We are in a momentous time in history for the opportunities that the Internet offers us in all aspects of our daily lives, and commerce is no stranger to it because it has opened very important doors for us to turn our local company into an international one, investing very few resources in it.
Nowadays it is very easy to reach many people, as they are all reunited in a single world, connected, but we do not always dare or we give with the idea of how we can reach those millions of people that await us. The great majority of us think that only by creating a page in English, we will achieve it, but that is not enough.
In response, Jani Penttinen, founder and CEO of PremiumFanPage and creator of Xiha, offers us 10 ways to turn our local business into a global one.
1. Translate the content
In a world where English is accepted as the global language of commerce, the translation of a text into another language may be thought unnecessary, however, almost everyone knows the language, it does not mean that we do not opt for one that yes it is in our language when we decide to buy or contract something. Choosing which languages we are interested in is the most difficult, but it is obligatory that, for the first time, we continue doing it with each update of ours.
2. Locate all measurements
Coins, measures and some words can mean a complication for a potential buyer, so we should try to offer a translator on our website so that the client feels more comfortable, and not waste time on other websites trying to find out the real price of your product The same happens with some words like “soccer”, which do not mean the same in the United States and other countries of the world.
3. Have all the language versions in one place
If we have 10 identical web pages but in different languages, the best thing is to create a dynamic website in which all the versions are in a single domain, as it helps us in positioning and traffic, by having a strong site.
4. Detect the user’s language
We are a simple task and even detecting a country does not imply that the user speaks that language, but it makes the task a lot easier. In this way, the user will have a good first impression of our site.
5. Language selection
Language detection is useful if the user has facilities to change the language and can save their preferences for the next visit. We can never restrict the choice of language based on location (a serious error that is recurrent). It is important to offer the user the possibility of choosing their language regardless of the geographical location in which they live, more in a world as globalized as the current one.
6. Use the automatic translation of Customer Service
At the moment of having a website in several languages, we will begin to receive questions in any language, with which free tools such as Google Translate are very useful, although not very perfect, we usually get out of trouble.
7. Use a global CDN provider
If we have a website with a lot of traffic we should use a good CDM because it will allow our page to load between 5 and 10 times faster, which favors not only our customers but also positioning, because it is one of the factors that Google takes into account .
8. Design support from right to left
Languages like Arabic are written from right to left and there is still no competition in this language since most of the websites do not support this language. With a small support in this regard, it will open the doors to the market that is growing fastest today.
9. Accept local payment systems
Sites like PayPal or Skrill are basic, even if we do not want or even intend to launch worldwide. Being sites that act in most countries, we can catch an international client, so we should not miss the opportunity.
10. Avoid control by region
It is rare, but many sites control access to users in certain regions and this frustrates customers.
These 10 tips, among others, open the doors to the world market and now that we have the opportunity, we should not waste it and less when we do not need large investments.