Getting more traffic must be one of the most widely covered subjects on the Internet today.
Everyone wants more visitors to their website, and with online competition increasing daily,
marketing your business online can seem like a daunting task. But as we come across ever
more imaginative ways to lure them in, I can’t help feeling that the vast majority of webmasters
are overlooking a vast untapped online market. Potential markets of many millions of "surfers",
many of which are likely to be interested in your products / services / website. But if such
huge markets exist, why are nearly all webmasters overlooking them?
The answer is language.
We take it for granted that English is the language of the Net. Most of us don’t give it a second
thought that many tens of millions of people are surfing the web in languages other than
English. The rate of new user growth in the United States may be starting to slow down, but in
Europe and elsewhere it’s just hotting up. Everyone’s getting online! And the mixture of
languages is enormous – French, German, Spanish, Italian, Swedish. In many of these
countries, the Internet is being embraced in ways not seen in the US. One such example is
Finland – now widely recognised as a pioneer in the use of new Internet technologies and
ways of using the Internet. It is also home to techno giants such as Nokia and Erricson.
Historically, the Europeans were colonist empires, and consequently, their languages are
spread throughout the world. Spain and Portugal dominated central and South America, and
the French reached Canada, the Carribean and large parts of Africa. Consequently Spanish is
the official language of twenty countries, is spoken by over 250million people, and is the third
most widely spoken language in the world. Then of course, there’s China. With over 1Billion
people –that’s over 16% of the population –it’s not going to be very long before we have to sit
up and take notice of this huge emerging market.
So how do we tap into these markets? Firstly, you need a translated version of your website. If
you have a large site, you may prefer to produce an abridged version. Translation services are
easy to find locally, or you can find them online. Ideally, use one where the translator
translates into their native tongue. There are some online services where you can just type the
URL of a webpage, and it will provide you with your page instantly translated. These services
are inexpensive or even free (such as http://www.freetranslation.com or
http://www.plustranslation.com ). It is advisable, however, to get a fluent speaker of the
language to check the results before you use them.
You don’t need to go to the trouble of new domain names, new hosting accounts –just put
them on the same server as your current site. Next, you may want to include links from your
homepage – perhaps in the form of flags relating to the language – to channel foreign language
surfers who inadvertently end up on the English language site.
Once you have your translated your website, you must of course promote it. Register it with
search engines and directories in the appropriate countries. You can find listings of search
engines and directories, country by country, at http://www.searchenginecolussus.com. If you
have an international domain (such as.com), you shouldn’t have to much trouble registering,
though you may come across some that insist you are registered in that country. If so, you
will need to weigh up how important that search engine is, against the potential number of
surfers for that country/language. If it’s too big to ignore, then you can register a domain for
that country, and set up a separate website.
1.Identify countries suitable for your business, that you would like to tap into – and find
out their native tongue.
2.Translate your website, using local translators, software or online services.
3.Have someone check the translation
4.Place links on you homepage, showing you have other language options.
5.Promote your website in the local countries, through directories, search engines etc.
There you have it. As the competition increases in the English speaking world, you now have
the opportunity to inexpensively access fresh markets with tens of millions of potential
customers. Food for thought!
About the Author
Robin Porter
RP Associates brings you "The Internet Marketing Wizards". They’ve earnt fortunes online
–now you can discover their Marketing and Success Secrets. Find out the techniques they
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