Promoting Foreign Language Websites

Having been involved in the promotion of a foreign language site a few years ago (actually a French language site, which I really enjoyed promoting, as it was great to use my French again!), I found out the pitfalls that can arise for companies who want to widen their customer base online.


This is quite an in depth subject area which I've written about in a previous issue of Marketing Karma but want to concentrate more on France in particular, although much of what you need to do can be applied to many languages.

The best place to start, before doing anything to your website or buying domain names is to research your market - will it be viable in your chosen country? Just because it's successful here, it doesn't mean it's going to be successful abroad. Look at Egg, the credit card company which famously went down like a lead balloon in France - did they research their market properly before chasing foreign markets? Save yourself the embarassment (& the money) and learn from their mistakes!

If you are going ahead, then the first thing to do is buy a local domain name. Unfortunately, French (.fr) domain names aren't easy to get hold of by companies not registered in France, so you'll either need a French registered company to buy it for you (perhaps you have contacts there or a french office that can do that), or use an alternative domain such as .com.fr, or use your .com domain and have a 'french' file e.g com/fr.index.htm. So there are ways around it. If you're not using a .fr domain, then it's a good idea to host your website in France as most importantly, you want your site to appear in the French search engines. If you use a .com/fr/ etc but host it in the UK or US, then it could be more difficult to get rankings if the site isn't hosted in France.

We'll be continuing this series of tips on promoting French / foreign language sites, so keep checking back!

How long does it take?

This has to be one of the questions I'm asked the most when optimising a website, usually regardless of the fact that I've already explained during the intial consultation as to how long it takes to gain rankings!

Since search engine optimisation is a long term strategy, you're not going to gain rankings overnight, and should never expect instant results. Like any form of marketing it takes time and effort and these days, search engine optimisation is no different. With the number of websites out there and the growing competition, your site really does have to deserve to be at the top. If you've got a domain or website that's been out there for a while, then you could find your rankings taking a few months. If you're promoting a brand new site with a brand new domain, then expect to wait much longer, particularly with Google.

So what should you be doing while you're waiting? Well, for your online marketing efforts you could try pay per click advertising if you want to gain a presence in the search engines quickly, gain targeted links into your website, keep the content on the site fresh and up to date with news, a blog, special offers etc. Build up your database of clients & prospects and promote your products through email marketing, where appropriate, try some of the social networking sites if that's where your target market hangs out, write articles about your specialist subject and post them on industry sites, the list goes on......

That's not including your traditional marketing efforts either to include advertising, PR (offline PR should overlap with online PR), articles in industry journals, direct marketing etc etc!

OK, for many small businesses, doing all of the above is not always going to be realistic or appropriate, but just relying on search engines to gain leads and enquiries is not the answer either. With the growing competition online, then make sure your marketing is spread as wide as possible so that once the waiting for those all important rankings is up, your website and business is going strong!