Business for Business Internet Marketing: Lost In the Translation

Business for Business Internet Marketing: Lost In the Translation: "You have gone to the expense of translating you website into a second and third language. Are you are getting enquiries from the destinati..."

Lost In the Translation

You have gone to the expense of translating you website into a second and third language.  Are you are getting enquiries from the destination counties to make it worth the investment?  Is your website being found for the products and services you provide in those counter search engine?

Probably not!

Translating your website content to get listed on foreign search engines is the first step to increasing your international exposure.  You are considering the customers in those destination countries who use English as a second language but are you sending the right message to them?  Is the translation at a level of language that is suitable for the foreign visitor to your website?

It is not often the case and all depends on the Translation Agency you used or the translation technology you found on the internet that translated for free.  The literal translation of content can change the nuances of meaning and context of your copy when changed from one language to another.  There are many cases of this happening to dire consequences and often lost orders.  Literally ‘Lost in Translation!’

Lazy workers
An engineering company that wanted to open up the Chinese market had a long report translated into Mandarin by a native speaker – cheaper than getting a translation agency to do the work – the report was translated literally and it was published on their website.  In the first 9 months they did not get a single enquiry even though they could see from the website logs that there were many visitors to the translated page.  It was at this time that a Good Samaritan contacted the Engineering Company to ask why they were telling everyone that the engineering company had lazy workers and did not care about the customers.

Lost orders
Another case was reported of a company that had provided an enquiry form in German for their customers in Germany.  After a period of intensive marketing they were receiving over twenty enquiries a day.  The sales team were dutifully deleting these enquiries because they thought the emails were spam.  They had not been informed by the marketing department there was a German version of the email enquiry from the site and to pass it to another office.

Inflatable toys!
A seller of rubber dinghies had translated their website into French using his rusty schoolboy learnt skills.  The effect was good and they got a large number of visitors to the French pages in their website.  Unfortunately they did not get the corresponding orders from the site that should have expected.  On closer examination they had translated the content and used the term inflatable which thought was a French word. 

What he did not know was the word inflatable is a keyword for a blow up doll.  What he should have used was the term 'bateau pneumatique'.  I can imagine the look on the faces of the users when they were presented with a Zodic (another term the French use for inflatable boats) not the subject of an episode of ‘Only fools and Horses’

When it comes to business, trying to shave the budget to get the job done cheaper can result in a waste if money and brand damage.  Use a Translation agency and get localised translation of your website. 

Search engine optimisation
Keyword research should also be carried out in the destination languages with experienced linguists who understand the importance of the keywords and phrases used by their countrymen.  Many of the sites that we see that have been translated have not catered for this and do not appear in the search engines of the destination country.

Be and expert use an expert.
In summing up you are experts at your business.  Make sure you use an expert in the translation industry and search engine marketing industry to get the best for your business.  It could save you some embarrassment and a lot of money

Have a good week!

Business for Business Internet Marketing: What is wrong with your website?

Business for Business Internet Marketing: What is wrong with your website?: "After the dust has settles on your website and the number of visitors is counted in tens not thousands the disappointment of the Internet co..."

What is wrong with your website?

After the dust has settles on your website and the number of visitors is counted in tens not thousands the disappointment of the Internet comes home. 

This has happened to hundreds of business owners across the UK week in week out.  Why is it that so many other business owners seem to be doing so well?  You have put the effort in you have invested the budget but the promises of the web developer and the stories in the press have not happened for you.

Why are you not getting some of the £1.2 Billion of sales online in the UK each week?  What is it about your website that the customers do not like?

A website user experience review
Many of the clients we see each month, in our website user experience review sessions, say the same thing.  Our website is not working and we do not know why.  We have not had many visitors since we launched our site four years ago. In fact we have never had a customer from the site.  We have spent a fortune on Google Adwords and Search Engine Optimisation but we still cannot get the site to work as we want.

After a coffee and some questions about the products, services and original objective of the site we start to build up a picture of the process the client went through to get where they are now.  The non existent design brief, the unrealistic expectations and the low budget allowance.   All this combined with a misunderstanding of what is involved in the development, management and promotion of a website that works.  These are the reasons many have not had the results they expected from their websites.

The website design brief
The first approach by the many is one of how much will it cost, when it should be how much of an investment will I have to make to get a website that can be beneficial to my business.  I have a design brief with me that outline the products, target customers, functionality, and what I want to achieve from my site over the next two years. I have approached three other web developers and I want a quotation from you.

We recently published an article about this subject called What would you get if you ordered your food the same way you commissioned your website? and can be found in the Telegraph Business Club website at

This should give you some idea of the outcome of handing the responsibility of your business to a creative.

Unrealistic expectations
It is exciting to see that nearly 20% of retail sales are now done online.  But we have to remember that people are a discerning lot.  You, I and everyone you can think of make decisions on what, how and when they buy.  The smallest thing that is out of place can stop you and them in their tracks probably going to a competitor website to make the purchase. 

When you are in a shop the salesperson can adapt their conversation as they listen to you speak.  Online we do not have that opportunity so we have to predict the user and their behaviour to enable us to give them what they want in the fastest and most intuitive way possible.  Just because you have a website with a picture of the product on it does not mean that everyone who comes to the site will buy.  It is more than a numbers game. 

Your investment
This is quite a simple problem - the perception that the internet is cheap is self inflicted.  There is so much free stuff online that why should you pay!  How many of you can be honest enough to admit that everything you have had for free has cost you more in the long term. We have all bought a spanner form pound land and it has bent the first time we have used it.  If we only want to use it once than that is OK and value for money.  But we do not delude ourselves in the fact that the spanner will last a lifetime.

The same goes for the internet.  A website that only costs you £1000 will not bring untold wealth.  If you have an office or shop in a good location work out what it cost to set up and run.  Without any promotion how many passing customers do you get each month?  What is the cost of teach customer?  Add up all the overheads and business costs and divide by the number of passing customers.  Find out how much this group of customers spent in the month and then work out if they are profitable.

Think to yourself how much it would cost to open a shop / office in every major town along the M4 to London.  Now work out what the cost of doing the same in every town and village across the country.  The sums soon mount up and then there is the manning of each location, stock and all the other costs involved, travel etc.  You will have a network of businesses across the UK with the ability to be seen by many millions of people.  The business should do well, but the cost of setup will be considerable.

Now what is the cost of getting into every home and office in the country that has an internet connection?  The £1000 you have spent on a website is no where near realistic if you want to grow a business.

The never ending race
When you publish a website you are entering the internet race.  A race that never ends and you only win if you are in the top 10 places. At the beginning you get to the top fairly easily because all the other runners in your section are walking.  They see you walking faster so they start to pick up speed.  You increase speed because you were enjoying being at the top as it meant more income.  They will then go faster and the race really picks up.  But you are getting the returns on your investment. 

If you stop for a rest or take time out from the promotion of your website the other runners will catch up and pass you.

A website is not ‘publish and it is done’.  It is a living document and as such needs feeding and management.  You have to commit to it if you want it to bring you the rewards that are there waiting for you.

But realise that the development, publishing and promotion of a website is more than talking to a web designer and popping a few pictures and some text on a webpage.

To get an independent user experience review of your website contact Nigel T Packer on 01693 820984 or email him now nigel@bsuinessforbusiness.co.uk

Business for Business Internet Marketing: Business survival and the Internet !

Business for Business Internet Marketing: Business survival and the Internet !: "As long ago as the 1990's there have been predictions on the way the internet is going. The change that we have seen to date is nothing to ..."

Business survival and the Internet !

As long ago as the 1990's there have been predictions on the way the internet is going. The change that we have seen to date is nothing to what is coming in the next few years and the future. It is not always safe to predict the future but if you consider the way the internet has influenced our lives to date it is not difficult to predict the changes that will come. Changes that affect everything we do and the way we live.

I am not referring to the movement towards social media and the latest trends in business promotion but the way the internet is influencing how people live, interact and pursue their daily activities. The changes the internet has brought that influence and affects the way we all interact socially and in business. Like the printing press and education that changed society in the past, the journey will be difficult, some will resist, many will gain and many will lose.

The effect the internet has had to date is small, only taken up by those who see the possibilities. Only a small minority who are engaged are actually influencing the creation of trends that are seen as the greatest thing or the next killer application.

The vast majority of internet users are joining unaware of the consequences and not sure of the possibilities but want to be part of it, the ‘me too people’.

A sales medium or something else?

Business owners see the internet as another sales medium, individuals see it as many things: A place to meet, a place to share, a place to learn, a place to make purchases. These are all the positive facets, we also have to think of the ‘dark side’ a place to corrupt, a place to mislead, a place to steal, a place to groom.

I have been researching the effects the internet has had on the retail industry in the last 10 years and the results are quite scary for those who occupy the High Street. At speaking events - across the UK and in Europe - I have been sharing with audiences about the changes that have taken place and are yet to come. It has frightened many but the evidence is irrefutable.

Too many of the old schools, in Business, the Press and Politics do not comprehend the enormity the internet will have in everything we do. Business, society and life will never be the same again.

The vast majority of business owners are reacting to the technology created by the web developers and trends internet users create by their volume and curiosity. These businesses are jumping on the band wagon hoping they won’t get left behind. The movers and shakers are the likes of Amazon and eBay - and don’t get it right every time – They are the ones who thought it through from the beginning and are now reaping the rewards.

Online Retail

The retail industry has a lot of catching up to do. They are still applying old business models to the internet. It is not the High Street it is the Internet, it is new and in most cases it is the blind leading the blind. Business owners are reliant on web designers and developers to find the solution to their needs but these are not business people or marketers. They simply take the clients money and build a website from a template and then put the clients content into it. No consideration has been made for the people who will be using the website.

The News

The press are also applying old business models to the delivery and monetisation of the news using the internet and they are failing rapidly. There was an interesting commentary by a journalist who was deriding bloggers on the BBC last evening. He has not realised that the mainstream press have lost out to a fast moving agile sub culture that is gaining momentum from the need of the user for faster and more responsive news. Not from across the world but from local events and issues. Watch out as twitter takes over from the press for local news and postings form amateur journalists on every street corner armed with a mobile phone, a blog and a twitter feed.

Social media

Society has already changed beyond recognition and we will see more of this in the next few years. Some governments have already tried to stop the march of the internet by blocking and filtering information. However, like the hacker each time you put in a firewall the hacker sees it as a challenge to get around.

The vast majority of social media users are blissfully unaware of the consequences of their actions, they are feeding the speed of change by joining. On social networks you can see everything you would expect in a soap opera. I have seen the early development of a love story to an acrimonious divorce. There has been the offer of a job to the public sacking of an employee because they connected to their new boss when they started in the job and then published a diatribe of how bad it was working in the company. This is not fiction it is the real thing, happening in real time and far more relative than the six week soap story. Does this mean the end of the soap opera as we know it?

The future

We are at the beginning of the story, I cannot predict with any accuracy of what technology or trend will spring out of the next great website. One thing I can be sure it will happen because the technology, the will, and the momentum are there.

The internet is a self service environment and whatever way you want to use it you have to take this into consideration. The question that business owners should be asking themselves is: What do users want? Can we provide it in an easy and timely way that meets their needs and wants?

Who will survive?

It is not really about the strong surviving but about the ones who can see, those people who have the broad knowledge from many sectors and are open to the challenges that the internet brings. They are not the young but the wise, the ‘T’ shaped people with a wide knowledge base which is focused on a core area, the internet.

Kind regards

Nigel T Packer

The Insurance company website that doesn't want customers!

I was sent a customer feedback survey email yesterday from a well known supplier of business insurance. The company had provided a good service to me in the past and I was pleased to complete the form as it said in the email that it would only take a few minutes.

Is it a phishing email?

The first thing that struck me about the email was the lack of brand identity - No Logo or heading. At the bottom of the email there was an email address for the MD of the company. No contact details or company number - is this a phishing email?

I decided to contact the MD to confirm if this was a legitimate request. So I looked the company name up in Google. The site I was presented with had no Contact us page but did have various services they provide including a tab marked Business. I clicked on it where I was met by a new web page and a number of options to select from. On this Business page there was a self promotion advertisement saying ‘Contact Us Our team of specialist advisers would love to help you. Please call us free between: Weekdays 8:30am to 5:30pm’ A nice message but No telephone number!

Back to Google to find their telephone number on a directory website. 

On the phone I got through to the call centre where the operator did not know who the person I was looking for was. She worked in a different department in a different town.  She put me through to the head office where I spoke to the marketing department.  They were aware of the MD and then told me that he was away on holiday until the next week.

They also explained that they had sent out the survey email and it was a legitimate request.

The poor user experience

My whole user experience in this case was poor and if I had wanted to buy insurance from this multi-million turnover company then I would have had quite a job. Unlike most users I went far above the usual levels of persistence to get a response purely to see where it would lead.

Most individuals would have given up when they could not find a telephone number on the website. Hit the back button and looked for an alternative provider.

How many customers are they losing each day from a poor testing procedure and unconnected promotion of their services?

It is hard to tell how many potential customers you lose each day from your websites.  The only way to find out is to carry out a website user experience review with an expert.  The cost of which is far less that the loss of revenue and sales and the brand damage that it causes.

If you want to know the name of the company then email me at info@businessforbusiness.co.uk and I will tell you.  If you are the Insurance Company then please get in touch and we can arrange a Website User Experience Review for you.  The RoI on a User review is between 200% and 700%.