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Towards the end of the previous episode, Woz presented a cheapy work-around in order to comfort electro, who was seeing his life time savings disappear into the greedy hands of professional translators. Now stay tuned for the next exciting episode.
I suppose at this point, I begin to think about wider issues. I would LOVE my sites, and indeed the whole web, to be accessible to ANYONE, ANYWHERE. This means people with disabilities as well as in any language and with any browser. (someday, maybe we will have a "MegaBrowser 3000" which will zoom in and out of text and sites, translate any language to any other, and read out text, all perfectly).
Also, although all my sites are built to get custom, I am also quite happy if they serve a useful and interesting purpose for non-customers.
"Access for everyone"
For your case you would have to start with the concept of using links to comparable sites in other languages as rework it so that you keep the users when they arrive.
Just an idea.
Onya
Woz
1) The main page of the site could merely contain links to different language versions,
2) The main page is in English, but there are links at the bottom for that same main page in another language,
3) The server detects the browser settings and just brings up the relevant language (but with the option to change).
Which of there is the best option, or are there more I have not thought of?
As to your options 1 and 2: sure I would have the homepage translated also, at least if itīs more than a flash animated fancy. Apart from that I donīt quite get the difference between the two: Could you explain that?
your visitors will most likely have arrived through a route that leads them to expect a particular language...so most will be fine anyway...however people who use different languages and share a computer may be suddenly and unexpectedly shunted to a language they don't want...likewise with people browsing from something like an Internet Cafe
you CANNOT assume that people will universally be using a browser that is set to use their first language
furthermore many of us work multilingually...I need to be able to browse in a wide range of languages...I do NOT want to be forced into English translations all then time
let the user arrive where they will...give an option to go to other languages from any page they may arrive on
One company that I manage SEO for the top referrer on all 5 different domains (they have their local domains dot-de, dot-dk etc.) is often the other languages.
Etc.: The www.german.de site's top referrer is the www.england.co.uk and so on.
This tells me than a LOT of visitors first come to a langauge that's not their own. No problem - they quickly see their flag and click to get their language. I cannot see any differences in conversions from people finding the right language at first compared to people comming to another language first and then choosing the right one via a text links or flag.
>set up subdirectories for the languages you are targeting
Very good approach - It works for me :)
Edit: typos
This is very, very true and offers a great opportunity to increase link pop in a natural way by linking a page in one language to the corresponging pages in other languages, sticking a good keyword into the link text e.g. [url=webmasterworld.com]Things in English[/url], [url=webmasterworld.com]Sachen auf Deutsch[/url], [url=webmasterworld.com]Chose en francais[/url], [url=webmasterworld.com]Saker på svenska[/url], [url=webmasterworld.com]Ting på norsk[/url] etc.
Do that for five 100-page sites in five languages and each site will get 100 inbound links plus 100 internal links if you link properly inside the site. Search engines will love it and visitors will love it. Even your log analyzer will love it.
Like I have mentioned before, when I go to Alta Vista, even though I am in Australia, I get sent to AV New Zealand because my ISP is a New Zealand owned company and the IP is registered there. And it annoys the bejeezers out of me!
I think it is a mistake to assume we know better than the user. Rather, give him/her no-brainer options for choosing his/her preferred language. Flags are good.
Onya
Woz
Almost the same happens to me. I don't get redirected to AV.dk but they slap me a pop up with the option to go to AV.dk and even the option to make AV.dk my default starting page.
The pop up is broke and you cannot see what it reads because it's too small!
Absurd and really un-professional!
>I hate automatic selection anything.
Ditto :)
Guess you get my drift. Textlinks can be rewarding also for linkpop.
Yeah, I was thinking that myself after I posted.
Some people use a diagonal cross between the Union Jack and Stars and Stripes for General English, but it is accepted that the Union Jack means UK English and Stars and Stripes means US English.
But then you are right about when it comes to Australia but for a different reason. The Aussie and New Zealand flags are so close that it would be hard to tell the difference if they were small.
So flags for Countries, and links for language. I bow to you superior wisdom Heini.
Onya
Woz
does anyone know what that is? Also, is there a free version of babblefish? It seemed to say that but the kb was so tiny I thought it would last only a few hours. Is that right? Is there something that does automatically translate that's free? (Wishful thinking?!?!)
Spanish and English are at least possible without causing major international incidents...try these three for size
Chinese? Hindi? Swahili?
we either have or are planning all three...flags are not an option
If you go for flags, never forget the text. It can be worth its weight in gold.
Personally I prefer the second option, as it means you only need one domain. I say this not because I'm a cheapskate and I don't want to pay for lots of domains, but because I think it is neater. However regional search engines may prefer the first option. Do they?
...if you represent a major corporation that can afford to hire lawyers to set up local companies for you in most countries. If not, go for
en.example.com
de.example.com
fr.example.com
or, to quote myself from here [webmasterworld.com], the solutions can be ranked as follows:
1. Local domains with keyword in name, e.g. something.co.uk, irgendwas.de, quelquechose.fr etc.
2. Dot-coms with keyword in name, e.g. something.com, irgendwas.com, quelquechose.com etc.
3. Everything in same site with keyword in page name, mysite.com/something.htm, mysite.com/irgendwas.htm, mysite.com/quelquechose.htm etc.
4. Sticking the translated pages into subdirectories for each language with names in English, e.g. mysite.com/english/index.htm, mysite.com/deutsch/index.htm, mysite.com/francais/index.htm etc.1) is pricey and requires legal presence in many countries such as France.
2) is the most cost effective.
3) is the best of the inexpensive solutions for small budgets.
4) is the inexpensive and classical solution that the Europeans use themselves and will work if the competition is low.An additional plus with number 2: You can cross-link all pages to get more inbound links, e.g. "This page in English", "Diese Seite auf Deutsch", "Cette page en franįais" etc. A very user-friendly approach, since search engines might easily direct people to a page in a language other than the one preferred by the visitor. Normally, most people just put the language choices on the top page, forgetting that a lot of visitors will enter from the side via search engines.
Generally, and with only a few exceptions, all major international engines and the leading of the locals will accept dot-coms as long as pages are in the local language. Most countries require legal presence for a national domain registration anyway and setting that up can become quite expensive.
