International content processes – thinking in cycles for SEO translation
Deadline pressure, lack of time for error analysis and too many players unknowingly working on the same topics – successful content marketing is virtually impossible. A clearly defined process is also essential for SEO translations. It not only makes the work easier for the individual, but also creates a collaborative effort that contributes to the success of the content by means of defined goals and a well-established workflow.
Why the development of international products requires a standardized SEO content process
“We have the latest offers.” These must go live immediately. Or: “Oops, we’ve overlooked a bug and need the right error message immediately.” At least once a week, there is a good reason for us to write and then immediately press the release button. Our fingers itch, after all, we are agile and fast.
Let’s take a look at why a standardized content process with fixed deadlines makes us faster, how we establish it in principle and why it is even indispensable for international products.
The rough chronological sequence
- release cycles of the development serve as a basic framework
- one week lead time for the SEO translation
- at least one day for check by the rollout manager
- enough lead time to inform IT support about the deployment
- UX/UI design and content design are based on the process
Empathy for colleagues
UX writers and content designers are multi-stakeholder managers. We not only have empathy for the user and their problems. Managing internal colleagues with different needs is just as much a part of a product’s success as a user-centered approach. It becomes more complex as soon as a product is available in more than just one language. If you want to be successful internationally, you need to offer your product in the home language of each individual market.
So who do we need in this more complex content process?
UX/UI designers
UX researchers
Product managers or product owners
Software developers
SEO translation agencies
Rollout manager
IT support and many more…
KNOW-HOW
Where do we start?
Question 1: How often do the software developers or content managers work?
If there is no content process for SEO wording yet, the release cycles of the developers or content managers are a good starting point. Does the development team work in sprints of one, two or three weeks with a subsequent release? Find out when updates go live. The developers’ release dates are a wonderful basic framework around which the rest of the process can be built. Take the data to the next important stakeholder: the SEO translation agency or the individual SEO translator.
Question 2: How much time is needed for SEO translation?
As a rule, an SEO translation agency needs a week from the submission of the content to do its job – more or less time depending on the number of words. For example, if the release date of the development is a Thursday, the Tuesday of the week before is a good time to hand over the job to the agency. The agency now has from Wednesday to Wednesday to distribute the texts to the individual translators, translate them and then deliver them back to us – preferably using a translation management tool.
Keyword: Translation Management Tool
What advantages does a tool offer and why is Excel not a solution?
- With translation management tools or CMS connectors, you can bundle the texts to be translated into translation jobs within the tool. If you give the agency access, the translators can pull the texts directly from the tool and upload them back later in translated form. All without separate mailing and manual content maintenance.
- Good tools work with a so-called translation memory. In other words, if you send in the same text passages or word combinations a second time, the tool automatically suggests existing translations and the translators do not have to do the translation twice. This saves time and money.
- A tool saves versions. If necessary, you can call up the history of a text passage with a few clicks and simply restore an older version.
- Attention: Pluralization! While there is a singular and a plural in German (der Apfel, die Äpfel), there are languages that differentiate between many plurals. The apple conjugates depending on whether it is one, some, many or other quantities of the apple. With the pluralization function, your tool manages all possible plurals that occur in a text section and plays them out when it is their turn. A tip: Get your developers on board early, because they have to create the prerequisites in the backend.
Don’t forget:
The budget for SEO translation
Short translation cycles – that sounds like speed and speed is good. But are they affordable? Find out for yourself:
- How many languages do you want to translate into?
- How many words need to be translated?
- What is the price per word? And is the price per word the same for every language?
- Does the agency only work from a minimum purchase?
- Does the agency charge a basic price?
- Sometimes a two-week translation cycle with more content can make more financial sense than a weekly or even an on-demand one. If the SEO translation agency can plan with our job, the price may be lower and there are fewer delays.
KNOW-HOW
What do we do next?
Question 3: What does a rollout manager actually do?
Not everyone has one, but everyone wants one – at least everyone who has ever worked with a rollout manager. Rollout managers are an important quality barrier and they need at least a one-day buffer for their job.
- Rollout managers may already be the ones who put together a translation job on the day of the deadline and hand it over to the SEO translation agency. If not, rollout managers come into play as soon as the translated texts are available. They check for completeness, whether formalities such as placeholders have been adhered to and coordinate queries from the agency.
- Complex, international products usually also undergo a market check. Local contacts look at the work, approve it or ask questions if the local tone is not met or local adaptations are necessary. Rollout managers bundle SEO texts for market checks and coordinate feedback from international colleagues.
Question 4: Has anyone thought of IT support?
Let’s be honest: Have you ever forgotten to send IT support the development tasks for a new feature at an early stage? In other words, before customers were on the hotline with questions about the new feature? IT support often needs a lot of lead time for the technical implementation. Therefore, you should not forget to inform them early on when there are new features in the product. The day of release is clearly too late for this.
- Ask what cycles IT works in.
- Make the features to be implemented available to different countries in their native language in order to check the need for local adaptations at an early stage if necessary. A tip: Good content management tools offer integrations to common design tools. Admittedly, linking a text passage to the correct position in the design document can become manual work. Nevertheless, screens can be created in all languages that your international colleagues need for approval.
Conclusion
A standardized content process with fixed cycles makes us faster: SEO content that is ready well before or just after the release date ends up in the queue.
For processes such as market coordination or SEO translation jobs, a fixed process is almost essential: good planning with the SEO translation agency saves time and money. Contact persons from different markets can only send you their approval on time with good advance planning, as they often cannot free up time ad hoc.
GET IN TOUCH
Internationally visible with professional SEO translations by MONDIS
During the SEO translation, we adapt existing texts optimally to the local conditions of your target markets and advise you on all factors that will make your multilingual website more visible worldwide.
Contact: Michael Quast, Managing Director
Phone: +49 30 48496622-0
E-mail: kontakt@mondis.de