I have noticed some rather strange localization offers on the web recently, various companies promoting ‘ instant global websites‘ , ‘windows on the world’ – all on the cheap, of course. Is this a new phenomenon or just something I had not spotted before? (I would welcome any sane input on this.)

To quote one example from many: “Now for less than $5,000 US, you can have close to 90% of the world’s web visitors find you when they search for your keywords in their native language. The Window to the World page will then lead them to the rest of your website.”

Is your response to this ‘wonderful offer’:

a) Sign me up, baby! Boy, now the whole world will be beating a digital path to my super acme, organic, recyclable and humane mousetrap website!

b) What exactly do I get for my $5k again? Web-page translation, optimization, local keyword research by country, by search engine – all that for $5K?

c) Snakeoil, charlatan, bull, rollocks etc.

I’m sure that companies promoting these offers are all honourable and only trying to offer a service which fits a certain price point. However, it does have the odour of the Nigerian Lottery or the bank login confirmation spam. There is a school of thought that anyone gullible and/or greedy enough to be taken in by offers such as these deserves what they get.

For anyone still toying with the idea, consider this:

• A home or gateway page, on its own, is neither a website nor a fulfilling user experience. This is one reason that internet marketers and webmasters spend so much time worrying about bounce rate and path through to conversion. Think about it: how many visitors to your site  click their way as far as the contact/request page only to disappear? Does anyone really believe  that a solitary web-page is going to motivate the average Herman, Fabio or Aki  to suddenly break into song and throw their corporate credit card at the site (or am I being too harsh)?
• Suddenly SEO is a piece of cake in any language you care to name. Anyone who can spell ‘search’ knows that SEO takes time and effort is required to reach page 1 on Google. Small point but I feel I should also mention here that you have to pay to get a decent ranking on Yandex or Baidu; on-page SEO alone is never enough.
• I won’t even bother to mention transcreation, but if your content is not tailored for and in tune with your target audience – in any language – your probability of success is low.
• Competition - the global web is highly competitive and you will be up against local competitors who know the local language, market, search engines and media better than you do.

It is a tough challenge competing for international markets, but that is where the real opportunity for growth is. The latest OECD 2011 figures forecast that the top 5 fastest growing economies in 2011 will be:

1. China
2. India
3. Peru
4. Chile
5. Brazil

China and India are now the second and fourth biggest global economies, both with a rapidly growing affluent class.  These are substantial markets and, what’s more, they are here to stay. But only a serious local approach and sustained effort will reap any rewards.  We are all limited by budget but then why don’t we all drive Nissans or Skodas or Ladas?

Finally, coming back to the instant global website offer. It’s only a wild guess, but does the phrase ‘loss-leader’ ring any bells? And we all know what comes next, don’t we?

p.s. No prizes for guessing that Baidu dominates the Chinese Search market but who has 98% of the Indian market and in which languages? The answer in the next post.