The importance of native content

Your webshop, and the marketplaces on which you sell, are achieving great results nationally. It is only logical that you are starting to get the itch: you want to scale up to other countries. Using your webshop and international marketplaces to reach your target group outside your country may sound easier than it actually is.

In order to reach your international target group, native content is important. In this blog, we will go through why native content is so important and how you can get started creating native content.

What a native content creator must do

Having your content translated by a translation machine (Google Translate), a non-native speaker and/or someone who does not understand the context is not a good idea when you want to achieve optimal results. It is important to have your content translated by someone who can create native content. Because creating native content is not just translating texts well. What does someone need to have in order to create good native content?

(1) Flawless command of the language.

(2) Understanding of the target language and culture at a native level.

(3) Have expertise and the ability to formulate a text that really moves the target group.

Why native content is so important

The findability of your products

Your potential international customer will search for your product via search engines or on a marketplace. It is important that your product is marketed online with the correct product title and description. Sometimes a word has several translations, for example 'refrigerator' in French. This can be both 'frigo' and 'réfrigérateur'. In order to be found optimally, you naturally want to know which of these two has the highest search volume.

You can also ask yourself: are there differences in context? Are there other synonyms? What keywords are your competitors using? These are important questions to ask yourself. If your product is not found, you will not get any results.

Really hitting your target group

If your content is translated by a translation machine or by a non-native, this does not necessarily mean that the translation is wrong. However, there is a big chance that the translation does not really touch the speaker. When the translation is done by a native speaker of the target audience, it is much easier to read. This ensures a better build-up of reputation. Moreover, a native has more feeling for the local culture. If the native speaker is also a real professional, he or she knows how to choose the right tone of voice to really touch the target group.

Getting started with native content

As already discussed, using a translation machine, a non-native or someone with little understanding of the industry in which you operate is probably not a good solution. Especially since marketplaces can also make demands on the quality of your product texts. Nevertheless, we are going to list all the methods for getting started with native content for you:

Machine translation

A machine translation is the cheapest and fastest solution to translate your content. Machine translations have improved over the years and nowadays result in understandable translations. For consistent translations and/or translations with impact, other methods are needed.

Translations by a translator

When you outsource translations to a translator, this will result in better quality translations. Moreover, a translator takes consistency into account. Do you sell softshell jackets, for example? Then you may want 'softshell' to remain 'softshell' in every translation. When you leave this to a translation machine, you don't know what will happen. A real translator can of course take these things into account. Nevertheless, the translation remains fairly literal. Sometimes that suffices, for example for product features. However, sometimes you want translations that go a step further. In that case you need a native content creator.

Creative translator / Transcreation

If you want translations that really make an impact, you should choose a copywriter / creative translator with knowledge of the culture and sector in which you operate. Each country or culture can require a different style. Too often this is not considered in the translation process, but it is crucial in steering brand perception. The copywriter/creative translator is also a professional, which enables him or her to create a text that really touches the target group. A quality translation agency can help you achieve this.

The importance of native content

What a native content creator must do

Why native content is so important

Getting started with native content

The choice

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