Marketing and the World Wide Web

English may still be the main language in terms of content on the Web, but the bulk of the world’s internet users’ first language isn’t English. And this difference creates a rather lucrative opportunity for those seeking to enter new markets: the competition for key search terms is much less on the non-English language internet; therefore it’s usually possible to attain high search engine rankings more easily than in English.

There are over 6,000 languages in the world, 96% of which are spoken collectively by a simple 4% of the world’s population. English, however, is spoken by over 50% of the EU, if we take into account those with second languages.

In spite of the popularity of English, it’s well documented that internet users are four times more likely to buy from a website that’s in their own language. Even if they are completely easy in English, the chances are that they will start their search in their native language.

Consider the following facts too: Asia accounts for over 40% of the world’s internet users, and China alone has 30% more internet users than the US. And crucially, 75% of the world’s population speaks no English at all. That’s a lot of potential customers.

So the need to talk to the international community in their own language is imperative: and it all starts with a fully localized and optimized website in the target country.

First though, you have to consider the domain name. Your choice of name is entirely up to you, though you may want to consider something that is suitable for the country that you’re targeting – your brand name may work just as well abroad, but you are best using the services of a specialist translation/localization company who can research any potential negative connotations of your name in your target market.

You’ll also need to consider your choice of web host as the server they use should ideally be located in your target country – this can reduce latency and improve download speeds for end users, and Google may consider the IP address of the server in its ranking algorithms, so make sure you ask where a hosting company’s servers are based before committing to using their services.

For any business looking to go global, the need to ‘think local’ means you should be aware of the multitude of cultural and linguistic complexities that you will face when entering foreign markets.

So assuming you have a fully localized website ready to load onto your country-specific domain, what other issues should you consider from an SEO perspective before you launch your site? One of the main ones is the proper translation of keywords. When you’re having your website translated for the target market, it can be tempting to translate the keywords directly, but this can result in huge missed opportunities if the direct translation doesn’t match user behavior. The correct dictionary translation of a keyword or phrase may NOT be what people use to search for the desired product or service locally: they may use abbreviations, colloquialisms or a different word that means the same thing. So in the same way as you identify your industry’s highest ranking keywords for the English market, such as via Google’s free keyword finder, you have to research the keywords for each target country, to ensure your foreign language website is properly optimized.

It’s clear that SEO and localization play an integral part of the globalization process, and any business that fails to market itself internationally is missing out on lucrative growth opportunities.

For more details: http://www.creativewebmall.co.uk/ and  http://www.creativewebpromotion.com/