Taking Your Content to Global Proportinos - Global Website Best Practices

Taking Your Content to Global Proportions

Val Swisher CEO, Content Rules, Inc. @ContentRulesInc @ValSwisher

© 2015. Content Rules, Inc. All rights reserved.

Today’s Agenda

•  9:00 – 10:15 Work work work •  10:15 – 10:35 Eat yummy things •  10:35 – 12:00 Practice, work, work, work •  12:00 – 1:30 Eat more yummy things


Val Credentials Founder and CEO

Content Rules

Passion Board member Translators without Borders

Talk to me: Content strategy Content quality Global readiness

Read: Third book, “Global Content Strategy: A Primer,” published by XML Press


Content Strategy

Content Development

Global Readiness • Single-sourcing, reuse,

structured authoring • Content quality

• Content optimization

• Write • Edit

•  Illustration • Design

• Project Management

• Prepare content to be translated • Save time

• Save money • Ensure quality in all

languages

Global Content Strategy Best Practices


Best Practices Matter

1.  Improve content quality in all languages 2.  Save money localizing and translating content 3.  Get to market faster in all countries 4.  Protect your brand 5.  Maintain (or restore) your sanity

Excellent resource for best practice information: “Web Globalization Report Card”

–John Yunker, bytelevel.com


Best Practice Categories

External Best Practices Internal Best Practices


External Best Practices

Include: §  Finding your global websites §  Navigating within your global websites

§  Eliminating meaningless and offensive content


Finding Your Global Websites

Three choices for displaying global sites: 1.  Splash global gateway

2.  Geolocation

3.  Button on the homepage


Best Practices for Organizing a Splash Global Gateway

§ Segment by region §  Include the name written in the native language § Alphabetize according to native language § Country Language § Flag Language


Geolocation

§ Becoming the best practice, particularly for mobile § Browser figures out where you are and displays the

appropriate information § Pros: You don’t have to do anything. The “correct”

information is served up based on your location. § Cons: Difficult for people who travel. Can be kinda

creepy, particularly when taken to an extreme.


Global Button

§ Used instead of splash global gateway § Upper right corner is the best place for it § Keep button in the same place for each language § Use icon if possible


What Not to Do… Some companies make it very difficult to find global sites


What Not to Do…

Some companies make it very confusing to find global sites


Recap External Best Practices: Locating Your International Sites

§  Use geolocation or a splash global gateway §  Display region or country names in the native language §  Flag ≠ Language §  Country ≠ Language §  Avoid lengthy drop-downs §  Be careful when emphasizing certain locations over others §  Don’t hide your global sites §  Be consistent


Navigating Within A Global Site

§ Make it easy for people to find what they need, in the language they need it in, on the device they want to use.

§ Think like a customer when you lay out your global navigation.


Cultural Sensitivity

§  Eliminate what is offensive §  Be mindful of models §  Include region-specific information and images


Avoid Offensive and Unrecognizable Images


Use Culturally-Appropriate Models


Be Sure to Include

§  Region-specific imagery and layout §  Region-specific acknowledgements §  Region-specific events


How Far Do You Go with Translation?

§ Deciding how many pages deep to translate can be tricky § Plan it out carefully § Translate what is important § Allow people to search in their own language, regardless

of the language on the landing page


Recap - External Best Practices

§ Affect the user experience § Pay attention to:

§ Locating international sites § Navigation within international sites § Consistency § Cultural sensitivities, particularly images § Which content gets translated


Internal Best Practices

§  How you create, manage and maintain your sites §  Know when to translate, when to localize, and when to

transcreate §  Reuse content wherever possible §  Keep text out of graphics §  Be consistent §  Collaborate


Literal word - for word translation of everything

-

The meaning stays the same

Different content developed to meet business objectives

The content stays the same

Language Translate the meaning of the words in a way that is culturally appropriate

Developed in local language; English may be used as part of the brand vocabulary

Images No change Change to fit local expectations / product needs

Change to fit local expectations / product needs

Layout No change Minimize changes Change to fit local expectations

Brand Vocabulary

No change No change Enhance and expand

Translation Localization Transcreation

Methods Of Handling Global Content


Translation


Localization


Transcreation


Reuse Content


Text Within Graphics

§  Not picked up by machine translation, including Google translate or Bing translate

§  Not picked up by optimization engines §  Require a separate process to translate §  Not searchable §  Instead, overlay text on top of graphics


Choose Consistency


Don’t Work in a Silo


Recap - Internal Best Practices

§  Know when to translate, when to localize, and when to transcreate

§  Reuse content wherever possible §  Keep text out of graphics §  Be consistent §  Collaborate


Categorize the following websites into best or worst

Exercise


Axa

Booking.com

Budweiser

Citibank

Kayak

Merck

Nestle

Nivea

Ramada

Walmart

J

L

L

L L

LJ

J

J

J

Navigation to Global SitesEase of Use

Cultural Sensitivities


Cultural SensitivitiesNavigation to Global Sites

Ease of UseCultural Sensitivities







Best or Worst?


Val Swisher CEO & Founder [email protected] www.contentrules.com @ContentRulesInc @ValSwisher

Taking Your Content to Global Proportinos - Global Website Best Practices

Marketing

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