Translations, Traffic And Euro

[Dianna Vesta]

Looking at my stats I see that I do draw a lot of international traffic. I’m not sure if this is because my sites fetish/bdsm or that throughout the years we’ve linked and networked with worldwide sites. This traffic hasn’t slowed down. In fact I’m seeing more international traffic then ever before.

At one point I considered translating my sites into several popular languages. Not the entire site but the front end and navigation. At the time it didn’t seem cost effective and everyone advised me against it. The assumption was that traffic coming from outside the US- these people spoke English or has already invested in translation software. Meanwhile I’ve tested some of these translators on my site but it petered out once I hit the member’s area.

When I mention to other webmasters about traffic outside the US they pretty much tell me that there’s enough people in the US and that chargeback’s are high. I haven’t found this to be the case any more so then with US charges.

I think there’s a whole shitload of international traffic out there if we know how to market to them. The Euro is certainly the first step but how do we process it when so many people don’t have credit cards? Hooper asked about Euro Debit and processing. Is there any way we can get more information on this?

How many of you have tried marketing outside the US? What are your feelings on all this?

[Winetalk.com]

DV,
I think German would be helpful in your niche
;-))

[Dianna Vesta]

Originally posted by Serge_Oprano@Dec 2 2002, 08:09 AM
DV,
I think German would be helpful in your niche
;-))
Actually you're right one Serge. I do get a lot of dutch / german traffic but I think I'm losing a lot of it because I can't bill for it.

One of my sites is quickly becoming a story with pics site and it's doing very well. I'm just wondering how I can sucessfully translate text on the fly without huge cost. If I can, I know I'll take the lead in that niche.

DV

[art]

Originally posted by Dianna Vesta@Dec 2 2002, 08:16 AM
I'm just wondering how I can sucessfully translate text on the fly without huge cost.
Dianna,

IMHO, that is impossible.
You can't automatically translate from one language to another. Translating stories from one language to another with a computer program is guaranteed to be a failure.

I've seen several US companies who probably thought that would work, but it doesn't. Just look at Paycom's billing support site, the only thing the Dutch translation is good for, is a good laugh.

You can't easily market to "Europe" as a whole. You probably should target each country separately. Nearly each country has their own language, their own payment systems and their own customs.

I guess the best bet is to work together with local companies..

Greetings,

Art

[Dianna Vesta]

Thanks Art- what you're saying makes a lot of sense. I guess if you want to tap those markets you need to design and build sites for it.

Does anyone know what's going on with international SE's? Are they as saturated as ours here in the US?

[el pres]

Foreign Traffic can be very valuable, you just need 2 things, the language needs to be right and you need to be able to bill them.

European traffic is still growing nicely, and South American and Mexico are starting to spend money online as well.

I offer Dialer, Check and CC billing on my foreign sites and 85% of the income comes from the dialers.

A lot of people don’t like dialers, but if you find a reliable dialer company that doesn't rip off the surfer or you, that can bill in numerous languages then your half way there.

As for designing a site for a different language, it really doesn't work out that expensive, because all the billing info and terms have already been done by the biller. The cost of translating a story site would be a bit steep though.

I wouldn't worry too much about translating Dutch though, most people in Holland can understand English pretty well, but Germany is a huge market, careful of the laws though. They're tough on free hardcore, and any HC images need to be censored if its not behind a membership/dialer/AVS.

You asked about Search Engines, its a hell of a lot easier to get foreign listings than English, and you can pull in 1000s of SE hits a week from individual phrases, average income from Italian and Spanish per SE hit is around 8c.

[Dianna Vesta]

Thank you El Pres- what dialers do you use?

Are these dialers that do billing for your site of direct them to other sites?

Are there any companies that are offering international SE placement?

Thanks,
Dianna

[el pres]

I use 5 different dialer companies, and they all will set you up with a dialer to point to your members area.
If you want to go through the pros and cons of each you can icq me on 110201811, it really depends on what countries you want to target.

Companies that offer international SE palcement, not sure of any.

If I need something translated, I get it done professionally.
I dont trust any companies with my SE traffic,
so I do all the submissions inhouse.



Last edited by el pres at Dec 2 2002, 09:32 AM

[Dianna Vesta]

I'd like to hear what dialers people are using. I did check out nocreditcardneeded.com their custom solution.

Has anyone used these people before? Other then El pres?