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 recognized 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 250 million people, and is the third
most widely spoken language in the world. Then of course, there's
China. With over 1 Billion 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 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.searchenginecolossus.com. If you have an
international domain (such as .com), you shouldn't have too 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 your 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!
Article by 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 use
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