Tapping into the foreign-language Internet

Written by: Phillip Nones

If your business sells products or services internationally, one MarComm tactic you may not have focused on is the foreign-language Internet.

And you wouldn’t be alone. Many firms overlook this, leaving potential sales dollars on the table in the process.

Why? Due to lower competition for keywords and domain names – and less published content overall – the multilingual web offers lucrative opportunities for companies to increase their search engine visibility and bolster sales in overseas markets.

Here are a few facts that underlie the positive dynamics of foreign-language Internet strategies:

Only about a quarter of all Internet users are located in North America. More than 40% are in Asia … 25% are in Europe … and 10% are in Latin America.
The English language accounts for about 30% of all online use.
More than half of all web searches are in done in languages other than English.

Companies savvy enough to tap into this opportunity can experience great results from their foreign-language web presence. But it’s important to develop these websites efficiently, using techniques that avoid having to build each one from scratch.