Comments on: How to Blog for a Global Audience

By: Steven Kwok

Steven Kwok — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:34:48 +0000

I’m a Chinese blogger, but I’m not very good at English.
Now I want to set up an English blog to share my thoughts with others, do you have any advices for me? Thanks.

By: David

David — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:31:41 +0000

I’m answering something already said but : one can’t trust the output of a translation software. If readers want to use them, it’s ok for me, but I won’t encourage my readers to use it.

By: Tyrone – Internet Business Path

Tyrone – Internet Business Path — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:48:24 +0000

This is a very nice topic! Because this is my expertise! If you also have time to visit my site, you will read lots of ideal blogs that will relate you. Blogging really helps.

By: Simon Teague

Simon Teague — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:34:39 +0000

This is fantastic advise for those of us who are both new to blogging and looking to reach people from all around the world. Many thanks. We are now implementing your 5 key actions.

By: Work From Home

Work From Home — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 21:45:09 +0000

Blogging is so universal now that this post is really essential, thanks Darren.

By: tim

tim — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:15:55 +0000

@ Keith Collantine: Interesting point. I wonder at what point a blogger can afford to have a native speaker proof-read a translated version or if it is even possible to do in conjunction with a translating plugin?

By: Ari Lestariono

Ari Lestariono — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:16:55 +0000

Thanks for the updated article on Chinese ol, no wonder top IM is on to China to make some breakthrough over there

By: zaki

zaki — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 23:27:41 +0000

It is really good and right to have such an approach… Kia aap Meri Baat Samajh Saktay Hain?…. just the nudge, don’t mind. Will a translation do as good as an original would? I belong to Pakistan and Urdu is the national language but in that I have no facility to write in- needless to say I really wish to. I am trying to build a network facility for people who are crazy about learning English in my city Hyderabad, Pakistan. I hope if I could find translator tool for Urdu… By the way we call English here “Ang-ray-zee”.

By: krissy knox

krissy knox — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 19:22:16 +0000

It took me awhile to learn these five things. Surprisingly, they didn’t occur to me until recently! And it took Twitter and meeting people from around the world to teach me! When I finally learned, I felt rather silly that I had not considered the rest of the world until that point. I think those of us in American are sometimes taught that the world should resolve around us, and act accordingly… We don’t do it intentionally, or meanspiritedly, it is just the way we are taught. Now I want to be more global, and concerned with others, and write for more of a global audience — always keeping in mind those around the world — trying to be helpful and thereby not offending those from other countries.

krissy knox :)
http://sometimesithink-krissy.blogspot.com
follow me on twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/iamkrissy

By: Dustin@BeatingtheGrind

Dustin@BeatingtheGrind — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 15:49:37 +0000

Great article!

Not enough people are blogging about how to write for a world audience. I will take this advice to heart. Thanks for the unique article!

By: Mark SUN

Mark SUN — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 09:09:23 +0000

i am from China, and i am your reader.you really have done a good job as a blogger for global audience!

By: Roland Kopp-Wichmann

Roland Kopp-Wichmann — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 06:41:39 +0000

Thanks Darren for this hint.
I have a German blog for “personality” since three years and got more and more followers on Twitter. So I decided after reading your post to provide a translation for several languages.
I use the Wordpress-Plugin Global Translator with good results. The machine translation is not perfect but as you write better than nothing.
I am curious how much additional readers will visit my blog with that service.

By: Laurence Flynn

Laurence Flynn — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 05:20:12 +0000

I was aware that there was a translation plugin – what an awesome tool!

By: Ricky Buchanan

Ricky Buchanan — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 01:15:20 +0000

Another point is to please make sure if you use currency amounts (eg $100) or dates/times to mark what currency you’re using (eg US$100) and what time zone your date/time is in – especially if you’re referring to an internet event which may be attended by people in many different timezones.

And if you’re marking a date/time the best way is to put the GMT offset as well as any relevant USA timezone – for me as an Aussie to read something’s at “7pm PST” doesn’t really help me figure out when it will occur in my time, whereas if you write that it’s 7pm PST (GMT-8) it helps me to figure out that it will happen 19 hours later here, or 2pm the next day.

By: Liz

Liz — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 22:06:29 +0000

Eulalia – Thanks for reading. I think monetising is not the same if your audience is outside North America. It depends what you are using – Adsense should (in theory) adapt itself to your audience, but otherwise you will need to look for advertisers who are targetting your readers. I would think that Hispanic blogs have more to say about this though…

Martijn – the chance to ‘meet’ people from different countries is one of the things I like best of the Internet. I think you are spot on about language being the last border. At one time a lot of people thought English would be the universal language of the Internet, but it isn’t working out like that. That’s probably a good thing though!

Mikko – I’m not a Finnish speaker so I can’t comment on the hilarity of the translations, but I’m sure you’re right :)

Ulrike – you and Mikko both make a very good point, and if you read through the other comments you will find plenty of people who agree with you. I’m not suggesting anyone to use a translation tool to produce their blog posts. They are a poor substitute for writing yourself in different languages, or using a professional translation. But usually these things are not possible so in that case I think it is helpful to provide a translation option for those who want to use it.

By: Caleb

Caleb — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:13:13 +0000

Yea, I notice I’ve been getting more India traffic and although I haven’t quite figured out why, it did prompt me to step up my translator plugin.

I even got a reader who speaks Hebrew and wanted to know since search engines read from left to right, would they also be able to read right to left ensuring that his site got properly read?

My response to this is here for those who’re interested….

By: Ulrike Langer

Ulrike Langer — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:01:23 +0000

@Mikko

I totally agree with you – see my comment posted today 8:11. But its seems like our objections are being ignored here. It seems strange, though, since this is a blog post about the issue of how to reach a global audience…

By: Sandier Pastures

Sandier Pastures — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:20:28 +0000

I live and blog from the UAE (Dubai) and yes, I do make it a point to post relevant posts on Monday afternoons in time most of my readers are going to office or waking up opening their PC’s. I do set the time of posting later in the day for the same reason, for my global audience.

It’s a little bit strange that most of my readers are not from the UAE but elsewhere!

By: Shweta

Shweta — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:55:15 +0000

Great point here Darren. I do not think many people think on these lines when posting or even in the bigger picture.
These ideas must also be incorporated in the audio files and video blogging. Speaking slowly and clearly is very important if you want the non-native speakers to understand you well.

And as always it is always better not to add jokes or slangs that might be hurtful to other cultures.
For a global audience and following bloggers must use mindful writing and expression.

Thanks for your tips!

By: Kerry Dexter

Kerry Dexter — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:41:33 +0000

more than half of my readers come from outside the US. som of this traffic I’ve worked to generate, while the rest of it found me. most subjectts are both local and international, wise points to remember however you choose to tackle that.