Who actually needs which language
Map language to buyer, not to founder pride. Export B2B may be English-only. A tier-2 clinic, a regional D2C brand, and a government-adjacent service firm have different mixes.
Support language matters as much as marketing language. If WhatsApp support is Tamil, your troubleshooting and address pages should not be English-only PDFs.
One primary, others as coverage
Pick a default locale for the homepage. Secondary locales can start with contact, services, and FAQs. Completeness theatre is how budgets die.
URL design and hreflang without folklore
Stable prefixes, one canonical per locale page, hreflang reciprocal pairs, x-default chosen on purpose. Mixing query-string ?lang= with translated slugs is how crawlers and ads diverge.
Do not translate slugs chaotically in week two. Decide whether slugs stay ASCII for ops or use native scripts — native scripts need extra QA on sharing apps.
x-default is a decision
For many Indian SMEs, English is x-default. For a Tamil-first local business, Tamil can be. Document it so the next developer does not flip it.
WordPress multilingual: plugins are not a strategy
WPML/Polylang-class tools work when someone owns them: media duplication, string translation, and a rule for what is not translated. Abandoned plugin stacks corrupt URLs. That is a maintenance issue — WordPress maintenance.
Separate WordPress installs per language is sometimes cleaner for marketing teams that never should share a dashboard. It is heavier on hosting.
String translation leftover English
Theme strings (“Add to cart”, “Read more”) left in English on a Tamil page look careless. Budget UI string passes, not only page copy.
Next.js and static: routing as a feature
Next.js locale routing is a reason the stack pays off when you have many templates. Static sites can be duplicated per locale if page count is small — static from ₹18,000 does not magically include three languages.
A CMS is still required for non-dev editors. Git-only Tamil updates will not happen.
Do not generate doorway locales
Programmatic city pages in three languages with no unique facts is spam. We refuse that brief. Unique data or don’t generate.
What to translate first (and what to leave)
Money pages: home, services/products you sell, contact, shipping/refund if you are a store, doctor/speciality if you are a clinic. Blog posts that target queries in that language. Not the 2019 CSR PDF.
Legal pages need a human who understands the language, not a founder with Google Translate at 11 p.m.
- Contact, hours, maps, WhatsApp
- Top three services or collections
- Checkout and policy excerpts for stores
- FAQs reception already answers verbally
Brand names and HSN codes
Do not translate trademarks, SKUs, or GST jargon into poetry. Keep codes stable; translate the surrounding help text.
Typography, UI, and mobile wrapping
Tamil and Hindi strings are often longer. Buttons, nav, and SMS templates will wrap. Design in the longest locale, not in English then hope.
Font loading hits CWV. Subset. Avoid seven weights. Test CLS on a cheap Android.
Mixed-script pages
English product names on a Tamil page are normal in India. Forced purity looks robotic. Keep a style guide so it is consistent, not random.
SEO: queries, Search Console, and duplicate risk
Keyword research per locale — Tamil transliteration versus Tamil script is a real fork. Do not assume English head terms plus translate.
Each locale needs Search Console coverage, sitemaps that list locale URLs, and internal links that stay in-language. Monthly SEO should report locales separately.
Hindi on a .in versus ccTLD dreams
Most SMEs should not buy a new TLD to “signal Hindi.” Content and GBP matter more. Spend on pages, not on domain collecting.
Stores and checkout language
Shopify and WooCommerce locale apps vary. Checkout in the language the buyer used on the collection page. INR and GST stay numeric — Shopify checklist still applies.
COD scripts and WhatsApp templates must match. An English recovery SMS after a Tamil browse is how you look like a scam.
Instagram captions are not a locale strategy
Social can be bilingual while checkout is English. Just do not lie in the bio. Website vs Instagram Shop.
Ops: who updates which locale
Assign an owner per language. Unowned Tamil pages go stale (festival hours, doctor leave). Stale locales are worse than no locale.
Translation memory and a glossary keep “root canal” from becoming three different phrases. This is editorial ops, not a plugin setting.
Handover in the language of the editor
If the editor works in Tamil, the CMS training cannot be English-only screenshots. Budget that in the website handover.
How we scope this from Chennai
Locale matrix, URL pattern, font plan, and which templates repeat. We quote WordPress or Next.js accordingly. We will cut locales to ship quality.
If you are migrating off Wix multilingual, redirects per locale are mandatory — Wix → WordPress without losing SEO. Consult.
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