Going Global - Best Practices for Website Globalisation for SMEs | Susanne Dirks - eVorsprung Consulting

Going global –
Best practices
for website globalisation
for SMEs
SUSANNE DIRKS
E-VORSPRUNG CONSULTING

Susanne Dirks
MSc BSc
In Ireland since 1993
Academic background:
o State-examined translator
o MSc, BSc (Hons, 1st) – IT, Artificial Intelligence
o Diplomas/Certificates: e-Marketing, Web
Technologies, International SEO, Business
Development and Innovation
Experience:
◦ 15+ years as in MNC environment in various
international IT consulting, business
development and management roles
◦ Since 2013, working with Irish SMEs, helping
them develop and implement strategies for
international markets, B2B and B2C
Contact data:
◦ sudirks@evorsprung.com, Ph. 086-2375131
Helping Irish SMEs
reach, enter, and grow
in export markets
utilising digital
strategies
www.evorsprung.com

Best practices for website
globalisation
1. Align with business objectives: Start with global strategy
2. Strive for efficiencies: Internationalise before you localise
3. Get ready internally: Examine the impact on the internal
business environment
4. Prepare for your new external micro environment – new
competitors, different RTMs
5. Get local by-in: Localise for your new external macro
environment
6. Rise and shine: Do SEO and e-marketing for your new export
market website

The bad news
 If you don’t localise your website, you seriously
limit your growth opportunities
 Translation is only one of several parts of website
localisation
 It’s a big and often complex project – requiring
commitment from senior leadership, resources,
and stamina

1. Start with the Global Strategy
WHY HOW
WHERE
& WHEN
WHY WHAT HOW WHO
Internationalisation strategy?
Market entry approach?Drivers?
Countries?
Schedule?
Market fit, USP,
Differentiation
Which
offering?
Global:
Per country:
Target
audience?
RTM, op.
model,
resources

Best practice for SMEs –
A balancing act that needs good planning
=> BUT (Irish) SMEs are different:
Constraints: Budget, People, Skills
Operating model varies between
countries
Home market vs. export markets
Source: ByteLevel Research

2. Internationalise before you localise
Internationalisation is a design process that ensures a
product/website can be adapted to various languages and regions
without requiring engineering changes to the source code.
Localization is the process of adapting a product / website /
content to a specific locale or market. Translation is only one
of several elements of the localization process.Source: Gala
Global-
isation
Inter-
national-
isation
Local-
isation

Planning with a global website in mind:
A little work goes a long way
KEY CONSIDERATIONS FOR
INTERNATIONALISATION:
 Global design template
 Software technology choice
 Domain strategy
 Simple language
 Pictures & text
 Date/time/address format
BENEFITS

Example, internationalised design:
Planning for different word/text length
Allow for extra word length
Source: IBM
Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitäte
nhaupt-
betriebswerkbauunterbeamtengese
llschaft

Example Facebook: Consistent and modular
design accommodating different language
requirements
FACEBOOK, ITALY FACEBOOK, ISRAEL

Example, internationalised design:
Tackling different word order
Not good for internationalisation Internationalised, ready for
localisation

3-5.Prepare for a new business
environment
Macro
environment
Micro
environment
Internal
Company

3. Get ready internally:
Examine the impact on the internal
business environment
Macro
environment
Micro
environment
Internal
Company
• Value proposition / USP
• Brand and credentials
• Sales and marketing
• Routes to market
• Resources and skills

Look inside:
Examine the ‘new you’
Key questions:
 How strong is your brand ?
 How strong is your network ?
 How good is your list of references ?
 What RTMs are you using ?
 Who are you marketing to ?
 How are you marketing ?
 What is your call-to-action ?
 Who are you up against ?
Ireland
Strong
Strong
Strong
Direct
End customer
Team: Offline,
online
Buy
Few competitors
Export Market 1
Weak
Weak or N/A
Weak
Distributors
Customers &
Distributors
?
Sell my product
Lots of competitors

Example: Brand awareness abroad
reflected by Google search
Ireland DE Competitor
(example) brand in
DE
Established B2B* 320 40 5,400
Established B2B/B2C 2,400 90 N/A
Youngish B2B* 140 50 5,400
Youngish B2C 3,600 10 40,500
Examples of monthly search volume for main brand name:
• Had translated website for Germany

1. Web presence plays a different role
and needs modified approach.
2. Web presence is often more
important in export markets.
2. Web visibility typically visibility
harder to achieve in export markets.
Impact of different
internal business
environment?

4. Prepare for your new external micro
environment – new competitors, different
RTMs
Macro
environment
Micro
environment
Internal
Company
• Suppliers
• Distributors
• Competitors
• Customers
• Partners
• Industry

Different organic competitors:
“Nebuliser” (“Vernebler”)
Top 5 results
on SERP 1
Google.de –
316k results
Google.co.uk
-
5.9 MIO
results

Beating competitors abroad:
Finding, assessing, and beating them
Who are your
competitors?
How visible are
they ?
How do they
achieve
visibility?
What local web
presence do
they have?
What can you
learn from
them?
How can you
differentiate
yourself?

Working with distributors abroad:
Making each other’s web presence work
What is the
impact of your
new local
website on your
distributors?
What is the impact
of your distributors’
website on your
local website?
How do you want
users to perceive
the relationship
between the two
website?
Can/should
you input into
your
distributors’
website?
Are the
opportunities
for joint
campaigns?

While industries operate globally, understand
their local patterns is important
 How does your industry operate in the chosen market ?
 Who are the influencers ?
 What are the key events ?
 What are the key publications ? – offline, online
 Who are the key agencies and other organisations, and
their role, their websites ?
 What are the key websites for information exchange ?
 What are the ‘digital meeting places’ for your industry in
your export market ?

1. Typically your micro business
environment works differently in
export markets and this impacts
your web presence.
2. Special attention needs to be paid
to local competitors, distributors,
and industry.
Impact of different
micro business
environment?

5. Get local by-in:
Localise for your new external macro
environment
Macro
environment
Micro
environment
Internal
Company
• Economy
• Demographics
• Cultural forces
• Social factors
• Legal structure
• Political structures
• Technology
 Language
 Culture

Tune into local culture
CULTURE INFLUENCE HOW
ALL OF ITS MEMBERS:
Perceive
Think
Value
Act
E-MARKETING AIMS AT
GETTING PEOPLE’S:
A ttention
I nterest
D esire
A ction
“The web is not a culturally
neutral medium … a website has to be
designed for a targetted customer
segment … Local adaptation should be
based on a complete understanding of
a customer group’s culture …”

Cultural dimensions by Hofstede can
serve as a good starting point
Ireland in comparison…
Hofstede’s 6 cultural
dimensions
Can and must be
addressed via:
Web design, content,
language,
features/functionality

KEY PRINCIPLES
Minimal ambiguity
Clear navigation
Structured information
Predictable user journey
No pop-ups
No non-essential info
Explicit language
Clear images
Example Russia: Website design
addressing ‘uncertainty avoidance’

Example Alibaba: Adapting colours and
overall design to cultural preferences
ALIBABA.CN ALIBABA.COM

Example Nivea: Using pictures most relevant
to respective target markets

Content
requirements
Well-
written &
struct-
ured SEO-
focused
Appealing &
CTA-focused
In local
language
Fresh &
relevant
Right
message
Suitable for
target audience
Add value
Accurate &
correct
Build
trust
Content plays a central role and
needs to meet many requirements

Speak the ‘right’ language
Search
Read
Listen
Evaluate
Order
Ask
questions
Write
reviews
Less than ¼
of Internet
users are
English
speakers

Question asked:
“Do you use a language other than
your own to read/watch content
on the Internet ?”
English language proficiency is
lower than you think: No
translation, little reach
Top 25 global
websites (2015)
support an
average of 30
languages!

Localising language for same language
markets is important for buy-in and
visibility
English is used in Ireland, UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, but there are
differences:
Spelling words Using right words Avoiding wrong words
British
English
American
English
Purse Purse
Nappy Nappy
Jumper Jumper
Suspenders Suspenders
Etc.

Google Translate is not the solution
Food for Thought:
1.Who has the 2nd
most globalised
website in 2018 ?
2.Did they use
Google Translate ?
3. How does a
poor translation
like that make
you feel about
the company?

Decide
at start
Scope
Translation or
Transcreation
Messages
Style
Ensure
always
Quality & consistency
Keyword focus
Fresh content
Standards &
conventions
Avoid
here
Think
carefully
Keywords
Taglines
Ads
CTAs
Non-text content
Google Translate & Co
‘Your niece’ or similiar
Mixed-language
Creating
valid, fresh,
persuasive,
relevant
quality
content for
local users
and search
engines
Consideration for localising text content

Key options for localising text content:
Translation – Transcreation - Copywriting
Translation
Trans-
creation
Copywriting
SEO SEO SEO SEO SEO SEO SEO SEO SEO SEO SEO

Transcreation example – the challenge

Transcreation – solution approach

Localised e-marketing:
Leveraging cultural-related opportunities
Lidl Ireland, 1.3.2018
Lidl, Germany,
1.3.2018

Special days for sales and marketing
Example: 11th November

Aldi Germany:
Localised, locally topical content
Leveraging
WorldCup &
Germany’s
participation
Local
offeringsLocalised
trust
building
Local customer
issue
Aldi website on
26.6.18

Target market focus:
A German supermarket in Ireland

Add local appeal for buy-in
Content localisation by Red Bull:
Examples of Irish and French site

Germany
Ireland
Locally relevant content for local appeal

Localised content and topics
Ireland UK

Localised product offering
Dennison Trailers,
UK/Ireland
Dennison
Trailers,
Germany

Trust building content
Contact data
◦ (Ideally) local address, phone
number, email etc.
Provide information about company
◦ About us
◦ History
◦ People
◦ Achievements
Provide locally expected or legally
mandated information
◦ E.g. Germany: Impressum
Brand and trust
considerations are very
important to engagement
as well as acquisition

Examples, localised content for trust
Edelmann Trust Barometer 2014
L
O
C
A
L

6. Shine and rise: Do SEO and e-marketing
for your new export market website
• Give local signals for search engines
• Optimise your website for local search engine/s
• Decide where and how to ‘socialise’
• Expand your external network
• Localise your e-marketing campaigns
• Develop and implement a post-launch e-marketing strategy

Local signals for search engines
Signals for Google:
 Domain URL and domain strategy
 Webmaster Tool settings
 Sitemaps and hreflang tag
 Server Location
 Website – content and metadata language
 Currency and address formats
 Inbound links

Internationalisation: Don’t confuse Google
with your domain strategy
CLIENT EXAMPLES
 Client example 1:
 Target markets: 4
 Domain names: 2
 Generic top-level domains: 2
 Country code top-level domains: 5
 Country subfolder: 1
 Client example 2:
 Target markets: 3
 Domain names: 2
 Generic top-level domains: 1
 Country-code top-level domains: 2
 Country sub-folders: 2
DOMAIN STRATEGY
Domain name
 Meaningful
 Works internationally
 Available internationally
Approach:
 Consistency is key: Country-code OR
subfolders
 Decision criteria:
 International strategy – countries
 Domain name availability
 Resources for SEO
 Domain history of company
 Target market – countries, audience

Google is not Number ONE everywhere.
Optimise for local search engine.
Differences
in software
platform
preferences
SEO / SEM
implications
especially for:
- China
- Hong Kong
- Russia
- South Korea
- United States

Example: Germany
Example: China
Different countries,
different social networks
Example: Russia

Campaigns work very differently in
different markets – example: Adwords
 Campaigns should be focused on one market only
 Campaigns typically can’t be localised, but need to be re-created from
scratch
 Different keywords (incl. negative)
 Different adgroups
 Different adtext
 Campaigns often perform very differently
 Germany
 Saudi Arabia
 UK

Plan for the long haul
74.7 % say availability of after-
sales support in own language
influences their buying decision
 Web presence in export markets requires time, budget,
resources
 Initially – localisation, on-page SEO, e-marketing for launch
 On an ongoing basis – off-page SEO and other e-marketing tactics
A website is for life, not just for Christmas
 Fresh content
 Internet is a 2-way channel
 Enabling and answering incoming queries

Work never stops at the best global
websites…
 Number of language supported*
increased from an average of 14 in
2006 to an average of 30.3 in 2016
 Wikipedia now supports 295
languages
 Facebook added 12 new
languages on 2016
Source: ByteLevel Research, based on companies surveyed

The good news
 It can be done step by step, with quick wins along
the way
 There are opportunities for cost savings and
synergies
 It gives you a real chance of success in export
markets
 It typically brings additional benefits for your
home market (website)

Where next ?
Strategy and plan for web presence
localisation
International strategy and market
research/prioritisation
 (Foreign market) Website and/or e-
marketing audit
 Mini website for foreign markets
Competitor research
 Adwords/Social Media campaign/s
for foreign market/s
 Localised approach using external
platforms
 Local presence on Social Media
 Joint distributor e-marketing
initiatives

Susanne Dirks
e-Vorsprung Consulting
www.evorsprung.com
sudirks@evorsprung.com
Ph. 086-2375131
Thank You

Going Global - Best Practices for Website Globalisation for SMEs | Susanne Dirks - eVorsprung Consulting

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