How to Create a Multilingual WordPress Website Using WPML

The world is becoming smaller, but even so, language is still a common stumbling block between success on a local level and becoming a global juggernaut. Unless you learn how to create a multilingual WordPress website, youll never be able to reach your full potential, audience-wise.Although translating your website is a tough task, it can be done. Fortunately for us, WordPress makes the process simpler than it would be on other platforms, thanks to its powerful plugin system.In this article, well teach you how to create a multilingual WordPress website (using the popular WPML plugin)  in just four steps. However, before we roll up our sleeves, lets take a minute to talk about how this plugin works and what its major features are.Introducing the WPML pluginThe WordPress Multilingual plugin (or WPML) is a multilingual plugin solution that  provides you  with almost everything youll need to  add new languages to your  site, switch between them, and even translate your WordPres s  back end. As with other  tools (one of which weve covered previously), WPML doesnt actually translate your site for you – it just provides you with the tools to do so efficiently.Its important to note there are plenty of other excellent plugins that perform similar tasks, such as  Polylang and Weglot Translate. However, WPML – in our opinion – offers a more thorough set of features, which can be attractive to small and large businesses.Key Features:Lets you add new languages to your WordPress site.Enables users to switch between languages at will.Helps translate your WordPress back end (e.g. categories, tags, and navigation menus) to other languages.Supports posts, pages, and custom posts types.Price:WPML subscriptions start at $29  per year.How to create a multilingual WordPress website (in 4  steps)Before we get our hands dirty, its important to back up your WordPress site. Backups are crucial – especially when youre about to add new functi onality – and to that end we suggest using the UpdraftPlus plugin. For those of you who prefer the non-plugin  approach, check out our recent  guide to manually backing up WordPress.As we mentioned, weve already explained how to create a multilingual WordPress website using Polylang  previously. For some it represents almost everything theyll need. For the rest of you, lets  begin!Step #1: Install and activate the WPML pluginAlthough you may be au fait with installing plugins, lets go over the process for completeness.After purchasing a subscription to  the WPML plugin, youll get a link to download a ZIP  file. Once youve done so, head over to your WordPress dashboard and into Plugins Add New.  From here, select  Upload Plugin  and locate the WPML file on your computer:Click on Install Now, and once the process is complete, choose the  Activate  option thats it! Were ready for step number two.Step #2: Determine your sites languagesOnce the plugin is in stalled, youll notice a new WPML  tab  in your dashboard. Navigate to WPML   Languages, and the plugin will ask you to confirm your websites current language before proceeding:Click on  Next, and youll be prompted to choose your sites new languages by checking the relevant boxes. There are dozens to choose from, so take your time:So far so good, right? Now we need to add a language switcher feature to our site, so that users can choose from the  options weve given.Step #3: Set up a language switcherIn simple terms, a language switcher is a tool that users interact with to jump between the available languages on a website. It usually comes in the form of a drop-down list, a collection of flags – or in this case, a widget.After choosing your sites new languages, youll be prompted to add a switcher to your website. The first option youll see is  Widget Area –  go ahead and enable it:Moving on, we need to set the style for our language switcher. Scroll down u ntil you find the  Language switcher style  section, and select either a drop-down menu, or a plain list:Finally, we can enable how languages will appear within our menus. However, these options are purely aesthetic, so theyre up to you:Once youve saved your changes, were almost done! Theres only one key step left in our list – getting our content ready for translation.Step #4: Prepare your content for translationAs we mentioned earlier, WPML does  not  automatically translate your content for you. Machine translations are still not at a point where they should be trusted to make good work of entire posts or pages – youll need to either do the work on your own, or outsource it.If you choose the Edit  option  for any of your posts and pages (or custom post types), youll find a new meta box  next to the WordPress editor:Here, you can set the main language for your post, and choose whether you want to set it as the translation of another page. For example, y ou could create a new page, select a new language, and mark it as the translation of your homepage. If a user switches between languages while on the home page, theyll land on the page you just created.You can also choose to add specific languages to your pages, which will prompt WPML to create copies of them. That way, you get to preserve their structure and can limit your changes to translating their content.Now youre ready to begin the actual translation process. If youre multilingual, you can do the work yourself – otherwise check out WPMLs guide to content translation, which will point you towards all the resources you need. It can even help you translate your themes and plugins!ConclusionYoull need to put in some effort if you want to create a multilingual WordPress website, but the rewards can be plentiful. Not only will you get access to a much larger audience, your website will also come off as more professional in exchange for your efforts.If that sounds like a win- win proposal to you, here are the four  steps you need to know to create a multilingual WordPress website:Install and activate the WPML plugin.Determine your sites new languages.Set up a language switcher.Get your content ready for translation.Do you have any questions about how to create a multilingual WordPress website? Ask away in the comments section below!Free guide5 Essential Tips to Speed Up Your WordPress SiteReduce your loading time by even 50-80% just by following simple tips. * This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and then purchase the product, well receive a small fee. No worries though, youll still pay the standard amount so theres no cost on your part.