Our previous article, “Hispanic Online Best Practices: Access,” discussed techniques for providing access to a Hispanic online program. Now we will specifically address URL strategies for Hispanic online initiatives.
A URL is the most important and direct form of access to a given Website. When looking at the URLs of sites that target the Hispanic online market we find many approaches that can be grouped into four top-level strategies:
Dedicated branded URL A dedicated branded URL is a standalone URL that is used for a Hispanic Website that contains the brand of a given company or organization. Examples include, http://www.comidakraft.com, http://www.fordenespanol.com, and http://www.cervezatecate.com.
Dedicated unbranded URL A dedicated unbranded URL is a standalone URL that is used for a Hispanic Website that does not contain the brand of a given company or organization, so the user does not necessarily know who sponsors the site. Examples include http://www.colesterol.com, http://www.elparche.com, and http://www.espanol.gov.
Subdomain With a subdomain URL strategy, a Hispanic online program is hosted within a subdomain of a main Website. Examples include http://salud.nih.gov, http://espanol.officedepot.com, and http://espanol.vzwshop.com.
Subfolder A Hispanic online program hosted within a folder of a main Website is referred to a as a subfolder URL strategy. Examples include http://www.wellsfargo.com/spanish, http://www.southwest.com/vamonos, and http://www.cdc.gov/spanish.
When considering a URL for your Hispanic online program, we recommend a dedicated branded URL, as it will lend credibility and familiarity. There are, however, some cases where branded URLs are not appropriate—for example, when the main objective of a Website is not to build a brand but rather to support a particular program.
The benefits of a dedicated URL include
offline marketing. A dedicated URL is best suited for offline marketing purposes. Promoting a Website through print, television, radio, or grassroots methods is most effective with a dedicated URL, as it is much to remember and type. Many times a dedicated URL is used for offline marketing and redirects to a subdomain or subfolder due to technical issues.
signal of commitment. With a dedicated URL, your company is sending a message to online Hispanics that they are as important as the general market and worthy of their own URL.
improved search engine optimization. Search engines tend to rank sites with dedicated URLs higher than sites that exist within subfolders or subdomains.
easier tracking. By using a dedicated URL you can better track your Hispanic online initiatives. Services such as comScore Media Metrix and Nielsen/NetRatings tend to report on Websites that have dedicated URLs.
When developing a dedicated URL for your Hispanic site, it is important to take a couple of technical, language, and cultural implications into account. From a technical perspective, URLs do not support special characters or accents. This is the reason that we see “espanol” in their URLs of many Hispanic Websites instead of “español.” If your Hispanic online program is in Spanish, it is advisable to use Spanish in your URL and not English. From a cultural perspective, make sure that your URL is ethnically and racially sensitive, and remember that “Hispanic” is a census term and not really appropriate in the URL of a Hispanic online program.
Lee Vann is the cofounder of Captura Group, a leading Hispanic interactive services firm. He was recently recognized by the Interactive Advertising Bureau as one of the top 10 Hispanic online pioneers.
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