My first ever website was in Hebrew.
This was back in the late 1990′s and I simply wanted to create an informational website about cats and cater to the local cat lovers population, seeing as there were no cat-related websites in Hebrew at the time.
The site was a huge success in terms of media attention. The internet being such a novelty back then, I was interviewed by national newspapers, radio shows and even twice on TV. Traffic followed, of course, but back then, monetizing on the site proved to be difficult.
There were many reasons for my decision to shut down the site, and in retrospect, I’m not sure it was the right thing to do. In fact, I did not so much shut it down as switched to a website in English, catering to the far larger English speaking population of the world in a cat website in English.
And so, over a decade later, I am thinking of testing the small Israeli market once more. Different niche altogether, but still, a website in Hebrew!
Building the site is so much easier now!
Hebrew is a difficult language on the net. Not only does it have a different set of letters, it is also written from right to left. Back then, you actually had to type words backwards in order to get them to display properly in an HTML web page. Thankfully there was a small script that would reverse the letters for you, but it was still very time consuming. These days, browsers have Hebrew versions that can read Hebrew right off the HTML code page. What’s more, popular content management systems, including WordPress, all have Hebrew versions. Just type and hit press!
Monetizing sites in Hebrew is also easier. Adsense offers ads for Hebrew pages, and there are Israeli CPM networks too. Since I’m now opting for the international travel niche, hopefully I’ll be able to use some good international affiliation programs as well. Of course, that’s all in the future – I’m still in the building and promoting phases.
I’d love to hear feedback on this from webmasters with websites in languages other than English. Have you ever tried that with your home market (or any other market)?
Twitter: JayceOoi
says:
No other language blog so far. If plan to do one, it will be in Chinese language. The China market is getting bigger and bigger now.
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Yes I would definitely recommend local language websites. The local SEO and marketing can be so much easier than the overcrowded English market. Even if you don’t have many advertisers on the CPM networks or adsense you could always try to make deals to local businesses and their websites.
A Blog or website does not always have to be in English language. I’m originally from Germany and there are lots of good and successful Blog and Sites written in German language only. I think it depends a lot on the market that you target and if someone e.g. in Germany does only business within Germany, there is no need to write the blog in English or any other language.