Once you have your main website open for international business. If your website is actually speaking to foreign visitors and not alienating them, then it is time to take your next step in developing a global market presence.

All of your marketing efforts should be aimed at determining where you need to sign up for a localized website.

Are your current international clients from a concentrated area on the globe?

Does you market lead you to choose a specific international market?

Is there a country you feel passionate about and feel there is a market there for your products and services?

Depending on your resources you may only choose to develop one new country market at a time. The more countries you do a market analysis for the easier it becomes.

Some companies at this stage decide to translate their website into 5 languages: Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, French, and German. This can be a wasted investment at this stage. Will your product hit the same emotional buttons in your foreign markets? This is highly unlikely.

Remember Spanish in South and Central America is very different from the language spoken in Spain. And the people are different. French is spoken in several countries too. Which culture is your main target?

Become Acquainted With Your Foreign Market

If you are a small business and or do not want to go to the expense of too many changes in translations, take this process slowly. Take your time to get some detailed market knowledge for your products in the foreign countries. You can do this from your “internationalized” local website.

Work with your current international clients. Run international campaigns in English from your local website that stimulates international market feedback. Use traditional methods of market research and client prospecting by phone. Even when only speaking English you will get some feedback. Keep at it until you feel you are now acquainted with your foreign market.

Localized Websites To Get To Know Other Markets

You now know which country you want to sell to. You may even have decided to target a country that speaks your own language. The next logical step is to create a localized website in your first overseas target market.

So what does a localized website mean? Create a second website for your foreign market. This new website is localized for your new target market. It can be hosted locally or in your foreign market. But it will be submitted to all of the local foreign web directories.

And it will be written specifically for your foreign market. Use your original website as a model to adapt to communicate with your new market. Company branding is important. Truly communicating with your foreign markets in a way that will get them to listen to you is more important. Play around with finding the balance.

One key to successfully finding this balance is using web templates…without text embedded in the graphics.

At this stage probably only part of your website will be translated. This is not the best scenario. It may feel like a cold brochure. Just be sure to give your international clients access to your local website in English. If they know what to expect in which language and this is clearly indicated on your new website, this is acceptable.

Continue to develop relationships with people in your new markets, do more research, test changes and adaptations to your localized website. With a little bit of follow up and concentrated effort you will become very familiar with your new market. You will learn how to offer your product and services to get sales in a different market.

You will then be ready for the next transition: A Fully Customized Website

If you follow these tips your web site will be friendlier for all of your international visitors.

Don’t miss this business guide on Get International Clients
-Website Internationalization 101

Here are a few more Website Internationalization articles:
- Analyze Your Foreign Prospects Navigation Habits
- Localization Is A Door To Innovation
- Which Directories are You Relying on?
- 4 Success Elements For International Business Development 

Most websites owners only think of catering to their local or national audiences. Some common mistakes close doors on your international website visitors.
How many of your international visitors are you turning away without realizing it?

7 Easy Tips to Internationalize Your Web Site

Here are 7 tips on how to keep your web site friendly for international visitors.

1. Easy Content For All Readers.

The majority of internet users world-wide are non-native English speakers. Your web site visitors may have more difficulty in reading English than you do. Avoid slang and national metaphors other cultures cannot follow.

If you use a national sports metaphor to make a point, it might be best to explain your point in another way.

If you mention national holidays, explain them clearly to others who may not celebrate the same holidays as you do.

Is your web site too culturally specific?

2. Be Reachable To Everyone

Can everyone reach you by phone? Toll free numbers are only accessible from within your own country. There are still many web sites that only think about placing this number prominently.

Remember, if you hide your office telephone number somewhere in small print, your international users may not find it. And if they do they will assume your international clients are few and far between, or that you do not want any foreign clients.

Can your international clients reach you by phone?

3. Physical Address

Are you easy to be situated? It is a good idea to have your full physical address easy to find. This is a trust building element.

Foreign visitors will probably be curious as to where you are. If they can visualize it, they will feel more comfortable buying from you. Why not have a snapshot of a map with your town as it is situated near a town foreigners would recognize?

Do your international clients know where you are located?

4. Consistent Vocabulary

Using two words to refer to one thing can have disastrous results on any non-native English speaker. This can be very confusing and generate a slew of negative reactions.

This is one of the sources of cultural blunders.

Do you use consistent vocabulary?

5. Order Address Forms

Unfortunately most order forms used by American companies are still, well, very American. Which is fine, except that international addresses come in multiple formats and not always easy to fit into the standard address form used by North Americans.

However, the biggest difficulty still comes up when the American forms insist on a State or Zip Code it recognizes.

Can your international clients place an order online with you?

6. Glossary

This is a wonderful touch of thoughtfulness your international visitors will greatly appreciate. It is especially useful the glossary is easy to read and very simple in format with clear explanations.

A glossary is highly recommended in certain industries where specific vocabulary requires expert translations. Don’t try to provide translations. Simple explain words with utmost simplicity, clarity and accuracy.

Glossaries are also appreciated in non-technical areas too. Cultural habits differ. People can use vocabulary differently. Glossaries provide insight into how you communicate and provide a base for cross-cultural dialogs.

Do you have a glossary explaining industry terms?

7. Welcome International Visitors

Creating a relationship with international visitors can be as simple as “We welcome international clients” the right place.

You are inviting your international visitors to dialog with you. They may feel hesitant to call or contact you because their language skills are not that great. They may feel embarrassed to call knowing it will take them 5 minutes to talk to know when it would take them 1 minute in their own language.

If you convey your willingness to serve international clients, you will get more foreign revenue.
Do your international clients feel welcome?

With the US dollar’s current international exchange rate, American products and services are priced very attractively to many of your international clients. Now is not the time to be losing international visitors.

If you follow these tips your web site will be friendlier for all of your international visitors.

Here are a few more Website Internationalization articles:
- How To Get Your Communication Platform Ready For International Marketing
- Why I Am Creating An Information Product On Website Internationalization
- Write A Better International Website
- Buying Logos For International Websites
- Design Websites For Speed In International Internet Marketing
- First Transition To A Global Market Internet Business
- Easy Content For All Of Your Web Site Readers
- Be Reachable To Everyone
- Show The World Your Location
- An Easy To Read Website For Your International Visitors First Impression
- Is Your Website Sabotaging Your International Business Development?
- Small Business International Development In Three Easy Steps - First Transition To A Global Market Internet Business

The majority of internet users world-wide are non-native English speakers. Your web site visitors may have more difficulty in reading English than you do. If a foreign visitor cannot understand your website easily he will not stay around long.

Avoiding Slang

Slang can be hard for others to understand. It can be very localized as well. Find the balance you need to communicate both with your local audience and any cross cultural encounters you come up with.

Avoiding National Metaphors

National metaphors can stop all communication. Your differences are advertised across all of your communication.

If you use a national sports metaphor to make a point, it might be best to explain your point in another way.

Explain National Holidays

If you mention national holidays, explain them clearly to others who may not celebrate the same holidays as you do.

If you have an up coming holiday that seems obvious to you, remember that others might be trying to reach you. A reminder in some form is polite and may prevent foreign customers from wondering why you take so long to respond to them.

Be Open To Others

Is your web site too culturally specific? Sometimes an English web site written by a non-native English speaker can be more open to cross-cultural communication than one written by an English language company totally oblivious to its international visitors.

An open attitude and willingness to do business with everyone can be felt throughout the websites that make the effort. This is a real invitation to do business with others.

State Clearly What You Do

It is sometimes just a little bit harder for your international visitors to grasp what it is you actually do. The longer a visitor is unclear as to what your web site is about the more likely he will move on.

A clear, easy to understand explanation straight up front can be useful. Be sure to put it somewhere easy to see.

If you have any graphics, be sure they correspond to your activity and don’t create confusion in understanding your activity. Graphics do speak a thousand words, and if your graphics lead to confusion

State Clearly What You Want Your Visitors To Do

This is often overlooked. Again, cross-cultural communication benefits greatly with clear communication.

You have a web site. What do you want your international visitors to do? Give them clear, easy to find, easy to see, easy to understand directions.

At the very least, something like:

“We appreciate all foreign business, if you have any questions or comments, we would love to hear from you. Please call us at this number, or email Cindy at this email address, and we will get back to you within 36 hours”.

Making your web site content easy to understand by all of your internet visitors is one of the first steps in internationalizing your web site.

An internationalized website will open your online business to more international clients.

And more international clients will lead you to move towards localizing your web site and developing into a truly international business. Having an internationalized web site will make the transition to a localized website a lot easier, saving you time and money.

If you follow these tips your web site will be friendlier for all of your international visitors.

Don’t miss the business guide on Get International Clients
-Website Internationalization 101

Here are a few more Website Internationalization articles:
- How To Get Your Communication Platform Ready For International Marketing
- Why I Am Creating An Information Product On Website Internationalization
- Write A Better International Website
- Buying Logos For International Websites
- Design Websites For Speed In International Internet Marketing
- First Transition To A Global Market Internet Business
- Stop Pushing Your Foreign Visitors Away
- Be Reachable To Everyone
- Show The World Your Location
- An Easy To Read Website For Your International Visitors First Impression
- Is Your Website Sabotaging Your International Business Development?
- Small Business International Development In Three Easy Steps - First Transition To A Global Market Internet Business

Website Internationalization

Creating a localized website will be a lot easier if your website is already easy for your international visitors to read. Ensuring your website is easy to read for foreign visitors to your website is an important step in internationalizing your website.

So how can you do make your website easy to read for your international visitors?

Most of the reasons why national websites fail to communicate with their international visitors are directly related to not implementing all of the standard best practices in creating a good website.

You have probably heard of most of these guidelines when creating your company website for your original market. But did you really apply them as best you could? Simply failing to implement a few of these will turn your international clients away and leave them with a bad impression of your company.

Remember for non-native English speakers something else happens before they begin to read your website. Their brain will recognize whether the website is in English or not and decide if they are capable or willing to read English at that time. This can take a few seconds before they actually begin to read your website.

Your foreign readers may be tired, may not feel like switching to a foreign language at that time. If their brain captures anything at that time that they perceive as an extra effort on their part, they will move on. This is when it is critical to have an easy to read website for your foreign business development.

Here are some questions to review your website with for that first impression:

Is Each Web Page Easy On The Eye To Read?

The majority of internet users today are non-native English speakers. English could be their second, third or even fourth language. Even if their language skills are sufficient to understand your website, they will probably need to concentrate more than you to read it. Make it easy for them. Provide them with:
* Titles and subtitles
* Headings and subheadings
* Short paragraphs
* Short sentences

Titles, Subtitles, Headings and Subheads

These add greatly to the readers’ ability to understand your web pages quickly and easily. Remember to ask yourself how your international reader got to your web page.

What could your international visitor possibly want to ask you at each specific point in time on each web page? Use your titles, subtitles, headings and subheads as often as you can to communicate effectively to answer those questions.

Write titles and headings that:
* Mean something to your reader
* Give clear and easy explanations
* Tell your story as they scan through and get it
* Features and benefits work well

Short Sentences and Short Paragraphs

Short paragraphs will make your pages easier to read. Foreign readers are put off even faster by long paragraphs appearing to be difficult to read.

If your paragraph is more than 4 or five lines long, look for ways to make it shorter. Can a part of your paragraph be put into a list format? Cut out unnecessary words. Break it into different paragraphs. A one sentence paragraph is acceptable online.

Keep your sentences short. In each of your sentences, keep the subject, verb and object close together in each sentence. If you need to indicate additional information, find this information a place of its own.
* Use a new sentence.
* Put it under a separate heading.
* Can it be put in a list format?

Are You Saying Anything That Could Be Misleading?

International readers may easily be confused online.
After this their first questions will probably include:
Is this website in my language?
What does this company do?
Where is this company located?
What are they saying?

Keep these questions in mind when you write your website. Continue to ask yourself what any of your visitors could be asking themselves and keep your international visitors in mind.

Consistent vocabulary.

Here are two examples to avoid:

Referring to one object as both a “Gadget” and a “Widget”. Or using one industry’s vocabulary in another industry where another word is used. This mistake can have disastrous effects if translated. This is probably a keyword in your text and you need to use it as best you can.

If you are offering one free report and calling it both a “Guide” and a “Report” in different places in your website, your international readers might have a harder time figuring out that you only have one free report to give away. This could make them feel frustrated and generate negative feelings when they can’t find the second “report”.

Are You Communicating Clearly To People?

Are you presenting your story clearly, putting everything into a context that is simple to follow? Make your story so simple to follow anyone would be able to understand it even if they haven’t slept for a day or two.

Put first things first and follow through. Second things go second. If you feel you cannot do this easily, look for a way to tell your story differently. Can you use visuals or lists.
Turn a process into
* A number of different steps,
* List them and number them and
* Put each step on a separate web page

Are You Talking To Your Visitors?

Talk To Your Visitors

Say “you” when talking to your reader. And it is also preferable to use “you” when not talking about a specific person instead of “he or “she”. Foreign visitors will understand this better.

Audio

If you have sound starting on your website automatically, ask yourself how this sound comes across in different cultures. Could it possible be annoying to anyone in any way? Some like it fast. Some like it slow.

Clear and Easy To Understand For Everyone

These are just a few elements to consider in creating websites. Implement them and implement them satisfactorily. Your foreign visitors may not necessarily find your website easy to read in English, but at least they will not be put off or confused.

If you do not internationalize your website, the negative effects on your international readers will be greater than on your national readers. Can you measure the cost of not communicating well with your international prospects and clients?

There has been a shift in internet user demographics with more non-native English language users today than in the past. Give your website a global reach with internationalized content.

If you follow these tips your web site will be friendlier for all of your international visitors.

Here are a few more Website Internationalization articles:
- How To Get Your Communication Platform Ready For International Marketing
- Why I Am Creating An Information Product On Website Internationalization
- Write A Better International Website
- Buying Logos For International Websites
- Design Websites For Speed In International Internet Marketing
- First Transition To A Global Market Internet Business
- Stop Pushing Your Foreign Visitors Away
- Easy Content For All Of Your Web Site Readers
- Be Reachable To Everyone
- Show The World Your Location
- Is Your Website Sabotaging Your International Business Development?
- Small Business International Development In Three Easy Steps - First Transition To A Global Market Internet Business

Don’t miss the business guide on Get International Clients
-Website Internationalization Guide

Your online business can have global visibility. But is your message getting across to different cultures as you expect it? Are you able to adapt quickly to global market opportunities you see pop up? Or would you like to know how to quickly target different international audiences, with little investment on your part?

With a little thought and some careful preparation you can have an effective international presence through your current local business. Sure, language skills can help you open doors. But careful consideration to different cultures can give you a great advantage.

Get More Business From Non-native English Speakers

Today there are more non-native English speakers in the global web market than there are native English speakers. And the e-businesses in many foreign language countries is expanding rapidly.

Today you need to know if your sales message is getting through to everyone, everywhere they have a market. You need to nurture communication with each specific cultural market.

A lot of foreigners do speak English. But most don’t. And the people who do speak English as a second language, do not have the same level of understanding as native English speakers do. The problem is your international readers have different levels of English language skills.

Language is only one part of the complexity in multicultural communication. There are also the whole set of cultural differences in mindset, in habits, and in other aspects of communication as a whole. Miscommunication in some form or other happens very easily. Sometimes without either parties realizing they are not of the same understanding.

Written English also has its pitfalls in cross-cultural communication. Of course people have more time to understand when reading. But the person writing can’t tell the effect his writing is having on the reader. Is the reader understanding what the writer intended in the first place? Is he even interested? Remember, he reader can not hear your spoken tone of voice and has to pick that up from the written word.

Step 1 - Internationalize Your English

Avoiding miscommunication requires constant awareness at all stages of communication. The process is fairly easy:

1. Acknowledge constant risk of miscommunication
- Be prepared to be patient and forgiving.

2. Clear communication
- Use plain English; avoid slang and local or national expressions
- Give clear explanations.
- Always go through processes slowly, methodically, logically.
- Give full explanations; don’t assume everyone does things like you do.
- Speak slightly above your listener’s level of English.

3. Stay calm - Question your own communication first.
- If your gut reaction is to respond aggressively, keep this in check and respond slowly.
- Do not jump to conclusions quickly.

4. Listen actively to everything.
- Adjust your communication accordingly

The most difficult part is in the beginning, in training yourself to keep this open mindset constantly.

Practice brings you enriching experiences. The more practice you have in becoming familiar with communicating with other cultures, the better you become at establishing and maintaining effective communication cross-culturally.

The first two steps of this process can be applied directly to your written communication. Don’t forget to be even more patient and to communicate clearly when you do get feedback from your readers. And listen attentively to what your readers have to say.

By paying close attention and adjusting your written communication to your readers’ responses you will get your message across better. Your communication with your international clients and prospects will evolve and you will become more familiar with how your business is perceived abroad. You will be in a better position to take advantage of global business opportunities.

Step 2 – Create Localized Websites In English

Developing an international company can be made in steps. Once you get to know your different international markets, you can develop localized websites for individual countries. Cultural differences in non-native English speaking countries are often strong enough to merit adapting your English language website to each country.

This would also give you the time to get to know your particular marketing strengths in each country before investing in full blown multilingual sales and marketing efforts…and making mistakes.

An English language website targeted for the specific needs of each different culture will bring you better results than one main website in your home territory serving the world. What is considered polite in one country can be offensive in another. What is considered normal sales practices in one culture can come across as a very aggressive intrusion by another culture.

The best way to quickly grasp what makes your international clients tick, is to be interested in them. Have a look at some of their local websites. Don’t worry about not understanding them. Just notice how different they look in general. How do the graphics affect you? If there is any audio online, what is the general sound? Try to identify different tastes.

Be interested in reading about anything from that particular culture. Ask questions. Keep an open mind. Show your interest. And then listen to any feedback you have from your clients.

Before long you will see recurring questions. You may even be able to identify misunderstandings as they arise. Return to your website and try to answer these questions simply and clearly.

Adapt each localized English language website for your message to be understood as best as possible by your native readers. This will limit the risk of cultural misinterpretation as much as possible.

Your sales message may not be as strong as if it were in the reader’s native language. But it is often easier and quicker to adapt your English language website to the cultural specificities of your local target market. Your adapted, localized English language website will also convey a stronger message than a bad translation.

This process will also give you credibility within each different cultural group. People often do web search first in their own country search engines. People are not stupid. It will be hard to hide the fact you are a foreign company. But they will recognize your willingness to make an effort in understanding them and appreciate you for it.

Step 3 – Multilingual Websites

Of course, with a little bit of effort you will develop your market in each individual country. You will begin to understand any differences in buying habits, tastes, difficulties. At this stage you will ask yourself if you could get more business with a website in your readers’ native language.

Going through the first two processes of making your website Non Native English Speaker friendly and localized will save you a lot of time when it comes to the writing of your website into different materials. You will probably understand how the differences in your markets will require material specifically written for each market. You will be able to evaluate whether you can get away with simple translations of your current website and sales materials or not.

Part English Part Multilingual

Depending on your particular market you may decide to translate parts of your website, all of it, or only translate parts of specific local marketing campaigns.

There are various tactics companies use. The choice really depends on your market. Two of the options are:

- Keep your main localized website in English and have a direct sales page online in the local language, with email campaigns in local languages

- A specific area of your localized website in local languages to provide key information to your international clients in their own language.
Thought should be given to strengthen you cross-cultural communication at its weakest points.

Fully Multilingual Presence

Localized websites in solely in native languages are ideal for international business. They are the longest program to implement, and carry the highest risk of making your company look bad. The reason is because translations do not do the job. Full cultural customization comes with an intimate understanding of the local market for your products and services.

The writing of a website for a different culture and in a different language needs to be written by someone with all three of the following criteria:

- Intimate local market knowledge, to be able to write to the target audience
- Understanding for both cultures, to understand the differences in messages to be delivered and change them when appropriate.
- Native speaker

Having your website written by someone who meets all three of these qualifications will give you a good website. The trouble is it will take you time to find the right person for the job. And you need to find a different person to write your website for each different language.

To give all of your readers a great multilingual experience and ensure your company’s superior international presence, you also need someone to coordinate the writing of all websites. This person will cover branding issues, and consistency. Simple things such as specific industry vocabulary need to be coordinated throughout all languages.

A fully integrated multicultural strategy is a great benefit to international business. It will also keep you from cultural blunders.

Global Market Communication Takes Time And Practice

Don’t let your own lack of language skills stop you. It is more about building relationships.

Show your willingness to do business internationally. Listen attentively to any feedback you get. Your product or service may have a brand new market in a different cultural environment. You may need to adapt your services or your product.

With increased multicultural marketing experience you will develop new opportunities in unthought-of places.

Don’t miss this business guide on Get International Clients
-Website Internationalization 101

You might also like these Website Localization articles:
- Analyze Your Foreign Prospects Navigation Habits
- Second Transition To A Global Market Internet Business
- Localization Is A Door To Innovation
- Which Directories are You Relying on?
- 4 Success Elements For International Business Development 

Different businesses go about developing their international business at different speeds. Several early reasons come in to play. The main reasons are:

• Your own visibility and understanding of your international potential
• Deciding what product to market abroad
• Finding your international markets

Your budget and manpower resources also have a direct influence on how you go about the process of developing your international markets.

Getting Stuck In Language Barriers

Language barriers often come up immediately and stop or delay most small businesses from developing internationally.

When a small business owner is confronted with different languages, he has two choices:

• Stop all international business development
• Learn to work with the different languages

Usually, the small business owner has already heard of:

• The horror stories of cultural blunders
• The high cost of translations

The natural reaction for a small business owner is then to wonder exactly how he can get international clients:

• Without translations?
• With an English website?
• Keeping control in his own office?

An international English website can be a short-term international development solution. This can work well if your business is mainly export based for example.

Avoiding foreign language communication is not an effective long-term solution for most international businesses.

You will develop your international business to its fullest if you write specifically to each culture you sell to. Different cultures have different sales triggers. They also have different consumer habits.

Large global businesses have already done the groundwork and learned their individual cultural markets. You need to find out what makes your international markets tick. You need to fully understand what makes your international clients buy from you.

International Market Research

You need to conduct international field research for best results. This brings up the language barriers again. Outsourcing this research increases risk. It is best to do as much international market research as you can in-house.

Free translation tools can get small businesses started with their international market research. Even if the translations are not error-free, the translations will give you enough information to use to follow up with more in-depth phone research.

A free translation widget on your website will also incite your foreign visitors to interact with you, which is another great source of international market research. A free translation widget on your website is good because:

• It tells your visitors you want international business
• It gives your readers the chance to get to know something about you

International Visibility

Your visibility in foreign markets will increase. If your web marketing brings visitors to your website, you want to make it easy for all of your visitors to understand it.

What can you do if your business cannot afford translations yet, or if you do not know where your international potential is?

A free translation widget on your website will grab the attention of those non-native English speakers whose language skills are not good enough to want to read your website. A quick translation, even if it is not perfect will help them to understand your website. They will probably return to your original English text.

Professional translators often point out that free translations do not provide good sales copy. And they are right. International sales copy written by humans will give you the best sales results in your international markets.

Should a company that wants international sales sit around and wait until it has enough money to pay for human translations?

No. There is a place for international sales copy, human translations and free translations.

International Marketing

Now let us hear from the professional marketers that track and test results. Will a free translation widget attract more international leads?

I can only answer for my business. The translation widget on my websites has stimulated interaction with international visitors who would not have contacted me otherwise.

Some respond to me in their own language. Many respond in broken English. And it is a pleasure to see the response.

My experience is that most international online visitors know they cannot expect accurate translations with free translation tools.

Most people use them to try to understand text they were stuck on without the translation tool. This is great because these visitors would otherwise immediately leave your website when they do not understand something.

If you are a businessperson or a marketer, you know you have to adapt your communication to your market. You will need to adjust your international communication by:

• The language
• Its message - cultural differences will affect your USP and sales pitch

This last point in itself answers the question about using free translation tools or not. It also highlights the need for extensive international market research – to find the key message you should use in your international sales communication.

When A Free Translation Tool Helps You

A free translation widget is a great tool to start your international business development. Use it for:

• Extensive international market research –cross-reference this with international phone research
• Your domestic market website or an international website – especially if you are only in the Export Marketing phase of your international business development.

As soon as you have learned enough about one specific international market, and done a viability market analysis:

• Plan to reinvest the profit from your first international sales to buy international sales copy and create culture specific websites and marketing plans.

Language barriers, and cultural barriers, will always exist in an international business. You will have to learn how to deal with different languages and different markets, until the barriers fade away. Different languages and different cultures will simply become part of your international business.

Need an easy International Sales Road Map to develop your international business?
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Last updated 30 August 2008

This is part of the Get International Clients Business Guide 2 - Plan Your International Sales Road Map. A direct link is at the end of this guide.

Internationalizing your website is the first step in opening your online business for international business development.

Website internationalization takes your current website, the one you have for your domestic market, and adds small touches to make it appealing to international visitors as well as your domestic visitors.

There are two main reasons to internationalize your website:

• Your website may be pushing foreign visitors away
• Successful international business development leads to localized websites, and localized websites are much easier to create if you have an internationalized website

An internationalized website communicates well with all of your audiences: domestic and international.

The 7 Steps To Internationalize Your Website

Here are the 7 steps to internationalize your website:

Internationalize Your Website 1 -  Make Your Website Easy To Read For All Of Your Readers

Internationalize Your Website 2 -  Be Reachable By Phone To Everyone

Internationalize Your Website 3 -  Show The World Your Location

Internationalize Your Website 4 -  Create Clarity With A Consistent Vocabulary

Internationalize Your Website 5 -  Use The Right Order Forms For International Sales

Internationalize Your Website 6 -  Publish A Glossary For Clarity And Consistency

Internationalize Your Website 7 -  Welcome Your International Visitors

More On Website Internationalization

Here are some other articles on website internationalization:

How To Organize Your International Communication On Your Website

Is Your Website Sabotaging Your International Business Development?

What Website Do You Need To Open For International Business

Prepare For International Markets

Website Internationalization Before Localization

Website Design For International Markets

Consistency For International Business Success

Internationalize Your Website To Transition To A Global Market Internet Business

How To Use International Marketing Strategy To Plan For Your Globalized Website

Next Step After Website Internationalization - Website Localization → NEW!

After website internationalization, the next logical step is what is referred to as Website Localization. Website localization usually refers to a website with a country specific URL and is targeted to one country. This is a big step. There are two other options for businesses not yet ready to take this step. You can read about these other two options here:

How To Organize Country Specific Content On Your Website

Website Localization

Do you already have some specific market information from at least one foreign country? Read more about Website Localization.

Website Localization

Foreign Search Engine Submissions

Read more on why you should submit your website to foreign search engines and how to go about doing it yourself.

Foreign Search Engine Submissions

Don’t Miss The Whole Story

This is part of the Get International Clients Business Guide 2 Plan Your International Sales Road Map Be sure to check out the other elements you need to plan your international sales strategy

Read more about International Marketing on Get International Clients