subject: Understand The Subtleties Of Going International [print this page] We are living in a global economy so you might correctly reason that you should take advantage of the Internet's global reach by extending your business into other cultures.
Conceptually that approach makes good sense, but there are some considerations that you take into account as you re-orient your web site for global sales.
Do not select new target markets based on existing analytics
You may look at your website analytics and discover that you are selling a certain amount of your product to German customers. That discovery might lead you to believe that if you translated your website into German you would increase sales to all of the other German people who would have the same tendency to use your product but can not access it due to language barriers.
The problem here is that you may find that the German people who find your website are searching based on your English keyword because that is how they expect to find what they are looking for. If you translate that keyword into German, it would not necessarily bring you more German people because they are not actually looking for that search word or they are not generally interested as a group.
On the other hand, if you look beyond your own analytics to find out how your product is translated in other languages and do this keyword searches, you may find that Italian and French people buy lots of products like yours. Translate your site into Italian and French may bring you a flood of new business that could not locate your site before.
Using translators
One of the biggest mistakes business owners make in going international is to under spend on translation services. If you do not use a native speaker who understands the subtleties of the two languages, you can make hideous mistakes that you will never know you have made; you just would not get the business you are expecting.
This is especially true when it comes to keyword translation. Search terms of phrases are very frequently colloquial, e.g., buy boom box. Or, consider the word cellophane. If you sell cellophane in the U.S., you may be selling a sticky tape or a membrane used in dialysis or even clear plastic wrap for foods. In the UK and other European countries, however, cellophane is a registered trademark of Innovia Films Ltd and specifically means material made out of regenerated cellulose.
You can see the problem between two English speaking countries; just imagine what you might miss with a poor translation of your keyword into Swahili or Chinese.
Domain names
If you want to sell your potpourri in Poland, do not translate your website into Polish and just give Polish speakers the ability to click on the Polish flag icon when they arrive. Instead, buy the appropriate Polish domain name if you can. So Pattyspotpourri DOT com becomes pattyspotpourri DOT com DOT pl. This country specific domain extension gives your site credibility in the eyes of the group you are trying to attract.
Your potential Polish customers would not worry that you might not know how to ship to Poland (do you?) if they can see that you are committed enough to maintaining a Polish website.
The global economy is a wonderful promise, but you need to realize the value with care.
