How to Translate a Web Page & Website Translation
Services
Do you want to reach global markets? You can greatly increase your market reach and business profits by
translating your website into multiple languages.
One option is to use a free online translation tool, like the Google Translator or Google's automatic website translator that lets you post some code on your website, and the user
clicks a button to translate the text on the page.
Although these tools are easy to use, the translation is not always accurate - and the automatic website
translator does not create web pages that can be indexed by the search engines for additional traffic.
Many companies instead turn to a human-translation service like Translated.net to more accurately
translate their websites at an affordable price. You can also get documents and even software
translated.
You can get a free online estimate of the website content you want translated - depending on number
of words and languages >>
Cultural Crossover | Promoting your home business through online marketing, SEO and
Localization
Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, the smallest of home-based
businesses can compete on an even keel with long-established, global corporations.
That's not to say they can draw the same kind of revenue as the large organizations, it merely means that
small businesses can at last look beyond domestic shores to the big bucks that exist elsewhere in the
non-English speaking world.
Indeed, home businesses are in a fairly strong starting position when targeting any market, given that they
will have fewer overheads for premises and staff; this means they will also be able to undercut the prices of
other well-established companies.
And with international markets, it's worth considering the following fact: 75% of the world's population
speak no English whatsoever. That's over five billion - a quite staggering amount of people that businesses
should be considering a little more closely.
Attracting even a fraction of these people would equate to a lot of money for most businesses, but knowing
how to take your home venture into the global arena can be a bit daunting, so it's worth knowing a few basic
online marketing and localization tips to get you started.
Firstly, as a home business, your website will probably be the cornerstone of your current domestic
operation. And this will still be the case when looking to target international markets.
So how does a business broaden its online presence in foreign lands? Well, before the SEO process begins,
you'll obviously need to have a foreign language website in the target market.
But before you do this, you must identify which is the best market to target, and this will vary greatly
from business to business. You will have to do your research and see where there is a gap for you to exploit.
If there are other similar businesses operating already in a specific country, then that's a good sign as it
demonstrates a demand for the product or service. However, be wary of too many companies, as it can be
difficult to gain a foothold in an industry that is already saturated.
The next stage is to buy a locally hosted domain name in the target country. It may just be your company
name with a local domain extension, for example .es in Spain or .fr in France, or if your company name is a
direct reflection of the services you offer (e.g. 'Web Design Services'), then you would be best translating
your company name into the target language and buying that domain name instead.
This lays the foundation for you to translate your website into the desired language; however, there is a
strong argument that says you shouldn't translate the keywords. And here's why.
The correct dictionary translation of a keyword or phrase may NOT be what people use to search for the
desired product or service locally, they may use abbreviations, colloquialisms or a different word that means
the same thing. So in the same way as you identify your industry's highest ranking keywords for the English
market, such as via Google's free keyword finder, you have to research the keywords for each target country, to ensure
your foreign language website is properly optimized.
Once you have your keywords identified for each country, you can then incorporate these into a
professionally translated website. It's important that native speakers are used to translate your website as it
must exude professionalism in all your target markets.
English may still be the dominant language in terms of content on the Web, but the majority of the world's
internet users' first language isn't English. And this disparity creates a rather lucrative opportunity for
those seeking to enter new markets: the competition for key search terms is much less on the non-English
language internet, therefore it's possible to achieve high search engine rankings far easier than in
English.
The importance of localizing the website for the target market can't be over-emphasized and there is a
myriad of cultural and linguistic complexities that must be addressed in addition to the above - but that would
make for an essay in itself!
About the author: Christian Arno is founder and Managing Director of Lingo24, global translation services provider that specializes in website localization. With
operations spanning four continents and a network of 4,000 professional translations, they are on course for
a turnover of $6m USD in 2009.
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