Category Archives: Web Globalization

Yandex headed to Turkey, and beyond

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Now that Yandex is a public company there is much speculation about which markets the search engine known as Russia’s Google plans to expand into next.

You don’t have to look further than the Yandex.com home page to see that Yandex does indeed have expansion plans:

The reports that I’ve read indicate that Turkey is the next market in line for expansion. It would certainly give Yandex employees a good excuse to do some in-market “research.” (Turkey is a hot destination for many Russians.)

Andy Atkins-Krüger has written a great post on how Yandex is doing in Russia and beyond. It’s a must read if you want to learn more about the Russian Google and where it’s headed.

 

 

What the heck is an IDN and why you should care

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Here’s a new article I’ve written for UX Magazine on the emergence of internationalized domain names (IDNs). I view IDNs as an inevitable (albeit awkward) evolution of the Internet.

And here are the previous two articles I’ve written for UX Magazine:

 

Without web localization, you’re just guessing

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An interesting article by Alexandra Berzon of the WSJ regarding Hilton and Starwood hotels, which are offering menus and services tailored to Chinese travelers. This quote jumped out at me:

After Starwood executives noticed an enormous recent jump in the number of Chinese subscribing to Starwood’s loyalty program, a team led by Matt Gaghen, Starwood’s vice president of brand management, spent the last year researching the Chinese market and discovered that language and food were two of the most important issues for Chinese travelers.

In order for Starwood to notice the sudden increase in Chinese subscribers, it needed to first have a localized Chinese web site — and sign-up form. Fortunately, Starwood launched its Chinese-language web site a little more than two years ago.

I mention this because Starwood could have only collected valid user data AFTER it offered a localized web site.

Web localization isn’t just about direct sales. It’s about lead generation. And it’s about learning what your customers — and future customers  – want.

Without a localized web site, you’re just guessing.

Starwood and Hilton aren’t the only hotel properties to have invested in Chinese web localization. Accor Hotels (which also supports Chinese) won the hotels category in the 2011 Report Card.

PS: I’ll have more to report on hotels (and airlines) and web localization in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned!

 

South Sudan needs a country code

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So it’s official now. The Republic of South Sudan is a country.

In case you’re curious what you have to do to become a country, here’s a brief list.

The list fails to mention the need for a country code. In fact, I would put a country code right up there with international recognition.

And, as Paul Sawers at Next Web wisely noted, South Sudan is facing a country code dilemma.

As illustrated above (based on my ccTLD map), South Sudan has applied for the .SS country code.

Needless to say, this is a rather loaded acronym, and many feel that it won’t be approved.

But there aren’t many alternatives. Sudan already has .SD. The .su (Soviet Union) domain could be redelegated except for the fact that there are people still using that domain for legacy sites. So I would imagine the .SU route could be a bit challenging, though it appears to be the best linguistic fit.

What other domains are available that begin with the letter S? I found SF, SP, SQ, SX, and SW.

Slim pickings.

That’s the tough part about being a brand new country — you’re last in line for the country codes. Now, South Sudan could get a little crazy and apply for .AA or .YY, which are also available. Though I can’t imagine they would get approval.

What do you think?