Tips for SMEs going global

Initial Considerations and Do's & Don'ts

Initial Considerations

What are the benefits?

A localised website brings you closer to your target audience and improves your business profile. If you can speak directly to your future customers you can grow your global business and increase your ROI.

Is my product sellable?

E.G. If you are an on-line wine shop it may not be a good idea to ship bottles of Bordeaux to France

How should I deliver?

Shipping and customs can be a big hurdle

Which foreign markets have most potential?

You may have established clients in Germany, or maybe you get a lot of enquiries from South America

What are my objectives?

Globalisation is a form of business growth. Some companies just strive to survive

Have I got the right technology?

You will need the multi-currency payment systems in place.

Which languages?

The languages most commonly used in the localisation industry are French, Italian, German and Spanish (FIGS). Other languages with high on-line profiles are Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Russian and Portuguese.

Am I Legal?

Tax & trading restriction may apply, have you contacted the government authorities?

Do's & Don'ts

Do:

Acquire country specific suffixes
E.G. If you are targeting a Spanish market you should acquire a domain ending with '.es' and make sure it is hosted on a Spanish server.
Use local languages & localised content.
Use the right language
It is important to recognise the differences with the same language (e.g. English & American English). Additionally, it may seem obvious but provide locally specific content e.g. customers in Denmark may not fully appreciate references to Big Brother 3.
Design for globalisation
Design your website with potential future global requirements in mind; otherwise be prepared to redesign from scratch at a later date.
Make navigation simple
All visitors are confused with complex navigation. Ensure issues of clarity and usability remain the same.
Promote at a local level
As well as indexing with international search engines, it is also important to index in local, smaller directories and search engines for each target market.
Accept different payment methods
Much of the world does not use credit cards, so cater for alternative methods of payment.
Concentrate on fulfilment
A comprehensive on-line help facility is mandatory & quality control becomes paramount

Don't:

Dive in
It is important to do your research, decide on the most appropriate foreign markets and design a strategy. This will improve your chances of success.
Do it alone
There are many companies that provide business globalisation solutions. Their experiences will save time, effort and will improve the chances of success.
Overstretch your resources
It is better to concentrate your web activity to a few targeted countries than try & bridge the whole world & fail to fulfil.
Ignore international inquiries
It is likely that you will get emails in a foreign language. You will need to have these relayed through a translation agency. Do not ask them to respond in English.
Do it on the cheap
Don't use a friend or relative to do translations unless they are vetted Translation is a linguistic skill & done well from the beginning could save you from embarrassment later on.