Non-English Markets Are Ripe With Opportunity
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I was listening to an interview with Mike Geary, conducted by Mike Filsaime and Anik Silver, from inside the Launch Tree members area. The topic of the interview focused on Mike G’s efforts to market his ebook on getting six-pack abs in different languages, which he has successfully done to the tune of several millions of dollars of additional revenue thanks to entering markets in German, French and Spanish.
Over the years I’ve been asked many times by new bloggers who are coming from non-English speaking backgrounds whether they should attempt to start a blog in English, even though English is not their first language, or focus their blog on their native tongue.
Although the answer to this question varies depending on the market and languages involved, in general I tell people to go with the language they are strongest in, especially if they are going to write their blog themselves. In fact, I believe many non-English markets represent a huge untapped opportunity, and listening to this interview cemented my assumption further.
Pay Per Click In Japanese
I remember thinking years ago as I began to study some of Perry Marshall’s work on Pay Per Click marketing, that there is no way this kind of information is available to study in other languages to the depth that Perry had taken it. This to me represented an opportunity to become “the Perry” of Japan, or another country and potentially make a lot of money (unfortunately I only speak Canadian, so I wasn’t in a position to go for it).
Taking the other side of the coin to teaching PPC in other countries, a big opportunity exists if you can implement PPC in other languages to sell anything from affiliate products to your own goods or services.
People in other countries use Google to search too, thus there is a huge untapped market potential to buy traffic through paid search in other languages, where your competition will either be non-existent or very weak. This will likely be a much more affordable source of traffic compared to the English equivalent, since PPC like AdWords is driven on a supply/demand model for pricing. The less competition for keywords, the less you pay.
In the case of bloggers, establishing an authority blog that dominates a niche, or even better – defines a niche – can be done in other languages as well and usually means you face far fewer bloggers writing about the same thing.
Imagine if I was the only blogger writing about Internet marketing in say Japanese? That means I could launch products and have a captive audience. Provided I did a good job, which means I provide relevant, valuable information for that target market, I could become the go-to guy for that subject in that language and have a lot of customers as a result.
Of course it’s not likely you will have absolutely no competition in non-English markets, but it is very likely you won’t have many quality competitors. Let’s state something that might be obvious – Americans are fantastic marketers. That’s not saying there aren’t good marketers in other countries, but generally speaking at least, there won’t be as many, it’s simply a numbers game.
Go Foreign
You can take this idea to virtually any marketplace in another language, as long as one condition is satisfied – there has to be enough people who speak that language to support your idea.
As Mike pointed out in the interview, the languages he went after like German, French and Spanish have tens or even hundreds of millions of people who speak that language, in tech savvy countries who use the Internet, including Google search, on a regular basis.
Assuming your language has enough people to support it, then it’s simply a matter of picking a market you have expertise in and get out there and dominate.
If there’s a market in English that is profitable and massive, for example – dating, weight loss, health or make money – there’s a very good chance you will have a hungry market in other languages, and they won’t be serviced by nearly as many quality products and services since very few companies bother to tap into other languages beyond English.
You could start a blog in another language, or like Mike, convert your ebook to another language and use your same marketing techniques (e.g. PPC) in other languages, or any product or service you currently sell to English markets.
What If You Don’t Have A Product?
One of the ideas I really liked that came out of the interview, if you are fluent in another language and have some marketing savvy, is to head to a site like Clickbank, find the best sellers, and then offer to partner with the product producer to create a version in another language that you market together in a partnership.
Although I didn’t quite catch the exact numbers in the interview, I got the impression that for example Mike’s foray into the German language resulted in a couple of million dollars in extra revenue. Although 75% of that went to affiliates in this case (that’s what Mike pays out in Clickbank), even if that leaves only around half a million left over in profit, if you’re splitting that with the creator of the book, you’re walking away pretty happy.
The great thing about this strategy is you don’t have to worry about finding profitable markets or creating a product or perhaps even figuring out how to market it. You’re job as the “translator” is to take the product and the system used to sell it and then make it work in your language and get a nice cut of the profits in exchange. The creator of the product wins too as he or she gets access to an entire new marketplace without needing to do much work beyond helping to ensure everything is implemented as it should be.
There are layers to an arrangement like this that you would have to nut out carefully. Success depends on the relationship you establish and a clear communication over who is responsible for what, but this is nothing different from any business partnership.
Dominate Local Markets
If you’re reading this, you understand some basics of online marketing and you have a strong understanding of a language other than English, you should consider what could be done in your local market.
Most people don’t, so that’s why this is such a great opportunity – and it won’t be like this forever.
As online marketers become more savvy you will see companies expanding into other markets and it will become competitive in other languages too. Right now you still have plenty of opportunity even in the most popular industries, so don’t let this pass if you’re in a position to go for it.
Yaro Starak
Typing English
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You are absolutely right, Yaro! Foreign language markets are ripe for development online. I think you hit the nail on the head – “Americans are fantastic marketers” and it’s likely that most niche areas don’t have too much competition. That said, I do think marketers should be reminded that foreign markets may require different cultural/social/political considerations. Other than that, it’s all fair game! The online marketing rules are always the same – especially when it comes to great content marketing.
They absolutely are. I am running two blogs, JornalTecnologia.com.br and LucreComSeuBlog.com.br, one about tech and the other about writing, and I am already making 4 figures a month!
It was all with your and Problogger’s help! Thanks a lot!
Ciao Yaro
greetings from a BlogMasterMind student from Melbourne!
I write in Italian, my mother tongue, helping Italians that want to emigrate. I have chosen the topic as I have 20 years experience of living outside of Italy so I feel I have expertise on the subject as well as a passion for helping others achieve the same.
My ‘niche’ is not one mentioned in your post as easily transferrable and I am finding that suitable Clickbank or other affiliate products to promote are hard to come by.
I have also found that a straight promotion of products in English does not translate into sales to an Italian audience.
I have now as a result started to develop my own products in Italian. The process is obviously taking longer than promoting somebody else’s product especially when content creation for the blog takes precedence.
However, I will have a portfolio of products that I don’t believe I will able to market through Clickbank as the Italian language is not supported (please anyone correct me if it’s not true). I will find a new avenue and let you know about it.
I agree with dominating your local language however I would suggest you think hard about the size of your market. There are 60 million people in Italy so the market is not very large, by English-speaking standards, and this can seriously limit the potential traffic
I would definitely recommend writing your first blog in your mother tongue. There are so many issues to think and learn about when you start out that you don’t want to add the further complication of writing in a language you are not totally familiar with.
Good luck to everyone.
Aldo I agree with you when it comes to native language. You say it’s “only” 60 million people in Italy but how about my native language Swedish, spoken by about 9 millions. If I really want to make good money online I have to do it in the english market. I’ve just started a blog about my journey to get back in shape (shapejourney.com) in english. I write and speak pretty good in english but I think that people can be a bit more understanding with spoken or written errors since my blog topic is inspirational more than fact driven. So my plan is to get better and better at english and then create a blog where the fact are more important.
/Pierre from the tiny country Sweden
Yaro, I love your stuff, always a great idea in every post and podcast. I really like your blog design and layout and had some questions about how each page was laid out. how can I get a hold of you to ask you some questions about the lay out of each page or subject? As Always Great stuff Mister.
thank you…
Larry C.
Great article. It’s funny , I have been thinking about this for the last week. I wonder if thoughts due become things? Thanks again.
I agree that the markets are ripe, but finding proper writers is a challenge. How do we verify what they write is good?
Just a thought.
I think it is something worth to try. As you said, you are not inventing something new. Just using the same model and same techniques on somewhere, where they don’t have it. I am sure it would work on certain products, but different countries have different interests. So, you need to make sure product or service you chose would also work in your own country.
You raise a very valid point here, Yaro. I see lots of comments & posts on blogs that have clearly been written by individuals who don’t boast english as a first language, and all we need are for these guys to start applying their newfound internet marketing knowledge in their native tongues and markets.
Well said, language is a main problem for marketers like me, because my native tongue is malayalam. If you want to market a product in the world wide web other than local markets, you have to understand English.
I guess besides language translation, the whole search engine, social marketing environements or communities are different.
For example, you probably wont be that successful trying to drill into google if you want to target the China market. You are better off going to Baidu.
It will be great to have a list of all these comparable engines in different languages markets.
Google \== ?
Facebook \==?
etc etc…
I believe that your first language is the best in accurately relying your message on the market, specially on the local level. However, nodoby can deny the dominance of the English language in furthering your influence to a wider spectrum.
In my analysis, native language will provide an edge if your nationality belongs to the wealthy and economically established countries. If you’re a Japanese for example, your language will gain recognition for the very fact that your country is among the economic powers.
I don’t mean to discriminate. But our economic systems tends to favor dominance. Of course in everything there will always be an exemption.
Yeah you are absolutely right Yaro. But i dont think there is other good advertisement program like Google Adsense. And i dont think Adsense support my language. Indonesia
Wow, this is something I never thought about, and I’m sure that it’s a great idea. I constantly get people coming to my website asking if what I do is available in their country and in their language. My answer is always the same – I wish it was, but it isn’t.
Definitely something to think about!
Just curious, is there any other website other than clickbank can also provide Non English marketer opportunities to market in other language markets?
Yeah, thanks for great post Yaro. I have more a lot of motivation now for success in my tongue language (Indonesian).
I think it depends on which language they are born with. My natural language is Swedish and I’ve been working with several different blogs within the Swedish market but we are only 9 millions people and most of us aren’t using internet. Since English are so close to use (we are watching English movies from birth) I think Swedish people have better opportunities if they write in English instead of Swedish.
Word to the wise: crack Japan and you are golden. They’re fantastically loyal consumers and have plenty of disposable income.
Hey Yaro, I am looking for your guest book but I am not sure you have one, so I will put it here. I wanted to let you know as well as some of your subscribers they can get a copy of Google adsense for Newbies at my site, but signing up for my newsletter. It’s absolutely free and well worth the cost.
My Site is The Niche Think Tank, and it’s a site for beginners to seasoned pros, but more for people to learn how to make money on teh internet. we are just starting out but wanted to get ourselves out there.
Anyone lese reading this comment, Yaro has taught me much, that may not be seen on my blog but it shows in my other online niches…
anyway my site is here:
http://www.thenichethinktank.com
Thanks Yaro!!!!
Larry C.
I’m not the only one having difficulty finding the guestbook. I wanted to leave a “hola” but only encountered some different stuff. I thought it was just because I was blonde:)
Debra
I’ve been watching Mike (and a couple of other guys in the fitness niche) for a while now and they’re really dominating those foreign markets. I’m heading over to Germany to live for a while and if I can get fluent enough I think it would be great to create some products in that language.
Hmm, makes me wonder about some other good languages to market in. Arabic? Chinese?
Cheers,
Sean
I’ve noticed that if one has unique product or service, it will sell just as well in other languages. Problem is time. In order to present/advertise offerings properly, one has to devote a lot of time for each language of interest. I know 5 languages good, but after all the work I did in all of them, I decided to focus on English, It gives me the best pay out in terms of time invested.
I think the online markets are wide open if you can target other countries. I have a friend who is Brazilian, who lives in the USA for a few years now, and hes got a few popular websites in Brazil, and he is making decent money from it! The niche he is in is super popular here in the USA, but at the same time it is super competitive. While in Brazil the niche is popular, but there is definitely alot less competition, and not everyone is up to speed on the full potentials of the internet.
Till then,
Jean
Great concept Yaro and you only have to crack one of those countries to have loyal customers and put extra dollars in the bank.
I absolutely love this!! If only I didn’t seem to be so damned horrible at learning new languages.. But mayhaps I can go into business with someone who’s mother tongue is not my own
I could bring the knowledge, he/she could bring the language.
Why risk partnering when we can give you translation services for all of your products?
I am Laura, from Barcelona, Spain, and I want to start in the blog bussiness as well. I am planning to start my first blog next month, but also, if someone needs a partner that masters spanish language( and not so known, catalan language), here I am.
That’s a really brilliant idea for marketing. If you know at least one language but English and have a good product to sell
Hola Yaro!
Como esta Ud? Que bueno articulo! He piensado en un blog sobre cosas Hispanoles.
For a funny take on Spanish marketing, check out comedian George Lopez on YouTube. I won’t give it away, but it’s the bit about the U.S. putting alligators in El Rio Grande. It’s funny cuz it’s true; also a lesson for aggressive marketing, if that’s your style.
Debra
P.S. I’ve been declared a Latina at heart for many years, by many people; I’m as comfortable with the people as my father’s Canadians. Which confuses some people.
Actually, I live in Japan and read, write, and speak Japanese quite well. Most of my design clients are here in Japan!
Yaro, you are right.
Especially when you say that gping into the local market <>
There are Blogs starting in Germany which have a similar concept like yours. That means, Blogging and “Making money online” will be more popular in Germany, too,
Well, I’m thinking about writing blog about internet marketing in both Japanese and French, but noticed that there were a lot of blog writting about that subject. However, I haven’t seen ClickBank products written in Japanese… and not that much in French. I’ll give it a try! Thank you!
While it is true that many markets are waiting to be tapped, there are opportunities available using English itself say in the African continent, most of Asia and particularly Pakistan, India, China, and Sri Lanka.
Hi Yaro,
I think its an excellent point and an excellent article by the way. Although the international language of IM is english there must be countless opportunities. English is a second language for large parts of the world but most internet users would prefer to read and learn in their own language. Its not like you are being limited, in fact its almost the opposite. We are always looking for profitable niches and with IM being one of the busiest in english then there is a chance for some smart marketers to move into IM in another language and make it their own.
Opens up plenty of work opportunities for translators as well I think!
Andy
I think that it really does depend upon the potential market of the non english speaking country you are targeting. I think that people love to access information in their own language and if you can cater for a language niche then great, especially if it is Mandarin (China) or Urdu or Punjabi (Which are some of the main languages in India). These have huge markets which are much much bigger than mnay english speaking countries put together.
There are more English speaking speaking people in the South Asian countries than the USA, UK, Australia, NewZealand, and Canada put together. These countries, even with English offer a great opportunity.
Hi Yaro,
Very interesting post, Some time ago I met a guy who had set up a number of PPC Affiliate offers in languages other than his native tongue. He used online translation tools. He was making good money. I guess it is possible if you put the time in.
Regards Steve.
Yaro
I never really contemplated marketing outside of North America, however your article has given me some great ideas. I guess the real challenge is ensuring the product you sell can be cross marketed across various cultures and countries.
Vince DelMonte (weight gain affiliate guru) just started doing this with his products just a few months ago and I think it’s been a huge success for him.
Thanks for the article.
Regards
Phil
Hey There,
A timely article given the state of the economy and the need to look to further pastures.
Foriegn market is where I was looking to position my comic blog, particuarly French speaking. However it’s not just a matter of writing in what ever language you have chosen I’m finding but all the associated stuff of search engines etc.
I noticed Steve has mentioned someone using on line translation tools. I haven’t found one that is truelly adequate for the job of translating large bodies of work. I do think it’s a good idea but you need at least a basic understanding of the language you intend to operate in.I’ve found my French is not quiet up to the mark and have enrolled at Alliance Française to build on it for the purpose of breaking into French speaking countries.
Onwards and upwards
Judex
Hi Yaro! I am new here but really enjoyed reading this post. I am no Internet Business expert, that’s for sure. I just started my first website! Still I think you might be onto something with your discussion about foreign markets. Perhaps we should be thinking even beyond foreign markets and into the next BIG change even beyond the Internet. Or is it too early for such thinking? Great post, and great website! Thank you… Jay
Great point. Foreign markets are wide open with opportunities. One marketer recently also shows some screen shots in one of his pre launch videos that he pays pennies on googles content network for foreign markets to buy traffic. You also make very good point about considering local language in marketing.
Thanks for the great post. It has lot of new ideas.
This is a really interesting post. Most marketers only focus on english speaking material but in doing so miss out on huge opportunities to see courses, ebooks and videos in other languages.
Many people still only believe that the UK, USA and Canada are the only places to market products to in the IM community but this mind set will mean many will miss out on huge opportunities.
If you can create materials in other languages many will be opening up to a whole new lucrative niche!
Cheers
Grant
Hi Yaro,
I recently discovered your site and I’ve been reading everything I can on it. It has me totally re-thinking my own writer’s blog. You’re right about the foreign markets, but I must mention that many foreign countries have large populations that can read and write in English and actively read English speaking sites.
I discovered this by accident. I once posted an article about what it takes to publish a book in China. Before that article, China made up 3% of my unique visitors. For a few days after the article I watched as my unique and hit counts doubled – with China making up 6% of my unique visitors. And it has continued to grow since.
I wanted to test my ‘China Syndrome’ theory again and recently posted another quick Chinese-centric article. For several days afterward I saw my hits triple and my unique visitors go up 40%. China now makes up fully 13% of my unique visitors.
Now if I could translate my site to Mandarin, it’d be a kick to see what that would do…
Great idea there. But you know what, the number of people speaking a language alone is not the criteria. The buying power matters too. I am from India, and it goes without saying that I have huge numbers for people speaking my language. But online commerce is very sparse that I think it does not make sense for me to write to this audience. :-S
Advertising is a country other than your own is great for business – whether it is a blor or a pay per click. The business I work for advertises in other countries by using their directories. It is great for business and I get to talk to many people from different areas or the world…..for whatever reason we have a large clientele in the UK.
Advertising in a country other than your own is great for business – whether it is a blor or a pay per click. The business I work for advertises in other countries by using their directories. It is great for business and I get to talk to many people from different areas or the world…..for whatever reason we have a large clientele in the UK.
Hi Yaro! this post was gold! I started blogging in late June, and at first wondered whether I should do it in english, but since spanish is my mother tongue, I decided to launch my blog in spanish. There certainly is a very strong market in the spanish speaking countries which I am very willing to participate in.
I’m glad you posted this blog entry… I think too many people forget that there is a completely, largely untapped market OUTSIDE of the United States! The PPC arena in the US is very competitive when it comes to the more popular niches (dating, weight loss, etc.)… However, you’d be pleased to know that the competitiveness level for affiliate marketers for other Non-English (or rather, Non-native English) speaking countries are more willing than ever to purchase a product online.
I’ve done some light PPC targeting the Hispanic audience, and have found it really easy to get any content translated through local colleges. There are many fluent Hispanic college-educated students who have a full grasp on both languages!
Great post Yaro, on my last deployment to Iraq I took advantage of a free copy of Rosetta Stone that they offered us, that in addition to working with our translators and the locals gave me a solid enough understanding of Arabic that I have been somewhat successful at marketing several products with a primary focus on Arabic speaking countries, there is a TON of untapped potential all around the world.
Hi Although the non-english is there it is very difficult to tap it unless you are native yourself.I find it very hard to connect with american but i find it very easy to connect to indian even though i write in english
I think using English is more difficult for those who have a different primary language. There are so many sites/blogs out there ran by people who make it blatantly obvious that English is their second language who quite likely would be more comfortable writing in their native language.
Simple punctuation or grammar errors can really annoy some readers and because of it they may not return, I say if you don’t have a solid grasp of any language you should stick to what you know. Nobody expects perfection (just look at my writing) but there is a point when things become hard to read that ya have to draw the line.
Hi Yaro,
You just read my mind. I started with my blog not long ago, in English although it isn’t my native language and I was wondering all the time how to penetrate the non-English language markets. I’ve been doing a bit of research and you’re right, there’s so much potential. I’ve actually started to translate my own site into Spanish & Portuguese.
However I think it is important for people to consider some aspects before embarking into this:
- Do an appropriate market research for your niche & product. Even more important, do a relevant research of your target market behavior for online products, ie there are lots of people trying to lose weight around the world, but if that specific market don’t search products online, you won’t do much.
-Your research should include not only the language but specific countries that speak that language & again check their behavior with online products. I can tell that there are some Spanish speaking countries where internet penetration is really low so you will waste your time targeting these countries.
- Even if you’re adopting theories or ideas from experts and translate them into your native language learn about that specific topic so you really are in a position to advise your target market. Don’t just copy others, people will know if you’re doing a simple translation. I found a few blogs where you can tell that person knows nothing about the topic they’re talking about. Be honest, professional and create your own identity.
- If you’re thinking to partner up with a product/service developer, make sure that person shares your own ideas and values in business. You don’t want to be in an online world, where everything ends up coming to the surface with non trustable people.
- If you want to have a multilingual blog, do your job and translate it yourself or pay an expert to do it, don’t use an automated translator or Google translator. Trust me your blog won’t make any sense, also you won’t look professional.
I hope this could be of some help.
Yaro, thank you so much for all the good value you always provide!! Actually you gave me a great idea not only for an article in my blog but to pursue my goal of getting into other languages. Thanks again!!!
Karina
This post gave me a true insight about the Non English market growth and opportunity. Awaiting for more such interesting post…
I have often thought about expanding into foreign markets but unfortunately I only speak two languages fluently. Has anyone had any experience of outsourcing translation work to third parties? I personally think this is a better route to take if you are the creator of a product as you will lose less of your profits this way.
Wow! Just shows how the world is growing, I might look into making multiple languages for my blog
Thank’s for this article. It could be great solution for bloggers who can’t write in english, like me
I very much agree with your ideas Yaro. It has also some other great advantages to blog in the own language despite you can dominate the own niche in that language. Writing in your own language is much easier and makes it more fluid. It just makes more fun and you will probably publish more artikels.
You make good points about uncovering markets that you may not have previously considered. Targeting different languages is a great way to expand exposure in your niche. The trick is to make sure the translation of your content still makes sense.
At last i found some interesting categories in my language, lots of people searching for this category from my country, thanks Yaro for this article.
Japan is a different world when it comes to pay-per-click (PPC) management. Unlike the U.S. and most other major markets, Google does not dominate the PPC scene here. Instead, Yahoo!’s Overture controls almost two-thirds of the business. Extensive on-the-ground experience dealing with Overture is essential for PPC success in Japan.
There are many strength by using non-english language in our blog, which is you are getting famous in your country. I have heard many bloggers from my country are invited in the local newspaper and get their profile written in that newspaper. And some of them was invited to visit many country for free holidays.
Daniel Likin
Japan and the Republic of Korea are some big markets . You certainly want to market to them if you have ESL products.