If you’re looking to spread your message online in the MENA region, top-quality Arabic web design is critical. Our team here at Industry Arabic can help you create and promote a professional, persuasive, and beautiful website to attract the specific Arab audience you are aiming to reach.
Key Considerations for your Arabic Web Design Project
1. Content & Dialect: Let’s start with the kind of site you’re trying to build. Is this a blog, sports fan page, or company website? Are you trying to reach a particular target audience or market in a certain country? Or do you want to expand to all of the Arabic-speaking worlds? The answers to these questions will determine how best to proceed in terms of your site’s content. If you are a company or organization marketing to the entire MENA region, your best bet is to publish content in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), the most formal and recognizable form of the Arabic language.
However, if you have a specific country in mind, it may behoove you to accommodate your target audience in their own regional dialect. Some nations and regions, such as Egypt, the Maghreb, and the Levant, have a lively, well-established literary tradition in their local dialects. Having some localized social media outreach or local interest articles in Moroccan darija or Syrian shaami dialects will greatly improve your connections with your target audience. Our translators here at Industry Arabic are fluent in a variety of Arabic dialects and can help identify the best language and tone you should use when communicating with the Arab world.
2. Formatting & Design: Layout is a critical aspect of Arabic web design that will set your site apart from the pack. Since Arabic is written in a right-to-left (RTL) direction, anyone wishing to craft an Arabic website must be sure to flip and reverse all page headings, graphics, charts, etc. Additionally, Arabic script tends to be smaller than Latin block letters, which requires adjusting the text font size when localizing as well. Trying to retrofit Arabic onto an existing content management system (CMS) can be a major headache if the legacy system doesn’t support the Arabic language.
Improperly designed Arabic sites will confuse your target audience, leading them to click the “back” button and never return. Our team will help you craft an Arabic native design that feels natural and inviting to Arabic speakers. Our localization experts have mastered the trade techniques and secrets for adjusting and formatting your English site for an Arabic audience. In the end, you can be sure that we’ll save you time and stress and make your Arabic website look as great as the source.
3. Cultural Sensitivity: Arabic speakers and countries are by no means monolithic. Although they may share some cultural and religious values, Arab societies are as diverse as they are numerous. Each country’s unique history, geography, and peoples shape their favorite types of music, sense of humor, and standards of decency. As such, many common things you typically find on the internet might be considered inappropriate for an Arabic audience. Aside from that, some Arab countries impose strict Internet regulations to bar access to the content they deem harmful.
In this regard, when interacting with Arabic speakers, one needs to keep in mind these cultural differences so as not to be burdened by them later, while also realizing that there is more that binds us as humans than divides. As such, navigating through the various cultural norms and mores need not be a struggle with the right team on your side. We here at Industry Arabic are native Arabic speakers ourselves or have years of experience working in various Arab countries. We have the cultural competence necessary to ensure that your site will appeal to any Arabic audience’s sensibilities.
4. Distribution & Promotion: Once a site is designed and filled with attractive content, the job is still not done. As the internet becomes increasingly filled with content, it is no longer enough to build a website and hope people find it. Whether it’s building a targeted Facebook campaign, creating a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, or engaging on Twitter, Industry Arabic can help optimize the process for getting eyeballs to your site.
Services & Case Studies
As a company, we’ve handled numerous Arabic web design, translation, and localization projects. Here below are some of our more successful projects:
- Arabic Website Localization. Industry Arabic translated web content (text and video) for a global philanthropy organization into Arabic. As a result, the organization was able to communicate its mission to the Arabic-speaking communities they were to serve.
- Islamic Finance Web Presence. We translated a website, prospectus, and other investor relations materials for a Sharia-compliant investment firm. For this project, we not only had to employ our web design skills but also our knowledge of Islamic law to ensure that the terms were appropriate for the intended audience.
- Social Media Campaign: We translated and provided unique designs for a series of Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin messages for distribution during the holy month of Ramadan. The campaign attracted hundreds of hits, links, followers, and shares.
Ready to Discuss an Arabic Web Design Project?
If you are stumped over where to start with your website, or just want your already existing site to have an Arabic section, don’t hesitate to contact us for a free quote today.
