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Spanish English site in domain .com.ar

         

silverbytes

4:51 am on Jun 24, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I have a .com.ar domain (argentine) oficial language is spanish so the website is in spanish, but I have too many doubts about it...

I want a translated version in english, but my submisions to search engines and keywords, titles are in spanish...

should I buy another domain and submit again using english keywords and titles?

Should I move all to a .com? And then what...

Should I keep .com.ar, translate it and submit it again in english...

A subdomain...?
I'm really confused, any help please?

heini

8:03 am on Jun 24, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Actually there are different ways to go about it.
You should pick what fits best with your expectations, your resources, and the possibilities you are facing.

First you need to decide which markets you want to target.
Then you need to know which language and which TLD fits best.
And finally you have to look at your site and decide if you want to make it a large, well respected long term property, or if you are out for a quick buck.

I.
When dealing with multilingual content the cheapest solution is to just slap up the translated pages, using a dedicated folder or a subdomain on your existing site.
The pages will be picked up by the search engines just like any pages in the original language.

The major engines work with automatic language detection, so those pages will turn up under searches for results in the target language, while your original (source) language pages will still turn up where they used to before the translation.

Many smaller sites work fairly successfull with that model.

This solution requires some intelligent internal linking schemes, aiming at keeping your users in the section of their language, making navigation through your site easy and consistent. Second internal linking objective is to keep your site's themeing intact.

II.
The second solution would be to build dedicated sites for each language. This is a solution with many advantages.
First you target your users directly. Your site speaks their language, it feels far more familiar and trustworthy than a foreign site.
With a dedicated site, running under a gTLD like .com, or the appropriate ccTLD, you can act as if you were a local player in your target market.
This is a winning strategy with the users, and it makes promoting your site in the target market much easier.

With a dedicated site you can build links, get directory listings, appear in places where only local sites are accepted. No problems with internal links and themeing.

This solution would basically mean to put up a brandnew site, with the advantage of having solid links from the old source site to give the new site a solid quick start.

-------------------------------------------------

In your case:
Sounds to me like you should leave your site as is and built a new english site under a .com.

Which markets are you targeting? If it's the US I would definitely recommend using a .com, on a dedicated site.
Assuming your spanish language site is established already, and assuming Argentina is still a market for you - why change your existing site?
You would end with two sites, one in english, one in spanish, one for the home market, one for the US and the world.
Sounds like a good plan to me:)

silverbytes

3:03 pm on Jun 24, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Thank you I will consider it and think about it!
Any other suggestions?