International Business and Technology Blog

Domain registration for export markets

Posted by Tereza Santava on Wed, Mar 16, 2016

The importance of owning a domain for your export markets is twofold: Firstly, to protect and own your brand, secondly to improve your local search engine optimization. In this blog, we will take a closer look at both of these aspects, give you recommendations on the increasingly popular geographical domains, and provide you with basic information on what you need to register your international domains.

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Tags: All posts, Website Localization, Digital Compliance

Can you use your existing web agency for website localization?

Posted by Tereza Santava on Fri, Feb 12, 2016

You might be working with a web agency that is very artistic and design oriented, focusing on developing your brand. Or you might be working with a web agency that is more results oriented, focusing on search engine optimization and driving visitors to the site. In the best case, your web agency can offer you both - unique custom design and a superior website performance. The best agencies specify website features based on your requirements and those of your website’s users. They create great online platforms, supporting and driving your sales in your home market. Market, which both you and your web agency know very well.

But what about your export markets? Does your local web agency have the right skillsets to create and market your international websites and thus grow your business equally successfully abroad?

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Tags: All posts, Website Localization

European website localization, Amazon and Apple

Posted by John Worthington on Fri, Jan 29, 2016

It’s all about the user – whether that user is German, English, French, Italian or Estonian - any of the 500+ million European citizens from one of the 51 countries, speaking (and reading) dozens of languages. In the European Union (EU) alone we have 28 countries and 24 officially recognized languages. It is therefore not surprising that corporations seeking to grow their exports and business in European markets face significant challenges. An online strategy, fit for purpose, is an essential element for success in Europe and that strategy has to focus on your specific targeted profiles who first have to easily find your website site (through the plethora of search engines) and then use it, knowing that today’s users demand localized, relevant content.

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Tags: All posts, Website Localization, Global Markets

Three website ghosts that will scare off your visitors

Posted by Tracula Santava on Fri, Oct 30, 2015

Don’t give your website visitors the creeps (well, unless you’re selling props for horror movies or promoting a haunted house tour). Give them the experience they deserve! In this Halloween blog special, we’ll give you three design elements that you should avoid having on your website, because they’re terrifyingly outdated, deadly boring, or just… bloody awful. So what are these website ghosts?

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Tags: All posts, Website Localization

10 CMS requirements for building multilingual websites

Posted by Tereza Santava on Tue, Oct 06, 2015

Content Management Systems (CMS) are not our fellow human beings, they are just online tools for building and editing websites. So why do so many of us feel so passionate about them? If you discover a new CMS feature that will simplify your work, you love your CMS. But if it doesn’t work as you instructed and the editor displays a mess instead, you hate your CMS. The relationship gets sometimes complicated. But whatever that is, today’s question that we will answer is: What should you require from your CMS when building multilingual websites?

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Tags: All posts, Website Localization, Global Markets

The EU Digital Single Market - shaping up

Posted by John Worthington on Mon, Sep 28, 2015

Way back in May 2015, the European Commission (EC) presented its Digital Single Market (DSM) directive. Four months later and the program has advanced rapidly, with all concerned stakeholders now actively involved: not surprising given the economic and political import of the DSM! The European Parliament has held debates and issued statements; the European Council similarly, the EC has held numerous public consultations and published findings; European and non-European business interests (from digital infrastructure to service providers) are researching, employing lobbyists and taking position, while lawyers and accountants are readying themselves for streams of income. US interests are not on the side-lines, in fact market makers and leaders such as Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple (GAFA) are the most visible piece of this DSM influencing relationship, which the US Mission to the EU considers one of its top three priorities.

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Tags: All posts, Website Localization, Global Ecommerce

Get return on investment from your website by generating new leads

Posted by Tereza Santava on Wed, May 27, 2015

Clients often ask us “What is a typical return on investment in country specific websites?” While the benefits of international online presence and online marketing are enormous, there is nothing like a “typical” return on investment. It all depends on how you define the return and what investment you make.

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Tags: All posts, Website Localization

Gunning 4 GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook & Amazon)

Posted by John Worthington on Tue, May 05, 2015

Watch out “Les Gafa” are about! So says the EU Commission. The French provided this useful acronym, which encompasses a lot more than those four leviathan companies, Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. It is all about entrenched EU industries protecting their turf, tax revenues (who is collecting and who is not) and all this wrapped into privacy concerns, when helpful! It was a big month for Margrethe Vestager, the European Commissioner for Competition, as she unveiled long awaited accusations against Google.

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Tags: All posts, Website Localization, International Online Marketing

Making your website user-friendly II: DIY usability testing for companies

Posted by Tereza Santava on Thu, Jan 22, 2015

In our December blog Making your website user-friendly: DIY requirements identification for companies we introduced a check list for companies on how to identify user requirements, including 1) Persona definition 2) Scenarios and story-boarding and 3) Requirements definition. The aim of these two blogs is to advice business owners, sales and marketing managers and IT managers on how to create user-friendly websites that generate business using techniques that are not resource-intensive. Today we have a closer look at usability testing.

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Tags: All posts, Website Localization

Making your website user-friendly: DIY requirements identification for companies

Posted by Tereza Roubalikova on Tue, Dec 16, 2014

If you are a business owner, sales and marketing manager or IT manager, the chances are you have become very familiar with your website. Whether or not you find your website clearly structured and understandable, the ultimate judges will always be its end users – your customers, prospects, partners, and employees. A website that is considered friendly by its users is considerably more likely to fulfill its marketing/sales potential and bring in new business. 

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Tags: All posts, Website Localization