What’s the most important strategy of getting your blog to the number 1 spot in both Google and Yahoo and keep all the search traffic to yourself? Definitely the ideal answer is proper keyword research and building authoritative backlinks.

In this blog post you will learn how I used Google Insight tool and press release service (webwire.com) to accelerate my Google rankings to top 4 within 3 days.

The use of Google Insight Tool was to generate highly profitable keyword with considerable search traffic and the purpose of using press release was to generate authoritative backlinks to my blog site.

How I nailed down the top 4 spot in Google within 3 days

The main reason why i decided to push my blog site to be on the top spot in Google and Yahoo, was to generate highly targeted long tail keyword with commercial intent.

The reason why I am advocating for long tail keyword, it’s because they can convert results into sales and hence generate more business for your service or product.

How did I use this strategy to be on top 4 spot in Google?

It’s simple and clear: I used both Google Keyword tool and Google insight Tool to generate narrower long tail keywords.

Below is a step by step procedure of what I did:

Step 1:

I went to Google Keyword tool and I started with the main keyword and I selected a narrower search term which had a global traffic of 300,000 monthly search volume. The niche I selected was ”Greek Yogurt” as below:

Step 2:

I took the narrower search term from step 1 and I put it on Google Insight tool. The results were as per below screen shot:

Some of the example of narrower keywords that I found were:

• Recipes with Greek yogurt (Monthly search 22,000)

• How to make Greek Yogurt (Monthly search 9,900)

• Greek Yogurt nutritional facts (Monthly search 4000)

Based from the above keyword analysis I managed to settle with recipes with Greek yogurt as my main keyword.

Link building strategy that accelerated my Google rankings

As we all know quality content and authoritative backlinks will make Google deliver results to your business. One of the strategies that I used to build high authoritative links was with the help of press release service.

I took 3 good months to learn how to write a press release that will be of high interest to the media and journalist. My first objective was to make sure that my blog site has all the required information such as high quality content, resources and links.

I wrote a powerful top notch news release that I distributed via press release service (webwire.com) and after 3 days my blog site sky rocketed to top 4 in Google and it was as a result of high quality links that I received from the press release service.

Below is a screenshot of the news release that was distributed with the help of webwire.com

After 3 days I managed to get the below results:

From the above results my blog site started to get more attention from the major search engine and other referral sites. If you plan early with the right mind set, i can really assure you that will achieve the same results that I did.

From my own experience, I really don’t think you need any Degree or Masters or any special software. The real truth is that you can follow the above simple steps and then replicate my results.

Do you have any results that you have achieved based on the above case study?

This might be the world’s longest checklist for bloggers and affiliate marketers.

Don’t let that stop you from becoming a blogger, as many items on the checklist need only be done once (i.e. install your blog), while a number of others are tongue-in-cheek, i.e. eat and sleep.

Most items on the checklist are linked to blog posts on this site where you’ll find more information about the topic.

Important list items WITHOUT links (i.e. choose your niche, assess affiliate programs, create an autoresponder series, etc.) are covered in detail in both my book and multi-media course.

I hope this helps and Happy Blogging!

1. Determine whether you really want to be a blogger
2. Learn and understand industry terminology, i.e. do NOT say ‘affiliate’ when you mean merchant!
3. Ask LOTS of questions!
4. Consider your interests (food, going green…)
5. Assess / research markets for profit potential
6. Confirm that there are products to sell in your niche
7. Consider the state of the economy
8. Choose your niche (be happy, stay out of BizOp)
9. Decide whether to use your real name or a pseudonym
10. Think up a good name for your business / blog

     

11. Protect your computer against spam and viruses
12. Arrange computer backups – backup power unit or at Carbonite (or both)
13. Register your domain name
14. Arrange web hosting
15. Familiarize yourself with host’s operating system, i.e. cPanel
16. Learn and exercise patience
17. Confused? Evaluate educational opportunities
18. Be careful to avoid scam artist ‘teachers’
19. Setup email forwarding addresses, i.e. me @ mydomain.com
20. Install WordPress
21. Install Akismet for blog spam protection
22. Install WP Firewall Plugin
23. Install Login Lockdown plugin

 

24. Install a professional WordPress theme
25. Design or hire a professional to create a logo
26. Install multiple web browsers to review blog design
27. Configure your blog backup schedule
28. Setup comment moderation preferences
29. Write a Comments Policy
30. Add a ping list
31. Setup user registration preferences, subscriber vs. author, etc.
32. Get a Gravatar

     

33. Write your Author bio
34. Setup a PayPal account for commission payments
35. Get a Google account
36. Set up a Google Feedburner feed
37. Sign up for Google Adsense
38. Set up an autoresponder account to build your list
39. Create an autoresponder series
40. Install autoresponder code on blog
41. Setup Blog Broadcast functionality with Feedburner feed info
42. Setup a Facebook Profile (here’s mine)

     

43. Setup a Facebook Page
44. Install Facebook code on blog
45. Register at LinkedIn
46. Setup Twitter account
47. Install Sexy Bookmarks to allow readers to share your posts
48. Install the Contact Form 7 plugin
49. Create a Contact page
50. Create an AboutUs page
51. Add Disclaimer page
52. Add Disclosure page (to keep FTC happy)

     

53. Create blog categories
54. Write blog category descriptions
55. Get a text or HTML editor to write your posts offline
56. Write a series of ‘starter’ posts
57. Install multiple browsers to see how your blog appears in each
58. Tag posts with relevant keywords
59. Buy graphics / images to enhance posts
60. Use your own images with a Flickr account
61. Add Google Adsense code
62. Join Amazon affiliate program (if able)

     

63. Join Clickbank
64. Join other affiliate networks, e.g. CJ, ShareaSale
65. Supply networks with direct depost information
66. Apply to affiliate programs
67. Appeal to merchants directly if declined
68. Evaluate and compare affiliate offers
69. Choose best offers and products to promote
70. Organize your affiliate information
71. Learn how to cloak your affiliate links
72. Write product reviews

     

73. Get affiliate code from merchant
74. Install affiliate links in product reviews
75. Monitor sales statistics
76. Confirm commission checks and bank deposits are accurate
77. Set a goal to double earnings each and every month
78. Assess why commissions may not be as high as expected
79. Tweak posts to increase conversion rates
80. Review sales statistics again
81. Monitor list for unsubscribes after publishing posts
82. Assess best ratio of promotional to informational posts

     

83. Create a publishing plan to follow
84. Continue writing informative articles
85. Create a swipe file to prevent writer’s block
86. Buy and use PLR content when writing bores you
87. Respond to blog reader comments (good and bad)
88. Use reader comments to get ideas for content **
89. Build relationships – respond to Facebook friend comments
90. Setup a polling plugin
91. Create polls to get reader feedback
92. Send out a press release with poll results

     

93. Create an Android or iPhone app for your blog
94. Build trust – respond to email submitted via Contact form
95. Write standardized responses to frequently asked questions
96. Create a F.A.Q.
97. Check email regularly for new affiliate offers
98. Monitor website traffic with Google Analytics
99. Use Google Reader to stay abreast of industry news
100. Comment on relevant blogs to build traffic through backlinks
101. Comment on relevant forums for backlinks
102. Set up a Yahoo! account

      

103. Make video product reviews (you’ll Flip for this)
104. Upload videos to YouTube and post to blog
105. Connect your YouTube and Facebook accounts
106. Monitor and respond to YouTube user comments
107. Add monetization to YouTube videos
108. Assess popularity of blog posts
109. Create a list of popular blog posts
110. Create a list of your best blog posts in a single category
111. Sign up for Klout to check your ‘influence’
112. Check your ‘bounce rate’

      

113. Write additional articles for placement on article directories
114. Re-invest earnings in software and hardware upgrades
115. Buy PPC advertising on Google Adwords
116. Perform WordPress and plugin updates (but not TOO quickly)
117. Figure out which plugin is causing blog bloat
118. Fret over database errors and other traumas
119. Prepare for possible server outages
120. Clone your blog
121. Check site for broken links
122. Look for links that still work but do not go where intended

      

123. Link posts together with relevant keyword phrases for better SEO
124. Hold a contest to encourage reader feedback and additional traffic
125. Invite guest bloggers to write articles
126. Guest post on other peoples’ blogs
127. Write stellar responses to questions on Yahoo! Answers
128. Find out how much Klout you have
129. Take a course or buy software to improve your copywriting and writing skills
130. Tackle and take down copyright thieves
131. Attend an industry conference
132. Implement lessons learned at conference

      

133. Turn your blog into a membership site … I did
134. Translate your site
135. Get success tips to stay inspired, focused and motivated
136. Learn how to manage your money
137. Subscribe to industry trade magazines
138. File your taxes
139. Sign up for an affiliate marketing / blogging course
140. Celebrate and monetize the holidays
141. Eat
142. Sleep

      

143. Get some exercise
144. Have some fun
145. Make time for your family
146. Give to others
147. Enjoy your disposable income
148. Wash, rinse, repeat

Have I missed anything? Comments, questions or suggestions? PLEASE let me know by leaving a comment below!

Cheers,

I am willing to wager that one of your goals for 2012 is to make more money online than you did in 2011.

If so, great! I want to help you figure out whether you need to do more of what you did last year and/or add new business-building activities to your repertoire.

Read the recommendations below for ideas that will increase your bottom line.

1. Test Your Market and Commitment

   If the blog you started in 2008 has never made a dime and the thought of trying to write yet another blog post about contact lenses leaves you cold; it’s unlikely that the blog will start producing big fat commission checks this year either.

   Take a good hard look at your blog topic.

   Is there a market for its related products and services or did it decline with middle class disposable incomes during the recession? If the market has vaporized, it’s time to reassess your investment in that blog. You can let it age and return to it when the market improves — or sell it.

   You should also re-evaluate continuing your blog if the market remains strong, yet your interest in the topic has vanished. If you can find the spark that originally inspired you to start the blog, fuel that fire! Otherwise, let it go and spare yourself the pain of boredom. Let it go, try to sell it or find someone to write for you on a regular basis.

   If you decide to let your blog go, start another in a more profitable and interesting niche.

   At a bare minimum, start building your portfolio / business card site this year.

2. Use the Right Tools

   Bloggers have access to many awesome free tools such as:

   • YouTube
   • Facebook
   • Twitter
   • Google Analytics
   • Google Reader
   • Google Webmaster
   • and many more…

   Making good use of those tools can help you make piles of ‘extra’ cash in commissions.

   For example, you can decrease your blog’s load time by using Google’s Page Speed. When readers can access your content faster, your conversions will increase and you make more money.

   However, there are a few essential tools on which bloggers must not skimp — even if free options are available.

   Those who want a hobby site to entertain friends and family, can do so for free with Blogger or WordPress.com. Or, just stick with Facebook.

   However, to be a money-making blogger; you must invest in their own domain name and a web hosting service for that domain. (NOTE: Bluehost offers free domain registration with their hosting service).

   Need convincing that owning your own domain is an absolute necessity?

   OK, here’s one of the most compelling reasons — Merchants decline applications of affiliates who use third-party hosting providers, i.e. WordPress.com, as they are regarded as unprofessional.

   You also need an autoresponder service.

   If you rely on Feedburner for blog broadcast delivery, make this the year that you start building a real list of blog subscribers whom you contact, even when you don’t post to your blog.

   Every successful money-making blogger uses a professional autoresponder service to build their subscriber lists. I’ve been using Aweber for over a decade, and recommend them above all other services. If you’re a new customer, you can test out an Aweber account for just a $1.

   A list of people who are interested in your topic and what you have to say will always be your greatest business asset.

   Better yet, you might make some friends amongst those readers…

3. Start Connecting with People

   I’ve remained in this business for over a decade because I enjoy connecting with the people I meet online who share my interests.

   Feedback – positive or negative – helps me make my business better. Positive feedback tells me I’ve hit the mark and that I need to do more of the same. Negative feedback indicates that I need to review and revise my approach in one or more areas.

   Learning something new everyday encourages me to foster even more relationships and there are so many different ways to connect with people online.

   Responding to folks who comment on your blog is first and foremost. Not each and every one, but certainly to those who have asked a question or left a very thoughtful and detailed response. In doing so, you forge relationships and build credibility as a trusted authority in your niche.

   Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Flickr accounts increase your online presence. When those accounts are properly connected, posting to one will show up on others, i.e. with your YouTube and Facebook accounts connected, a video upload to YouTube will result in a notification on your Facebook page or profile. Each notification is an opportunity to bring visitors back to your blog or find new readers.

   Posting thoughtful comments on others’ blogs not only builds backlinks, but your reputation as well. Make sure the blogs on which you post comments are in a niche relevant to your own — and don’t pull any ‘cheap shoes‘ tricks.

   Meeting with merchants at an industry conference is another fine way to build relationships and increase your commissions as many will offer higher payouts to affiliate marketers whom they meet in person. Trading war stories with fellow bloggers is also fun, highly educational and bound to increase your bottom line.

4. Blog Early, Blog Often

   If you blogged once a week last year, try to double or triple your output in 2012.

   Increasing the amount of unique content that you publish is a sure way to get Google to reward you with more free traffic. More visitors always means better earnings.

   Don’t have the time to blog more often? Consider partnering with a writer, hiring a freelancer or buying PLR.

   Review, revise and re-use your existing blog content.

   Frustrating readers with out-dated content or broken links is a sure way to make LESS money, so review your blog for posts that are out-dated or no longer relevant… but do NOT delete them.

   Old posts that still attract traffic can be used to redirect visitors to newer, more relevant material. Simply add a bolded notice to the top of the post with a link to the new material. Make the sentence highly noticeable by using a color not used elsewhere on your site.

   Check your blog regularly for broken links – I use the Broken Link Checker plugin.

   Check for links that DO work, but which do not link to the site or product that you intended! Sad, but true – I’ve come across a small percentage of merchants that will change the landing page in such a way that you will no longer be compensated for referred sales.

   Another option is to update and re-post articles. For example, if you promote a particular event every year (such as I do with Yanik Silver’s Underground Seminar), simply put the post back into Draft mode, enter the new information and re-publish it.

   Too, review posts for opportunities to link to other relevant posts on your blog. Consider creating a new post that lists 5 – 7 articles and call it a ‘series’.

5. Make a Plan and Work Your Plan

   Read the Affiliate Marketing: Month-by-Month series of articles which highlights holidays and events.

   Use it to create a publishing schedule for your blog and get suggestions for products and services you might consider promoting throughout the year.

   To help you create a plan and stay on track with your plan without getting overwhelmed, here are some helpful articles.

   1. Wash on a Monday
   2. End Procrastination: Eat that Frog
   3. Feeling Overwhelmed? Here’s My Cure

I wish you all the very best of blogging success in 2012!

Comments, questions or suggestions? Please leave a comment below!

Cheers,

The end of the year is a fabulous time to set goals that will help you make more money online in the new year (and beyond).

Here are a few New Year’s business resolutions you might want to consider adopting:

1. Ask for help

   We often fail to achieve our goals because we don’t ask for help. Don’t let ‘not knowing’ or ‘not understanding’ undermine your potential for success. Reach out and ask for mentoring, guidance and support when you need it. Join a membership site that teaches what you want to learn and has a community forum in which you can get answers to your questions.

2. Cultivate a positive mindset

   Success is nearly impossible to achieve when we focus on our failures, doubts and worries. View mistakes as part of the process. Learn from them and be grateful that no one died. Derive motivation and inspiration from the success of others.

3. Be realistic

   Making a million dollars in the next 30 days is unlikely (despite what scam marketers tell you) unless you win the lottery or your rich uncle croaks and leaves you his fortune. Recognize that reward is in direct correlation to effort made.

4. Learn something new

   Do some reading or take a course to improve your writing skills. Read a book to improve your self-confidence or your self-discipline.

5. Adopt new methods

   Investigate different strategies that you can adopt to grow your business. Add product sales to your Adsense site. Add Adsense to your affiliate blog. Offer one-on-one coaching to your repertoire. Turn your blog into an exclusive membership site. And for Pete’s sake, quit relying on Feedburner alone and install that Aweber code!!

6. Focus on your target market

   If you sell medical and health products to boomers, spend more time where they hang out online and less time tweeting about Kim Kardashian’s antics.

7. Know your numbers

   Analyze your best traffic sources, best-selling products and blog posts from the previous year. Focus on those to make additional recommendations and sales to your existing audience.

8. Get more social

   Social media marketing will continue to explode in 2012 and is clearly the best way to get free traffic to your blog. Ramp up your Facebook and Twitter activities to grow your reader and customer base.

9. Respect your time

   Learn to automate every process that can be automated. For example, use Aweber’s blog broadcasting to automatically deliver your latest blog posts to your subscriber list and Twitter. Be sure that each of your blog posts, Flickr and YouTube uploads also get posted automatically to Facebook. Increase your productivity with simple and inexpensive webmaster tools.

10. Celebrate your accomplishments

    Savor and enjoy every step you take, no matter how small it seems. Give yourself a pat on the back or reward yourself in some way. Success isn’t really success unless we enjoy it.

I hope those suggestions help you make more money online during the year(s) to come. My best wishes to you and yours for a happy, healthy and Prosperous New Year!

P.S. Please help out a fellow blogger and add your suggestions in the comments section below.

Note: This post was originally published in 2010 and has been updated for 2012.

As it is highly unlikely that U.S. Congress members will see past their differences during the current term to pass the Jobs Bill and put people to work, I did some research to find out what types of jobs are available.

Fortunately for those of you interested in making money online, the news is good!

I did a job search at SimplyHired each of the terms I selected showed an increase between 77 and 722 percent since November of 2009.

Here’s the graph…

And here are the terms I searched…

• Blog jobs increased 722%
• blogging jobs increased 106%
• web Design jobs increased 76%
• facebook jobs increased 375%
• wordpress jobs increased 734%
• social Media jobs increased 257%
• affiliate Manager jobs increased 132%
• marketing jobs increased 77%

Hmmmm…. the 2 terms with the largest increase? Blog and WordPress.

That alone should tell you that there are jobs out there for those with writing (blogging) and WordPress design skills.

You got ‘em – USE ‘em to earn some coin.

For some ideas on how to use your skills, please see my Make Money Helping Local Businesses Start a Blog article.

If you don’t know how to blog, learning has never been easier or less expensive than that available through my Academy (aka Affiliate Blogger PRO).

We supply tutorials, videos and a community forum to help you learn everything you need to know about blogging and affiliate marketing.

“How long does it take to make money as an affiliate marketer?” is a question I get asked almost every day.

Rather than spell (type) everything out in an article, I decided to make a video to try and answer that almost unanswerable question.

Thoughts, questions or suggestions? Please leave a comment below!

Cheers,

Are you a newbie thinking about starting the next great ‘make-a-million-online-overnight-at-home-while-you-sleep.com’ blog to rake in big bucks from the Internet marketing business opportunities niche?

Think again!!

PLEASE think again.

I’ve had numerous discussions with my colleagues throughout the many years I’ve been involved in the Internet marketing space — and we’ve all talked about ditching the niche entirely.

Seriously, the IM niche is NOT a fun place to be unless you have a LOTS of experience and unlimited grit. Even then it’s not really fun.

The only reason I and my friends remain in this market is NOT about love or money. We stay because we feel that there have to be at least a few of us who represent value, honesty and integrity in the space.

In a nutshell, we hate to see the many ways in which hopeful netpreneurs / online entrepeneurs get ripped off and totally disillusioned.

Here are just a few.

1. The products sold are mostly crap. In too many cases, products purported to be the ‘latest and greatest way’ to get a site to the top of Google’s listings, or build a list of ten million subscribers or make $17,398 (all overnight) is a rehash of a product that was first introduced in 2002, didn’t work at that time and has been relaunched every year since.

   Another con job is when info marketers take someone else’s work (such as my Super Affiliate Handbook), outsource it for a rewrite and then try pass it off as their own product.

   Experienced Internet marketing niche researchers pick up on and report these thieves quickly.

   However, unless you’ve been in the IM niche for a long time, you won’t recognize either the players or their bad (or stolen) products.

   That leads to the next problem…

2. Selling crap will ruin your reputation. Many IM marketers in the last decade have gone down in a ball of fire after buyers publicly complained about the shoddiness of their products or total lack of customer support.

   Affiliate marketers who enthusiastically promote those products without doing proper reviews lost respect with their audiences and suffered a similar fate.

3. List mining. Too many newbies who learn enough about the Internet Marketing niche to successfully build a huge list of subscribers – completely dessimate their lists on the possibility of winning an XBOX or iPad during a big IM launch.

   Trading your list for an iPad will never replace what you will lose in terms of future sales… for a couple of reasons.

   Most marketers in the IM niche don’t pay for the leads you send them.

   Many others don’t pay on upsells.

   Their primary interest is NOT in how many sales you generate.

   Oh sure, you make commissions on the initial sale, they make money and that seems to be a good thing.

   In reality, however, it’s ALL about the qualified leads that you send that they capitalize on for years to come and are lost to you forever.

   They continue to sell directly to them over and over again — and you’ll never make another dime on the leads you took time to capture and cultivate.

These factors have become SO much more prevalent since the U.S. economic downturn began and the scam artists jumped on the opportunity to take advantage of those who’d lost their homes and/or jobs and were now looking for online business opportunities to shore up their incomes or avoid bankruptcy.

The situation has now gotten so bad that it almost makes me sick.

I learned my lessons in this industry the hard way — trusting my valued subscribers to those who turned out to be (or into) into scam artists. I finally refused to promote all but one or two — but you can avoid those issues right from the start.

Either stay out of the internet marketing “make money online” niche completely — or, spend gobs of time doing your homework to make sure that the business opportunities and products that you promote in the internet marketing niche are HIGHLY valuable to your subscribers.

The key point to remember is that you need to place your hightest value on the trust you build with your readers – don’t squander it.

Don’t get me wrong.

There’s plenty of money to be made online in SO many different niche markets — but opting for the Internet marketing niche is a big mistake for 99% of newbies for the reasons discussed above.

As the year winds down to a close, it’s a perfect time to reflect and start to set goals for the year ahead.

Overall, my goals / resolutions for this year were simple and minimal:

1. Travel more
2. Take more time off
3. Maintain or increase my income
4. Lose 10 pounds.

Well, three out of 4 ain’t bad. (I gained seven pounds – but had a great time doing it! )

As for traveling more… I did that in spades with trips to:

• Hawaii
• Las Vegas (for Affiliate Summit)
• Ontario from British Columbia in the new RV
• Washington, Chilcotin, Oregon Coast and local camping trips
• Boise for a Clickbank Mastermind
• Holland for a family reunion
• Dubai for the UPO conference
• and still to come… South for the winter in the new 5th wheel

As for time off… in reality, I worked only 2 months this year.

I worked most of February to get Rosalind Gardner’s Academy up and running by March. Then in July I put in some time when it was too hot here to be outside during the day.

Interesting, but those 2 months of blogging were enough to help me exceed my previous years’ income.

I think what REALLY helped was the fact that I finally got engaged on Facebook, after I separated my friends and family account from my business account.

Granted, I did this all WRONG, killing an account with almost 5000 friends. Instead of making this the Family account, I should have made it the Business account… but live and learn, i.e. don’t make the same mistake.

The good thing about that error was that it made me aware of the power of Facebook to drive traffic.

The thing that I did most right this year was KILL 2 blogs.

I was trying to maintain and create content for my travel blog (Roamsters.com) and my friend Ed’s blog, MyEnergyPal.com when I finally realize that the travel and energy savings tips would be just as useful on my personal blog at http://RosalindGardner.com

It’s all just part of what I do!

I’m less concerned about keyword strategies than branding — not to mention reducing my workload — so the change works well for me.

Other than that, I’m again paying more attention to my dating service blog, 101Date.com — which is where my affiliate marketing business began, and that blog has over 100,000 subscribers – a WORTHY number to give more of my attention!

So… what and HOW did YOU do this year?

Let’s start with a truism: the web is global.Anyone from Kansas and Kentucky, to Kenya and Korea can access the same online information, at the same time but from completely different corners of the Earth. And that really is rather amazing, even if most of us do now take it for granted.

But what does that mean for all the web designers, bloggers, entrepreneurs and businesses of the world? Well, anyone in business will probably have a website already, and if you don’t, then you really should reconsider your position as a business person.

And those who simply blog to let off some steam or get their thoughts, views or expert analysis out into the wider world may not even be thinking in monetary terms yet – be it dollars, pounds or yen.

Indeed, some blogs never get more than a handful of visitors, whilst others mushroom into something quite incredible – look no further than Mashable for such an example.

But the one thing that all websites have in common is they’re global. Digital has helped blur international boundaries, which means there is a need to write, design and communicate with the wider-world in mind.

Running an online business can be an incredibly lucrative endeavor if executed correctly. And if you’ve only thus far operated in English, you should probably realize that:

• 75% of the Earth’s population don’t speak English
• 40% of the online population is in Asia
• China has 30% more people online than the US
• Over half of all Google searches aren’t in English
• People simply prefer to operate in their native tongue…even if they are bilingual

So whether you’re just launching a new internet enterprise, or you’re simply reaching saturation point in your domestic market, you could do a lot worse than look to foreign lands to increase your revenue.

There are three key considerations you need to make when constructing a website to be ‘multilingual friendly’, and these are: design, localization and optimization.

A design for life

By the design, we’re talking about both the behind the scenes structure and the front end interface. Don’t worry…this won’t get too technical.

Okay, whether you design your website yourself, or have someone do it for you, remember this: not all languages are the same length. Crazy, huh?

German tends to use pretty long words compared to its English equivalents Bãstenhalter, is a bra for instance. And some languages are a lot shorter than English – 情 å ± is Japanese for ‘information’ – a mere two characters.

Why do you need to know this? Well, because if you ever convert your blog/website into other languages you may end up not having enough space for your text, or you may end up having large blank spaces, depending on what language you you’re translating into (see more on translation in the ‘localization’ part below).

To get around this issue you need to keep your content and design separate – text must be allowed to expand/contract without space issues, so you’re best using cascading style sheets (CSS) which help keep these two aspects apart. Ultimately it means you won’t have to redesign your pages from scratch in other languages.

From the front end perspective, it’s worth remembering that colors and symbols can mean different things in different cultures.

For example, an ‘owl’ is normally symbolic of wisdom and grace in western cultures. But in many Arabic countries, owls can represent pessimism.

And if you happen to have a picture of a green hat on your website (maybe you sell hats online?), in China this signifies a man’s wife has been unfaithful to him. In addition to your graphics, color also plays a big part in your website’s ‘look and feel’ – and colors can mean different things across the globe.

Red, for example, tends to denote danger or passion in western countries. But red can also mean communism in some countries (e.g. Russia). Similarly, orange is the color of Halloween or ‘fall’ in the US, in Ireland Orange is synonymous with Protestantism.

There are many similar examples which help to demonstrate the meaning of color. Ever wonder why blue is used so much on the Web (e.g. Facebook, Twitter)? It’s the most universally ‘safe’ color and it generally denotes ‘trust’.

Going local…

There’s an old adage that to go global, you need to think local. Now, the chances are you won’t have a big marketing/translation budget, so you need to do what you can with the tools at your disposal. Luckily, you can do quite a lot with the right approach.

Machine translation is often berated for its inaccurate, often comical results. But if truth be told, the likes of Google Translate isn’t actually all that bad…if you’re nice to it.

Google Translate will struggle if you give it text ridden with jargon and colloquialisms. And you also have to remember that English suffers somewhat of an excess of different words that mean the same thing: dog, mutt, hound; cash, money, bucks; chow, food, fodder. You get the point.

So by learning what Google translate likes, and what it doesn’t, you can control your English text so that you increase your chance of getting a good translation. This will, of course, take time to hone.

For proper localization, however, you ideally want a native speaking translator involved at some stage, even if it’s just to edit/proofread the text to ensure it is accurate and doesn’t embarrass you too much.

This also means you can have a more flexible approach to your English writing, knowing that anything contentious from the machine will be picked up by the human!

In Google we trust…

The subject of multilingual SEO probably merits an entire article to itself. But for the sake of cutting to the chase, the one golden tenet of international website optimization is this: never translate your keywords directly into other languages.

Even a professionally qualified, native linguist won’t know what people use to search for services and products locally. Hence, a correct dictionary translation of your high-ranking English keywords may be well wide of the mark. People may use abbreviations, synonyms or other variations of the search term, and this can only be established by doing some thorough keyword research for each of your target markets.

About the author

Christian Arno is Managing Director of Lingo24, a global language services company that specializes in website localization. With clients in over sixty countries and 130 full-time employees working across three continents, Lingo24 is on course for a turnover of $6m USD in 2010.

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