Given the geopolitical climate in Europe, our friends at Pulseem (our client) decided to target the Polish market with a website tailored especially for them.
“Polish users should feel right at home—adjust the site for them,” they instructed, and off we went.
We began by setting up a new infrastructure that supports the additional language and defined a dedicated domain for the Polish market: pulseem.pl.
From there, we faced a familiar set of challenges for anyone who has ever translated a website into another language:
Morphological adaptation to Polish
We made sure the site could fully support the unique structure of the Polish language, including full compatibility with special characters (ą, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ź, ż) across all layers—files, database, and templates—using UTF-8 encoding.
Syntax and layout checks
We checked that buttons, menus, and page headers could handle longer Polish words, and used word-wrap and flexbox to prevent layout issues.
Dynamic elements
We set up dedicated translations in WPML for plugins such as WooCommerce, Elementor, ACF and Yoast, to ensure every field is properly localized.
UI design testing
We reviewed all buttons, menus, and tables to confirm that longer texts don’t interfere with design or usability.
SEO in the new language
We created a separate URL structure for Polish, complete with localized meta titles, descriptions, and hreflang tags.
In addition, we researched local Google Poland keywords to drive relevant traffic instead of relying on direct English translations.
Translation of all site content
We made sure every text string was registered in WPML so no content would remain in English.
Future maintenance
We set up a tracking mechanism for new English content and coordinated with the translator for ongoing updates, ensuring every change is also reflected in Polish.
And just when everything seemed ready—one day before launch—a very human error popped up (remind us again why humans are still needed?):
The new domain was accidentally redirected to the Hebrew version of the site.
Ojej!
But after a quick fix (and a bit of panic), the site finally went live.
So if you’ve got Polish friends and want to wow them with push notifications, newsletters, or automations—GO Pulseem!
