Your company’s website is usually the first port of call for consumers who want to learn about your products and services. If you trade in foreign countries, you may want to consider using one domain, as this will allow you to adopt a cohesive brand voice to present a unified face to all your customers. Turner Little outlines the key considerations of developing an international website with one domain.
Why use just one domain?
Business portal Start-ups explains that there are many advantages to this approach. It is quicker and easier register a single web address. Adopting this strategy also shows consumers that you are a global company, indicating that you have the infrastructure required to conduct business anywhere in the world. So how can you develop an international website with just one domain?
Select your domain
First you must choose a domain and it is vital that you select the right one, so that customers can find your business’ website easily online. Turner Little provides guidance on international domains so that you can assess the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. Generally global businesses tend to opt for .com. This is a widely recognised domain worldwide, meaning that customers will often use .com to search for companies in your industry.
Provide a local experience
Customers will expect to find local information e.g. the contact details for your nearest business premises, when they reach your website. How can you provide this local experience with an international domain name? First, you could invest in software that identifies the location of incoming consumers based on their web browser’s ‘internet protocol.’ This enables the software to re-direct these consumers to a local version of your business’ online portal.
With this option, you will have to set up a series of sub-domains but you will not have to register each separately, as they will sit beneath the main domain. Alternatively, you can employ a single web address, but ensure all traffic is directed to a local domain. For instance, if you type Google.com into the search bar in the UK, you will be directed to Google.co.uk automatically. You will need to set up and register each local sub-domain separately.
It is also vital that a customer, on reaching a local website version, are greeted by a portal which conforms to local sensibilities and features content in their native language. You will need to create various versions of your website employing sub-domains to achieve this aim. You can use services such as WordPress to find the design templates needed to construct a range of websites which conform to your branding quickly and easily.
Beware of local regulations
When you use build an international website with one domain, the portal will have to conform to local trading rules within all the countries you do business. Therefore it is vital that you research the regulatory guidelines for websites in every country you trade within before setting up your portal, so that you will not have to waste time and money making changing in order to comply with these rules later down the line. You can also conform to differing national regulations by tailoring the information featured on each sub-domain to the market in question.
Think about logistics
You will need to consider how to handle the logistics associated with running an international website from one domain. Let’s say that you have product-specific pages in both German and Spanish. How can you ensure with one domain that you can send product to customers in both countries as quickly as possible and also provide them with easy means to return said products? It is vital that you conform to all local export regulations and include any additional costs e.g. specific taxes, when selling goods and services across borders via an international website, so you do not incur financial penalties.
Monitor website speed
In this hectic modern world, consumers value speed. If your website does not load quickly, they may click away to a competitor. But depending on where in the world your customers are, your portal’s performance may vary from region to region. It is vital that you find a way to ensure that your international website operates efficiently all over the world to retain customers. There are a number of tools you can use to monitor your website’s performance, allowing you to identify and fix any speed issues so consumers receive a seamless experience when engaging with your firm online.
Facilitate easy payment
If you engage in e-commerce activity, ensure that your global portal allows consumers to execute transactions in their local currency. If you only allow them to pay for purchases with one currency you may lose business, as people may not understand how executing a transaction in a currency they are not familiar with could impact their bank balances. Solve this problem by utilising the services of a payment provider e.g. PayPal so you can sell products in a range of currencies throughout your portal.
Invest in security
If you use sub-domains to provide local versions of your business’ international website, security need to be considered. Start-ups writes, “you will have more pages targeting not one, but many audience groups and that complexity impacts on security and privacy policies.” Therefore it is key that you consider national and regional regulations on issues such as how data is stored, to make sure your portal provides adequate security for the market in question.
Consumers in various territories will have different expectations when it comes to security. For instance, UK customers are often required to supply a bank password before executing a transaction but those in the US are not, so asking the latter customers to supply a bank password could prove disadvantageous in America. Adapt your website to local security expectations to retain business.
Register your domain
If your business establishes an international website with one domain, you could establish a global brand that appeals to consumers in multiple markets. But for this strategy to prove effective, you will need to register your domain so you can create an effective online hub for your business. Utilise Turner Little’s comprehensive domain name registration services to ensure you can achieve this aim.
Turner Little
Turner Little was founded in 1998 and it has since become a well-established UK based professional Company Registration Agent, Registered Bank Intermediaries and Business Consultants, as well as Trust provider. You can receive our monthly newsletter by signing up using the form below.