There is a tremendous opportunity for great traffic when you promote your website to foreign markets. If you don’t create a global web strategy you are missing out on some 80% of internet users worldwide. English speakers no longer represent the majority of internet users and online buyers prefer to interact with a website in their own language so creating a global website makes sense.
Creating a successful website with a cohesive brand in multiple languages is not an easy task. It requires a well defined global web marketing strategy. You will need to adjust your web presence to target specific people groups in their native language keeping in mind the cultural, linguistic, and business context of the targeted audience. One aspect of the goal of the global web strategy will be to improve the website experience for each potential customer.
Some companies simply translate their website into numerous languages and assume this will serve as a global website that will be effective throughout the world. The problem with this approach is that these sites rarely engage regional audiences in a meaningful way. A simple language translation doesn’t take into account the cultural differences in a country or region.
Another unsuccessful approach that some companies take is to give local company locations total control of the localized website. This approach can compromise the overall web design strategy and international marketing plan of the company. Local offices can stray from the defined website strategy and produce sites that greatly vary from the original plan. The multiple sites can become so different that the only thing they have in common is the company logo. This can leave audiences confused and the brand weakened.
One of the best approaches to a global website strategy is to bring together corporate as well as local company representatives from the beginning of the project and work cooperatively to create a website and marketing strategy for that region. The team should work to establish a time table and set goals for each country as well as establish globalization success metrics.
By creating a team from the outset that will work together with corporate representatives working to ensure brand preservation and provide some defined publishing guides for the different countries, and local representatives working to develop programs that will resonate with the targeted audience you will create a more successful global website.
