Blog translation: how to attract a global audience with your knowledge and experience
Blogging has become an important marketing strategy for small, medium and large businesses alike. If your business does not have a blog, there are quite a few drawbacks. For example:
- You have no medium to share updates with (potential) customers
- It is more difficult to obtain higher search engine rankings because your website does not have dynamic new content
- As a business, it is harder for you to show that you are an expert in your topic. In a blog, you can go deeper into more specific content that demonstrates to certain customers and leads that you have mastered your field.
Why you should translate your blog posts
So for 99% of businesses, having a blog just makes sense! But in today's global markets, and especially in the EU with all its languages, it is also worth considering translating your blog posts into other languages. After all, there is little to no point in having a blog that cannot be understood by a majority of your website visitors.
However, there are a few things to keep in mind when translating your blog posts. First, it is important that your translations be accurate.
- A Google Translate button on your website can be a useful tool, but it is often only 70-75% accurate. Another option is to hire a professional translator. This can be more expensive, but can ensure that the meaning of the original text is accurately conveyed in the new language.
- When translating a website, it is also important to consider the cultural context of the target audience. Keep in mind that some words and colloquialisms may not translate well, and there are also synonyms for words that the machine translation software does not understand well. This may mean that wording or graphics on the site need to be adjusted. Some terms or concepts that are common in the United States may not make sense in another country.
- Finally, remember that the so-called tone of voice of your blog is an important part of its appeal. Try not to change your tone of voice too much when translating your posts - instead, aim for a natural-sounding translation that retains the essence of your blog's style.
- It is also important to consider the overall layout of the site and whether the site is still easy to navigate.
Translating your blog using a plugin or another translation solution?
As we discussed in a previous post, there are many options available for translating a website and the same is true for blogs. You can translate these blogs using plugins, for example WPML for WordPress / WooCommerce, and there are also other types of plugins, also for other systems. However, this also has many disadvantages, mainly because the configuration is often a lot of hassle, the translation quality leaves much to be desired, the capabilities of the plugins are limited and the websites often become a lot slower.
Clonable is one of the best ways to easily translate and internationalize your blog posts. You can translate any existing website and blog within seconds using our simple and intuitive website translation software. Instead of building a whole new website and having to transfer all the content, possibly having it translated, and maintaining two sites, with Clonable you will have a foreign site within 5 minutes. Because it is a live copy, changes to the original site are automatically made (and translated) on the cloned site. Adjustments to existing pages are automatically translated.
What about you? Which translation solution will you choose? If you have a blog and want it translated, contact our Clonable team. We will be happy to help you find the best possible solution for your needs.
