSL secured: Secure your sites with individual SSL certificates for each translation or use a multi-domain SSL certificate.

How to enable different languages per domain

This feature can be enabled on your own, or you can get assistance from your web hosting company.

• Registering or Buying a Domain:
  • Here’s the first step: claim your domain name (like “example.de”). This is the web address people will see when they visit the German version of your site.
  • For a smoother setup process, consider getting both your domain name and website hosting from the same company. This way, managing various settings becomes a breeze.
• Configuring the DNS Settings: If you need to make the changes yourself, here’s what to communicate to your hosting provider:
  • For separate domains: Inform them that you’d like to add a parked domain (alias) to your existing domain. For instance, if your existing domain is “example.com,” you want to park “example.de” to it.
  • For subdomains: Request adding a subdomain, like “de.example.com,” to your main domain “example.com.” This subdomain should point to the same location as your main domain.
• As everyone’s setup is unique, the hosting company might ask for some details to help you. These could include:
  • Your website’s IP Address: This refers to the internet address (IP address) where your WordPress site lives. It’s also like the “home address” of your website, often associated with a hosting provider like GoDaddy or NameCheap.
  • Your main website address: This is essentially the name you use to access your site online, like “example.com” in our example.
  • If your domain and hosting are separate: No worries, just ask your providers for specific instructions in this case.

Coming back to the ways to present your website’s content in different languages:

• Subdomains: Use subdomains to differentiate languages. You can select the Different Languages in Directories option in the settings of the plugin.

• Languages URL: WPML gives you flexibility in how your website displays different languages. You can choose to have them in the URL itself, separate folders, or even entirely different domains, as mentioned above. All the content is stored together internally, but visitors view it organized by language. You can pick your preferred format during the initial WPML setup or change it later in Settings:

• Different languages in directories: By selecting this option, you are instructing WPML to store translations in what appear to be separate virtual folders. 

• A different domain per language: As discussed above, Websites can be created in different languages, each with its own specific domain name.

• Language name added as a parameter: If you choose to show language preference through a parameter, the language code will be tacked on to the end of your website’s address.

Setting up Different Domains with InstaWP Live

Connect your website to a new domain name using a web hosting service like Cloudflare or Namecheap.

Step 1: Enter your required domain name.

Step 2: Write down the domain name you entered and both of the “A” records’ IP addresses. You will need to paste these on DNS records for mapping.

Step 3: Log in to your domain management dashboard, like Cloudflare or Namecheap, to create a new record.

Step 4: Enter the domain name and IP address in the designated areas. Then, click “Save.”

Please note that each DNS record only allows one IP address. To add a second IP, create a new record and enter the same domain name again along with the additional IP address.

Step 5: To finish mapping, click the “Map Domain” button.

Once this process finishes, your domain name will be fully mapped. To see the update, simply reload the page.

Please note that each DNS record only allows one domain name. To add a second domain name, create a new record and enter the same domain name again along with the additional domain.

2.   WPML Installation and Setup

• Installing WPML:

For new WPML users, the OTGS Installer plugin provides a way to set up WPML manually. This method also lets you register WPML, ensuring you automatically get updates for future versions.

• Login to WPML and go to Downloads to get the zip file.

• To get all the WPML features up and running, you’ll need to install the OTGS Installer plugin.

• To install the plugin, first log in to your website’s admin area. Then, navigate to the Plugins section and choose “Add New.” Click the “Upload Plugin” button and select the ZIP file you downloaded earlier. Finally, initiate the installation by clicking “Install Now”.

• WPML Setup

• Select the default language on your site and the languages in which you want to translate the website.

• Select the URL format for your website.

• Enter the Site Key for registering.

• Select how you want the contents of the website to be translated.

• If you choose to automatically translate your content, then select the action to be taken after.

• A prompt will be generated asking you to start translating content if your website is ready. If you have some changes to be made on the website, select the other option.

• Select who will translate the websites.

• Enable recommended plugins by the WPML that are compatible and helpful for your website.

• Finish the setup wizard.

Voila! Your multilingual website is ready in just a few clicks! You can further customize the translation in the WPML Plugin’s Settings.

Here’s an important setting for setting up a different domain per language in WPML:

After your domain registrar connects your language-specific domain to your WordPress site, head back to your admin dashboard and navigate to WPML → Languages.

There, locate the Language URL format section and choose “A different domain per language”.

Enter the new domain name, like “example.de”, in the designated field and click “Save.” WPML will automatically check the connection to the domain. If there are any issues, you’ll see an error message on the screen.

This same screen allows you to enable a feature that keeps you logged in across different domains. This is especially important if you use a page builder like Elementor to manage both your main content and translations. Without this option enabled, you’ll be logged out when switching between language versions of your site.

Maintaining Your Multilingual Website with InstaWP

Creating a multilingual website opens doors to a wider audience, but maintaining its functionality and content requires ongoing effort. Here’s how InstaWP helps you seamlessly manage your multilingual website:

• Safe Testing with Staging: With the InstaWP Connect plugin, you can create a staging site. This allows you to create a copy of your website within the secure InstaWP environment. You can then make edits, test new themes or plugins, or experiment with code changes on this staging site without affecting your live website.

• Version Control and Backups: With InstaWP, you can create snapshots of your website at different stages of development. This version control allows you to revert to a previous version if something goes wrong during maintenance. InstaWP also offers website backups, providing an extra layer of security in case of unforeseen issues.

• WordPress Maintenance: InstaWP doesn’t directly handle core maintenance tasks like updating themes and plugins, but its staging functionality simplifies the process. You can update these elements on the staging site first, test for any compatibility issues, and then push the changes to your live site with confidence.

• Uptime Monitoring: InstaWP offers uptime monitoring, which means they can track your website’s availability and notify you if it goes offline. This helps you identify and address potential issues promptly.

• Performance Optimization: When you update themes and plugins, make sure that your website performance does not get affected. Using lightweight themes and plugins, removing unwanted plugins, and timely caching would help in greater performance optimization.

• Scalable Hosting Plans for Growth: As your website traffic grows due to your multilingual reach, InstaWP offers scalable hosting plans to accommodate its increased demand. You can easily upgrade your plan to ensure your website continues to perform optimally for your global audience, guaranteeing the smooth operation of your multilingual website and WPML functionalities.

To summarize, you should follow best practices to maintain your WordPress website for its smooth functioning.

Conclusion

The world awaits! Are you ready to unlock its potential? This guide has shown you how to create a multilingual website with InstaWP and WPML.

Their powerful combination takes the complexity out of managing multiple languages, letting you focus on what matters most – connecting with your audience. So, what are you waiting for? Start building your global presence today!