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Brighton, 14th July 2010. The world leading international search engine optimisation and marketing agency, OBAN Multilingual, have launched their International SEO News channel on Youtube, the first of its kind to provide exclusive and in-depth insight into internet, search and social media trends across the globe.

OBAN Multilingual have been at the forefront of multilingual search strategies for over almost a decade, and have worked with a vast range of prestigious clients in researching and developing SEO and SEM strategies on an international platform. Now they have decided to share their findings and knowledge with the rest of the world.

The ‘International SEO News’ channel delves into the World Wide Web, looking at how the internet and search varies from place to place, and provides valuable and thought-led insight into cultural differences and search engine marketing.

“We carry out extensive research into internet trends and search in a number of different markets, and we often discover some interesting and unexpected facts and figures, the sort of things we wouldn’t want to keep to ourselves. Our short videos cover some of these findings, as well as some general multilingual SEO tips.” says Greig Holbrook, MD, OBAN Multilingual Strategies.

There are currently three films on the channel, the first providing some valuable insight into international SEO from Greig, the second covering SEO in China, and the third Russia. OBAN plan to release several more over the coming months, with each covering a different market.

The videos can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/user/InternationalSEONews.

London and Brighton, April 12, 2010. TranslateMedia, the award winning global translation agency, and Oban Multilingual, the Brighton-based consultancy agency specialising in multilingual SEO and international SEM, forge an alliance to offer a complete localisation service.

As both companies are contributing with years of expertise in their respective fields they are able to offer a highly customised service for international businesses wishing to optimise their SEO efforts.  Patrick Eve, Managing Director at TranslateMedia, states, “We saw a need to offer a more digitally focused translation service in addition to our more traditional offering, and we therefore wanted to collaborate with a successful SEO agency that had the necessary technical expertise and track record. Oban Multilingual was therefore a natural choice as they have been offering expert advice in this field for years.”

“There is huge potential for businesses to expand into emerging foreign markets, however, with around 70% of those searching the web not speaking English, companies need an effective multilingual strategy. That’s where Oban and TranslateMedia step in.” says Greig Holbrook, MD of Oban Multilingual. By joining forces, Oban and TranslateMedia will offer businesses the highest standard of multilingual SEO and translation services.

Oban Multilingual is a world leader in multilingual search engine optimisation and marketing, and has been at the forefront of multilingual SEO/SEM for several years. Oban’s core strength lies in its unique ability to be able to produce multilingual SEM services of the highest quality. Their teams of experts, based in over 26 countries across the world, are able to offer clients local solutions to global SEO/SEM campaigns ensuring that the most effective search strategy is developed for each market. Oban have worked with some of the world’s leading businesses in retail, travel, property and technology amongst others, and has a unique and critical understanding of local search vocabulary, behaviours, trends and engines in over 26 different markets.

TranslateMedia is one of the fastest growing global translation companies, with offices in London, New York, Hong Kong, Paris, Munich and Brussels. TranslateMedia employs 5,000 specialist translators and covers 80 languages. The company has recently been selected for the Media Momentum Top 50 List of the fastest growing Digital Media Companies in Europe for 2010.The company works primarily with the largest global firms and provides a round the clock service for technical, marketing and legal translations. It is one of a short list of global agencies to be certified the highest quality assurance standard for translation services (EN 15038:2006) and has developed a corporate portal for clients to post jobs from anywhere and at anytime online.

Oban’s international holiday e-marketing tips have been published in the Retail Bulletin and on the Canadian Marketing Association blog. Here is the original article all its glory.

Christmas is one of the most celebrated holidays in the world. But not everyone celebrates it in the same way. Indeed, not everyone celebrates it at all.

Internet sales in the upcoming holiday season have been predicted to grow about eight percent. While the number is low compared to last year’s 19 percent holiday season growth, it still looks better than the mere one percent sales growth expected in physical department stores.

With overseas online markets growing at an incredibly rapid pace, they deserve special attention. Brazilians, for example, have become some of the most active online shoppers in the world. In addition, last year saw 147 million Chinese buy products and services online, a number representing more than the total population of all but the world’s seven most populous countries. In less than two years, this number is projected triple. Add on to this e-sales figures in Russia, which doubled in 2007 to hit nearly £2 billion. (more…)

Prominent web reporter Christopher Elliott recently blogged about Oban’s research finding. His interpretation of Oban’s report sparked off debate about the question of discrimination towards non-English speakers on the World Wide Web. Read the post.

We want to know what you think! Our friends at Poll the People have set up a poll for you to voice your thoughts on the debate.

The question:

Do travel websites discriminate against non-English users?

Spanish: ¿Discriminan las páginas web de viajes a los usuarios de habla no inglesa?

German: Diskriminieren Reise-Webseiten nicht-englisch-sprechende Internetnutzer?

French: Les sites de voyage discriminent-ils les utilisateurs non-anglophones?

Chinese: 旅遊網站是否其是非英語使用者?

Czech: Myslíte si, že stránky o cestování diskriminují uživatele, kteří nemluví anglicky?

Slovak: Diskriminujú webové stránky o cestovaní tých užívateľov, ktorých rodným jazykom nie je angličtina?

Romanian: Este adevărat că site-urile româneşti discriminează nevorbitorii de limbă engleză?

Farsi:

آیا وبسایتهای سفر آنلاین نسبت به کاربران غیر انگلیسی زبان تبعیض قائل میشوند؟

Vote now:

International online customers say they are often forced to search in English

Travel sites do not cater to their international users. This was the finding of the www.obanmultilingual.com short documentary on international travel search behaviour.

In making the video, the Oban team travelled to London where they interviewed holidaymakers from over 40 countries. The interviewees were asked how they used the internet to research their trip to London.

The Oban team was surprised by their findings.

“What we had expected,” says Greig Holbrook, Oban’s managing director, “was that the travellers would say that they search in their native language. But instead, most of them admitted they were forced to search in English, since the travel sites often do not give them a multilingual option.” (more…)

Oban Multilingual and EyeforTravel have rounded up the results from their online travel competition survey and found some interesting trends emerging in online Chinese search behaviour.

Results showed that Chinese internet users don’t use Google very often. In fact, none of the Chinese respondents chose Google as their favoured travel search portal. (more…)

The Face of Global Search competition reveals interesting data

Travel sites take note: there is much more to the international online travel market than Google. The results from Oban and EyeforTravel’s online travel competition show that international internet surfers are expanding their search horizons to sites that give them more international usability, more options, ease of use, and of course, traveller reviews.

The Face of Global Search competition had entrants play a flash game in which they answered questions about their online travel search behaviour before advancing to the next level. (more…)

Only six days left in Oban’s Face of Global Search competition

Every 15^th player to play the Face of Global Search game will win a bottle of champagne in addition to being entered into the original prize draw.

But hurry – there’s only six days left to throw your virtual suitcase around.

The game has players attempt to toss their suitcase to a portal which transports them to the next level in another part of the world.

Players are eligible to win either £150 or £100 worth of travel vouchers just for playing. Those who finish the game are eligible for the big prize – £250 worth of travel vouchers.

During the game, players are asked multiple choice questions about how they use the internet to book their holidays.

Those who are curious about what Oban has discovered as its database of answers matures should check out the video that they put together at the game’s website: www.faceofglobalsearch.com.

The competition ends July 23^rd.

Ten days left in the Face of Global Search competition

Hurry up and get your game on. There’s only two weeks left to throw your virtual suitcase around in Oban’s flash competition game.

The game has players attempt to toss their suitcase to a portal which transports them to the next level in another part of the world.

Players are eligible to win either £150 or £100 worth of travel vouchers just for playing. Those who finish the game are eligible for the big prize – £250 worth of travel vouchers.

During the game, players are asked multiple choice questions about how they use the internet to book their holidays.

Those who are curious about what Oban has discovered as its database of answers matures should check out the video that they put together at the game’s website: www.faceofglobalsearch.com.

The competition ends July 23rd.

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Kaila Krayewski
April 15, 2008
Tel.: 01273 704434
Mobile: 079 385 66952
E-mail: Kaila@obanmultilingual.com
www.obanmultilingual.com

DANGLISH

How this unique language can improve your business

Danish sporting apparel company, Hummel International, wants a ‘Danglish’ website. They have enlisted OBAN Multilingual, an international search engine optimisation company, to do the job.

They are among the many companies realising that cultural differences are key when targeting specific regions. (more…)