Web Site Globalization & Localization

Reaching an International Audience Through

Web Site Globalization & Localization

Having a Web site means that anyone anywhere can view your company’s products and services. Expanding your reach to a global audience produces several questions:

• How do you market to a target audience in a foreign country?
• Is it expensive?
• Do you need to have someone on staff that knows the language?
• How do you get ranked on foreign search engines?
• Does the entire site need to be translated?
• What is localization and Web globalization?
• How effective is translation software?
• Is it worth it?

These are all great questions in which we can answer. The last question “is it worth it?” is especially important. It’s a question we often hear.

Consider these statistics from an April 2022 report from Internetworldstats.com

• 5 billion+ people use the Internet world wide
• Of this total, 4.65 billion were social media users
• English is spoken by approximately 1.5 Billion Internet users
• In 2021, North America had approximately 417 million internet users
• Asia represents 53.4% of all Internet users
• Internet usage in Europe is 14.3%

Just sheer numbers would indicate that considering Website localization and globalization would be worth considering. The numbers also indicate that if you only market to North America you are missing about 80% of total Internet users.

“(ePlus Marketing's).. expertise in web design and internet marketing has helped us increase our international web presence by 25%. We highly recommend (ePlus Marketing) to anybody wanting to Go Global Online!”
Susanne Evens, AAA Translation

According to Export America, statistics indicate that a customer is twice as likely to stay at a web site, and four times as likely to purchase goods or services, if the site is in his or her native language. According to Forrester Research, businesses that present Web sites only in English lose up to $10 million in potential sales per year

Marketing your products or services globally can dramatically increase your revenue if you do it effectively. How can you do it effectively?

Here are a few tips when dealing with Web globalization:

• Research the countries laws, culture and product use/need
• Think beyond U.S. English
• Consider a Web globalization strategy BEFORE a site redesign
• Know the country's top search engines
• Do not use language translation software
• Build a internationalized Web site

How do you know if your site is internationalized? Chances are if you are not sure then it is probably not. Internationally ready means that your site can easily be translated and localized for a foreign language.

Translating, Web globalization and localization are often not enough. To truly penetrate a country's culture the site should be culturally customized.  Dr. Arun Pereira, co-author of The Culturally Customized Web Site© has recently partnered with ePlus Marketing to provide our clients special insight to achieving a site that is truly customized culturally.

If you are already marketing to a global audience and want to do more or just considering it contact us to see if Web Globalization makes sense for you.

Some of our most recent success with some of our clients:

• Increased international Web visitors by 179%
• Increased targeted country Web site visitors by over 300%
• Increased the percent of total revenue by foreign companies by 25%
• Increased Web ranking on foreign search engines to the first page
• Increased Web site visits referred by foreign search engines by 251%
• Increased conversion ratio for international customers by 150%

Also visit our Links page for to see some useful sites regarding International Trade, Web Globalization and translation. At ePlus Marketing, our Internet marketing strategies and services can assist with your local, regional and international projects.

Contact us today about Web site globalization and Web site localization.

International Affiliations & Website Globalization Certifications:

Here's Why Most People Work with Us

Most of our clients tell us that they want to take their business to "the next level". Of course the "next level" is defined by them and is different for most people in some regards. When you boil it down it ultimately comes to increasing sales, market share and profitability. Here's a list of what clients tell us about their previous situation:

• They're tired of getting the same excuses from their current agency.
• They figured out their current provider is really only good at programming or design.
• They thought they hired a marketing company but they really only push one or two things.
• They've heard about website conversion but not from their web company.
• They are tired of their marketing not working and they are researching alternative solutions.
• Until they came to us they never had a marketing company talk to them about conversion rates, profit margins, or marketing and sales processes and systems.
• Our proprietary 7-Step Digital Marketing Supercharged Process©

If you find yourself making similar statements we can help. Schedule your first appointment now. We'll review your current situation and see if we are a good match for your needs.

Schedule Your Appointment Now!

When we met Brad, he was a new Global Market Development Manager at Solutia. Solutia is an international plastics material and resin manufacturing company. Brad managed a brand called Vydyne, a nylon plastic pellet sold by the ton worldwide. These plastic pellets go into the manufacturing of a variety of products, from airplane parts to executive chairs. Solutia is a spinoff from Monsanto and did not have a marketing department. The new spinoff left marketing up to individual global market managers.  

Meet Brad, from
Solutia, International Manufacturer

Brad's main problem was that Vydyne's website wasn't generating leads or supporting the sales staff. He also knew the site did not represent the brand and looked unimpressive. Programmers had built it without a thought for lead generation, user experience, or sales support and, most importantly, it was not globalized for international use.

ePlus Marketing competed for this project against several of the largest advertising agencies in St. Louis. Brad was impressed by our expertise, which was evident in the questions we asked. Unlike the other agencies, we gave him an approach based on return on investment. He also needed a firm that understood international digital marketing, because he had to increase sales throughout Europe and Asia, with eight main target countries, especially China. That meant the website had to go beyond simply translating the text into each country's language. Everything had to be localized and culturally customized, from colors and the types and styles of images to male and female imagery.

The results were astounding. Within a year, website traffic increased by over 120%. The site ranked on the first page of Google, Yahoo, and Baidu (China's search engine), often in the first position. Website conversion increased by over 300%, giving the sales staff more leads, and the results were far beyond Brad's expectations. Before Brad hired us, the Vydyne website and online marketing produced approximately $9,000 in gross profits a month. With our help, that grew to $900,000 a month within a year. Individual results.

Not typical or guaranteed.

“We could not have done this without all your time, dedication, work, professionalism, and overall support. To top it off, you've simply been fun to work with and are very generous and caring people.” -  Brad Carmody, Solutia