The internet is today the most important channel for communicating with customers. Given that English dominates the internet, translating your website content can give you a distinct competitive advantage. In this article, we discuss the ins and outs of translating your website content.
A Competitive Advantage in a Crowded Market
The internet is a huge place. No matter the product or service, people have access to a wider field of producers than ever before. The new internet-based competitors usually stick to English, since they want to reach as many people as possible. This broad approach opens up an opportunity for a competitive advantage.
By translating to your customers’ mother tongue, you gain two distinct advantages. First, you can communicate more clearly. Second, you increase the likelihood that you will catch website visitors’ attention, giving you a higher SEO ranking.
Translation of Your Website as Communication
The first advantage you get through translating your website is that you are able to communicate your message more clearly. A company needs a complete and clear identity to stand out from the crowd. That identity will not be as well-understood without a proper translation.
The amount of information that gets lost without translation is usually underestimated. Particularly in countries where the language is not Germanic (Finland, Estonia), or in former eastern bloc countries, English proficiency is low. That means a lot of people will not be able to understand your message with a solely English website.
Optimising Your Website for Domestic Searches
The other distinct competitive advantage you gain through translation is a higher SEO ranking – getting higher up on Google’s search results. One of the three pillars of SEO is content. More specifically, content that people want to read and interact with. By translating your website content into the target language, you are far more likely to catch the attention of those customers. This rings especially true if the website includes country-specific information or lengthier writings. It should come as no surprise that people prefer reading in their own language, rather than English. Translation then creates an upward spiral, where more people interact with your website, which boosts SEO, which makes it more likely that people will click on your website, and so on.
Professional Translation
Of course, these competitive advantages only apply if the translation is done by professionals. A haphazard translation will not provide you with any advantages. That is why all our translators have had university level translator education and are native speakers of the target language. We also require that they live in the country they are translating to, to ensure they understand linguistic and cultural nuances. If you are interested in translating your website, contact us today.
