Basic English Website Terminology

Have you ever visited a website and discovered that you understood little of the terminology? Have you always wanted to translate your website into English but don’t know where to begin? Every industry has its own technical terms and common phrases. This blog post outlines some basic English website terminology.

 

English Website Terminology

 

Homepage.

The homepage is the first thing your visitors see when they visit your website. It should introduce your company and let visitors know what services you offer.

 

Products or services.

Visitors need to know what products or services you provide. This information should be visible on the home page via a drop-down menu. A good idea is to create sub-pages for each product or service. This way, visitors have a more detailed idea of what you can do for them.

 

 

About or About us.

This is the page where your visitors can get to know you better. Include photos of your team members and interesting facts about your company.

 

 

FAQ.

Including a Frequently Asked Questions section (preguntas frecuentes in Spanish) is a great way for your visitors to resolve any questions they have without having to contact you. It’s also a sign of professionalism and transparency.

 

 

Blog.

Having a blog provides useful content to your target audience and is an effective marketing tool. Translating your blog ensures your content reaches a larger audience.

 

 

Contact or Contact Us.

Include as many different ways as possible for your customers to contact you on your website. This can be via email, telephone, social media or a physical address.

 

 

Now that you are familiar with the individual sections that make up a website, it’s time to get a little more technical.

 

 

Browser or Web Browser (Navegador).

 

A program or software application used to access information on the World Wide Web. Some common examples include Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge.

 

 

Call to Action or CTA (Llamada a la acción).

 

This is a statement designed to urge the visitor to take immediate action. They usually include an imperative verb to give them more force. Some common Call to Action statements in English include “Register Now” (registrate ahora), “Try it Now for Free” (pruébalo gratis) “Buy Now” (compralo ya) and “Request a Free Quote Today” (pide un presupuesto gratis hoy).

 

 

Responsive Web Design.

Responsive Web Design or RWD is a type of web design that provides a customised user experience for different browser platforms. The layout of the website will adapt according to the device it’s being viewed on. It will appear one way on a laptop, another way on a tablet and another way on a smartphone.

 

 

Drop-down Menu.

Also known as a drop-down list, this is a list of items that appear whenever you click on a button or a piece of text. This is an excellent way for users to view your products or services without having to navigate to the relevant page.

 

 

Search Bar.

A search bar, search field or search box is a rectangular field on a website that allows the user to search for specific information.

 

 

 

Search Engine Optimisation or SEO.

A group of actions that affect the visibility of a website in the unpaid results of a search engine. Search Engine Optimisation can be divided into two categories: on-page SEO (optimising different parts of your website to improve search rankings) and off-page SEO (increasing the authority of your domain by getting links from other websites).

 

 

 

 

Localising instead of translating

 

We often forget that translating a website involves thinking about your target country and not just your target audience. It’s not the same translating a website for a British audience as translating a website for an American audience. Furthermore, each country has their own expressions, terminology and spelling.

If you need to translate your website into English, don’t hesitate to contact me.