I’m frustrated.  As I started  research on Spanish language SEO strategies I was flabbergasted just how few US companies have done any Spanish SEO on their websites.  The biggest eye opener were car dealers in Miami. 

Car dealers are fiercely competing for new and used car sales in English.  Type into Google ”BMW Cars Miami” and you will see a full list of BMW car dealers; Google Maps as well as organic listings.  Now type in “carros BMW Miami” or “autos BMW Miami” and see that all but 1 or 2 dealers are invisible on Google Page one.

This is not about BMW cars  since this problem spans across all brands. From my review, less than 10% of the major car dealer brands in Miami have utilized effective Spanish SEO strategies. 

This issue applies to any business and industry which has not taken baby steps to add Spanish SEO strategies to their website.

SEO Strategies in Spanish

The Miami BMW example represents an opportunity for us and the first Miami BMW dealer that calls us. However, this example is symptomatic of how US websites are being built.  Companies that operate in areas with large segments of native Spanish speakers are missing the boat if their website does not include targeted pages to popular Spanish search phrases.

• What part of your marketing budget is allocated to reach Spanish speakers living in the United States? 
• Does your business operate near communities that contain a high percentage of native Spanish speakers? 

If the answer is yes, then you should reconsider retesting effective SEO strategies to get your message in front of US consumers who can read Spanish. 

Is Spanish Language Marketing Passe?

About six years ago there was a big buzz in the business community about marketing to “Hispanic” people in the United States.  For many business owners their marketing attempts did not result in much success.  I am suggesting that business owners reconsider how the Internet can be utilized to market to this growing demographic.

In April 2009, ComScore, Inc. released a report on the U.S. Hispanic Internet market, finding that the Hispanic online population reached a record 20.3 million visitors in February 2009, representing 11 percent of the total U.S. online market. During the past year, the growth of the U.S Hispanic Internet audience outpaced that of the total U.S. online population in terms of number of visitors, time spent and pages consumed, as Hispanic online adoption and engagement accelerated.

“It’s well known that the Hispanic market is a growing and increasingly important segment to advertisers and marketers,” said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix. “However, any business attempting to effectively reach this segment needs to understand the behavior of the U.S. Hispanic online consumer as a fundamental component of their marketing and media strategies.”  Read the full Comscore Press Release.

Spanish Internet Marketing

I encourage business owners to setup a series of tests to see how much incremental web traffic and sales can be added with just a little attention to Spanish SEO.  My initial testing looks very promising so if you are looking for new ideas to grow sales, this is one not to miss.

I arrived in Ecuador tonight to prepare for the opening of ClaraMark, a company dedicated to providing Internet Marketing and SEO services to US businesses.  The twist is that the services will be in Spanish.  I am very excited about the new partnership that the Pasch Consulting Group will have with ClaraMark.

 I have already reached out to a few of my clients that operate a business in areas that have large communities of Spanish speaking US consumers and their feedback was unanimous;  Sign me up to convert my existing website to Spanish.  Claramark has already the first month booked from one press release and an email I sent to a few customers.

The opportunity that I see with ClaraMark is not the website translation service; that is old news.  What I am excited about in the Spanish SEO services that ClaraMark will offer using my proven strategies.   I am also excited about using Spanish social networking websites to communicate my client’s messages in Spanish.   This is a new frontier for US business owners and we will be on the cutting edge.

Are You Ready To Take Action?

For example, two of my clients that are dentists were among the fastest to react to my email offering to translate their website into Spanish.  They both run businesses in New Jersey; one operates in Monmouth County and one in Hudson County.  They are surrounded by large communities of native Spanish speakers but to date they have done no Spanish language marketing.  This service is exactly what they were looking for and they liked the price point.

ClaraMark will convert their existing websites to Spanish and place them on a WordPress website on a new URL that contains keywords to attract Spanish speaking consumers.  We have tested their markets for specific keywords searches and the door is wide open for them to address the Spanish speaking community and have their site on Google page one.

Spanish Language Marketing – A Huge Opportunity

I believe that the early adopters in all business segments will be rewarded today and also in the years to come.  Ignoring the largest minority group in the United States is not a smart business decision.  The costs to create a Spanish microsite are not unreasonable. 

A translated Spanish website can run around $1,500 – $2,000. This is a onetime cost for a website that the business owns and not leases.  That is the cost of a weekend newspaper ad that has limited visibility.   A Spanish language microsite will deliver leads year after year like an annuity.

Business owners should start to develop a strategy to offer their business message and services in the Spanish language, through low cost web marketing strategies as well as social networking and blogging tools.   Don’t let your competition get there first.

The Pasch Consulting Group (PCG), announces a joint venture with ClaraMark  to build WordPress microsites and traditional websites in Spanish to assist business owners in Manhattan and across the United States reach native Spanish speakers living in the United States.

Research conducted by Brian Pasch inspired the collaboration with ClaraMark as data suggests that business owners have not optimized their marketing messages and websites for the Spanish language.

Joining the list of early adopters includes Greenway Jeep Chrysler Dodge located in Orlando Florida. The WordPress Spanish language microsite will offer Florida residents a Spanish language information portal on new and used cars that include Jeep, Chrysler and Dodge.

The Pasch Consulting Group also has commitments from Preston Auto Group in Maryland, Marlboro Nissan in Massachusetts, ABC Motor Credit in Ohio as well as business owners outside the automotive industry.  Progressive businesses such as Mr. John, Bogota Dentistry and DayBreak Express  have realized there is an opportunity to grow their business by catering to native Spanish speakers.

Business owners seeking to increase their visibility on the Internet for Spanish search phrases are revisiting their advertising budgets to retest marketing in Spanish. By implementing open source WordPress microsites in Spanish, business owners can own and not lease their marketing portals at a very low cost.

Automotive Marketing Example

Surprisingly, many business owners have not taken advantage integrating popular search phrases in Spanish into their websites. For example, these two phrases are popular Spanish search terms for used car searches:

• autos usados
• carros usados

These words are only found on a small percentage of car dealer websites. So for example, a Miami Chevy dealer should have a page optimized, in Spanish, on their website that is titled:

Autos Usados Chevy | Carros Usados Chevrolet | Miami Florida

If all Miami car dealers have not optimized their websites, imagine how many business websites across the United States have not taken advantage of Spanish language SEO to drive for traffic to their websites!

If you would like a proposal to translate your existing website into Spanish or if you would like to create a Spanish WordPress portal for your business, call for a competitive price quote.  Most businesses can have their Spanish language website up and running within 30 days.