Here Are Six Tips That Will Set You On The Road To Achieving This:
1. Make your language accessible
Across the English speaking world, every country has different colloquialisms and dialects that are possibly unfamiliar to people out with those areas. You should look to make your posts readable to people that are not from your local town or city. For example, if you are a food blogger from Glasgow in Scotland, you should avoid using words like ‘goosegog’ instead of ‘gooseberry’ or ‘braw’ instead ‘beautiful’, in the context of food.
Sometimes you might not realize that you are using words that other people will not understand, but whenever you do, replace them for a more universal word. This is not to say you need to completely internationalize your writing, as some of the appeal of your blog might be its perspective from your country. The language you use, however, should be tailored to a wider audience.
2. Consider translating into other languages
You might want to consider translating your content into a foreign language. You will be able to attract international readers that have a preference to reading in their native language and those that cannot read in English. Although machine translation tools, such as Google Translate, are an easy and free option, they are prone to errors. At best, the results tend to be over-literal, at worst they can be nonsensical or even offensive.
The best option is to choose a professional native-speaking translator. Ideally, they will be based in the target country, so that they are up-to-date with any changes in dialect.
3. Content
Your content might have to undergo some changes. You do not need to alter your content completely so that everything is aimed at an international audience, but you should write on topics that have a wider appeal. For example, a health and fitness blogger could tailor their content so it focuses on a current international event with worldwide appeal. Events like the Olympics and The World Cup are not-to-be-missed opportunities for attracting readers across the globe.
It is important that your content is the best it can be. Far too many bloggers rush out posts that are not ready. You will not get international readers coming back to your blog or recommending it to anyone if they find poorly written posts with spelling or grammatical errors.
4. Keywords
Keywords are one of the most important elements of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It’s worthwhile tweaking your keywords so that your blog will be discovered by international readers. A bit of research will let you know what keywords will be optimal for any particular region or specific country. You will, however, need to be careful when translating these keywords so that they keep their meaning.
5. Use social media networks
Promotion is an important element that can boost your blog’s readership across the globe. A great way of doing that today is by using social media networks. By all means use the big two - Facebook and Twitter, but don’t forget about popular platforms in countries you would like to attract readers in. For readers in Russia, you could use VKontakte and Odnoklassniki. QZone is the way to go in China, while Zing is one of the main platforms in Vietnam. Drauglem is popular in Latvia and for readers in Holland, you could use Hyves. Consider other platforms that are for specific purposes, such as Sound Cloud for music.
6. Be internationally active
Aside from social media networks, you should also comment on popular blogs across the world and be active within blogging communities. Interact with bloggers who are popular in certain foreign countries, which could potentially result in them linking your blog in theirs. Don’t hold back in commenting on blogs all over the world and get people aware of your blog. If you have written appealing, well-written posts that are accessible to an international audience, and perhaps have also been properly translated, then you will stand a good chance of attracting an international audience to your blog.
Across the English speaking world, every country has different colloquialisms and dialects that are possibly unfamiliar to people out with those areas. You should look to make your posts readable to people that are not from your local town or city. For example, if you are a food blogger from Glasgow in Scotland, you should avoid using words like ‘goosegog’ instead of ‘gooseberry’ or ‘braw’ instead ‘beautiful’, in the context of food.
Sometimes you might not realize that you are using words that other people will not understand, but whenever you do, replace them for a more universal word. This is not to say you need to completely internationalize your writing, as some of the appeal of your blog might be its perspective from your country. The language you use, however, should be tailored to a wider audience.
2. Consider translating into other languages
You might want to consider translating your content into a foreign language. You will be able to attract international readers that have a preference to reading in their native language and those that cannot read in English. Although machine translation tools, such as Google Translate, are an easy and free option, they are prone to errors. At best, the results tend to be over-literal, at worst they can be nonsensical or even offensive.
The best option is to choose a professional native-speaking translator. Ideally, they will be based in the target country, so that they are up-to-date with any changes in dialect.
3. Content
Your content might have to undergo some changes. You do not need to alter your content completely so that everything is aimed at an international audience, but you should write on topics that have a wider appeal. For example, a health and fitness blogger could tailor their content so it focuses on a current international event with worldwide appeal. Events like the Olympics and The World Cup are not-to-be-missed opportunities for attracting readers across the globe.
It is important that your content is the best it can be. Far too many bloggers rush out posts that are not ready. You will not get international readers coming back to your blog or recommending it to anyone if they find poorly written posts with spelling or grammatical errors.
4. Keywords
Keywords are one of the most important elements of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It’s worthwhile tweaking your keywords so that your blog will be discovered by international readers. A bit of research will let you know what keywords will be optimal for any particular region or specific country. You will, however, need to be careful when translating these keywords so that they keep their meaning.
5. Use social media networks
Promotion is an important element that can boost your blog’s readership across the globe. A great way of doing that today is by using social media networks. By all means use the big two - Facebook and Twitter, but don’t forget about popular platforms in countries you would like to attract readers in. For readers in Russia, you could use VKontakte and Odnoklassniki. QZone is the way to go in China, while Zing is one of the main platforms in Vietnam. Drauglem is popular in Latvia and for readers in Holland, you could use Hyves. Consider other platforms that are for specific purposes, such as Sound Cloud for music.
6. Be internationally active
Aside from social media networks, you should also comment on popular blogs across the world and be active within blogging communities. Interact with bloggers who are popular in certain foreign countries, which could potentially result in them linking your blog in theirs. Don’t hold back in commenting on blogs all over the world and get people aware of your blog. If you have written appealing, well-written posts that are accessible to an international audience, and perhaps have also been properly translated, then you will stand a good chance of attracting an international audience to your blog.
Great post. Regarding your point 2: if you blog in Wordpress (as many people do), you can use the GTS Translation plugin to translate your content into over 30 languages. See http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/gts-translation for more information and download.
ReplyDelete