The New Norm: Proper Website and Online Business Translation

Multilingual SEO

If you do business internationally or within markets that speak different languages (many consumers in the USA speak Spanish, etc), you may have considered the need for SEO (search engine optimization) in multiple languages.

Beyond the literal translation of your keywords, you will also need to consider how local dialects can affect how people are searching for your service. For example, if your company is in the medical device industry and many of your clients are in different parts of Latin America, they may search for the same concept using different Spanish words and the way they are arranged.

It’s important for the success of a company’s online presence to have the SEO set up to correctly draw in customers from different regions.  For this reason, it’s worth the price of having your website and its keywords properly translated the first time around so that they can target localized keywords instead of relying on online translator plugins, etc.

In the SEO world, the more often a keyword is used the less likely it is that your website will be at the top of the Google page for including it due to high competition. Since over half of the internet’s content is in English, many critical keywords are commonly used. This makes it hard to compete against the competition’s web presence. However, upon correctly translating your website and using the correct translation to generate high-quality SEO, you open your doors to much more opportunity.

Many competitors may have “medical services” in their keywords, but many more may not have those keywords in the language of a large percentage of potential customers. Suddenly you are reaching people who speak other languages and need your service, which may be a massive market.

Everyone loves a high demand, low competition global environment.

What do your potential markets speak?

According to the Globalization & Localization Association (GALA), the world’s connectivity is rapidly increasing and so is the expected online customer experience. From apps to tourisms companies to industrial corporation employee training, any user exposed to online verbal or visual language expects to be communicated with accuracy.

In the tech world, mainstream news may focus on current trends in the United States but Asian markets are also growing rapidly. How soon will it be before many of your company’s potential clients live in Korea? Perhaps that’s already the case.

GALA also makes a good point that because of all the information available worldwide, everyone expects ease and simplicity in their interactions. They list Uber, Amazon, and AirBnB as companies that provide ease of use to all their customers and have set a new international norm. No one wants their company to be difficult to be found, which is exactly what happens when your online content is not well translated.

Many potential clients will not take the time to make light of what your list of poorly translated services means. Or, they simply won’t be able to find your company altogether due to your website’s keywords being online in only English.

Online Media and Social Media Translations

Maybe your company’s website or social media feature videos, videos developed to create and enhance brand awareness or lead to more sales. However, as video becomes widely shared and accessible globally, relevant translation is needed for media as well.

Research by Common Sense Advisory shows, 72% of customers in all industries spend most or all of their time on websites in their own language. The same proportion said they would rather buy a product that is offered in their own language, while 56% say that information in their own language is more important than price.

Entrepreneur Magazine states that almost half of Fortune 500 companies only have their website in one language. A movement is underway for companies to respect the global and very diverse market. Entrepreneur states that the key factors many people overlook are:

  • Ignoring language localization (eg Brazi vs Portugal, Colombia vs Chile vs Mexico)
  • Overlooking measurement unit conversions (currency, miles vs kilometers, temperatures)
  • Seeing China as one large market instead of multiple
  • Overlooking the Arabic language as a contender in the business world

They also bring to light that localization and translation of websites and their SEO make up less than 1% of total investment costs for companies’ marketing/R&D. The potential ROI is unmistakable large, especially long term. Social media and online content is so critical in every market that it has become important to translate these outlets as well.

Online Medium Translation: If Not Now, when?

The world grows smaller and more connected every day, the odds of that reversing are nonexistent. As addressed in our blog Critical Times When Your Business Needs Translation Services, there are many factors that affect most businesses, requiring they use business translation. Accepting your company needs translation is the first step, the next step is addressing your online presence and its need for linguistic diversification. Properly carrying out translation is then the next factor, and to do so, you’ll need a qualified translation company that can confidently translate materials into various languages or local dialects. Contact us today to determine the best-suited solution to best represent yourself in the global market.

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