How To Setup Your Website For Global And Local Language

Many people launch website with the hope of reaching global markets of multi-million people. The reality is that local people prefer local service because of proximity. If you buy something online, at least you want to call somebody in your local language and time if you have problem.

That is why going local is also the decision of big internet companies like Yahoo and Google. They have already provided service with local maps complete with recommended restaurant address. Although this is still US-based, it provides a direction of where the internet service is heading.

You can design your website in such a way that it can serve both local customer and global markets. There are things to consider to make it right from the beginning. So that you save time and money later.

English

Global language is obviously english. If you want to tap global market, you should provide content in english. Use American english as this is used by majority. However, if your target market is focused in UK or Australia, then by all means write in British english or Australian english.

If you use American english with global domain like .com, .net, or .org, you should host your website in US. This is due to preferrence of target market. As majority of visitors are coming from US, it is faster for your visitors to download the pages. This is also preferred by search engine.

Never mix different languages in the same domain to avoid confusion. The domain is the name between http:// and first slash (/).

Local Language

Now you can write your local language in subdomain or in local domain. For example UK domain will have .uk. Indonesian domain will have .id. If your content comprises of bi-lingual or multi language, you start separating each language in separate subdomain. Search engine treat subdomain as a separate domain.

Once the local subdomain grows bigger and bigger, you may move it to local domain. Of course you still maintain the link between english domain and local domain appropriately.

If your content is entirely in local language, then you can build the site in local domain. This is helpful for your local visitors. The search engine also loves this setup.

When you plan this in the beginning, it will be easier for you to scale the web development.