SBI Websites in Foreign Languageis

Do you want to use the Site Build It package to build a website in a foreign language? That's possible, and even recommended. But there are a couple of things you need to consider.

Site Build It, or SBI in short, is the only complete package worldwide that enables people to start a website and an online business.

SBI contains all the necessary tools to succeed online. For more information, read our Site Build It Review.

There simply is no similar alternative, and foreign language markets lack such a product completely. It is therefore a logical choice to consider SBI for foreign languages as well.

But, the first problem arises when reading SBI's descriptions, which are in English. Some parts of especially the Action Guide can be a bit difficult to read if English is not your native language.

Are there translated versions of the Action Guide?

No, unfortunately there are none, and there will probably never be one.

The Action Guide is updated continuously, describing new modules and possibilities. It would cost SiteSell (the company producing SBI) too much time to maintain versions in other languages as well.

And the same holds for us, or other companies interested in translating SBI. It would cost too much of our time. And the copyright restricts it as well.

So, in order to use SBI in for websites in foreign languages, one should at least understand English (or outsource building the website of course).

A minor setback, but if you can read this text, at least you can use SBI as well. But it may become a bit difficult where some technical details are described.

Since SBI is chopping the difficult things up in doable parts, I think you can overcome that problem.

What about the Brainstorm tools?

In 2007 Sitesell changed the complete setup of Brainstorm It! Instead of using external databases, Sitesell uses its own database now.

Since then, the results are supposed to be more reliable. And Sitesell is now able to give it's own interpretation of data, leading to what they call "Value Demand" and "Real Supply".

The new Brainstorm It! is seen as a big improvement. But for websites in foreign languages it's a disaster. The new tools do not work for foreign keywords, and have become useless if your website is not in English.

Is there an alternative for Brainstorm It?

The Internet has a number of other tools to search for keywords. The Google Adwords Tool is the best one, and supports most foreign languages.

Unfortunately, this and other tools only return the search volume, the number of times people searched for the keyword. What is lacking, is the amount of competition for each keyword, the supply.

Therefore, we decided to develop our own keyword analysis tool. Even if you will not use SBI, this is a good start for your succesful website, and it can be used for foreign languages.

Does SBI support foreign domain names?

Unfortunately, no. That's a drawback, since in most countries it is common to use the local domain extension. But in our experience, using a .com domain will not be harmful for your success.

With the exception of some local ones, search engines will hardly notice the extension. Google, for instance, uses other methods to determine where to localize a website.

And if you do require a local domain extension, there are a few possibilities. You can redirect that domain to the .com domain, or create a mirror at a local provider.

Finally, SBI is also investigating the possibilities to host foreign domain extensions. So it may be possible to use those with SBI in the future.

Supported character sets

SBI's Block Builder accepts all ASCII characters, as well as all common accents.

But, those accents are not accepted in the Meta tags for title, keywords, and descriptions. Not a big problem, but as a result, Analyze It will not work with keywords with accents.

Other characters, as the german Ringel-S, are supported if you use the HTML codes for them. That is not a big problem, unless you use Cyrilic writing, or other completely different character sets. For these, there are tools on the Internet to convert them to HTML codes.

Standard texts in forms and newsletters

The biggest drawback of using SBI for foreign languages, is that SBI uses some standard English texts, which are not adjustable.

Examples of these standard texts are in the confirmation e-mails of the newsletters, but also some texts in the forms.

It is possible to change the form texts, by uploading your own HTML pages. And in the newsletter confirmations you can add text in your own language, explaining what is said in English.

Other modules

Most other modules in Site Build It are OK to use for foreign websites as well. But please note these non-adjustable English items in optional modules:

Value Exchange (a module for exchanging links with other websites) will hardly return non-English websites
Socialize It only supports the social networks popular in the USA
Content2.0, an extra module, also uses non-asdjustable English texts
The forums are in English only

In addition to these, Site Build It is permanently in development. Socialize It, for instance, is a module very recently introduced. There will probably be other modules introduced, which are not easily adjusted for foreign languages.

BUT, Sitesell recognizes that there is a demand for adjusting SBI for foreign websites. Therefore, adjustments are currently being made, so that foreign languages are better supported in the near future.

We will be following these developments from up close...

Conclusion: Start Using SBI for foreign websites!

The above might seem like quite a list. But in our opinion, the drawbacks are smaller than the benefits of using Site Build It.

Simply put: there is no good alternative, and we have the living proof of having successful websites in a different language (Dutch, in our case).

In case you do decide to use SBI for a website in your own language, our advise is to start with our Keyword Analysis Tool and Guide. It is a good replacement for SBI's Brainstorm It, which you will definately need for your successful website, whether you use SBI or not.

If you decide to buy SBI later (or right now), we will refund the costs for our tool to you. In other words, you will get our keyword analysis tool as a bonus, if you buy SBI! You will only have to Contact us, and follow our instructions to get the refund.

Are you interested? Then read more about our Keyword Analysis Tool

Go directly to the Site Build It order page

And if you need support building your SBI website in your own language, just contact us, and we'll help you out.

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