One thing that you can safely say about the preschool business is that it is always growing, and as is the case with the entire country preschools are growing more diverse. One of the greatest hallmarks of diversity in early childhood education has been the enthusiastic embrace of a multilingual classroom model. This is not only for purposes of inclusion but to prepare the preschoolers for later success in learning languages that are not their own. Shouldn’t you consider a similar model when it comes to promoting your business?
The Limitations of an English-Only website
No matter what language they speak, every parent is your potential customer. Limiting your client base to only those who speak English might end up being a larger problem than you anticipate. Although the majority of the population in America are English-proficient, according to the U.S. Census, over 20% speak English “less than very well”. The percentage is higher in urban areas, but no matter where your business happens to be located, the prospect of excluding one out of every 5 people from your services is worrying.
How Do Multilanguage Websites Work?
A multi-language website works on many of the same principles as a website that is only written in English, but for each page of content, mirror pages are created for speakers of as many languages as you would like to include. Some languages that would vastly increase your base of potential customers include the following languages:
- Spanish
- Chinese
- Korean
- Japanese
- Hindi Arabic
- Somali
- Tagalog
With just a few mirror pages translated to these languages, you can significantly increase the understanding of up to a quarter of visitors who would potentially visit your website, and this can have a bigger impact than you know.
Unexpected Impact of a Multilanguage Website
When you think of a multilanguage website, you probably wouldn’t expect it to have much of an impact on web traffic, but rather see it as a kind of convenience. In truth, it can have an enormous effect on your efforts to boost traffic. Search engine optimization (SEO) is one way that posting multiple language pages can be a boon, as while you may be in stiff competition for page rank against other preschools, your foreign language pages may be a first-page result when the search for the service is done in the foreign language. The value of this competitive advantage over competitors providing preschool services is immense, and shouldn’t be discounted out of hand.
Example Scenario of Preschool Benefiting from the Usage of a Multilanguage Website
Objective: To increase the number of enrollments of children in the preschool.
Situation: A new preschool opened in Torrance two years ago. This neighborhood is home to a significant number of young executives and their families from Japan who are on multi-year assignments to manage their North American offices. The most common non-English languages spoken in this area are Spanish, Korean, and Japanese.
Solution: To promote the preschool’s unique Reggio-inspired philosophy, the owners have expanded their marketing reach with a multilanguage website describing their approach and offerings in English, Japanese, and Spanish.
Results: The non-English language web pages significantly increased the website’s overall traffic, and the number of website appearances on page 1 of search engine results for “preschool palos verdes”, “preschool torrance”, “preescolar palos verdes”, “preescolar torrance”, “yochien palos verdes”, and “yochien torrance”.
The number of school tours and enrollments increased, with a significant proportion of students whose parents’ native language is not English. The Japanese parents expressed how appreciative they were to find a website written in Japanese, and how much easier it made them to learn whether the school was a good fit for their child and family.
Because of the success, the preschool plans to expand their website with other languages over time.
Get a Free Estimate to Create a Multilingual Website
If you think that a multilanguage website is just the boost that your preschool needs to fill your classrooms, contact UmeWorks for a free estimate and how to get started today! Send us a link to your website’s URL, what languages you want to add, and we’ll provide you an estimate.
