According to a recent EU report, 2 of the main obstacles faced by UK businesses who are exporting for the first time are language and cultural barriers, and how best to promote their websites using SEO and online advertising.
The first step in trading internationally is to localise your website. This way, you can gain enquiries and orders from overseas customers with only a small investment – with even just one or two pages translated into foreign languages you can use your website to “test the water” in a number of countries at once, and see which ones gain you the most web traffic.
By monitoring the visitors to your localised webpages, you can choose the countries which warrant extra investment and focus on marketing your product or service there.
Localising your site is the first step, but without effective online marketing, no-one will be able to find it. Many theories and myths exist about the best methods of SEO, but keywords, the layout and content of your site, and inbound links all play their part.
Pay-per-click advertising is also another weapon in the online marketing arsenal, and can yield quick results – but in order to top the search engine listings, you’ll find that the cost keeps rising, so this is best used for launches and to boost traffic as a short-term measure. Unless you have an infinite marketing budget, of course (if only)!
For more on how to localise key pages of your website for foreign markets, and optimising your multilingual websites, please get in touch – we have a wealth of experience in this field and are only too happy to help.
8 September 2009 08:35