Internet Funnel for Japan

I've come up with new terminology that will help people in Japan to understand why their .com domains are inefficient and not suitable for Japan. That term is "Internet Funnel" (for Japan).

An Internet Funnel is the solution to foreign-base companies that are trying to do business in Japan but using a centrally run web domain such as a .com domain. A .com domain with a sub-folder for Japan is a very poor way to run a business here.

Almost every travel and airlines related URL in Japan is 6 years behind the curve. The biggest problems I have seen are that the URLs are sub-domains run from the overseas head office. Considering that Japan is the second biggest market in the entire world, it is curious that the central offices would think that a centrally-run web page would be sufficient for the needs of the Japanese and for penetration into the Japanese market.

Why? Because Google and Yahoo search engines in Japan are geared to give priority to local domains. Of course. Isn't that obvious?

Google and Yahoo need for their .jp sites to be successful. They are in a competition for market share just like any other company. Not only do they wish to give many  results in a search, but as competition gets tougher, they need to give QUALITY results on a search. This also means that, to do so, they need to support the local businesses in turn. So, a search engine in Japan will give priority to a .jp or a .co.jp site. A .com/japan site will be given a very low priority on a search...

When you realize that this is how it works, you wonder why home office will want to spend huge amounts of money for a site that gives poor results.

There are other problems with a .com domain. For example, consider this; Japanese kanji are two bits. The English alphabet is one bit. So, a search engine that is designed for the west - say, mikerogers.com/japan - even with Japanese kanji inserted in the SEO - will often return "noise" if a Japanese person searches for, say, "travel in Europe" when they write down the search in Japanese kanji... I'll try it for you here： 海外旅行... A computer not configured for Japanese will return this as junk. It might look like Hieroglyphics.

The answer is to create an "Internet Funnel" using a .jp link to lay next to, or on top of, the current .com domain and act as a net or a funnel to bring in the Japanese traffic. The funnel is completely set-up in Japanese with Japanese SEO and key words. It is for Japan only. It's a simple concept that works every time.

So, for example, my USA company URL in Japan may be: www.myUSAcompany.com/japan. This puts my company URL in a sub folder so google.jp searches will not prioritize searches for me.... This hurts my business.

But! If I create a www.myUSAcompany.jp as a funnel, it captures all Japanese traffic for me first, then directs to my .com. This increases my rating; and I don't have to touch my basic .com site at all... The www.myUSAcompany.jp funnels all local traffic to my main domain and then a click of a button delivers my traffic to the home base. Simple and deadly efficient.

If you are running a .com domain with a /japan sub-folder - or a sub-folder set-up like this in any other country of the world - save your job by getting the local areas to set-up a local funnel for your company immediately. If you don't do this quickly, someone else is soon to point this out to your boss and you will be out of a job.

Be smart and set up a localized funnel now. It's dirt cheap and you can get the results and sales you need. The local markets can mirror your main domain and everyone is happy. You get the results you need.

This is so obvious that it is painful. So, why aren't more companies instituting this simple fix? Good question.

More on kick-starting your SEO and blogging next time.

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Keywords:

Internet Funnel, SEO, blogging, airlines, travel, sub-domain, sub-folder, google, Yahoo, search engines