How do you know when your business is ready to launch an international website? Lots of companies trade internationally at an early stage of their growth, whereas others are much more cautious – wait too long, however, and you could lose out to a competitor.
These are a few key milestones that you should look out for:
Getting enquiries from international customers
This shows people are interested in your offering, so give them what they want! Adding pages of information in their language will inform them about what you offer, and persuade them to take the next step.
Receiving orders from international customers
Even better! If you get orders from overseas already, you could get more, and with relatively little outlay and effort.
Your competitors have a multilingual site
This indicates that there is definite potential in your sector, so why let them have all the market share?
Losing business from international customers
Perhaps they couldn’t communicate with you or find the information they needed on your website. Don’t become a statistic: 1 in 5 UK companies lose business as a result of poor communication with global customers.
Products/services you sell are in demand in particular countries
People want to buy what you are selling, so what are you waiting for? Target these countries by making information available on your website in their language.
Need to improve your bottom line
If you are finding that growth in your domestic market is slow/non-existent then international trade is likely to provide your business with the boost it needs to continue to grow.
Spotted a gap in the market
If you’ve identified a niche that no-one is currently exploiting, get in there quick! A big part of success in exporting is the ability to be quick to market.
You’ve researched some key markets and identified opportunities
Having done all the homework and weighed up the risk, it’s time to take action and launch your website into those target markets.
Creating a multilingual website is a low-risk way of launching your business in international markets. Contact us for more information.
27 May 2014 11:19