Top Three Benefits of Translating Your Blog or Website

Why Translating your Website can Decide its Destiny

When you surf the web, odds are that you’re doing it in English. It seems like everybody online reads English, so is there any need to create a translated version of your own blog or website? You might think that the benefits of having a translated site are outweighed by the effort and cost to translate your it, but you could be wrong. In fact, you could be passing up tremendous opportunities by not having translated versions of your website or blog.

Consider the following statistics: Over 70% of the world does not speak English,  more than half of all searches on Google are not performed in English, and around 45% of websites are not in English. Given these facts, it seems fairly intuitive that having an English-only website is attracting only a fraction of the demographic you could be drawing in.

Increase Reach

One obvious benefit of translating your site or blog is increasing the audience you reach. It allows you to start making inroads into the 70% of the global population that doesn’t speak English. Keep in mind that since most websites are exclusively in English, there is much less competition for non-English pages. Entering a more niche market with less competition is a good business strategy all around.

Become More Approachable

A multilingual website or blog can also increase your accessibility to potential clients. Not only does it increase your chances of attracting more clients, but it allows you to attract a more diverse clients. This is a natural result of being able to penetrate into new, previously untapped markets. It also makes your site more friendly to these potential clients, because people naturally prefer doing business in their own language, even if they already speak English.

Better Branding

Yet another benefit of translating your website is an improved image and better branding. Offering information and services in multiple languages builds credibility and makes your site look more professional. This, in turn, leads to increased confidence in your brand. Overall, your site will be a more familiar and welcoming environment for global consumers. In addition, when you’re dealing with websites or blogs that are specifically about translation services, there is a definite case to be made for “eating your own dog food”. If your job is translating, then it’s a good idea to demonstrate your confidence in it by having translated versions of your own site.

An additional bonus is that Google does not count translated copies of your blog or website as “duplicated content” for the purposes of SEO rankings. This means that you can safely create multiple translated versions of your site without worrying about any potentially negative side-effects from SEO rules. There are many ways to get translations for your site, ranging from automated software, to crowd-sourcing, to professional translation services. As a general rule, remember that you usually get what you pay for, so while automated translation software may seem and easy and attractive option, a poorly translated site will benefit neither you nor your clients.