International Business and Technology Blog

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.

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. 

Maybe you’ve heard of website localization already, maybe this is the first time. But don’t worry, in this blog we’ll explain what it is and why it matters to your exports!

If you want to grow your European exports and business, firstly you need to ensure people will be able to find your business on the internet. Secondly, once you’ve got your visitors on the website, you need to present them with both text and visual elements that are native to their home country. That will help you generate local demand for your products or services in Europe. Website localization is the process that will help you achieve that. So what is it exactly?

News review 05.2014: May is an exciting month for us as we start the monthly “Internet of International”, bringing you useful information on how the digital age impacts business and export development. Here is a collection of articles that caught our eye: Will Google forget?, Click and Collect - the way to go!, Website health check - Check for tablets, Europe is online - So should you be! Scroll down, enjoy, grab your essential "Internet of International" news…

International trade shows play a critical role for companies looking to break into new markets and expand exports. While the costs can be higher than domestic shows, they can bring significant returns and help reduce lead times for new market entry or market expansion. In a survey of 500 companies, 83% classed trade shows as the 2^nd most important “tool” in the marketing mix after the corporate website’s home page.  

The world and business are online: levels of over 3.5 billion internet users and e-commerce revenues of $1.25 trillion are anticipated to be reached by 2013(1). In our increasingly 'hyperconnected' world, the importance of creating an effective and international online presence becomes apparent.

Last month The Wall Street Journey's Hannah Karp published an interesting article entitled “Teaching Americans to Export*."  It covers the recent success in Los Angeles, where export volume is growing at 31%/yr. vs. 10% for other US ports.  Key to this is a regional focus on export, where their success is even more remarkable given that only 15% of California's manufacturers are exporting.   

Numerous companies have increased profits by exporting their products and services abroad, by accessing lucrative markets beyond borders of their home countries. In many cases, exporting is the only way to achieve a profitable business by fully exploiting markets around the world. However, many companies wrongly assume that exporting their goods abroad will solve a slowdown in sales in their home market.