Are You Overlooking Foreign Language Capabilities?

Foster Web Marketing is a company that specializes in helping attorneys to develop a strong and successful web presence. We handle everything from site design, web hosting, content writing and management and search engine optimization. Our first priority is to help our clients expand their practices by obtaining high rankings on Google, Yahoo, Ask and other search engines. If you are interested in expanding the client base of your law practice through internet marketing, contact Foster Web Marketing for a site consultation today.

America is about as diverse a country as you can imagine. If you want an example of exactly how diverse, just pick up the phone book. Alongside all the people with the last names of Smith and Jones are people with names like Poliakoff, Ottinger, Horowitz, O’Malley, Shea, Kilpatrick, Cheung, Wu, Diaz, Garcia, Galanti, Macensky or Battaglia.

As generations have passed, heritage does not loom nearly as large as it used to. It is very rare to find a third generation American who speaks the language that was spoken in the country of his ancestors. But there is still a sizeable percentage of Americans who speak English as a second language, and there are still people who are more comfortable reading, speaking or writing in their native tongue.

Despite what some groups might say to the contrary, injured immigrants have just as much of a right to legal counsel as any other American, and they also have the same right to compensation. Ignoring the demographic of those who don’t speak English as a primary language is not a very smart business plan, especially if you consider that it is immigrants who engage in construction, taxi driving and other occupations with high rates of injuries. You should also consider that the internet is universal, and websites are available in far more languages than English.

If your practice is anywhere near a city or area with a sizable population of immigrants or foreign language speakers, having a foreign language website could be a smart way to expand your client base. There are millions of people in this country who speak Spanish, Chinese, Farsi, French, or any other language that you can think of. By providing a website with text in a language that they are comfortable with, potential clients could choose your firm simply because you made it easy for them to understand your services.

Getting a mirror website in a different language is not a difficult thing to do, but if you decide to do it you should proceed carefully. Translation is a very important aspect. Although there is translation software, it can often miss a lot of the important nuances and subtleties of how a native would use the language. This can result in errors in context or meaning that can make your firm look foolish.

Your best and safest bet would be to hire someone to translate the site for you. You could easily find someone by advertising on Craig’s List or any other web based site.

If you have a foreign language site up, the search engine rules work basically the same way. If a Spanish speaker is looking for a lawyer, he is going to go to Google and type in “abogado.” If he is injured, he is going to type in “herida,” or “lesion.” If he has been in an accident, he is going to type in “accidente.” It would certainly be in the interest of your firm to have those keywords ready.

If you have an associate or secretary or partner in your firm who speaks any foreign language, there is really no excuse for not having a website in that language, and setting up that site should be a priority.

Another language aspect to consider is the difference between American English and United Kingdom English. Having the word “solicitor” as a keyword could generate traffic for your site among British, Canadian or Australian expatriates living in America.

This might seem like a small niche to go after, but putting the keywords and key phrases in your site takes a minimum of effort, and the end result could be an important and lucrative case.

If you have an interest in using the internet to expand your web presence, contact Foster Web Marketing for a free legal consultation today.