As affiliate marketers, we should always be on the lookout for easy traffic wins. After all, more traffic means more money.
One of the most overlooked ways that affiliate marketers can increase the amount of traffic to their websites is through international expansion. Since most affiliate marketers promote global products (often sold through Amazon and other eCommerce vendors), your international traffic can often be monetized with the same products as your English-speaking audience.
Here, we’ll explore how your affiliate marketing strategy can benefit from website translation and localization. We will also go over important considerations to ensure that the translated version of your website makes you as much money as possible.
Benefits of Affiliate Marketing in Languages other than English
Expanding into international markets tips the balance of supply and demand in your favor
One of the biggest challenges that affiliate marketers face is SEO. The sheer amount of competition for every commercial keyword on a search engine results page can be overwhelming.
You can bypass some of this competition by creating affiliate content in languages other than English. There is significantly less content in non-English languages on the internet. You can find a breakdown of how much of the content online is written in each language here. Considering that only 26% of internet users speak English as their native language, many languages are underserved by online content.
Since 95% of internet users only purchase goods from platforms that use their native language, this presents an opportunity for affiliate marketers to rank for lucrative keywords with minimal competition. Translated content can significantly improve your search engine optimization.
A lot of languages are underrepresented on the internet, leaving a large number of native speakers missed as a target audience. If we look at the data, we can see that the following languages are underserved online:
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- Chinese:
15% of internet users are native Chinese speakers yet only 2% of online content is in Chinese. - Spanish:
7% of internet users are native Spanish speakers yet only 3.6% of online content is in Spanish. - Portuguese:
3.7% of internet users are native Portuguese speakers yet only 0.7% of online content is written in Portuguese.
- Chinese:
It’s worthwhile to see if the products you promote on your affiliate websites are sold in regions that speak these languages. Expanding affiliate marketing programs into underserved languages can shift the supply and demand scale significantly in your favor.
Already having English content gives you a first-mover advantage
Although it can seem daunting to expand into a market whose language you do not understand, it’s helpful to remember that affiliate networks are far less mature among non-English speaking marketers. This is largely because the majority of educational content and training on affiliate marketing is in English.
This lack of maturity in the market means that simply by having experience in affiliate marketing in English, you’re already ahead of the game. This advantage is particularly significant if you are working in a niche that you have expertise in.
No matter what language you work in, the principles of high-quality product reviews and roundups are the same. Plus, the reduced competition in non-English speaking markets means that translations of your existing content have a very good chance of ranking. Translation is therefore a relatively low-cost and low-risk way to make more money from the resources you already have.
Tips for Translating Affiliate Content
Split-test different products in different markets
Although sales copy can be directly translated and still convert well, one variable that affiliate marketers should test is product recommendations.
Conversion rates are much higher when affiliate campaigns recommend trusted brands that people are already familiar with. Familiarity with different brands can vary drastically between countries. It pays to do your market research into any country or region that you plan to expand into and recommend popular products in that area.
You should also research what affiliate products are completely unavailable in certain countries. Adequate due diligence and research can make or break the success of your international expansion.
Pay attention to localization beyond just copy
Although a high-quality translation of your content is of utmost importance to the success of your affiliate site expanding into other countries, it’s also key to look at localization elements that go beyond your web copy.
People are more likely to convert on websites that look like they were made by people native to their culture. This is especially true for smaller affiliate websites where you don’t have a big brand name to leverage.
Here are some key points to consider when you localize your online marketing material:
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- Pricing and currency:
Make sure that prices are listed in the currency of the country you are targeting. - Site design:
Web design trends and preferences can vary from country to country. Scope out your competition to see if there are any aesthetic features that you might want to replicate in the translated version of your website. - Authenticity:
If you use any photos with human models, try to have them look like they might be from the country or location you are targeting. - Location:
Make any photos of outdoor locations look like they might have been taken in the country that you are targeting.
- Pricing and currency:
Final Thoughts
If you’re an affiliate marketer struggling with the level of competition in your niche, then expanding into non-English speaking markets might give you a better return on investment. This is particularly likely if you focus on languages that have little content published relative to the number of native speakers who use the internet.
Although there are extra things to consider when marketing in a language that you do not understand, your experience as a native language affiliate marketer should still put you one step ahead of most of the competition in these markets.
Translating an already successful website is the first step to making this expansion. Localize has extensive experience in translating and localizing successful affiliate content for a global audience. Localize uses cutting-edge technology to ensure outstanding results for our clients.
This article was written by John Wright. John is the CEO of affiliate marketing software StatsDrone.
