I recently read an article on Multichannel Merchant called “Looking for Love (and Other Search Terms) in All the Wrong Languages” that discusses this new approach on how to begin optimizing your site for multilingual search engines.

For sites in English, the goal is to not only capture the international market but also to attract non-native English speakers in your home country. The article states that:

80% of all online transactions begin on the Web and that 99% of foreigners use search engines built around their languages to look for, not surprisingly, words in their own language. SEO around English will leave a lot of these people on the outside, never finding your Website or what you offer.

To compete in the international space, you don’t have to go through the expensive and time-consuming process of translating and localizing your entire site (though that, of course, would help). The article suggests a different approach called “transcreation”, where you focus on translating keywords and other metadata into appropriate languages to gain new paths into your site.

Here is an excerpt:

That’s where the translation issue comes up. Do people who don’t speak English think about products in the same way? There are certainly direct translations for physical objects like an Eames chair, a sports car, and a rotary sander.

But some things may not be sold or used in a given country–think Lufthansa running a promotion for flights from Boston to Frankfurt to passengers in a regional airport in northern Germany or, to take an extreme case, Weight Watchers pitching its wares to a country chronically cursed with famine.

Translating every keyword obviously doesn’t make sense. This reality brings up the third option: what I classify as “transcreation” rather than translation. For their MSEO projects, companies first translate keywords for objects and concepts that easily cross borders; for example, look at words that are specific to your industry. For everything else, you’ll have to get into someone else’s skin.

Read the full article on MSEO.

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Thank You Notes 101
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Firefox … Enough Said
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Who doesn’t love free software?
There are tons of programs on the market that can fulfill the same needs as their pricey counterparts. But does the old adage “you get what you pay for” hold true in this case? Not according to this USA Today article that lists 10 free alternatives to some very well known programs, including Outlook, Photoshop, Dreamweaver & Quickbooks.

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What to do? Here are three things you may want to consider:

• SEO (search engine optimization): Writing with specific keywords in mind is a key to search engine success. Search engines pick up on the words you designate crucial to your business, to help place you at the top when a potential client is searching for you or the kinds or services or products you offer. Don’t be afraid to blog or write multiple articles centering on similar topics – this will only boost your business in the search engines.
• Ghostwriting: Having a professional writer is like having a partner in business you never knew you had. Ghostwriters will work closely with you to successfully market your product. Whether it be for a website, press kit, marketing materials or other services, a good ghostwriter will learn the ins and outs of your business and will be able to get your point across more effectively (and free you up to do what you do best).
• Press Kits: It’s safe to say that e-mailing has become a mainstay of communication, and not just for sending pictures. Building an electronic (“e”) press kit offers a complete PR kit for your business in an easy-to-send file (usually a pdf). Press releases, press clippings, interviews, your bio and other components are compiled in one convenient file. You won’t have to struggle to get the word out about your business – a click of the mouse is all it will take!

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To make the Google cut, your copy needs to be:

• Relevant: To the topic, to your customers, to the search engine. Google wants to see that you are actually writing about what you say you are writing about, so if you list “travel to Mexico” as a keyword for your page, make sure that travel to Mexico is a theme or idea you discuss on that particular page.

  Trust me, Google will know if you are being tricky – it won’t work and you and your site will be penalized.

• Updated: If the last time you revised your web page or site was 2004, it’s not new or up-to-date. Google likes recency. And that’s the beauty of the online medium – it can be added to or updated almost instantly and constantly.

  News, information, tips, new ideas – whatever you have to say, you can say it. Just make sure you keep your search engine ranking goals in mind at all times.

• More quality than quantity: Good SEO copy is not about making sure that your page or article has XX number of words or XX% of keywords. (Though you will meet tons of people who give you all sorts of percentages and density numbers.)

It’s about using the words you know you need to have in a way that is consistent, relevant, well-written and logical. It’s about following through – focusing on what you are telling Google through your meta tags that you’re going to focus on.

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For the rest of us who always want to learn more, when it comes to natural or organic search engine rankings (as opposed to the kind you pay for, like pay per click), there are a number of issues to consider.

Back in the day, SEO (search engine optimization) copywriting wasn’t something most businesses even knew they were looking for. But all that has changed, and understandably so – these days, who isn’t trying to crack the Google code and catapult themselves and their business to the top of the search engine pages??

Most people do not (please don’t be offended) know how to write good, effective SEO copy – they just don’t. Good SEO copy needs to “speak” to two audiences – the target market who ultimately needs to make a buying decision AND the search engines. Both need to be spoken to within the same copy. And that same copy needs to do its job so well that both groups think that that copy is directed right at them.

A tall order, huh?

Learn more specifically what you need to know about good SEO writing for your website and other online marketing in my next blog entry.

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