The internet has no boundaries of geography. Just as you and I will browse websites from all over the world, you businesses website will too be viewed by people across the globe. If you are indeed trying to attract international clients, a website that looks local, wherever it may be viewed can be the difference between winning their business and losing to a competitor even before they’ve clicked past the home page.
Of course this can present a number of challenges. Some will seem obvious, language and layout for Arabic text may have already been considered, but what about the cultural significance of colour or the lack of broadband or high specification computers in the users’ location?
These specifications need not discourage you from ensuring your website is compatible in your customers’ home town as with the right support and research, adding variations for your future international client base can be a simple process.
But what are the most important things to consider? While there is no limit to how ‘local’ you can make a website, here are the top five points to get you started:
- Colour and imagery: It may seem a little strange to some colour really can make a significant difference from one culture to the next. Red is often seen as an angry colour in the western world, yet in China and other Far Eastern countries it represents luck. It’s also well worth taking the time to choose images carefully. Something that might seem perfectly acceptable to one country could cause deep offence in another. Making your landing page country specific and appropriate to that culture will make a great first impression. You’ve probably been told that your website must contain a lot of images too, so people do not have a lot to ready. That’s fine in western countries but web users in China prefer text heavy pages with their websites featuring very few pictures, if at all.
- Use of technology: There are thousands of devices and browsers now and a responsive website really is the best way to increase client engagement and convert them into clients. While everyone you know may have the latest iPhone or Android tablet, many countries still have earlier models. So, instead of creating an App that only works on the latest software, create a more responsive mobile website so you can ensure no customer is discriminated against just because they haven’t got access to the latest technology.
- Technical constraints: As with the personal technology of your future clients, consideration needs to be given to the technical infrastructure of their country. Make sure your websites adhere to lightweight use of code and website optimisation to increase the speed of your site, particularly in poor broadband areas. Old browsers that might not have been updated in certain areas need to be taken into account, as does the limitations on mobile usage if 3G is not available or suffers from heavy use.
- Language: It might seem like common sense but you need to make sure you really are talking to your overseas clients in the language they understand. Automatic translators do not work as well as you might think, a simple test here is to find a foreign language website and use Google translate, the results can be quite amusing. To be fair these automatic translation tools are good when you consider what they have to do, but they don’t take into account the use of grammar or language gender meaning at the very least your potential clients won’t be confident you know what you’re talking about. Investing in a good quality translation service will certainly be money well spent especially if your website automatically switches to the local language wherever it is viewed.
- Layout: How your website looks and what you add to those all-important first pages can mean the difference between interest and boredom. For example, UK clients may like features, insights and analytics whereas US clients might lean toward latest news, industry updates and networking opportunities. Do some simple research yourself by looking at the home pages of big American corporations and comparing them to a UK business. They’ll look similar at first glance but there will be subtle differences too.
Of course the list above is by no means exhaustive but these five points will serve as a good foundation in ensuring your site is respectful of overseas customers and their varying cultures.
Research will play a big part in how your country specific sites will end up looking and it’s always a good idea to look at the best practice used by already well-established international organisations in varying sectors. Get the advice of an agency too, of course look at their own website and see if what they do for themselves is of high quality. If it is and there are easy to find, positive testimonials on their site then give them a call and talk through your requirements. A good agency will be honest with what you need to do and help you make the most of international online sales.
