In Richmond, the language a customer prefers can decide which trade they call. According to 2021 Census figures, Cantonese was the mother tongue of 23.3% of residents and Mandarin of about 22.7%, together more than English alone. This service makes your trade business easy to understand, compare and book for those households.
We are a marketing service, not a contractor. We don't do trade work, and we don't provide interpretation on your job sites. We help you write and organise the marketing.
Why it matters for trades in particular
Trade work involves trust in a way that buying a coffee doesn't. A customer is letting a stranger into the home, paying for something they can't easily judge, and often doing it under stress. Anything that reduces doubt helps:
- a service page that explains the job, the steps and what affects price, in the customer's language
- a Google Business Profile description and service list that reads naturally in Chinese
- the ability to text a photo of the problem and get a polite, clear reply
- reviews that show you've served similar households before
Owners who already have a Cantonese- or Mandarin-speaking team member often get more from this service than they expect, because they can promote that fact prominently.
Who it's for
- Trades whose customer list already includes many Chinese-speaking households, especially in City Centre, Thompson, Broadmoor and other dense residential areas
- Businesses with at least one person who can take calls or texts in Cantonese or Mandarin
- Crews doing strata work, where owners and council members may prefer Chinese for written updates
- Any trade whose reviews already include comments in Chinese
What's included
- Language audit. We look at your current customers, reviews and enquiries to estimate demand and decide between Traditional and Simplified script.
- Translated service pages. Your highest-value service pages rewritten in Chinese with a fluent human reviewer, not pasted from a machine.
- Profile and listing details. Service names, description and Q&A prepared in both languages, within Google's profile guidelines.
- Text templates. Bilingual replies for common moments: first response, asking for photos, sending a quote, confirming arrival, asking for a review.
- Ad copy in Chinese for search campaigns where the data shows demand, run under the same cost ceiling as our paid search service.
- Call handling plan. A simple script for English-only staff and, if you have a bilingual team member, a clear way to route those calls.
Timeline
The audit and the first two translated pages take about three weeks. Profile updates and text templates follow in week four. Ad copy is tested once there's enough English-language data to compare against.
How results are measured
We tag Chinese-language pages and ads separately, so you can see calls, texts and booked jobs from them on their own. We also count reviews mentioning a Chinese-language experience. If a translated page brings no enquiries after a fair test, we tell you and stop investing in it.
A quick example
Picture a Richmond plumbing crew where one office manager speaks Cantonese. Today the website is English only and the Google profile says nothing about language. After this service, the two most profitable service pages exist in Traditional Chinese, the profile states that Cantonese is spoken in the office, and a bilingual text template asks for a photo of the problem. Enquiries from Chinese-speaking households are tracked separately, so after a few months the owner can see whether the work paid for itself.
Mistakes to avoid
- Translating the whole site at once. Start with the two or three jobs that matter most.
- Promising Chinese service you can't deliver. If no one can reply in Chinese, say "Chinese information available; replies in English" rather than implying otherwise.
- Mixing scripts on one page. Pick one per page and stay with it.
- Assuming one community. Richmond's Chinese-speaking households have different origins, dialects and preferences. Test, don't assume.
This service works alongside local search or paid search, not instead of them. For non-trade Richmond businesses that need full multilingual campaigns, our sister site richmondagency.ca is the better fit. Plan prices are on the pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
Nobody on my crew speaks Chinese. Is this still worth it?
Often, yes. Many customers are happy to speak English on the phone but want to understand the job and the price in writing first. Clear translated pages and text templates cover that. We'll also help you plan how to handle a call you can't take in Chinese.
Traditional or Simplified characters?
It depends on your customers. Cantonese-speaking households often read Traditional characters and Mandarin-speaking households often read Simplified, but there are many exceptions. We usually start with the one that matches your existing customers and add the other if the data supports it.
Can't I just use machine translation?
For a rough draft, maybe. For pages that describe safety work, prices and warranties, a fluent human review is worth it. Odd phrasing makes a trade look careless, which is the opposite of what you want.
Do you run ads on Chinese social apps?
We focus on Google search, your Google Business Profile, your website and text messaging, where trade intent is clearest. We'll tell you plainly if another channel looks worth testing for your trade.