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Posted by Tommy Thompson 

I was recently reading an article on the number of brands that have created or are in the process of creating Spanish websites in an effort to increase brand loyalty among Hispanic consumers. There is no doubt that these are the brands that “get it.” After all, they are providing relevant content to Spanish-speaking consumers and making it easier to shrink the digital divide that exists among Hispanic consumers and online usage. And while I applaud these brands for reaching out to Hispanics online, I think we need to set some standards for consistency from the get-go.

As I perused through these Spanish sites, I noticed some had websites housed within a link on the brand’s main site, others had stand-alone sites and still more were a hybrid of the two. What’s more is that there was little or no consistency when it came to URLs. Some URLs were www.brandA.com/espanol others were www.brandB.espanol.com, then you had www.brandC-espanol.com and www.espanol.brandD.com. And let’s not forget the www.brandE.com/spanish and www.solo-soy-un-ejemplo.com. The array of variations became dizzying, and thus the premise of this post.

Aside from brands that have a specific dedicated Hispanic-targeted site under a different name (like www.solo-soy-un-ejemplo.com), we should have a consistent URL format for Spanish websites that consumers can easily locate. This would make the website easier to find, which would obviously fare better for the brand. Additionally, it would enhance digital adoption and time spent online for the target because it would be easier for Spanish-dominant consumers to directly find what they are looking for. Of course, for the sake of discussion, I’m assuming that the content of the site is relevant and engages the consumer with the information they seek.

Most of my colleagues agree with the rationale of a universal URL standard, but think it’s an ambitious undertaking. I, on the other hand, think it’s easily doable. The Spanish-language online industry is still in its infancy and the amount of brands and agencies working on them are still small. If we set the guidelines early, then this practice will serve as the way to do business.

By the way, I for one vote for “www.brandname.com/espanol.” 

Source: AdAge