Using your Website to Increase International Sales

1. Using your Website to Increase International Sales Joel Reynoso U.S. Department of Commerce U.S. Commercial Service December 4, 2009 Atlantic City, NJ

2. What we will discuss today • Are folks using the Internet overseas? • Should I register my website overseas? • Should I Localize or Internationalize my website? • How do search engines rank my website? • Should I pay to rank higher? • What are customers saying about my products? • What are common methods of payment overseas? • How do I protect myself against fraud? Using Your Website for International Sales

3. Source: ComScore

4. World Internet Penetration World Internet Penetration Rates 2008 2007 Asia and Europe have much greater undeveloped potential than the US Using Your Website for International Sales

5. Source: ComScore

6. Using Your Website for International Sales

7. Using Your Website for International Sales

8. Proactive Promotion Most popular search site in China Most popular search site in S. Korea Using Your Website for International Sales

9. A Word About Website Registration • Register your name in the country where you will do business • Some countries require a firm to have a presence in that country before they can register their domain name there. That can be their law firm’s address in many cases. Other countries don’t require a local presence. A firm should protect their website address by remembering to register it in the countries they expect to do business with, as well as the other extensions such as .com, .net, .org, etc. (EVEN IF YOU HAVE NOT YET STARTED DOING BUSINESS THERE) • Most web browsers will default to .com when searching for websites when the search word is a company name. registerating use .com as well, if they have registered a .net address. • You can find the country extensions at http://www.iana.org/root-whois/index.html. • Every country may have separate and additional procedures, follow local rules. Using Your Website for International Sales

10. Using Your Website for International Sales

11. Preparing your Website for International Customers

12. Market your Certifications Using Your Website for International Sales

13. Simple Enhancements International Formats and Standards Hiro Watanabe Trudi Hecht C-207 1-19-25 Oude Gracht 621 Ikki-Machi 1381 X2 Weesp Aizu-Wakatsu City The Netherlands Fukushima 765 Japan • Address formats differ globally: • Free text for postal codes – at least 12 digits • Some countries don’t use, many combine letters and numbers • Allow for longer lines • Allow for multiple last names & titles • Always include country and city field • Allow for any number of digits in phone numbers • Request that no abbreviations be used Using Your Website for International Sales

14. Online Forms for International Inquiries Using Your Website for International Sales

15. Website Localization Best practice! Again, consistency is key! Using Your Website for International Sales

16. Things That Affect Your Search Engine Rankings • Content is KING (Keywords on the page itself) • Inbound Links – from other websites • - Particularly from credible websites • Location Abusing the use of the first 2 things can get you barred from results on search engines. Search engines used to use the Meta Keywords tag to rank sites, but that was way back in the 90's. • webmasters would stick anything and everything into Meta Keywords. • search engines got a lot better at figuring at what pages were about on their own -- as well as which pages were the best matches for a given search. Using Your Website for International Sales

17. How Search Engines find you (Compass Wire Corp.) http://www.webmaster-toolkit.com/search-engine-simulator.shtml Using Your Website for International Sales

18. American Instants Results by Location Using Your Website for International Sales

19. #1 in Brazil #10 in Mexico #10 in Argentina Using Your Website for International Sales

20. The value of links to search engines Using Your Website for International Sales

21. Link Appeal: http://www.webmaster-toolkit.com/link-appeal.shtml Using Your Website for International Sales

22. Google Blogging Neostrata? Using Your Website for International Sales

23. Paid Placement vs. Organic Search Using Your Website for International Sales

24. Using Your Website for International Sales

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27. Credit Card Fraud • In 2006, 1.1% of all orders online were fraudulent (for U.S. based merchants) • Outside the U.S., the rate of fraud gets higher. U. S. merchants reject one in every nine international orders for "suspected fraud." • In 2007, 3.6 percent of the orders U.S. merchants shipped outside of the country were later categorized as fraud • Cybersource, http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/720-Credit-Card-Fraud-How-Big-Is-The-Problem- Using Your Website for International Sales

28. New Level of Scam Using Your Website for International Sales

29. Background Check on Foreign Firms Using Your Website for International Sales

30. What Can You Do? • Don’t ignore your international customers on your website! • Small changes need not be costly • If you are getting international business through your website now, what would happen if you were to do online marketing in a market or region? • Talk to your foreign distributors and reps as to what works in their market • Protect your website name and brand overseas • Seek advice from a wide range of experts!!! Using Your Website for International Sales

31. Using Your Website for International Sales