web internet marketing

Christian Arno is founder of Lingo24, a global translation company specializing in website localization and optimization. Christian has more than nine years experience working with some of the world’s biggest global brands. Additional research and writing by Paul Sawers from Lingo24.

All signs point toward an increasingly multilingual future for the web. It’s estimated that over a billion people will be using PCs in the so-called BRIC countries alone by 2015, and the opportunity is even greater when you factor more people accessing the web using mobile devices than computers in many emerging markets. It’s time businesses of all sizes embraced the foreign language class='blippr-nobr'>Internetclass="blippr-nobr">Internet.

Foreign Languages on the Web

A truly global web must represent the languages of its users. And with growth in usage of the web in foreign languages outstripping English, businesses are playing catch-up with their potential customers. They’re rapidly trying to get as multi-lingual and diverse as their current and prospective client base.

In the last ten years, the use of Arabic online has increased by over 2500%, while Chinese and Spanish rose twelve and seven-fold respectively. And English? It didn’t even triple.

Today, 42% of all Internet users are in Asia, while almost a quarter are in Europe and just over 10% are in Latin America. These stats shouldn’t sway businesses towards targeting one region over another, though — Latin American countries account for over 200 million people on the web.

However, the vast majority of all online searches are in a language other than English. English is losing its online market share rapidly, which is no bad thing for businesses that recognize and embrace the opportunities on the foreign language Internet.

Optimizing the Non-English Web

The rise of the foreign language Internet doesn’t change the fact English leads the world in terms of volume and depth of content. Whether your industry is car insurance, web design or musical instruments, achieving top rankings for your English-language website for lucrative search terms is getting ever more difficult. The English-language web is saturated and competition for key search terms is tough, which makes increasing your online visibility tough too.

Conversely, the saturation of key search terms on non-English language websites hasn’t reached anywhere near the level of the English-language web. This means that businesses can attain high — and lucrative — positions on search engines far easier on the foreign language Internet.

This also means that it costs less for businesses to achieve prominence on the foreign language web. So the return on your internet marketing investment in Brazil, Russia, India, China — whatever your target market — should be greater than in English-speaking markets.

And the successful web marketer’s advantage when tackling the foreign language Internet is that you already know the essentials to achieve prominence online. You’ve proved this in the web’s toughest language market: English.

Chitika Research found that the difference between first and second place on Googleclass="blippr-nobr">Google is significant. In fact, a number one spot on Google attracts nearly double the traffic as the number two spot, and about the same amount of traffic as the second through fifth spots combined. For marketers, you’re several times more likely to hit top spot if you escape English-language levels of competition and target almost any other language market.

Going Local

Doesn’t everyone speak English? Although many non-natives of English do, studies have shown consumers are up to five times more likely to buy from a website with content in their native language.

It stands to reason that consumers would rather search for products and services in their own language. Even if a consumer does speak English as a second language, a report by Common Sense Advisory found that 85% of online shoppers required information in their own language before parting with their hard-earned cash.

So to really make the most of the foreign language Internet, you need search engine optimized localization — a hybrid somewhere between what an Internet marketing company and a translation service provider might offer.

Localization involves addressing the cultural and linguistic needs of each of your target countries. When it comes to search, this includes addressing different local search habits. It’s more complicated than simply translating the search terms that work for you in English. In Italy, for example, one of the top terms for low cost airlines is actually half English, half Italian (“voli low cost”). As British and Irish airlines pioneered low cost travel in Europe, it seems their language infiltrated the Italian psyche and made this hybrid term lucrative. Brands really need local knowledge if they’re to take advantage of commercial opportunities like this.

A 2007 paper by the Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA) reported that $25 dollars was returned for every $1 invested in localization. And with e-commerce set to grow by over 10% (CAGR) in Western Europe alone over the next five years, and much faster in so-called emerging markets, businesses should be gearing up for the surge in Internet spending.

Search and Social

Google’s search algorithm uses many aspects of online activity to determine how highly a website is ranked for a given term. Social media is becoming an increasingly important factor. What does this mean for the multi-lingual digital marketer?

The number of tweets a piece of your content receives and the reputation of those tweeters is important. The same goes for “Likes” on Facebookclass="blippr-nobr">Facebook or “Diggs” on Diggclass="blippr-nobr">Digg. From a foreign language perspective, increased use of social media around the world creates another opportunity to communicate with customers and a way to improve search rankings at the same time.

According to comScore, Latin American tweets are up over 300% between June 2009 and June 2010, followed by 243% in the Asia Pacific region, 142% in the Middle East and Africa, and 106% in Europe. By comparison, North America only increased by 22%.

So the “rest of the world” is actually leading the Twitterclass="blippr-nobr">Twitter revolution. Big, global companies have already taken action. Sony supports twenty international Twitter feeds, while Microsoft, Cisco and PricewaterhouseCoopers all offer Twitter feeds in ten or more languages.

Of course, to succeed locally with social media depends on the prominence of your local websites. A consumer is far more likely to follow your Twitter feed in French if they find it on your French language website. Developing global social media strategies and fully SEO’d localized websites should all form part of the same grand globalization plan.

This plan should also factor what social media platforms are popular locally. According to Comscore, Russia is the biggest country for engaging with social media overall, with Yandex the number one platform. Facebook isn’t even in the top ten most popular websites in Russia. And while Brazil is big on Twitter (alongside Indonesia), Orkutclass="blippr-nobr">Orkut rules the roost there as the mainstream go-to social network.

Similar patterns emerge across the world. Just because one social network leads your home market, this may not be the case in your target market.

Putting the “World” in “World Wide Web”

May 2010 saw a major development for the foreign language Internet — something that will make the web itself more localized. ICANN, the Internet regulator, enabled full URLs in non-Latin scripts. This includes the country code, which means that Arabic and Chinese characters can be used in web addresses.

This is another clear sign that the web is becoming less English-centric. Businesses that have thus far tackled only English-speaking markets online — with perhaps German, French or Spanish thrown in to help support their single biggest international markets — must cater to a more diverse user base.

The foreign language Internet is the low-cost gateway to global success. With online populations growing at a frenetic pace in the non-English speaking world, businesses need to plan how they’ll keep up. Consumers and businesses in the fastest growing markets of the world -– online and offline -– want to talk to you in their languages. And their languages are usually anything but English.

More Business Resources from Mashable:

- 5 Tips for Marketing Online to an International Audience/> - 5 Tips for Developing a Global-Friendly Website/> - HOW TO: Build Your International Business Network Online/> - 6 Free Web Tools for Managing Time Differences/> - 15 Mobile Translation Apps for the International Businessperson

Image courtesy of iStockphotoclass="blippr-nobr">iStockphoto, zennie

For more Business coverage:

class="f-el">class="cov-twit">Follow Mashable Businessclass="s-el">class="cov-rss">Subscribe to the Business channelclass="f-el">class="cov-fb">Become a Fan on Facebookclass="s-el">class="cov-apple">Download our free apps for Android, iPhone and iPad

This post is brought to you by Dynadot, sponsor of the Mashable Awards’ “Best Internet Meme” Category. Dynadot is an ICANN accredited domain name registrar and web host. Join Dynadot on Facebook to learn how to enter its I Can Haz iPad Giveaway!

The Mashable Awards, our annual contest highlighting the very best the web has to offer, is entering its final round and we’re announcing the five finalists in the “Best Internet Meme” category supported by Dynadot. They are:

Sad Keanu/>

Bed Intruder/>

FFFFffffuuuuu Guy

Double Rainbow

#FridayReads

/>

You have from now until December 15 to pick your favorite. If you have questions about the Mashable Awards or the list of finalists, please post them to our GetSatisfaction page. Let us know which meme was your favorite: You can vote once per category per day, so get voting!

The Mashable Awards Gala at Cirque du Soleil Zumanity (Vegas)/>

In partnership with Cirque du Soleil, The Mashable Awards Gala event will bring together the winners and nominees, the class='blippr-nobr'>Mashableclass="blippr-nobr">Mashable community, partners, media, the marketing community, consumer electronics and technology brands and attendees from the 2011 International CES Convention to Las Vegas on Thursday, January 6, 2011. Together, we will celebrate the winners and the community of the Mashable Awards at the Cirque du Soleil Zumanity stage in the beautiful New York New York Hotel. The event will include acts and performances from our partner Cirque du Soleil Zumanity. In addition, there will be special guest presenters and appearances.

Date: Thursday, January 6th, 2011 (during International CES Convention week)/> Time: 7:00 – 10:00 pm PT/> Location: Cirque du Soleil Zumanity, New York New York Hotel, Las Vegas/> Agenda: Networking, Open Bars, Acts, Surprises and the Mashable Awards Gala presentations/> Socialize: Facebookclass="blippr-nobr">Facebook, Foursquareclass="blippr-nobr">Foursquare, Meetup, Plancast, Twitterclass="blippr-nobr">Twitter (Hashtag: #MashableAwards)

Mashable Awards Category Sponsor:

Win an iPad!

Join us on Facebook to learn how to enter Dynadot’s I Can Haz iPad Giveaway!

Dynadot is an ICANN accredited domain name registrar and web host where you can register the perfect domain name affordably, reliably, simply and securely. Whether you are a blogger, business owner, or planning on creating the next best class='blippr-nobr'>Internetclass="blippr-nobr">Internet meme you need a domain that represents you. Let Dynadot help you establish your web identity today.

Top image courtesy of class='blippr-nobr'>Flickrclass="blippr-nobr">Flickr, Velo Steve

For more Social Media coverage:

class="f-el">class="cov-twit">Follow Mashable Social Mediaclass="s-el">class="cov-rss">Subscribe to the Social Media channelclass="f-el">class="cov-fb">Become a Fan on Facebookclass="s-el">class="cov-apple">Download our free apps for Android, iPhone and iPad

bench craft company rip off

Movie <b>News</b> Quick Hits: Emma Stone&#39;s &#39;Spider-Man&#39; Look, Annie Nods <b>...</b>

Posted Dec 6th 2010 3:05PM. Filed under: Trailers and Clips, Movie News, Sundance Film Festival, Cinematical. Email This. -- Emma Stone debuted her Spider-Man look for the first time at Trevor Live in Hollywood over the weekend. ...

Congo Siasa: <b>News</b> we missed last week

News I failed to blog on last week: The newly ordained cardinal of Kinshasa, Laurent Monsegwo, arrived in Kinshasa from Rome on Wednesday to huge acclaim. Monsengwo is usually considered to be opposed to Kabila, but rarely takes public ...

This Week in Credit Card <b>News</b> - MoneyBuilder - making sense of <b>...</b>

Provided by LowCards.com More Than Eight Million People Drop Out of Credit Card Use More than eight million consumers stopped using credit cards over the past year, according to a new study by TransUnion. The use of general purpose ...

bench craft company rip off

Movie <b>News</b> Quick Hits: Emma Stone&#39;s &#39;Spider-Man&#39; Look, Annie Nods <b>...</b>

Posted Dec 6th 2010 3:05PM. Filed under: Trailers and Clips, Movie News, Sundance Film Festival, Cinematical. Email This. -- Emma Stone debuted her Spider-Man look for the first time at Trevor Live in Hollywood over the weekend. ...

Congo Siasa: <b>News</b> we missed last week

News I failed to blog on last week: The newly ordained cardinal of Kinshasa, Laurent Monsegwo, arrived in Kinshasa from Rome on Wednesday to huge acclaim. Monsengwo is usually considered to be opposed to Kabila, but rarely takes public ...

This Week in Credit Card <b>News</b> - MoneyBuilder - making sense of <b>...</b>

Provided by LowCards.com More Than Eight Million People Drop Out of Credit Card Use More than eight million consumers stopped using credit cards over the past year, according to a new study by TransUnion. The use of general purpose ...

bench craft company rip off

Movie <b>News</b> Quick Hits: Emma Stone&#39;s &#39;Spider-Man&#39; Look, Annie Nods <b>...</b>

Posted Dec 6th 2010 3:05PM. Filed under: Trailers and Clips, Movie News, Sundance Film Festival, Cinematical. Email This. -- Emma Stone debuted her Spider-Man look for the first time at Trevor Live in Hollywood over the weekend. ...

Congo Siasa: <b>News</b> we missed last week

News I failed to blog on last week: The newly ordained cardinal of Kinshasa, Laurent Monsegwo, arrived in Kinshasa from Rome on Wednesday to huge acclaim. Monsengwo is usually considered to be opposed to Kabila, but rarely takes public ...

This Week in Credit Card <b>News</b> - MoneyBuilder - making sense of <b>...</b>

Provided by LowCards.com More Than Eight Million People Drop Out of Credit Card Use More than eight million consumers stopped using credit cards over the past year, according to a new study by TransUnion. The use of general purpose ...

bench craft company rip off
Película Noticias <b> </ b> Quick Hits: &#39; &#39; s Emma Stone Spider-Man Mira &#39;, Annie Asiente <b> ...</ b> Enviado diciembre sexta 2010 3:05 PM. Filed under: Trailers y clips, películas Noticias, Festival de Cine Sundance, Cinematical. Este correo electrónico. - Emma Stone estrenó su look de Spider-Man por primera vez a Trevor vivo en Hollywood el fin de semana. ...

Congo Siasa: <b> Noticias </ b> que nos perdimos weekNews último que no blog la semana pasada: El recién ordenado cardenal de Kinshasa, Laurent Monsegwo, llegó a Kinshasa desde Roma el miércoles con gran éxito enorme. Monsengwo es generalmente considerado como oposición a Kabila, pero rara vez se toma pública ...

Esta semana en la tarjeta de crédito <b> Noticias </ b> - MoneyBuilder - sentido de lo que <b> Siempre ...</ b> por LowCards.com más de ocho millones de personas abandonan la tarjeta de crédito utilizar Más de ocho millones de consumidores dejaron de usar las tarjetas de crédito durante el año pasado, según un nuevo estudio de TransUnion. El uso de propósito general ...


bench craft company rip off

Movie <b>News</b> Quick Hits: Emma Stone&#39;s &#39;Spider-Man&#39; Look, Annie Nods <b>...</b>

Posted Dec 6th 2010 3:05PM. Filed under: Trailers and Clips, Movie News, Sundance Film Festival, Cinematical. Email This. -- Emma Stone debuted her Spider-Man look for the first time at Trevor Live in Hollywood over the weekend. ...

Congo Siasa: <b>News</b> we missed last week

News I failed to blog on last week: The newly ordained cardinal of Kinshasa, Laurent Monsegwo, arrived in Kinshasa from Rome on Wednesday to huge acclaim. Monsengwo is usually considered to be opposed to Kabila, but rarely takes public ...

This Week in Credit Card <b>News</b> - MoneyBuilder - making sense of <b>...</b>

Provided by LowCards.com More Than Eight Million People Drop Out of Credit Card Use More than eight million consumers stopped using credit cards over the past year, according to a new study by TransUnion. The use of general purpose ...

bench craft company rip off

Christian Arno is founder of Lingo24, a global translation company specializing in website localization and optimization. Christian has more than nine years experience working with some of the world’s biggest global brands. Additional research and writing by Paul Sawers from Lingo24.

All signs point toward an increasingly multilingual future for the web. It’s estimated that over a billion people will be using PCs in the so-called BRIC countries alone by 2015, and the opportunity is even greater when you factor more people accessing the web using mobile devices than computers in many emerging markets. It’s time businesses of all sizes embraced the foreign language class='blippr-nobr'>Internetclass="blippr-nobr">Internet.

Foreign Languages on the Web

A truly global web must represent the languages of its users. And with growth in usage of the web in foreign languages outstripping English, businesses are playing catch-up with their potential customers. They’re rapidly trying to get as multi-lingual and diverse as their current and prospective client base.

In the last ten years, the use of Arabic online has increased by over 2500%, while Chinese and Spanish rose twelve and seven-fold respectively. And English? It didn’t even triple.

Today, 42% of all Internet users are in Asia, while almost a quarter are in Europe and just over 10% are in Latin America. These stats shouldn’t sway businesses towards targeting one region over another, though — Latin American countries account for over 200 million people on the web.

However, the vast majority of all online searches are in a language other than English. English is losing its online market share rapidly, which is no bad thing for businesses that recognize and embrace the opportunities on the foreign language Internet.

Optimizing the Non-English Web

The rise of the foreign language Internet doesn’t change the fact English leads the world in terms of volume and depth of content. Whether your industry is car insurance, web design or musical instruments, achieving top rankings for your English-language website for lucrative search terms is getting ever more difficult. The English-language web is saturated and competition for key search terms is tough, which makes increasing your online visibility tough too.

Conversely, the saturation of key search terms on non-English language websites hasn’t reached anywhere near the level of the English-language web. This means that businesses can attain high — and lucrative — positions on search engines far easier on the foreign language Internet.

This also means that it costs less for businesses to achieve prominence on the foreign language web. So the return on your internet marketing investment in Brazil, Russia, India, China — whatever your target market — should be greater than in English-speaking markets.

And the successful web marketer’s advantage when tackling the foreign language Internet is that you already know the essentials to achieve prominence online. You’ve proved this in the web’s toughest language market: English.

Chitika Research found that the difference between first and second place on Googleclass="blippr-nobr">Google is significant. In fact, a number one spot on Google attracts nearly double the traffic as the number two spot, and about the same amount of traffic as the second through fifth spots combined. For marketers, you’re several times more likely to hit top spot if you escape English-language levels of competition and target almost any other language market.

Going Local

Doesn’t everyone speak English? Although many non-natives of English do, studies have shown consumers are up to five times more likely to buy from a website with content in their native language.

It stands to reason that consumers would rather search for products and services in their own language. Even if a consumer does speak English as a second language, a report by Common Sense Advisory found that 85% of online shoppers required information in their own language before parting with their hard-earned cash.

So to really make the most of the foreign language Internet, you need search engine optimized localization — a hybrid somewhere between what an Internet marketing company and a translation service provider might offer.

Localization involves addressing the cultural and linguistic needs of each of your target countries. When it comes to search, this includes addressing different local search habits. It’s more complicated than simply translating the search terms that work for you in English. In Italy, for example, one of the top terms for low cost airlines is actually half English, half Italian (“voli low cost”). As British and Irish airlines pioneered low cost travel in Europe, it seems their language infiltrated the Italian psyche and made this hybrid term lucrative. Brands really need local knowledge if they’re to take advantage of commercial opportunities like this.

A 2007 paper by the Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA) reported that $25 dollars was returned for every $1 invested in localization. And with e-commerce set to grow by over 10% (CAGR) in Western Europe alone over the next five years, and much faster in so-called emerging markets, businesses should be gearing up for the surge in Internet spending.

Search and Social

Google’s search algorithm uses many aspects of online activity to determine how highly a website is ranked for a given term. Social media is becoming an increasingly important factor. What does this mean for the multi-lingual digital marketer?

The number of tweets a piece of your content receives and the reputation of those tweeters is important. The same goes for “Likes” on Facebookclass="blippr-nobr">Facebook or “Diggs” on Diggclass="blippr-nobr">Digg. From a foreign language perspective, increased use of social media around the world creates another opportunity to communicate with customers and a way to improve search rankings at the same time.

According to comScore, Latin American tweets are up over 300% between June 2009 and June 2010, followed by 243% in the Asia Pacific region, 142% in the Middle East and Africa, and 106% in Europe. By comparison, North America only increased by 22%.

So the “rest of the world” is actually leading the Twitterclass="blippr-nobr">Twitter revolution. Big, global companies have already taken action. Sony supports twenty international Twitter feeds, while Microsoft, Cisco and PricewaterhouseCoopers all offer Twitter feeds in ten or more languages.

Of course, to succeed locally with social media depends on the prominence of your local websites. A consumer is far more likely to follow your Twitter feed in French if they find it on your French language website. Developing global social media strategies and fully SEO’d localized websites should all form part of the same grand globalization plan.

This plan should also factor what social media platforms are popular locally. According to Comscore, Russia is the biggest country for engaging with social media overall, with Yandex the number one platform. Facebook isn’t even in the top ten most popular websites in Russia. And while Brazil is big on Twitter (alongside Indonesia), Orkutclass="blippr-nobr">Orkut rules the roost there as the mainstream go-to social network.

Similar patterns emerge across the world. Just because one social network leads your home market, this may not be the case in your target market.

Putting the “World” in “World Wide Web”

May 2010 saw a major development for the foreign language Internet — something that will make the web itself more localized. ICANN, the Internet regulator, enabled full URLs in non-Latin scripts. This includes the country code, which means that Arabic and Chinese characters can be used in web addresses.

This is another clear sign that the web is becoming less English-centric. Businesses that have thus far tackled only English-speaking markets online — with perhaps German, French or Spanish thrown in to help support their single biggest international markets — must cater to a more diverse user base.

The foreign language Internet is the low-cost gateway to global success. With online populations growing at a frenetic pace in the non-English speaking world, businesses need to plan how they’ll keep up. Consumers and businesses in the fastest growing markets of the world -– online and offline -– want to talk to you in their languages. And their languages are usually anything but English.

More Business Resources from Mashable:

- 5 Tips for Marketing Online to an International Audience/> - 5 Tips for Developing a Global-Friendly Website/> - HOW TO: Build Your International Business Network Online/> - 6 Free Web Tools for Managing Time Differences/> - 15 Mobile Translation Apps for the International Businessperson

Image courtesy of iStockphotoclass="blippr-nobr">iStockphoto, zennie

For more Business coverage:

class="f-el">class="cov-twit">Follow Mashable Businessclass="s-el">class="cov-rss">Subscribe to the Business channelclass="f-el">class="cov-fb">Become a Fan on Facebookclass="s-el">class="cov-apple">Download our free apps for Android, iPhone and iPad

This post is brought to you by Dynadot, sponsor of the Mashable Awards’ “Best Internet Meme” Category. Dynadot is an ICANN accredited domain name registrar and web host. Join Dynadot on Facebook to learn how to enter its I Can Haz iPad Giveaway!

The Mashable Awards, our annual contest highlighting the very best the web has to offer, is entering its final round and we’re announcing the five finalists in the “Best Internet Meme” category supported by Dynadot. They are:

Sad Keanu/>

Bed Intruder/>

FFFFffffuuuuu Guy

Double Rainbow

#FridayReads

/>

You have from now until December 15 to pick your favorite. If you have questions about the Mashable Awards or the list of finalists, please post them to our GetSatisfaction page. Let us know which meme was your favorite: You can vote once per category per day, so get voting!

The Mashable Awards Gala at Cirque du Soleil Zumanity (Vegas)/>

In partnership with Cirque du Soleil, The Mashable Awards Gala event will bring together the winners and nominees, the class='blippr-nobr'>Mashableclass="blippr-nobr">Mashable community, partners, media, the marketing community, consumer electronics and technology brands and attendees from the 2011 International CES Convention to Las Vegas on Thursday, January 6, 2011. Together, we will celebrate the winners and the community of the Mashable Awards at the Cirque du Soleil Zumanity stage in the beautiful New York New York Hotel. The event will include acts and performances from our partner Cirque du Soleil Zumanity. In addition, there will be special guest presenters and appearances.

Date: Thursday, January 6th, 2011 (during International CES Convention week)/> Time: 7:00 – 10:00 pm PT/> Location: Cirque du Soleil Zumanity, New York New York Hotel, Las Vegas/> Agenda: Networking, Open Bars, Acts, Surprises and the Mashable Awards Gala presentations/> Socialize: Facebookclass="blippr-nobr">Facebook, Foursquareclass="blippr-nobr">Foursquare, Meetup, Plancast, Twitterclass="blippr-nobr">Twitter (Hashtag: #MashableAwards)

Mashable Awards Category Sponsor:

Win an iPad!

Join us on Facebook to learn how to enter Dynadot’s I Can Haz iPad Giveaway!

Dynadot is an ICANN accredited domain name registrar and web host where you can register the perfect domain name affordably, reliably, simply and securely. Whether you are a blogger, business owner, or planning on creating the next best class='blippr-nobr'>Internetclass="blippr-nobr">Internet meme you need a domain that represents you. Let Dynadot help you establish your web identity today.

Top image courtesy of class='blippr-nobr'>Flickrclass="blippr-nobr">Flickr, Velo Steve

For more Social Media coverage:

class="f-el">class="cov-twit">Follow Mashable Social Mediaclass="s-el">class="cov-rss">Subscribe to the Social Media channelclass="f-el">class="cov-fb">Become a Fan on Facebookclass="s-el">class="cov-apple">Download our free apps for Android, iPhone and iPad

bench craft company rip off

Movie <b>News</b> Quick Hits: Emma Stone&#39;s &#39;Spider-Man&#39; Look, Annie Nods <b>...</b>

Posted Dec 6th 2010 3:05PM. Filed under: Trailers and Clips, Movie News, Sundance Film Festival, Cinematical. Email This. -- Emma Stone debuted her Spider-Man look for the first time at Trevor Live in Hollywood over the weekend. ...

Congo Siasa: <b>News</b> we missed last week

News I failed to blog on last week: The newly ordained cardinal of Kinshasa, Laurent Monsegwo, arrived in Kinshasa from Rome on Wednesday to huge acclaim. Monsengwo is usually considered to be opposed to Kabila, but rarely takes public ...

This Week in Credit Card <b>News</b> - MoneyBuilder - making sense of <b>...</b>

Provided by LowCards.com More Than Eight Million People Drop Out of Credit Card Use More than eight million consumers stopped using credit cards over the past year, according to a new study by TransUnion. The use of general purpose ...

bench craft company rip off

Movie <b>News</b> Quick Hits: Emma Stone&#39;s &#39;Spider-Man&#39; Look, Annie Nods <b>...</b>

Posted Dec 6th 2010 3:05PM. Filed under: Trailers and Clips, Movie News, Sundance Film Festival, Cinematical. Email This. -- Emma Stone debuted her Spider-Man look for the first time at Trevor Live in Hollywood over the weekend. ...

Congo Siasa: <b>News</b> we missed last week

News I failed to blog on last week: The newly ordained cardinal of Kinshasa, Laurent Monsegwo, arrived in Kinshasa from Rome on Wednesday to huge acclaim. Monsengwo is usually considered to be opposed to Kabila, but rarely takes public ...

This Week in Credit Card <b>News</b> - MoneyBuilder - making sense of <b>...</b>

Provided by LowCards.com More Than Eight Million People Drop Out of Credit Card Use More than eight million consumers stopped using credit cards over the past year, according to a new study by TransUnion. The use of general purpose ...

bench craft company rip off

Movie <b>News</b> Quick Hits: Emma Stone&#39;s &#39;Spider-Man&#39; Look, Annie Nods <b>...</b>

Posted Dec 6th 2010 3:05PM. Filed under: Trailers and Clips, Movie News, Sundance Film Festival, Cinematical. Email This. -- Emma Stone debuted her Spider-Man look for the first time at Trevor Live in Hollywood over the weekend. ...

Congo Siasa: <b>News</b> we missed last week

News I failed to blog on last week: The newly ordained cardinal of Kinshasa, Laurent Monsegwo, arrived in Kinshasa from Rome on Wednesday to huge acclaim. Monsengwo is usually considered to be opposed to Kabila, but rarely takes public ...

This Week in Credit Card <b>News</b> - MoneyBuilder - making sense of <b>...</b>

Provided by LowCards.com More Than Eight Million People Drop Out of Credit Card Use More than eight million consumers stopped using credit cards over the past year, according to a new study by TransUnion. The use of general purpose ...

bench craft company rip off

Movie <b>News</b> Quick Hits: Emma Stone&#39;s &#39;Spider-Man&#39; Look, Annie Nods <b>...</b>

Posted Dec 6th 2010 3:05PM. Filed under: Trailers and Clips, Movie News, Sundance Film Festival, Cinematical. Email This. -- Emma Stone debuted her Spider-Man look for the first time at Trevor Live in Hollywood over the weekend. ...

Congo Siasa: <b>News</b> we missed last week

News I failed to blog on last week: The newly ordained cardinal of Kinshasa, Laurent Monsegwo, arrived in Kinshasa from Rome on Wednesday to huge acclaim. Monsengwo is usually considered to be opposed to Kabila, but rarely takes public ...

This Week in Credit Card <b>News</b> - MoneyBuilder - making sense of <b>...</b>

Provided by LowCards.com More Than Eight Million People Drop Out of Credit Card Use More than eight million consumers stopped using credit cards over the past year, according to a new study by TransUnion. The use of general purpose ...

bench craft company rip off

Movie <b>News</b> Quick Hits: Emma Stone&#39;s &#39;Spider-Man&#39; Look, Annie Nods <b>...</b>

Posted Dec 6th 2010 3:05PM. Filed under: Trailers and Clips, Movie News, Sundance Film Festival, Cinematical. Email This. -- Emma Stone debuted her Spider-Man look for the first time at Trevor Live in Hollywood over the weekend. ...

Congo Siasa: <b>News</b> we missed last week

News I failed to blog on last week: The newly ordained cardinal of Kinshasa, Laurent Monsegwo, arrived in Kinshasa from Rome on Wednesday to huge acclaim. Monsengwo is usually considered to be opposed to Kabila, but rarely takes public ...

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Christian Arno is founder of Lingo24, a global translation company specializing in website localization and optimization. Christian has more than nine years experience working with some of the world’s biggest global brands. Additional research and writing by Paul Sawers from Lingo24.

All signs point toward an increasingly multilingual future for the web. It’s estimated that over a billion people will be using PCs in the so-called BRIC countries alone by 2015, and the opportunity is even greater when you factor more people accessing the web using mobile devices than computers in many emerging markets. It’s time businesses of all sizes embraced the foreign language class='blippr-nobr'>Internetclass="blippr-nobr">Internet.

Foreign Languages on the Web

A truly global web must represent the languages of its users. And with growth in usage of the web in foreign languages outstripping English, businesses are playing catch-up with their potential customers. They’re rapidly trying to get as multi-lingual and diverse as their current and prospective client base.

In the last ten years, the use of Arabic online has increased by over 2500%, while Chinese and Spanish rose twelve and seven-fold respectively. And English? It didn’t even triple.

Today, 42% of all Internet users are in Asia, while almost a quarter are in Europe and just over 10% are in Latin America. These stats shouldn’t sway businesses towards targeting one region over another, though — Latin American countries account for over 200 million people on the web.

However, the vast majority of all online searches are in a language other than English. English is losing its online market share rapidly, which is no bad thing for businesses that recognize and embrace the opportunities on the foreign language Internet.

Optimizing the Non-English Web

The rise of the foreign language Internet doesn’t change the fact English leads the world in terms of volume and depth of content. Whether your industry is car insurance, web design or musical instruments, achieving top rankings for your English-language website for lucrative search terms is getting ever more difficult. The English-language web is saturated and competition for key search terms is tough, which makes increasing your online visibility tough too.

Conversely, the saturation of key search terms on non-English language websites hasn’t reached anywhere near the level of the English-language web. This means that businesses can attain high — and lucrative — positions on search engines far easier on the foreign language Internet.

This also means that it costs less for businesses to achieve prominence on the foreign language web. So the return on your internet marketing investment in Brazil, Russia, India, China — whatever your target market — should be greater than in English-speaking markets.

And the successful web marketer’s advantage when tackling the foreign language Internet is that you already know the essentials to achieve prominence online. You’ve proved this in the web’s toughest language market: English.

Chitika Research found that the difference between first and second place on Googleclass="blippr-nobr">Google is significant. In fact, a number one spot on Google attracts nearly double the traffic as the number two spot, and about the same amount of traffic as the second through fifth spots combined. For marketers, you’re several times more likely to hit top spot if you escape English-language levels of competition and target almost any other language market.

Going Local

Doesn’t everyone speak English? Although many non-natives of English do, studies have shown consumers are up to five times more likely to buy from a website with content in their native language.

It stands to reason that consumers would rather search for products and services in their own language. Even if a consumer does speak English as a second language, a report by Common Sense Advisory found that 85% of online shoppers required information in their own language before parting with their hard-earned cash.

So to really make the most of the foreign language Internet, you need search engine optimized localization — a hybrid somewhere between what an Internet marketing company and a translation service provider might offer.

Localization involves addressing the cultural and linguistic needs of each of your target countries. When it comes to search, this includes addressing different local search habits. It’s more complicated than simply translating the search terms that work for you in English. In Italy, for example, one of the top terms for low cost airlines is actually half English, half Italian (“voli low cost”). As British and Irish airlines pioneered low cost travel in Europe, it seems their language infiltrated the Italian psyche and made this hybrid term lucrative. Brands really need local knowledge if they’re to take advantage of commercial opportunities like this.

A 2007 paper by the Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA) reported that $25 dollars was returned for every $1 invested in localization. And with e-commerce set to grow by over 10% (CAGR) in Western Europe alone over the next five years, and much faster in so-called emerging markets, businesses should be gearing up for the surge in Internet spending.

Search and Social

Google’s search algorithm uses many aspects of online activity to determine how highly a website is ranked for a given term. Social media is becoming an increasingly important factor. What does this mean for the multi-lingual digital marketer?

The number of tweets a piece of your content receives and the reputation of those tweeters is important. The same goes for “Likes” on Facebookclass="blippr-nobr">Facebook or “Diggs” on Diggclass="blippr-nobr">Digg. From a foreign language perspective, increased use of social media around the world creates another opportunity to communicate with customers and a way to improve search rankings at the same time.

According to comScore, Latin American tweets are up over 300% between June 2009 and June 2010, followed by 243% in the Asia Pacific region, 142% in the Middle East and Africa, and 106% in Europe. By comparison, North America only increased by 22%.

So the “rest of the world” is actually leading the Twitterclass="blippr-nobr">Twitter revolution. Big, global companies have already taken action. Sony supports twenty international Twitter feeds, while Microsoft, Cisco and PricewaterhouseCoopers all offer Twitter feeds in ten or more languages.

Of course, to succeed locally with social media depends on the prominence of your local websites. A consumer is far more likely to follow your Twitter feed in French if they find it on your French language website. Developing global social media strategies and fully SEO’d localized websites should all form part of the same grand globalization plan.

This plan should also factor what social media platforms are popular locally. According to Comscore, Russia is the biggest country for engaging with social media overall, with Yandex the number one platform. Facebook isn’t even in the top ten most popular websites in Russia. And while Brazil is big on Twitter (alongside Indonesia), Orkutclass="blippr-nobr">Orkut rules the roost there as the mainstream go-to social network.

Similar patterns emerge across the world. Just because one social network leads your home market, this may not be the case in your target market.

Putting the “World” in “World Wide Web”

May 2010 saw a major development for the foreign language Internet — something that will make the web itself more localized. ICANN, the Internet regulator, enabled full URLs in non-Latin scripts. This includes the country code, which means that Arabic and Chinese characters can be used in web addresses.

This is another clear sign that the web is becoming less English-centric. Businesses that have thus far tackled only English-speaking markets online — with perhaps German, French or Spanish thrown in to help support their single biggest international markets — must cater to a more diverse user base.

The foreign language Internet is the low-cost gateway to global success. With online populations growing at a frenetic pace in the non-English speaking world, businesses need to plan how they’ll keep up. Consumers and businesses in the fastest growing markets of the world -– online and offline -– want to talk to you in their languages. And their languages are usually anything but English.

More Business Resources from Mashable:

- 5 Tips for Marketing Online to an International Audience/> - 5 Tips for Developing a Global-Friendly Website/> - HOW TO: Build Your International Business Network Online/> - 6 Free Web Tools for Managing Time Differences/> - 15 Mobile Translation Apps for the International Businessperson

Image courtesy of iStockphotoclass="blippr-nobr">iStockphoto, zennie

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This post is brought to you by Dynadot, sponsor of the Mashable Awards’ “Best Internet Meme” Category. Dynadot is an ICANN accredited domain name registrar and web host. Join Dynadot on Facebook to learn how to enter its I Can Haz iPad Giveaway!

The Mashable Awards, our annual contest highlighting the very best the web has to offer, is entering its final round and we’re announcing the five finalists in the “Best Internet Meme” category supported by Dynadot. They are:

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The Mashable Awards Gala at Cirque du Soleil Zumanity (Vegas)/>

In partnership with Cirque du Soleil, The Mashable Awards Gala event will bring together the winners and nominees, the class='blippr-nobr'>Mashableclass="blippr-nobr">Mashable community, partners, media, the marketing community, consumer electronics and technology brands and attendees from the 2011 International CES Convention to Las Vegas on Thursday, January 6, 2011. Together, we will celebrate the winners and the community of the Mashable Awards at the Cirque du Soleil Zumanity stage in the beautiful New York New York Hotel. The event will include acts and performances from our partner Cirque du Soleil Zumanity. In addition, there will be special guest presenters and appearances.

Date: Thursday, January 6th, 2011 (during International CES Convention week)/> Time: 7:00 – 10:00 pm PT/> Location: Cirque du Soleil Zumanity, New York New York Hotel, Las Vegas/> Agenda: Networking, Open Bars, Acts, Surprises and the Mashable Awards Gala presentations/> Socialize: Facebookclass="blippr-nobr">Facebook, Foursquareclass="blippr-nobr">Foursquare, Meetup, Plancast, Twitterclass="blippr-nobr">Twitter (Hashtag: #MashableAwards)

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