International Business and Technology Blog

At IBT Online, our mission is to help U.S. exporters navigate the online global environment, reach their international target markets, and grow their exports, sales, brand, and business globally.

We are proud to say that we currently work with over 500 companies, in over 65 target markets around the world, delivering over 1,500 Online Global Programs. 

In recognition of this, IBT Online has been awarded the President’s ‘E’ Award, which is the highest recognition any U.S. company can receive for contributing to national export expansion efforts that support the U.S. economy and create American jobs.  

How do we do this? Well, we have designed innovative Online Global Programs to fit the needs of U.S. exporters for whichever market they are trying to reach. We value our clients, and we work in collaboration with them to build an Online Global Program that is unique to their needs and business objectives.  

Vapor Pin Enterprises, Inc. patented the Vapor Pin®, which allows environmental professionals a means of collecting high-quality, low-cost soil gas samples within minutes. Vapor Pin was seeking to grow their brand internationally and identified as their first target market. Vapor Pin recognized that website localization can give your business a competitive advantage, helping your brand stand out in a crowded digital landscape. This task can also appear daunting to many companies as it requires market expertise and digital skills that might not be available in-house. For this reason, Vapor Pin called upon IBT Online to help them achieve their exporting objectives. IBT Online was proud to launch a best-practice, localized business development Brazilian ecommerce website as well as a targeted online marketing strategy to accompany it.

Localizing websites is more than translating a few pages – it involves deep local knowledge, wide technical experience and strong locally-based search engine optimization skills. Ecommerce plug-ins also need to be suited to the local market, taking into account local payment habits, safety and compliance regulations. For Brazilian ecommerce, according to Vice-President Laurie A. Chilcote, “We need to get online in this market”. It was the right time to call in IBT Online to ensure the Brazilian website was launched on-time and on-budget with a full ecommerce platform and online marketing strategy to power up sales.

Given the success of the localized website and strategic marketing efforts in Brazil, Vapor Pin endeavoured to further invest into launching ecommerce websites in other international target markets. As Laurie expresses: "If you want to grow your brand and expand into markets, IBT Online is the company to help you achieve those goals."

Having an optimally localized online presence is key, but don’t stop there! Understanding how your prospects, customers, and why not competitors behave on your website will give you the edge you need to continue growing your exports, sales, brand, and business globally.

Google Analytics is a free, yet fantastic analytics tool that gives you an extremely in-depth look into your Online Global websites' performance and how to leverage it.

Google Analytics is essential for your website as it will allow you to understand whom you are reaching, how they find you, and how they behave and navigate your pages. Having this information at hand will allow you to make strategic decisions for the future and therefore get better results from your website performance.

Having an optimally localized website for each target market helps you be found and be understood but having a clear understanding of the websites’ performance will give you the edge over your competitors.

In the last 10 years, buyers have become increasingly more comfortable shopping, negotiating, and closing deals online.

To stay in business, grow your exports, sales, brand, and business you need to capture your buyers' attention online and drive them to your website - in fact, you may already be losing business to your competition because your potential customers can't find you online!

Check out how Supercritical Fluid Technologies Revamped their Site and have seen Immediate Uptick in Web Traffic

We live in an online world. More and more business transactions are taking place online than ever before. Many internet users rely on Google or other leading search engines to help them find what they are looking for online.

Supercritical Fluid Technologies decided to focus on optimizing their website for their global audience so that more potential clients can find them overseas. This proved to be a savvy export strategy in 2020 when international business travel was not safe, and many international trade shows were canceled due to COVID-19.

“Typically, something like 75% of our sales involve being face-to-face, on the floor in clients’ manufacturing facilities,” recalls Jonathan Szucs, president and owner of Advanced Superabrasives Inc. (ASI). Looking up at the webcam, waving and adding “So not being allowed to travel or visit customers, it is totally changing the way we have to do business” and “that’s why this website globalization is so important”.

ASI had been considering the Online Global programs before the pandemic, the increased grants and current state of the “lockdown” world, fast-tracked that decision. IBT Online is now working closely with ASI to completely redesign, build, and deliver best-practice, locally optimized business development websites and online marketing campaigns for target markets the U.S.A., Canada and Mexico. Today, face-to-face is online!

Farécla Products Limited (Farécla) had decided to invest in a website for one of their most important export markets, China. But the website was not localized or optimized for the Chinese market. The contents had been translated into Chinese characters but without background expertise in how Chinese websites actually function or how to connect with prospective Chinese customers: the website was not fit for purpose. Management began reviewing possible solutions with IBT Online and we are proud to have helped Farécla build a great Chinese online platform for doing business: a fully localized, optimized and functioning website that acts as a springboard for social media, online marketing, ecommerce – in line with the company’s strategy to grow their sales, brands and businesses in China.

Renowned for its technology and ability to deliver, Ocean Optics has every reason to be confident of its global success. To make sure the Ocean Optics brand is showcased at its best, management decided to invest in its online footprint. As a Florida exporter, the company took advantage of the innovative Florida Online Global Program and in mid-2018, Ocean Optics boasted its first 2 fully localized websites for target export markets; Mexico and Brazil. IBT Online is proud to have helped them get online globally.

With headquarters in Florida, Ocean Optics was eligible for Enterprise Florida’s Online Global Program. As a public-private partnership, Enterprise Florida Inc. (EFI) is the principal economic development organization for the state. Working with IBT Online, EFI initiated an innovative program to help Florida companies with global ambitions get the right sales and marketing tools: international, fully localized websites and social media marketing.

If you want to be a global leader, you need global websites – this was the conclusion of Custom Biogenic Systems' management. In 2016, IBT Online rolled out the first 2 localized websites for them: now 2 years later, Custom Biogenics is online, optimized and fully visible to their international clients and prospects, with 6 websites across 6 international markets. IBT Online first built 4 localized websites for Custom Biogenics for Europe: French, German, Spanish and Italian. In early 2018, the company decided to add Chinese and Russian. These 6 languages equate to over a quater of the world's population. This multi-website presence allows the company to push forward its international ambitions, growing together with the global biotechnology, pharma, industrial and research sectors that they service.

Selling specialized products to consumers these days requires a fantastic website and regular postings of quality social media across multiple media platforms. Shire Post Mint from Arkansas do this well. Their US home website allows customers to browse and purchase easily while their blogs and regular social media postings include great visuals and engaging content. Now how best to grow internationally? Management chose to leverage their digital presence through localized websites and international online marketing for their key export markets. IBT Online is delighted to help: the first step was to build German and Spanish localized websites.