About websites in Thailand...

[umbanda]

Talking about websites in Thailand, I am not a web developer, and also not a native English speaker, but if I was, I will look in get business doing that for Thai companies without English language web sites. It is a huge market for that kind of work here, and in another countries, and can be done online. My first web site for work I had in the US in 1997, was done by a young guy living in India. At that time I didn't have so much experience with computers, and still not good. He did online, and a very good job. It was very, very cheap, comparing with US web designers. Years later I found people doing very well with that kind of work in Mexico and Brazil. Now..simple web sites can be done using free servers, with easy tools, but a custom made commercial web site needs a professional designer and updater. May be a good opportunity for some farangs looking in working here by their selves.

In 2011, I met a young Thai guy working with web sites. I asked about his business, and he was smart ad savvy..but I had a surprise. he didn't know about Web Optimization and Adwords, another good market.

[Swiss1960]

You are wrong... "Market" would imply that their are buyers (owner of websites) and sellers (professionals offering translation / optimization work)... since we know that the sellers are there (loads of IT companies would take such work), but nothing happens at all, it is obvious there are no buyers... no Thai company in "need" of having proper websites translated in proper English... so there is only potential but no market.

[Rooo]

Moved to Internet Forum.

[IMHO]

We once had a firm contact us offering cheap Chinese translation services for our web properties. We declined for one simple reason: we don't have many Chinese speakers to talk to these "alienated customers".

[IMHO]

Sorry, I had an interruption... let me continue

On multi-lingual:

There's really no point in pretending you can speak the language on your website, if you, or your CSO's and AM's can't.

A few years ago, one of our peers created an absolutely fantastic looking website, with professional translations into English, Japanese, Chinese, German and French. I remember catching up with them at a trade event and asking how their website was doing for them. According to them, the extra leads generated for the other languages were very minimal, and when they did get them, they serviced them terribly. The bottom line is, they said they wouldn't bother doing it again.

I can easily imagine many smaller websites/vendors have the same conundrum - what's the point of pretending you can communicate in English (or other languages) if you can't? All it does is frustrate both parties, no?

On Optimization:

There's optimization, then there's Optimization and then Optimization ...

The basics are all pretty easy to implement, and most web developers will get close even if they don't try (e.g. error-free HTML, social and meta tags, correct use of tag hierarchy e.g. <h1> <h2> <p>, mobile versions with correct size touch targets etc) - in many cases simply because most are modifying someone else's commercial template anyway

Once the basics are sorted, the next step is content - you have to give search engines something worthy of indexing and giving you some SERP on For smaller businesses, this can be really tough - it's not easy to be a boss, accountant, salesman, support operator, shipping agent and a great copywriter all at once Sure, there are any number of SEO firms that will write articles for you at $5/page, but they're rarely what you'd call quality content... Its really only businesses that have reached the size of being able to support a dedicated marketing team that can truly do a good job here. There's no point getting crappy content translated either

Once you have a good website, with great UX and great content, it then all goes down to infrastructure - improving first byte times, page load times, content delivery etc etc. There are some cheap and dirty things one can do (e.g. services like Cloudflare), but when that isn't enough, it all starts getting very expensive, and very complicated, very fast - so few business can make the case for it.

On top of all that, there's marketing - which is a whole other topic...

The tone of your OP seems to suggest you feel the skills aren't there... that's not really true - they are available, but the good workers are only a small % of the workforce, they're not particularly cheap, and they are mainly attracted to roles in big, stable companies that make for good resumes. You're not going to find a "gem" working in a corner shop...

Also, once they have a nice looking Thai corp resume, the next thing they do is move to Western country and get paid Western rates Why work in TH with a salary cap of 100K Baht/mth or so, when you can go to the West and pull $150K+ a year?

Edited February 6, 2015 by IMHO

[h90]

You are wrong... "Market" would imply that their are buyers (owner of websites) and sellers (professionals offering translation / optimization work)... since we know that the sellers are there (loads of IT companies would take such work), but nothing happens at all, it is obvious there are no buyers... no Thai company in "need" of having proper websites translated in proper English... so there is only potential but no market.

There are many IT companies that "offer" such webpages and services. Just what you get is terrible. If you take a cheap one or an expensive one the results are very similar....

[MrTee]

Trouble being that folk here want to pay local rates..

Why work 1 month on developing a website here for 15,000thb, when you can do one in the west for $15,000?

[umbanda]

You are wrong... "Market" would imply that their are buyers (owner of websites) and sellers (professionals offering translation / optimization work)... since we know that the sellers are there (loads of IT companies would take such work), but nothing happens at all, it is obvious there are no buyers... no Thai company in "need" of having proper websites translated in proper English... so there is only potential but no market.

Really???? Do you think that? No Thai companies in need of translated web sites....or web optimization?......

Good marketing is what creates the market. It is an European in Chiang Mai doing very well from its small office. I met him in 2010. How?..His small Suzuki was cover with advertising of his company and service. Looks like he is a good marketer. ...that is the key for any entrepreneur success..

I am retired, from real estate business in the US, but if I was working here I will have a website in Thai, English, Russian, Chinese and optimized to be on first pages of Thailand's Google and Ho123 search...and very happy if my competition was not do it.

Your response remind me an event... In 1987 computers in the US were the size of a closet. When Steven Jobs asked IBM in 1987 for partnership in building Mac first personal computers...IBM' CEO answers was...."Who will use computers in its homes" ???? No potential in your project Mr. Jobs!

[umbanda]

Sorry, I had an interruption... let me continue

On multi-lingual:

There's really no point in pretending you can speak the language on your website, if you, or your CSO's and AM's can't.

A few years ago, one of our peers created an absolutely fantastic looking website, with professional translations into English, Japanese, Chinese, German and French. I remember catching up with them at a trade event and asking how their website was doing for them. According to them, the extra leads generated for the other languages were very minimal, and when they did get them, they serviced them terribly. The bottom line is, they said they wouldn't bother doing it again.

I can easily imagine many smaller websites/vendors have the same conundrum - what's the point of pretending you can communicate in English (or other languages) if you can't? All it does is frustrate both parties, no?

On Optimization:

There's optimization, then there's Optimization and then Optimization ...

The basics are all pretty easy to implement, and most web developers will get close even if they don't try (e.g. error-free HTML, social and meta tags, correct use of tag hierarchy e.g. <h1> <h2> <p>, mobile versions with correct size touch targets etc) - in many cases simply because most are modifying someone else's commercial template anyway

Once the basics are sorted, the next step is content - you have to give search engines something worthy of indexing and giving you some SERP on For smaller businesses, this can be really tough - it's not easy to be a boss, accountant, salesman, support operator, shipping agent and a great copywriter all at once Sure, there are any number of SEO firms that will write articles for you at $5/page, but they're rarely what you'd call quality content... Its really only businesses that have reached the size of being able to support a dedicated marketing team that can truly do a good job here. There's no point getting crappy content translated either

Once you have a good website, with great UX and great content, it then all goes down to infrastructure - improving first byte times, page load times, content delivery etc etc. There are some cheap and dirty things one can do (e.g. services like Cloudflare), but when that isn't enough, it all starts getting very expensive, and very complicated, very fast - so few business can make the case for it.

On top of all that, there's marketing - which is a whole other topic...

The tone of your OP seems to suggest you feel the skills aren't there... that's not really true - they are available, but the good workers are only a small % of the workforce, they're not particularly cheap, and they are mainly attracted to roles in big, stable companies that make for good resumes. You're not going to find a "gem" working in a corner shop...

Also, once they have a nice looking Thai corp resume, the next thing they do is move to Western country and get paid Western rates Why work in TH with a salary cap of 100K Baht/mth or so, when you can go to the West and pull $150K+ a year?

Interesting your comment. Looks like you have a lot of technical knowledge. I am not in the computers or web designing field. Just curious about, and that curiosity brought me small knowledge during the 90's, working in San Francisco with computer gurus clients and small internet companies before Google monopolized the market.

I may be wrong in my perception, but looks to me that Thailand have two types of population and two types of companies. One type live and spend in Thai, the other one live and spend in dollars or euros. This second one is full of new millionaires and entrepreneurs, and they are very well informed and pay for what they need it. If you look in the right places you will find Thai professionals in every field making the same money, or even more than in the west, working with, and servicing the right clients. And I believe that the market still open and have big potential.

[IMHO]

Sorry, I had an interruption... let me continue

On multi-lingual:

There's really no point in pretending you can speak the language on your website, if you, or your CSO's and AM's can't.

A few years ago, one of our peers created an absolutely fantastic looking website, with professional translations into English, Japanese, Chinese, German and French. I remember catching up with them at a trade event and asking how their website was doing for them. According to them, the extra leads generated for the other languages were very minimal, and when they did get them, they serviced them terribly. The bottom line is, they said they wouldn't bother doing it again.

I can easily imagine many smaller websites/vendors have the same conundrum - what's the point of pretending you can communicate in English (or other languages) if you can't? All it does is frustrate both parties, no?

On Optimization:

There's optimization, then there's Optimization and then Optimization ...

The basics are all pretty easy to implement, and most web developers will get close even if they don't try (e.g. error-free HTML, social and meta tags, correct use of tag hierarchy e.g. <h1> <h2> <p>, mobile versions with correct size touch targets etc) - in many cases simply because most are modifying someone else's commercial template anyway

Once the basics are sorted, the next step is content - you have to give search engines something worthy of indexing and giving you some SERP on For smaller businesses, this can be really tough - it's not easy to be a boss, accountant, salesman, support operator, shipping agent and a great copywriter all at once Sure, there are any number of SEO firms that will write articles for you at $5/page, but they're rarely what you'd call quality content... Its really only businesses that have reached the size of being able to support a dedicated marketing team that can truly do a good job here. There's no point getting crappy content translated either

Once you have a good website, with great UX and great content, it then all goes down to infrastructure - improving first byte times, page load times, content delivery etc etc. There are some cheap and dirty things one can do (e.g. services like Cloudflare), but when that isn't enough, it all starts getting very expensive, and very complicated, very fast - so few business can make the case for it.

On top of all that, there's marketing - which is a whole other topic...

The tone of your OP seems to suggest you feel the skills aren't there... that's not really true - they are available, but the good workers are only a small % of the workforce, they're not particularly cheap, and they are mainly attracted to roles in big, stable companies that make for good resumes. You're not going to find a "gem" working in a corner shop...

Also, once they have a nice looking Thai corp resume, the next thing they do is move to Western country and get paid Western rates Why work in TH with a salary cap of 100K Baht/mth or so, when you can go to the West and pull $150K+ a year?

Interesting your comment. Looks like you have a lot of technical knowledge. I am not in the computers or web designing field. Just curious about, and that curiosity brought me small knowledge during the 90's, working in San Francisco with computer gurus clients and small internet companies before Google monopolized the market.

I may be wrong in my perception, but looks to me that Thailand have two types of population and two types of companies. One type live and spend in Thai, the other one live and spend in dollars or euros. This second one is full of new millionaires and entrepreneurs, and they are very well informed and pay for what they need it. If you look in the right places you will find Thai professionals in every field making the same money, or even more than in the west, working with, and servicing the right clients. And I believe that the market still open and have big potential.

For a start, I guess I should point out that I'm talking from a Thai perspective, but also from two different angles - our family business (which I work very part time in), and my actual job, which is a large multinational, and pays me Western money - so I think I am able to see from both of your angles.

In the case of the family business, I guess if I wasn't involved they would go and engage with a local firm, but I also think there's no way they'd put up the kind of budget they do, if it wasn't for their trust in me - so selling quality solutions to Thai SME's is really going to be a process of educating, and I think we all know, that's not going to be easy (it's definitely not easy for me, even dealing with family).

There is a potential void to be filled though - there's plenty of SME's who have now been online for a few years, who are either looking for big refreshes (e.g. better implementations for mobile/social/ecommerce/marketing), or just plain looking to step it up to the next level. The problem I see is, starting-up in the higher-end web services space is not going to be easy - as vendors want more Baht from you, you in turn want to see things like great portfolios, case studies, and proven track records of course - and you also want to see all of this work in your particular vertical, and with peer testimonials too.

These are the barrier I see, over to you to solve them

[RichCor]

You are wrong... "Market" would imply that their are buyers (owner of websites) and sellers (professionals offering translation / optimization work)... since we know that the sellers are there (loads of IT companies would take such work), but nothing happens at all, it is obvious there are no buyers... no Thai company in "need" of having proper websites translated in proper English... so there is only potential but no market.

Really???? Do you think that? No Thai companies in need of translated web sites....or web optimization?......

Many Thai companies are very happy to ignore your 'need' for an accurately translated market services and sem very happy to continue doing business as usual. Most really can't be bothered to add the support services needed to service the market 'niche'.

When it can be proved that going after and owning the market can make them money, money, money, will they ever be sufficiently motivated to do it, and do it well.

There may be a 'need', but there also has to be a 'want' on their part ... usually dangled in front of them with dollar signs.