Some small businesses are truly global companies. So it stands to reason that visitors to those companies’ websites may want a different experience, one that’s specific to their location.
A new product — a Web plugin called GeoIP for WordPress — allows site owners exactly that ability. It’s the first consumer-ready product from WP Engine, a service as a software (SaaS) company. The back-end site plug-in is meant specifically for WordPress sites.
GeoIP for WordPress allows site owners to tailor content to visitors based on their location.
That includes content like language, currency, and even target-specific content, including ads.
Tomas Puig, WP Engine Labs’ director, says in a company statement:
“WP Engine is committed to driving better solutions for makers and marketers at global brands who are looking to improve the customer experience and be more effective with their marketing strategy. WP Engine Labs continues to provide innovative solutions built directly into the WP Engine platform, without hindering the world-class performance our customers expect from us.”
So, if Canadian visitors to a company’s e-commerce site want to make a purchase, they’d likely prefer prices in Canadian dollars.
If sites cater to foreign audiences, they won’t have to worry about another step to translate it. French or Russian speaking visitors will see your site in their native language. And that includes ad content as well. Visitors to sites will see ads that are more relevant to where they’re based.
One company in particular says that adding GeoIP for WordPress to its site has resulted in better visitor experiences.
On the official WP Engine blog, Matthew Hogg, the development lead with Blue Ant Media, explains:
“GeoIP has allowed us to serve up much more relevant advertisements to our visitors based on what is going on around them at that specific point in time, greatly improving the effectiveness of our campaigns. As soon as we installed the plugin, we gained immediate access to country, region, and city data for any visitor on any page of our site, all without having to worry about page caches, client-side implementations, or third-party Web services.”
The specialized content can be individualized down to a person’s ZIP code, the company claims.
GeoIP for WordPress works within the EverCache system on a WordPress site. Doing so allows the plug-in to detect a visitor’s location without using a third-party service.
This also ensures that the plug-in does not impact the speed at which a site loads.
GeoIP is available to WP Engine customers. They have to be subscribed to the WP Engine Business plan, however.
That plan is available for $249 per month.
Image: WP Engine/Facebook
I’m curious what the impact is on web crawlers. What content do they see on the page? Does it look spammy if they see code that changes content?
I am also using wordPress Website and was curious to implement that into my website. But price looks a bit higher.
Thanks,
Umar
(http://www.acesoftech.com)
So now it is possible huh? Bloggers used to want this before. They even wanted a page that will instantly translate itself based on who is viewing it. I guess this is a little close to it.
Ok, despite probable problems with spammy looks when you translate automatically, I wonder is it possible for user to see original content? So, when user from Canada is shown canadian version of site, is it possible for him to check out US version?
thx
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