Week 38 In Review

Want to know what else I have been up to this week?

Here is a list of the thoughts, ideas, requests and articles I published this past week.

On Get International Clients

As usual, the Sunday Blog Carnival starts off this week:

• Get International Clients Sunday Blog Carnival #19

Guide 2 - Plan Your International Road Map

• How Do I Get International Business?
• What Is An Internationalized Website?
• What Is An International Website?
• How Fast Can You Internationalize A Website?

Guide 3 - Design Your International Visibility

• Pre-qualification - Not Prejudgment

On Cindy King .biz

This is where I share more of my personal opinions, experiences and frustrations… on anything cross-cultural and on international business.

Uniquely Cindy

The weekend’s links to marketing articles and book review:

• International Marketer Review Blog Carnival #17
• Online Competitive Intelligence By Helen P. Burwell

International Business Development

• Up-Sell Expectations Across Cultures
• Learning International Skills From A Course Or A Book

Cross-Cultural Communication

• Is Your Political Correctness Hindering Your International Communication?
• Take Time To Communicate Effectively With Different Cultures

International Content Creation

• Translation Friendly International English

… and what have you been up to this week?

Let me know if you have come across anything interesting on the vaste subject of international business development on the web.

How Fast Can You Internationalize A Website

Quick answers to…

Today’s question is:

How fast can you internationalize a website?

First, the short answer: It depends on two things:

• The extent to which you want to and can internationalize your website.
• How culturally specific your website is today.

Now, the long answer.

Let’s clarify a key point.

• What is an internationalized website?

On Get International Clients, I refer to two different types of websites:

• An International Website
• An Internationalized Website

Have a look at those links if you do not understand the difference.

Time To Go International

So, how fast can adapt your website for an international audience?

For an Internationalized Website, using your existing website, there are two options:

1 - A Few Days

It can take as little as a couple of days to have a small website “edited” to stop pushing away international visitors.

This involves:

• Smoothing over any strong culture-specific areas, and only when there are a few of them
• Reviewing content for clarity and consistency - simplifying the experience for everyone, domestic and international audiences alike

2 - A Few Weeks

It can take several weeks to do a comparative analysis between your domestic market and one primary foreign culture.

This involves:

• All of the steps above
• Identifying the appropriate cultural web tools and touches you can make
• Testing results on both your domestic website and your foreign markets
• Ongoing testing and tracking process as you develop your new markets

For an International Website -

Several Weeks To Several Months

It can take several weeks, and much longer, to create an International Website.

This involves:

• Creating a website, in some cases, from scratch

And, of course, the time you need depends on the:

• Complexity of the website you need
• Level of international business intelligence you have
• Scope of your project
• Place you start

However, given that most companies use their International Websites to develop the website templates they will use for planned Localized Websites, you also need to plan for additional strategy on how to create what will be your first international template.  This involves extra coordination between all of the team involved.

Read More On Website Internationalization

Website Internationalization Guide • How easy is it to set up an international website?Read about your international communication platform options.

More To Plan Your International Business Development

Guide 2 - Plan Your International Sales Road Map

What Is An International Website

Quick answers to…

Today’s question is:

What is an international website?

An International Website is slightly different to an Internationalized Website.

An International Website can be considered as a precursor to a Global Website.

Its communication is targeted to one unique international audience. One website for every country in the world.

An international website can also be a Regional Website, targeting a specific group of countries, if the regional message is more international than specific to that region.

Disadvantages

Targeting one broad range of countries limits your marketing effectiveness.

To get the best results you need to target your communication directly to each and every culture you sell to. This means several different websites. One localized website for each country you sell to.

Advantages

An international website is useful in the interim period before you know where to create your localized websites.

You can start international marketing efforts here, and plan for more localized websites as you get enough international business intelligence to do so.

And you can get international business intelligence using marketing tactics easily from your International Website.  In fact, this will probably be the main reason for setting up your International Website.

Another key advantage of an International Website is that you will “practice” and perfect many different aspects of doing international business online:

• Your website templates
• Your international communication
• The need for a company and industry specific glossary
• Online procedures covering all aspects of your business

This is a good choice for:

• Non-native English speaking companies
• Companies that know they want to expand to Localized Websites or country-specific sub domains.  These country specific sub domains or sub-categories can be attached to the International Website.

Again, you need to move from your International Website towards more culture and country specific communication for best international results.

• Sub-categories or sub domains on your International Website
• Country specific Localized Websites

Read More On Website Internationalization

Website Internationalization Guide • How easy is it to set up an international website?Read about your international communication platform options.

More To Plan Your International Business Development

Guide 2 - Plan Your International Sales Road Map

What Is An Internationalized Website

Quick answers to…

Today’s question is:

What is an internationalized website?

An Internationalized Website is slightly different to an International Website.

An Internationalized Website sells primarily to a domestic audience. Its communication is targeted to this audience.

In addition, this communication is edited to appeal to international readers as much as it can without taking anything away from its domestic appeal.

These edits are usually very subtle.

The main difference, when compared to an International Website, is the Internationalized Website continues to communicate well with its original market.

Good Web Marketing = Good International Website

Sometimes you only need to improve the level of good web marketing practices on your website.

And, that’s all you need to stop pushing international visitors away.

Good web marketing practices provide you with a website with a strong communication.  This good communication usually increases the level of your online cross-cultural communication too.

Starting With A Strong Culture-Specific Website

Problems occur when the communication on your website is very strongly impregnated with your local culture.  This is usually done with:

• Local vocabulary and expressions
• Colors with particular significance
• Mention of local events, places and people
• Appealing to culturally specific emotional buttons

If you have culture-specific website, it is probably not be a good idea to revise your web content if it is working well in your domestic market. You will probably do best to target your international markets with a separate International Website. Or, country-specific websites if you have sufficient international business intelligence on your markets.

And, even if your website is not culture-specific, you may decide to keep your first website and create a second website for your international market.  You can then differentiate your communication and your marketing.

Cultural Web Tools

You also have another option…

If you only want to market to one or two foreign countries, you can add a few further modifications to appeal more to those cultures. When you know more about the cultures you are writing for, you can often tweak your Internationalized Website to trigger better responses from your international readers.  Use cultural web tools to increase your appeal to different cultures.

These modifications will apply to your website architecture.  You need to test and track results to really get your website to work for both your domestic market and one or two different countries.

And it does not always work.  Sometimes you will not be able to sell effectively to both your domestic market and your foreign markets from the same website. The cultures just might not mix well.

Your solution would be to create a second website for a broad international audience or to create localized websites for each foreign culture you are targeting.

Advantages

The main advantages of internationalizing your website are:

• You stop pushing international clients away
• It raises your website to good web marketing standards
• It is quick and easy to do…if your website is not too culture specific for your domestic audience

Internationalizing your website can be part of your overall website improvement strategy.

This is an option to promote communication with international readers if you have a very small budget.  You can the expand to

• Create country-specific sub-categories or sub domains on your main website.
• An International Website
• Or move directly to a Localized Website

Disadvantages

You really need to move onto more culturally targeted communication if you are serious about developing your international markets.  Plan for this as soon as you can.

Read More On Website Internationalization

Website Internationalization Guide • How easy is it to set up an international website?Read about your international communication platform options.

More To Plan Your International Business Development

Guide 2 - Plan Your International Sales Road Map

How To Set Up Your Communication Platform

If you are just beginning to define your international marketing plan, one of your first decisions will be how you set up your international communication platform.

Let’s review the different ways you can set up your international website.

Internationalize Your Current Website

This can be an easy way out if you are beginning to sell your products abroad. It simply involves editing your website to become as neutral as possible, and stimulating more international interaction.

Marketing Phase: It can work for a company in the Export Marketing phase.

When not to use: if your content is too culturally specific for your current market needs.

One Separate International Website

This is often a good idea if you know your company will move towards several country specific websites. You use one url for all of your international clients. Some companies keep a separate url for their original domestic market.

• www.internationalcompany.com
• www.mothercompany.com

Marketing Phase: Again this is a good solution for Export Marketing. It is also a good base to start with when moving towards a Global Website.

When not to use: There is no real reason not to use an International Website. You do not need one if you are only going to market to one or two specific foreign countries and have no plans to expand further.

Your Main Website With Sub Directories

This option is very easy to set up. People usually use this option if they do not have basic webmaster skills to set up Sub Domains.

• www.company.com/country

Marketing Phase: This is an option for all marketing phases. I think it is more a question of the size of your foreign markets. This is an option used by smaller endeavors.

When not to use: If you have lots of foreign content, it is probably better to use Sub Domains instead.

Your Main Website With Sub Domains

This is an option if you do not know how fast your international business will grow in specific countries. This option gives you the flexibility to have foreign content without a lot of extra website management.

You will probably need your webmaster to set this up. But it is very easy to do. It is also easy to manage all of the foreign content.

• www.country.company.com

Marketing Phase: This is an option for all marketing phases. If you are in the Export Marketing or International Marketing phase, you can let your international business grow using this platform before moving to Localized Websites.

When not to use: If you know you need the extra marketing power of Localized Websites and do not want to lose time migrating one to the other. It might not be the ideal platform for Global Marketing.

The Main Factors To Help You Find Your Ideal Solution

As you can see from your choices above, there are several factors that will come into your decision process.

Easy To Manage

Most mid-sized companies think they need to start off with Localized Websites. This was the norm a few years ago. Recent improvements in international search engine results make Sub Domains a viable option. Sub Domains are much easier to manage. You will not need any extra expertise once the Sub Domains are set up.

Designed For Expansion

The most important thing you need to consider is programming future expansion.

Plan to implement the use of templates early on. Have a look now at what will cause you problems when you want to use templates later.

Designing your current website needs for future expansion will save you time and money when you are ready to move on to more country specific marketing.

Cost

Companies want to control their investment. This is hard to do when web marketing continually changes and improves. If you are just starting to expand internationally you should plan on adapting your website as your international markets expand.

Today Localized Websites with country specific urls are still considered to be more powerful marketing tools in some countries and in some industries. This trend might be different next year, or the year after. Localized Websites require some additional website management and costs

Having one main website with a Sub Domain for each country is a cost effective option today. It might not give you the same marketing clout in some foreign countries as a Localized Website.

Some companies promote country specific urls and then re-direct the link back to the appropriate Sub Domain on their main website.

Foreign Language Translations

Many companies get stuck with regards to foreign content. If you are just starting to develop internationally here are some basics to get you quickly unstuck.

• All sales are easier to make if you make them in the clients native language.
• Human translations are the only ones you should consider to use for any sales materials.
• Website templates are very cost effective for website translations.
• You don’t need to translate everything all at once - see reference to templates just above.

Your foreign clients might still buy from you if you market to them in your own language. If so this will give you valuable market information weeks and months before your translations are ready. This market information will probably also give you better information on what you need to translate and how to sell to this foreign market.

Remember, if you start off selling to foreign markets without translations, plan on using them as soon as your international market have proven its viability.

Another important point to remember, Localized Websites involve translating all of your business online: content, website, and sales strategies. This requires intimate market knowledge for each country you are selling to.

Avoid Analysis Paralysis

This decision might be a difficult one to evaluate. You may think your international success depends on how you set up your international websites.

This is not true. Your international success depends on how much you interact with your foreign markets.

The sooner you start connecting with your international markets, the faster you will learn how to adapt your offer to different cultures and expand your international business.

The communication tools you use to connect with your international audience and how you stimulate feedback is even more important.