In light of the fact that we have found it difficult to find an online resource that provides multi-lingual Internet marketers with Arabic translations of commonly used SEO terms we created such a glossary in this blog post.  Since the Arabic SEO industry is still relatively young in the Middle East some who read this post may use other SEO jargon not listed here or may have alternate Arabic translations or definitions for the vocabulary below.  This list is a work in progress, so your suggestions are welcome in the comment section below in English or in Arabic.  Also, new jargon comes into use on at least a yearly basis, so if you see a new term missing from this list, be sure to post and let us know. (more…)

The Middle East is currently a focus for many Western companies looking to expand their reach and take advantage of this region’s fruitful opportunities. Conducting business in the Middle East and the Arab World means forging international partnerships and bridging cultural gaps: a solid foundation of cross-cultural understanding and respect should be established to ensure success. IstiZada is here to help – our guide on Arab business meetings will give you a comprehensive overview of what you need to know about making the most of Middle East business meetings.

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If you are running PPC campaigns in multiple languages its important to know the character limits for each line within your Google Adwords ad to best utilize the ad space provided to you. However, if you wanted to run an Arabic PPC campaign you might be surprised to find that there is a lot of conflicting information on the web about character limits for Arabic ad texts. Many websites that discuss this topic reference information that is out dated or inaccurate. These sites appear to state that your ad title should be 12 characters and each line of the ad text should be just 17 Arabic characters but this isn’t accurate. By doing a search for any product that will bring up Arabic ads within the Middle East region you quickly realize that Arabic advertisement texts are much longer than the limits mentioned above.

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Online marketing in the Middle East can be extremely rewarding for those who are willing to engage in this rapidly growing region. With many market niches with little to no competition in the region those who invest wisely could see huge returns. Despite this, there are still many mistakes that companies seeking to grow their online presence in the region can make. Some mistakes can decrease a company’s potential return in the region while other mistakes could result in tarnishing a company’s reputation in the region. In this post I will highlight 6 common online marketing mistakes that companies new to the region often make.

1. Forgetting to optimize your website for mobile

Regardless of where you live in the world smart phone usage rates are going up significantly.  Growth in smart phone usage in the Middle East surpasses most regions in the world. In Saudi Arabia for example more than 60% of the population has adopted smartphones. Failing to make your website mobile friendly in both Arabic and English could cost you leads and sales. (more…)