If you’ve recently entered into an overseas market, then understanding exactly what’s going on in terms of the interests and preferences of that market is essential. It’s likely you’ll have to conduct some comprehensive market research, which will be both time-consuming and expensive. But these days there’s a much faster and cost-effective alternative. You can make use of a very handy, completely free-to-use tool called Google Trends.

What is Google Trends?

Google Trends is an online tool that allows you to see how frequently particular search terms are entered into Google’s search engine over a given period of time. You can identify spikes in search volume and change the category, industry, country and language to provide valuable insights into specific geographical areas.

Those insights can help you generate content ideas for new markets based on the most searched terms and give you a better understanding of the vocabulary that local consumers use when searching for the products and services you offer. This can form the basis of your keyword strategy.

Google Trends and your keyword strategy

If you’re entering a new territory, then your keyword strategy will have to be revisited. Some businesses make the mistake of simply translating their existing keywords into the local language, but this can often lead to crucial mistakes in phraseology and vocabulary.

Many overseas markets not only speak different languages but also have different cultural norms and are at varying stages of development, all of which can impact the terms used to search for certain products. Google Trends will allow you to identify exactly which native language terms are used most frequently.

As Google is the most popular search engine in most countries around the world, Google Trends will be able to inform your keyword strategy in many different markets. However, it’s a different story in China, where Baidu is the most popular search engine. Thankfully, there’s a similar tool for Baidu too.

Google Trends and content creation

Another area where Google Trends can be an enormous asset is when creating your content strategy. By understanding what terms your customers are searching for and when, you can create content at the right time of the year that’s based on the search terms consumers use and their topics of interest. It will also provide insights into the aspects of your services or products that consumers want to know more about. You can then create content, such as how-tos, which provide the answers.

Google Trends also gives you the ability to identify seasonality in specific industries and markets. That can be really helpful when planning a content strategy a year or more in advance. You can identify topics that consumers take an interest in at particular times and make sure you have relevant content ready and waiting to be published to grab their attention.

Create keyword-targeted content in your customers’ languages

At Linguistica International, our mother-tongue translators can help you create unique content in your customers’ languages that’s targeted at specific key terms. Find out more about our copywriting and transcreation services and call 02392 987 765 to discuss your project with our team.

The cost of translation work is not something that’s particularly easy to define. Every project is different, so we have to provide a tailored quote to meet the particular needs of each client. There are a number of factors that we consider when drawing up a quote that provides excellent value for you but also allows us to create the quality translations we’re known for.

While we can’t provide you with a one-size-fits-all price, we can explain what we’ll take into account in order to give you a better idea of the cost of translation. Here’s our guide…

1. Project requirements

The scope of translation projects can vary hugely, so our first step is to always make sure we have an accurate idea of the work involved by asking the following questions:

• Is it a translation, transcreation or copywriting project?
• What type of document is being translated?
• What are the target languages?
• Does the document have to be reformatted or redesigned to accommodate the translation?
• Is there any technical terminology?
• Is any other work involved?

2. Source and target language(s)

At Linguistica International, we have a network of professional and experienced mother-tongue translators who can provide translation services in more than 200 languages. However, when it comes to pricing a project, not all languages are equal. For example, translating an English source document into Spanish is comparatively low-cost because of the availability of translators. For less common source and target languages, the cost will usually be more. As a simple rule, the more uncommon the language pairing, the higher the cost is likely to be.

3. Purpose of the copy

The purpose of the text is central to establishing the cost of the translation. For example, translations in industries such as law or medicine – where highly technical language is involved – will require specialist skills, and complex regulations may need to be met.

The type of writing involved can also make a difference to the price as it may need to be localised (i.e. adapted for specific cultures) and the content may require extensive transcreation to keep its meaning and impact in the target language intact.

4. Deadline

Quality translations take time. We are always happy to meet demanding timescales, but turning a large project around quickly may require additional translators and proofreaders, and that will affect the cost.

5. Quality control

Not every translation project requires the same level of quality control. There are a number of steps included in our quality control process but not all of these will necessarily apply to your project so we will adjust the price accordingly.

6. The source material

In some cases, the source material we’re provided with – whether it’s a document or audio file – requires work before it can be translated. If corrections need to be made to the source document, or the clarity of an audio file makes it more difficult for our transcriptionists to understand, the project may take longer and will likely cost more.

Just give us a call

Want to know more about the cost of translation? We can provide a quick quote for your project in minutes. Just give our team a call on 02392 987 765 or email info@linguistica-international.com to discuss your requirements.