You Can Prevent the Potential European and Asian Dominance of the Internet Marketing Business
by: Shayne Pridham
If your site is still in English - only, you are not alone. You are actually in the company of about 75% of businesses. This gives European and Asian based companies a tremendous advantage, as most of them already offer Multilingual Websites - Europeans have a long-standing tradition of using multilingual Marketing practices.
European and Asian businesses are more experienced with International Multilingual Marketing.
Remember because the Internet really is Global, you could have a competitor you don't even know about located in Europe or Asia, reaching out to your customer base. Furthermore, depending on the extent of information offered on your site, your pricing, distribution and other business models can be studied by anyone with a web browser.
Not only will you be losing business by not reaching out to foreign markets, you may even be risking your current market. If you have a site on the World Wide Web, you have already, by definition, "gone global". Don't be surprised if there are some who reach your site and are offended at not having their Language preferences addressed.
If that isn't enough to convince you that the market demand exists to make your Website multilingual, then consider this;
* You automatically have a potential client base of 500+ million people worldwide, mainly consisting of well-educated 25-50-year-olds.
* By being on the web, You are already accessible 24 hours a day regardless of time differences.
* The advent of the Euro has made it much easier to break into the European markets.
* Non-native English speakers make up 95% of the world's population.
* There are only six main countries where English is the mother tongue - Australia, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.
* The rapid rise of a multilingual, multicultural on-line community
* The exponential increase of internet users who do not understand English
And most importantly, if wish to prevent the potential of European and Asian dominance of the Internet Marketing business, then consider meeting the world on its own terms - with A multilingual, multicultural Website offering Your Product or Service. It's not as expensive or as complicated as you may think.
Make Your Site Multilingual
Your Website is primarily a marketing tool you use to promote Yourself, A Product or a Service. You have built it and posted it because you want people to spend time looking at it. Keeping people interested and coming back to your site is the Hard Bit. People will spend more time and come back more often to sites that are in their native language and appeal to their cultural sensibilities.
Claiming that English sites are sufficient because most people who surf the Web speak English simply is not a valid call from a marketing standpoint. There is also the issue that business already on the Web have worldwide visibility and by ignoring millions in your audience by not addressing their linguistic and cultural preferences you could even be going as far as to insult them.
Almost everyone in Sweden and Holland speak English, but studies there show that they prefer to search the Internet in their native languages.
Research has shown us time again that web users are up to four times more likely to purchase when addressed in their native language, while visitors will stay for twice as long on a site displayed in their own language. The percentage of multilingual users greatly varies from one country to another.
The majority of people using the Internet speak a language other than English, most of these are able to search and surf only in their native language. Therefore web site translation and Multilingual Marketing are undoubtedly key Internet marketing strategies, That should be implemented as soon as possible.
The rapid rise of a truly multilingual, multicultural on-line World has significant implications for companies competing in the International marketplace and in local markets where they have to deal with language-specific communities.
The exponential increase of Internet users who do not understand English Implies that conducting your online business in multiple languages will be the difference between survival and extinction.
About The Author:
Shayne Pridham CEO http://www.Affiliates-Surveys-Marketing.com.
You Can Make Your Site Multilingual with just a few Clicks.
March 2006
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