The 2024 Web Globalization Report Card is coming soon…
For those of you keeping count this is number 20. Yes, as in 20 years. I’ll have much more to share about that later this year. But for now let’s focus on the next report. I’m in the middle of…
John Yunker
John is co-founder of Byte Level Research and author of Think Outside the Country as well as 19 editions of The Web Globalization Report Card.
This year, Singles Day is looking like just another day
It’s not secret that China is going through an economic rough patch. So it’s probably not surprise that might brief tour of Singles Day website promotions came up lighter than usual. Compared with 2021, this year’s Singles Day is, well,…
GEICO’s Spanish-language website: 15 minutes could make it better
As I prep for two classes on best practices in global navigation, I came across the Spanish-language website for GEICO and I noticed a small but non-trivial error. See if you notice it as well. GEICO does a number of…
Mailchimp keeps making rookie mistakes
I know it appears that I’m out to punish Mailchimp — as I first started calling out its rookie mistakes back in 2021. I am a paid subscriber so I feel as if I’ve at least earned the right. What…
Mailchimp’s curious global gateway misstep
A little more than a year ago I wrote about Mailchimp’s improved global gateway. Here is what you would have seen in the header back then: And here is the header today: Much has clearly changed, but I’d like you…
How to create a successful global gateway
If someone from outside the US lands on your US-centric .com home page, what is their first impression? And what if they don’t speak English? What visual and textual clues will they look for when searching for a localized websites…
Why use geolocation?
Here’s a reason, courtesy of Wimbledon… To learn more about web globalization best practices, register for Lead the World to Your Website, taking place October 27th.
Taking Flite: Another reason to avoid flags on your global gateway
First of all, this device looks really cool. The ocean also looks inviting right about now. But while visiting the Flite website I couldn’t help but notice the US flag in the upper right corner. Perfect placement, by the way,…
Global websites and Ecuador, a brief tour
I was in Ecuador recently and carved a bit of time to visit a few global websites — as in the .com address of global brands — to see just how successfully (or not) these brands localize for Ecuadorians. No…
Industry leaders from the 2023 Web Globalization Report Card: From Adobe to IKEA to Wikipedia
I’ve announced the top 25 global websites from the 2023 Web Globalization Report Card. But that only tells part of the story. To better understand how companies compete against their peers, I grouped the websites into 13 categories — from…
The “not applicable” global gateway
When I see NA I generally think “not applicable.” Which was why I gave the Corpay global gateway a second look when I visited recently: Naturally, I clicked on the globe icon — which, by the way, is the perfect…
Have we reached “peak” language?
We’ve heard of peak oil and peak TV to indicate a point in time when growth ends and decline begins. It appears that we have reached a similar peak in languages. Last year was the first time in 19 editions…
The best 25 global websites from the 2023 Web Globalization Report Card
I’m pleased to announce the publication of the 2023 Web Globalization Report Card. This is the 19th annual edition of the Report Card, yes, 19th. And while there are a number of very familiar faces in this list, there are some…
What’s your Global Navigation Strategy?
And do you even have a global navigation strategy? For example, if someone from outside the US lands on your US-centric .com home page, what is their experience? Surprisingly, even companies that support 50 or more localized websites don’t often…
The Year of the Rabbit
Lunar New Year is here and, with it, my whirlwind tour of global and local websites taking full advantage of this holiday. Here was my tour last year of the year of the tiger. Not surprisingly, the celebratory color red…