How to Translate Website into Chinese to Get More Leads and Customers in China

So, you want to increase your online presence in China, and you realized it’s a huge yet diverse market. For sure, you don’t want to miss those leads and potential sales as you go through your web analysis tool.

But the translation of the website goes beyond the skills of a professional Chinese translator. Are you serious about getting long-term results? Work with Chinese translators who are well-versed about the market trends, too. Language and culture work together. 

Why translate your website anyway? You see, online media consumers prefer content in other languages. The Chinese language remains on top of the list as the most widely used around the world. The Mandarin Chinese has 1.1 billion speakers. 

Whether you’re running a business overseas or in Mainland, language is your currency. If you capitalize on using the right methods, you’ll gain leads and customers. 

#1 Planning and Processing

The first step is to decide which part of China are you going to expand your online presence. Are you going to launch a website targeting consumers in Mainland China? Then you’ll use Simplified Chinese when translating texts from English to Chinese. 

List down all the pages and links that you need to translate or create an editable file for the translators. Planning includes budget, timeline, and how you want to receive your final documents.

#2 Content Creation: Translation vs Transcreation

The next thing you need to consider when translating a website into Chinese is this aspect. Are you going to use translation only or transcreation? There’s a difference between the two of which we have already written about in our previous post. 

The translation process involves facts and procedures. There should never be an alteration or compromise of the texts. Are you after creative projects such as landing pages and marketing campaigns? Go for transcreation. 

There will be cases you might need both for the website. For primary pages like About Us, FAQs, descriptions, translation preferred. 

#3 Chinese SEO Translation

When translating a website into Chinese, SEO is also a huge consideration. As you know, Google isn’t available in China. And even if some can access it, users have to use a VPN to avail of the search engine’s features. 

Baidu, the homegrown search engine in Mainland, is well-known among netizens. 

The Chinese keywords and phrases are essential when translating your texts from English. If you’re thinking of long-term efforts and activities, work with Chinese SEO specialists. Ask them how you can combine your language and SEO strategies to increase growth. 

#4 Localization of Social Media Channels

If you want to get more leads and customers, think like a local. Say goodbye to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and the likes. WeChat is the all-in-one, Swiss-army-like mobile app that can do almost anything for you. With robust social media features, it’s part of a Chinese netizen’s life. 

Make sure that you use local social media channels when you translate your website, too. The use of QR codes as an opt-in for your audience so they can follow you online. 

#5 Choose the Right Tools During Translation

Nothing can replace human translation. Google Translate and other machine translators are available and accessible these days. But there are also tools that professional translators us for the efficient translation process. 

The CAT Tool is one of the most popular translation tools that have a translation memory. It stores phrases, names, and other words to track repetitive words. The CAT tool not only saves more time for translators, but it can also help you, as a client, to save costs. 

Do you have many texts that need a translation from our website? You can also ask professional translators to check those repetitive words. You can negotiate with the price or rates of repeated words, mainly if you’re translating a considerable volume of work. 

#6 Think Like a Marketer, too!

So, you’re done with the texts on your website. Most of the work will surely be handled by professional translators if you only need content in Chinese. But of course, you can’t overlook the opportunities when it comes to publishing content and Chinese texts if you want Baidu to crawl your pages. 

So, you also can think like a marketer, too, if you translate your website to get more leads. For example, aside from the web pages, you can also embed videos on your website like your promotional videos in Chinese. Since you’ve already invested in translating the texts of the site, you can also go as far as looking into multimedia solutions. 

Another way to include marketing strategies is to make sure your social media channels are up-to-date, and also can be read in Chinese. Email opt-ins aren’t really relevant when it comes to marketing in China. 

In connection to point #4, you can use QR codes instead. If you’re running an e-commerce website, the project itself will be more than just translating the website. There are a lot of things to consider, including payment channels, and the content management system. 

#7 Advertising Laws and Forbidden Terms 

Last but not least, this point is crucial when publishing and translating content from English to Chinese. We understand that when it comes to marketing, most companies would often use the words “the best” and “the most.”  

China has its own Advertising Law to protect the netizens from marketers and companies that use false advertising to lure consumers into buying products or availing the services. So, in case you have content with English copywriting that uses the following terms, you may want to discuss other words to fit the writing style when translated into Chinese. 

Words related to “the best,” “the most,” “the number one,” or “top 1,” and any word in the superlative degree should be avoided.  

For Chinese translators and copywriters, they can use http://www.jinyongci.com/ to check the phrases and texts in Chinese. With so many forbidden search terms and Chinese keywords, this online tool is helpful for every marketer or copywriter. 

You may also consider some legal advice to make sure you fully comply with Chinese Advertising Law.  

What’s your next step?

We hope these tips will help you take the next step in your translation and localization efforts. The digital marketing trends in China are always changing fast, so make sure that you combine your translation and localization activities together to make the most out of the exposure and lead generation. 

Let us know how the LIMPID team can help you in your next journey.