Ten Keys to Increasing Your Web Site's International Impact
By Richard Tindal
People and organizations generally understand the concept of the Internet's
global reach. However, few see their Web presence as international, and even
fewer have sites appropriate for audiences beyond their borders. As global
competition grows and new markets emerge, building an effective international
Web presence is becoming ever more critical. Consider:
- By the end of 2003, worldwide business-to-business e-commerce
revenues are projected to top $1.4 trillion.
- The volume of Internet traffic is projected to double every year
for the next five years - meaning users will, at that time, share
the equivalent of the U.S. Library of Congress 64,000 times over,
every day.
- The number of Internet users worldwide surpassed 665 million
in 2002, and is expected to top one billion by 2005.
- China has the second largest Internet user population in the
world, with only five percent of its population is online. This
figure grows more than 50 percent annually.
- In Bahrain, 22 percent of the population is online - a number
expected to reach 32 percent by 2005 - while Internet penetration
in the United Arab Emirates is 28 percent, compared to the European
average of 24 percent.
- 53 percent of South Koreans and 54 percent of Japanese Internet
users go online at least once a month.
- The number of people with Internet access in Africa jumped 46.4
percent from 2000 to 2001, surpassing the 36.2 percent growth rate
in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Increasing a Web site's international impact doesn't have to mean
deployment in 60 languages with global e-commerce capabilities. Sites
must walk before they can run. Here are ten keys to consider when
launching an effort to grow the international savvy of your Web site.
1. Start with the domain extension. U.S. organizations tend toward
.COM, .ORG and .US extensions. In China, .CN is prevalent. In Brazil,
it's .BR. When focusing on a particular country, a country code domain
always makes sense. (It's always a good idea to protect an organization's
name, products and other intellectual property by purchasing country
codes.) The best solution for businesses is .BIZ, the most geographically
diverse extension and, as research has shown, .BIZ is used more often
used for "serious" business than .COM.
2. Check organization and domain name translations. Sometimes, the
translation of an organization's name, product, or Web site address
overseas can have unintended meanings. Remember the lesson Chevrolet
learned when they introduced the "Nova" in Spanish-speaking
countries where "no va" translates to "doesn't go".
Sales were dismal. To ensure this basic step is done right the first
time, work with an international language expert.
3. Design for low bandwidth. The farther the distance and the bigger
the file, the greater the chance that a Web page won't arrive at
its foreign destination. In places like China and the former Soviet
bloc countries, most people rely on dial-up connections - so think
twice about uploading that dazzling Flash animation, as users may
leave your site before it loads!
4. Build trust through information. People in many cultures want
to do business with companies they respect and trust. In some cultures,
a company's "value statement" carries more weight than
a brand name. Make sure your site provides detailed information about
your organization, its beliefs and its executive leadership.
5. Register with in-country and language-appropriate search engines.
Most countries have their own search engines. Additionally, general-interest
search engines, such as Google, provide search capabilities in a
wide variety of languages. To make the site easy for prospective
customers to find, take the time to register in multiple languages
and locations.
6. Speak like a native. In many countries the international language
of business is English, but not always. If consumers are your primary
targets, always offer a native language version unless market research
indicates otherwise. Here, you must make two important decisions:
which languages to use, and how to translate them. In looking at
the language issue for the short and long terms, it's important to
weigh the benefits of human translators versus translation software.
While handy, some software can be inaccurate and easily lead to miscommunication
that could derail the entire effort.
7. Be patient. People, businesses and cultures are all willing to
change and adapt to new ideas, but it doesn't happen overnight. Be
prepared for a sufficient amount of time to go by before realizing
a full return on investment.
8. Level the paying field. While many businesses and consumers around
the globe hold American Express, MasterCard and Visa cards, some
regions have their own brands such as Asia's JCB. If your site is
e-commerce enabled, take steps to ensure that your international
customers can easily make payments and you can easily receive cash.
9. Be culturally aware. As challenging as this can be, it's important
to put forth every effort to avoid offending prospective buyers of
other cultures. For instance, a photograph of a person patting a
child on the head would be considered rude by Thais, many cultures
find the sight of the bottom of the feet or soles of the shoes to
be an insult and many African-Americans are offended by the Confederate
flag. Well executed, a culturally aware site also can have a positive
impact on in-country prospects from other cultures as well.
10. Keep the due diligence. The Internet is international, but in
many places and ways it is still unexplored territory. Don't throw
caution to the wind, instead, make decisions based on sound business
principles and research. Determine where your target markets are
now - and where they will be in three to five years - and concentrate
there, exploring the range of possible scenarios before determining
an acceptable level of risk.
For information and resources to help increase your Web site's international
impact, and to learn more about the .BIZ, .US and .CN domain extensions,
visit www.dotbiz.biz.
Richard Tindal is Vice President of Registry Services for NeuStar.
NeuStar and its subsidiary NeuLevel manage the global Internet
domain registries for .BIZ, .US and .CN. To learn more about NeuStar's
other products and services, visit www.neulevel.biz.
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