It is widely assumed that English is the lingua franca of the internet and that there is therefore no need to use any other language in the various forms of online advertising. However, although the majority of websites are written in English, over half of all Google searches are in languages other than English. Research has further shown that customers are four times more likely to buy from a website written in their own language. Such figures demonstrate the significance of localization in online marketing.

Whilst it may seem like an unnecessary expense to produce foreign language versions of your website, it’s actually relatively simple and cost-effective to do so. And it can give you instant access to a target audience consisting of many millions of people across the globe. As far as return on investment (ROI) goes, website translation is certainly among the most cost-effective methods of online marketing.

Having all your promotional material – including banner ads, display ads and e-brochures – available in the native language of the market you are targeting immediately makes your business favorable to local customers, giving you an advantage over companies that insist in working in English only.

The logic behind this is quite simple. Contrary to the notion of English as a global language, some three quarters of the world’s population have no working knowledge of English; 49% of EU citizens likewise do not speak English. This means there is a huge market to tap into, which only requires the small expense of advertising your services in the appropriate languages.

Which languages you work in naturally depends on which markets you intend to target, a decision based on the nature of your business and where you feel there is a gap in the market which your business can exploit. But consider that if your business were targeting a sector of the South American market, having your website available in Spanish opens your business up to a potential 350 million native speakers around the world; expanding further into the burgeoning Brazilian economy and a Portuguese website opens up an extra 200 million speakers. Of course, many of these speakers may have no interest in your business, but it indicates just how large foreign markets are beyond the limitations of working only in English.

Of course, it also pays to be wary of the linguistic differences that exist between, say, the Spanish in Spain and the Spanish in many Latin American countries. For example, the word carro in Spain is a cart that you push or pull to transport things, whereas in Latin America it is an actual car that you can drive around in. A car in Spain is a coche, whereas a coche in Latin America is a baby stroller.

Similarly, dejeuner is ‘lunch’ in France, but ‘breakfast’ in French-speaking Switzerland and Belgium. And whilst France often import Anglicisms directly into their language, French-speaking Canada tend to translate the English terms directly: e.g. ‘Weekend’ is le weekend in France, but fin de semaine in Canada (literally: ‘end of the week).

There are many dialectal differences within languages that help to highlight the importance of adopting a fully localized marketing strategy.

The use of language therefore becomes a major part of any marketing strategy. It makes markets much more accessible, and the appeal of your advertising much more immediate; it may even direct you into markets you had not previously considered. Most importantly, working in a country’s language helps you understand its market, making you able to direct your marketing strategy appropriately.

The world’s most spoken languages are used in the world’s biggest developing economies: Brazil (and other South American countries if they are able to follow Brazil’s lead), India, and China. A company cannot expect to break into these markets using English alone. The most straightforward route into these markets in the twenty-first century is through the internet: doing so in the country’s native language(s) will bring financial benefits that the use of English only, may prevent.

About the author
Christian Arno is founder and Managing Director of Lingo24, a global translation services provider that specializes in website localization.

WordPress is an Open Source Blog Package.  I write about it occasionally, but really should more often.  I spend a lot of time playing with WordPress, customizing it, setting it up, etc.

One challenge is always to find good Free WordPress Themes.

WordPress Themes are a package of templates, images and style sheets that you upload to a specific folder and unzip.  Then you can activate it and customize it via the admin interface of WordPress.

So via Twitter I found this Free WordPress Theme called Apollo today – please note that I have not installed it yet, but is looks very clean and nice.  I am looking forward to giving it a try.  Go look at all the great layouts and they even provide a bunch of generic logos.

I have paid for good themes in the past.  I do not mind doing that, but with more and more quality free themes coming out, the days of paying for a theme seem numbered.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

This is not a book review of Twilight by Stephanie Meyers.

Last week I spent the entire week at a music festival.  I will leave it unnamed because overall I did like the event and intend to go next year again.

However, it was run by a bunch of music people, and it really needed a professional event coordinator to help with the big picture.  Here is the mistakes they made that you should not make if you are doing an event.

1. Big Breaks – They scheduled big breaks in time, which were fine for the people staying in the hotel, but a nightmare for our family because we were an hour’s drive away, so it was better just to sit around and kill 3 or 4 hours.
2. Too Much Information- I really needed one schedule that was specific to my needs.  Instead, there was too much information that left me confused.  I signed up for things I should not have, and missed other things because they were buried in blocks of text.
3. Expensive Add-ons – It was not a cheap event, and to take a family of four to all the extras would have doubled the price.  I felt like I missed half the festival by not being willing to pay for all the extra stuff.
4. Treat first time people differently – Clearly, the people that had done it before knew what was going on, knew each other and had a better time.  I talked to a lot of first-time people that were frustrated and not planning on coming back.  You really need to make sure your new people are taken care of so they will return.
5. Website – Similar to#1, the combination of too much information on the website and too much information in various emails only made it confusing.  One new person said he combined three different emails into one spreadsheet for himself, only to arrive and find everything had been changed.
6. The whole thing is a performance – There was a lot of complaining in the halls and general frustration on the part of some of the staff (all great people.)  You have to let the staff and volunteers know that from the first person arriving to the last person leaving, it is a performance.  Think Disney without the mouse.
7. Lack of community – People complained that they were having trouble making connections and having their kids meet other kids.  One person said that he attended another festival that was magical. The other one had ice cream socials and a better commons area where people really got to know each other.

If you cannot do it, hire an event planner. 

While a meeting planner may have added $1,000′s to the cost, it would have made it more likely that they would have more repeat business the next year.  Plus, if people are impressed and buzzing, they are more likely to tell their friends.  If an event plannercan make those happen, it is going to really impact your long term success.

I love coffee.  I drink 1-2 pots per day.  (My wife has 2 or so cups of the two pots, even though I tell her not not touch it.)

There are those occasional days that I drink too much and the coffee starts to taste bad.  No matter how much I love coffee, there is a point where I’d rather drink water to clean the palate.

It is no wonder that we are all so immune to marketing hype as well.  I get a lot of newsletters, read a lot of blogs and talk to a lot of people.   Opening an email and seeing “Ready to make millions?” or “Think of it as 1,000 miles per gallon.” creates a very tire, annoyed reaction.

If you want to be 100% sure that I delete your email without reading beyond the first sentence, start out with some hype.  I maxed out on hype years ago and I would rather eat dirt than read hype now.

And don’t invite me to waste an hour of my life in your sales pitch/webinar.  I might come if you are giving away the farm, but if you are just selling me something, keep it to a decision I can make without wasting more than 30 seconds.

I cringe at hype.  I know the sales cycle.  Let’s just cut to the chase and get on with life.  You either have something that will make my life MUCH easier, or you do not.

The funny thing is that most of us like to buy things.  But we do not like to buy everything and we hate to be SOLD.

Do you want me to read your email?

Start out like this in a text only email:

Hi Ron,

I read your blog regularly and get a lot of value from it.  I have something that I am certain will interest you (or your readers.)

Since you read my blog, it really might be true and I have to read your email.  Probably twice, because it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

If you are still trying to force people to drink their 50th cut of hype for the day, maybe it is time to become a human being and appeal to them by showing them you care.

PS:  Buy My EBook and Get Richer Than Warren Buffet

I like what they are doing over there at Buzz Canuck.  A good example is the interview with Mabel’s Labels.  Tricia details the strange chain of events that lead to big sales and great word of mouth.

The uncomfortable truth about the buzz you have tonight is that it could lead to a headache in the morning.

I was just reviewing projects on a freelance job site and I was shocked at how many people are "Buying" unethical buzz.  You know, I will pay you one dollar per review to write great reviews about my restaurant on www.yelp.com – Not cool, man.

So if we cannot really trust these sites, what can we do to build trust?  People are only going to refer you if they understand you, appreciate what you are doing and have some trust that you will do what you say you will do.

The uncomfortable truth is that you have to invest in building solid visibility with a great foundation that cannot be faked.  Sure, you can get a lot of quick traffic from quick things, but if the traffic does not trust you, they will probably not do much in the end for you.

So how do you build a solid foundation that will help people trust you?

1. Blog – I know, I know….I am always suggesting a blog.  Look, if I told you to build a website, it would seem silly.  Everyone already has a website, right?  Blogs will be that common, and we are already seeing that many new businesses just start out with a blog and skip the whole website thing.

So how does a blog build trust?  Look at mine – 900+ articles.  All but a couple written by me.  (We have had some guest posts)  Sure, I could pay a writer to do it for me, and that would be fine as long as I am truly committed to putting out great information on my topic.  Trust me, at times I wish I could blame someone else for the writing.  The point is, even with my flaws I have built a trusted resource.

Does a blog work for a restaurant?  Sure.  There are all kinds of ways to create a real community around a blog/restaurant combo.

2. eNewsletter – When I started doing eNewsletters years ago we were blinded by the term Newsletter.  Don’t send people your news.  Send them special announcements that might be of value to them and send them great information they can use.  My autoresponder course runs with no effort on my part via aWeber and continues to generate clients every month.

3. Speak – Love it or hate it, even if you are speaking to a small local group, the very act of speaking puts gives you expert status (and trust) with the audience.

4. Social Networks – One way to participate in these communities is to set up an account, SPAM it and forget it.  The better (and harder but of higher value) way is to create an account, be clear and honest about who you are and use it actively to help people and occasionally promote yourself in a useful way.  You can become a trusted member of the community, but it takes time.

5. Blog commenting – by commenting on a blog with a quality, interesting comment you become a trusted member of the bloggers readership.  This can win you special recognition when they mention you or when other people click on your link and visit your site via the comment.  Just tell the truth about who you are and link back to a great resource for building additional trust (probably your blog.)

There are of course more ways to build and destroy trust.  These are fiv e that work well for me. 

Use the comments and let me know how you build trust with your audience.

The idea that you can contact someone and they will drop everything they are doing to talk to you, write about you or even promote you it not a very realistic goal.

Lets try it.  – Stop reading and promote me to all your friends and family for the next 30 minutes – go ahead – just start calling and emailing….

I will wait….

See, you kept reading instead, didn’t you?

Yet when we start promoting and creating buzz, that is exactly what we hope for.  I sent you an email, why haven’t you blogged about me yet?

The best you can hope for is often to get on someone’s to do list.

That is not as bad as it sounds – we all want repeat exposure, and if someone keeps rewriting your name on the to do list and moving it forward each day or two, it is better than an advertisement.

Here are some tips to stay on someone’s to do list until they finally act.

• Make your request easily actionable (Something they need to do)
• Repeated contacts, but not too frequently.
• Make the person feel appreciated – SuTree made me an expert.
• Have a clear benefit stated.
• Make your request difficult to decline. 
• Assume you are on the to do list of a busy person.  It is not a NO until they say no.
• Follow up after a yes. 

My to do list is always full of technologies to check out, books to review, etc.  I say yes, but the people that keep communicating with me rise to the top while others may never get addressed and may fall off the list eventually.  If you think about the dynamic of the to do list, you will change the way you interact with people.

Buzz is about value.  The value may be in the story itself, such as a very unique and remarkable story that provides information.  But often it is in the value that you product or service provides someone else.

Years ago we sold very good CMS software for website management.  The software was fair priced and had lots of great features.

So why didn’t customers always get great value from our system?  Because the value they needed was web marketing, not just a software package.  They needed to be able to understand how to do, and often they needed someone else to help them do the activities.  Buzzoodle was founded to address those issues and provide more value – regardless of the software a person uses.

That is not an easy process.  Can you look at your products and ask yourself if you are providing the value they want?  It does not matter if you product is good if it does not deliever on your customer’s needs and expectations.

So here are some questions that can help you identify gaps in your value:

1. Do customers rave about our product after purchase?
2. Do nearly all customers use and benefit from the product or service when they buy?
3. Does our product or service provide more time, more securtiy and a better lifestyle for our clients?
4. What % of customers tell their friends about us?
5. Do customers end up needing additional (unexpected) services and incur unexpected charges to finally realize the expected benefits?
6. Do we simplify the adoption of our product or service so that clients employees look forward to the change?

What other questions can you think of?  Add them in the comments if you have a good one.

Fast Company published an interesting article looking at Duncan Watts assertion that the theories in the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell are false.

The Tipping Point is a popular book that refers to how a small group of people are influential and can create trends.

Duncan makes some interesting points that I agree with in the Fast Company article.  In fact, while I respect the idea of influentials, we have always based Buzzoodle on the desire to create steady buzz, knowing that any given connection has a statistical chance of creating no buzz, some buzz or a great deal of buzz.  Those odds depend on the message, the audience, the product – and after reading this article, it obviously depends on the general social readiness to accept a new trend or idea.

I believe that you have to respect and try to get the attention of the big inluencers, but you will create a lot more success by paying attention to the wealth of people that rarely get attention but do have audiences in the 100′s or 1,000′s.

But remember, it still does not hurt to get your book on Oprah.

Updated 1/28/2008:  Guy Kawasaki discussses this article as well on his blog.