The tasks related to the 2010 Census in the United States began on April 1 with the questionnaires that were sent by mail. Efforts will continue until late July with door-to-door visits to those who do not return the questionnaire. The official census website contain information (also in Spanish) such as dates, activities, history and questions found in the census. It also states that: “Most of the country will receive only English materials. Households in areas with high concentrations of Spanish speaking residents may receive a bilingual questionnaire (English / Spanish).”

Dora the Explorer, Nickelodeon’s famous bilingual character, is the new spokesperson for the 2010 Census for Hispanic families. She will empathize the importance of counting children and not miss a “historic opportunity.”

This new assessment will show how much data has changed in the last ten years (from the previous 2000 Census). It will also collect information to analyze how many Latinos are living in the United States and their demographic … before the next census.

Numbers: There were 35.3 million Hispanics in the 2000 Census. The Latino population grew by 38% since 1990 while the total U.S. population only grew 9% over the same period.

• Youth: 12.3 million are under 18 years,  or 17% of the total.
• Older People: Hispanics make up 4.8% of the U.S. population older than 50 years.

Self-perception of young people: According to the National Survey of Latinos of the Pew Hispanic Center, more than half (52%) of the Latinos between 16 and 25 years identify themselves by their families’ country of origin… An additional 20% use the terms “Hispanic” or “Latino”. Only one in four – 24% – of the total describe themselves as “American.”

Where do Latinos live: The states with the largest number of Hispanics are California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, Arizona, and New Jersey. Moreover, more than half of Latinos within the U.S. live in the states of California and Texas. Also, Latinos are clustered in the towns and urban areas.

Politics: Latinos represent 5.5% of U.S. citizens registered to vote.

Marriage and divorce: 50% of Hispanics over age 15 are married. The divorce rate is lower among Hispanics than among whites.

Poverty: The average poverty level among Hispanics (30%) is similar to African Americans, but significantly higher than among non-Hispanic whites (8.5%).

• Unemployment: The unemployment rate in the United States on March 2010 stood at 9.7%, but 12.6% among Hispanics in the country, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• Business owners: At a national level, Hispanics own about 1.2 million business. New Mexico has the highest proportion (22%), followed by Texas (16%), Florida (15%), California (13% ) and Arizona (9%).

Member of the catholic church: Pope Benedict XVI appointed Archbishop Jose Gomez, Mexican,  as the successor of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles when the current archbishop retires in February 2011. He will be the first Latino leader of the Catholic Church in Los Angeles.

Modalities of Spanish: There are four Hispanic dialect regions or areas: the Southwest, predominantly Mexican population; Florida, Cuban-majority, the Northeast, with a predominance of Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and Cubans, although the latter is the most heterogeneous area, which represents all Hispanic origins. And finally, Chicago, which has groups of Mexicans and Puerto Ricans. In short, there are four territories and three major dialects: Mexico (over 60%), U.S. (more than 12%) and Cuba (over 5%).

DECEMBER 2010: By law, the Census Bureau gives the President the population data for the apportionment of congressional districts.

MARCH 2011: By law, the Census Bureau finishes delivering data to the states for the legislative redistribution.

Hispanics are now the largest U.S. minority, comprising 15.1 percent of the total population. The Census Bureau estimates that approximatley 30.2 percent of the population (132.8 million people) will be Hispanic by the year 2050. That means that one third of the population will be Hispanic. How Does the Census Data Benefit Latinos? Census data are used in many ways that can benefit Latinos and improve they life and the life of their families. It directly affects how more than $400 billion per year in federal funding is distributed. The U.S Census Bureau has a toolkit for reaching latinos that is designed to help organizations that serve Latinos communicate the benefits of census participation. The toolkit overview mentions a number of benefits for the Latino community, which are listed below:

The Census Bureau’s goal is to count everyone, regardless of immigration status. “It’s very important that we have an accurate count of everyone so that we know how public services can be fairly distributed and what the needs of the country will be with regards to different populations.” says Janet Murguia, president and CEO, National Council of La Raza (NCLR). Also, for the first time, the Census Bureau is providing a bilingual form for Spanish speakers. The Census is completley confidential and is not shared with other government agencies. There is a growing effort to make sure Latin communities know that their census form responses are safe and confidential. You can display this poster in your community to create awareness of the coming census.

More information on: Facts on the Hispanic or Latino Population Hispanic Population of the United States Toolkit for Reaching Latinos

For those businesses that want to test the potential of their products or services with the US Spanish market, those ready to employ a more proactive approach, or those fully committed to their Spanish speaking consumers, I recommend translating part, if not all, of your website into Spanish and developing a search friendly website. This process that will entail at least the following basic steps.

Page Translation

The Spanish Market in the US is a fastest growing consumer market and the largest online growth sector of new Internet users. It is estimated that the number of Hispanic Internet users will surge between now and 2012 and surpass 29 million.  Chicago, for example, expects Hispanics to account for virtually all of the city’s population growth over the next decade. It is good idea to invest in a Hispanic-focused web site and SEO to tap into a market that will surely increase your business.

Page Optimization

Keyword Analysis: the study of the most frequently used keywords entered into a search engine by the users. Keyword research consists of finding as many keywords as possible relating to your web site, the most valuable keywords and analyzing the strength of competitors for potential keywords.

Coding & Content Optimization: editing a web site’s content and code in order to improve visibility within one or more search engines. The content should be properly structured with the use of Heading tags bold containing relevant keywords. Search-engines will only index a limited amount of text in HTML tags and using too many keywords will dilute the focus.

URL Revision (file names, keywords): in dynamic website URL’s contain a lot of special character (E.g. @, #, $, % and more…) that is not recognize/supported by the search engine. In that case rewrite search engine friendly URL.

META Tags (title, description, keywords): elements that are used to include information about your web page. Search engines use the text they find on the page as a description so it is very important that the first header and sentence describe the contents.

You need to have at least 1 page in Spanish optimized with your Spanish keywords and meta tags in order to be allowed to submit your site on Spanish search engines.

When translating your webpage choose a professional translation agency with translators that are native speakers and have a good command of both languages, English and Spanish. Aslo,  your SEO service provider should be active in multilingual/multicultural SEO communities; understand the differences in markets in the USA, Latin America and Spain; knows your target market.  For more information visit Spanish Website Translation .

Spanish is the second most-common language in the United States. There are 45 million Hispanics who speak Spanish in the United States, making it the world’s second-largest Spanish-speaking community. German, Italian, Polish, Russian and Greek are also spoken among older generations of immigrants. Also spoken are Tagalog, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. And let’s not forget that there is also a small population of Native Americans who still speak their native languages.

However, it may surprise you to learn that the United States does not have an official language, even though the majority of the population speaks English. According to an ACLU briefing paper, the proposal was “rejected as undemocratic and a threat to individual liberty” by the Continental Congress. Needless to say, the proposal of any official language in the United States is simply out of the questions.