For global brands, Russian is no longer a “top 10” language
Russian was once considered a “top 10” language — one that any company serious about global growth would support. But Putin’s horrific actions have put an end to that. Over …
Countries
The Year of the Dragon
As we say farewell to the Year of the Rabbit we greet the Year of the Dragon. And, with it, my whirlwind tour of global and local websites taking advantage …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Most internet users are not native-English speakers: Is your website world ready?
One of the four major benchmarking criteria of the Web Globalization Report Card is global reach. That is, what languages do you support? And how many languages do you support? …
Russia & Ukraine: A tale of two languages – one rising and one falling
For companies with global aspirations, Russian has long been considered a “must support” language. These days, that is no longer the case. But even before Putin decided to invade Ukraine, …
The top 25 global websites from the 2022 Web Globalization Report Card
I’m pleased to announce the publication of the 2022 Web Globalization Report Card. This is the 18th annual edition of the Report Card, and it reflects another difficult year. And yet …
How to organize a global website when you’re just beginning to go global
This blog post originated from an email I received recently from someone starting a small business and wondering how to manage all those newly localized websites. Specifically: Should I make …
The Year of the Tiger: Websites celebrate Lunar New Year
If you were to visit the US home page of BMW you’d see the obligatory photograph of the latest models: But if you were to visit the China home page …
Black Friday: The global retail holiday
Black Friday originated as a sales event specific to the US, the day following Thanksgiving. It has long been the busiest shopping day of the year, though it now extends …
.CA: Add more Canadians to your shopping cart
I suppose it was just a matter of time before the advertising algorithms figured I’d be in the market for a country code top-level domain (ccTLD), perhaps .CA. And so …
Five reasons to avoid using maps on your website
Robert Frost wrote that good fences make good neighbors. Yet when it comes to virtual fences, visualized as maps, I’m not sure there is any way to create “good fences.” …
Singles Day: The world’s largest shopping day
As I mentioned a few days ago, Singles Day arrived well before the official start: 11/11. But now that it has officially arrived, a thought a few screen shots would …
Singles day is coming! On many websites it’s already here
As I write this on November 5th, Singles Day (November 11th “11.11”) is nearly a week away. Singles Day is the world’s biggest shopping day, a virtual event that originated …