How To Optimise Your Website For Global Reach
Global expansion offers significant opportunities for small businesses, including access to new markets. But entering new markets takes careful planning. One of the most important steps is to optimise your website to attract and keep the attention of your new target market.
Optimising your website for global reach involves several key considerations to ensure that your site is accessible, user-friendly, and culturally appropriate for a diverse audience.
In this article, our friends at xne xneelo share some tips for getting it right.
Adapt your content
Something as simple as spelling can make a huge difference in how visitors experience your website. For example, British and European websites typically use British English, while US websites use American English (tip: It's all in the ‘z’s). You can add multi-language support to your website to adapt your content to specific audiences.
If you’re targeting non-English speaking visitors, consider translating your content into multiple languages. While there are numerous online translation tools available, you might want to consider professional translation services to achieve 100% accuracy and cultural relevancy.
Employ international SEO
Optimising your website for search engines is called Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). This involves creating content based on what your target market is searching for to help them find your website more easily on search engines. Adapting your content for this new audience is key, but be sure to do some keyword research first to find out exactly what words and terms this new audience is using to find information related to your product or service.
You will also need to make some technical SEO changes, such as adapting your metadata and sitemaps for search engines and setting up international targeting in Google Search Console to specify the target country for each version of your website.
Invest in additional domains
Using domain extensions strategically can play a role in helping your small business expand internationally. Consider registering country-specific domain extensions for the countries you are targeting. For example, if you are expanding into the United Kingdom, register a ".uk" domain. Different top-level domain extensions can also tell search engines to include your website in international or regional search results.
Check your page load speed
Check your page loading times to ensure your website offers a favourable user experience. You can use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify and address performance issues. You can use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to distribute your content globally and reduce latency. A CDN works by caching content closer to where your audience resides to deliver it faster.
Offer numerous payment and currency options
If your website has e-commerce functionality, make sure you are offering multiple payment options to accommodate various international preferences. Also, ensure you are displaying prices in the local currency to provide clarity and avoid confusion. Your chosen payment gateway might include this functionality.
Prioritise legal and regulatory compliance
Familiarise yourself with international privacy laws and regulations, such as the GDPR, and ensure your website is compliant with each. Make sure you communicate your privacy policy and terms of service to be transparent in how you use customer and visitor data.
Boost your customer support
One of the most important steps for global success is to ensure your customer support team is geared to assist customers from different regions. This can include hiring team members in other countries. On the website level, you can investigate international chatbot options and provide FAQs and documentation in various languages.
Remember that global optimisation is an ongoing process, and staying informed about international trends, technological advancements, and user preferences is crucial to maintaining a successful global online presence.
This advice was compiled by our friends at web hosting provider xneelo.