Do you have a global website?
A company cannot expect to create an effective global website merely by translating its existing Japanese website into English. However, by carefully renewing content with a firm awareness of the overseas target, you should see results in about six months.
Launching a global website has the highest benefit-cost ratio in the international expansion process.
Introduction
Having a website with strong pulling power that captures the real needs of customers is a long-cherished wish of an SME top executive. That may sound like an exaggeration, but it isn’t.
If you have a straightforward global website that you have put a great deal of thought into, during any and all phases of your business’s international expansion, it will strongly support and aid your company, your sales team, and your business, as an almighty sales tool.
In particular, once you experience the high efficiency, your customer’s sense of satisfaction, and your sense of achievement when you effortlessly reach your goal in business discussions, due to being able to say, either during an overseas exhibition or overseas sales activities,
“You can view detailed technical data on our website,”
“Here is the password to watch a video on how to use our products exclusively available to members,”
“You can see more photos and samples of this product being used by other customers via our website,” and
“You can download the Wholesale Program I just explained from our website,” you will think to yourself over and over again “I’m SO glad I made a well-thought-out global website.”
No matter how talented a businessperson is, they would be hard-pressed to sell a product overseas in absence of a straightforward (trustworthy) website.
I already have a Japanese website. Can’t I just translate it into English?
It would be difficult to expect good results by simply translating an existing Japanese site into English.
The most inexpensive form of international expansion is setting up a global website. If you do not plan to have overseas business trips or participate in overseas exhibitions for budget and staffing reasons but you do want to expand your business outside of Japan, we highly recommend you launch a global website.
As a failproof approach to accomplishing this, it is best to first create a new English-language website from scratch, if possible. You could then translate this into Japanese and use it when renewing your website for the Japanese market.
The reason for this is because, English translations of Japanese websites have little information truly necessary for visitors from English-speaking countries and a lot of unnecessary information, therefore it is difficult for an English speaker to properly read everything on the website without enormous effort.
For example, people conduct online searches to collect information and ultimately find a solution to the particular problem they are facing, however these people differ in terms of knowledge level, business experience, the ability to collect information, and so on. Sometimes there is a vast gap regarding these factors between overseas site visitors and the average Japanese person.
That is why it is best to create a simple website with the below features allowing visitors to collect the information they need in around ten minutes;
- The main points you wish to convey are expressed in around one sentence on every page of the website
- An original slogan that is not run-of-the-mill has been carefully prepared and used
- Reasons or grounds for statements are expressed in figures, photos, numbers and data charts created by professional designers
- Able to download reference materials clearly explaining your company’s differences, position, and competitive edge relative to the industry overall and rival companies
Also, your website is bound to improve your company’s reputation if it can assure the visitor in less than a minute that
- Your company has overwhelming strength not found elsewhere and,
- There are clear reasons why they should purchase your product/service
Then, so that the visitor will want to return to your website and collect more detailed information, the below points are extremely important;
- Straightforward layout
- Flow line
- Volume of information (don’t cram in too much content)
- Use of customer reviews so visitors will want to keep reading
If you’re selling a product or service for general consumers, it may also be a good idea to use
- Illustrations,
- photos, and,
- videos
in order to further emphasize
- Something extremely beautiful
- Something clearly expressing your product/service’s story
- Something a person can empathize with
- Something that makes a person want to visit your website again
What are important points to note when creating a global website?
We strongly recommend that the company top executive also attend meetings about global website production. The staff member in charge of website production should sincerely request this of the company owner.
A company’s website is the embodiment of the ideas inside the head of the company top executive and is bursting with the owner’s thoughts, goals, and future direction. As such, it would not be possible to proceed with website production unless the owner is present in related discussions.
Nowadays, a website is an important tool impacting both domestic and international business operation, however if the company top executive is not involved in the website’s creation, then the result would likely be;
- A website that fails to reflect the company’s unique overseas strategy
- A commonplace website that would also work for a rival simply by switching the company name and logo
- A website listing frequently-used terms that no longer resonate with people, such as “safe and secure,” “only reliable partner,” and “customer-orientated.”
Moreover, if the company top executive does not attend website production meetings using excuses such as “I’m leaving it up to the project manager,” or “it’s a global website,” then they will lose a golden opportunity to increase their intercultural adaptation skills, which are essential for international expansion.
For the sake of successful international expansion, it is imperative that the entire company unites to create a website conveying the passion of the company top executive to the world by having original content, and that you firmly ask yourselves how the website can be helpful to what kind of customer, then incorporating these ideas in each website page.
13 points of caution to avoid failure when creating an English website
Is there a way to find a good global website developer?
Rather than searching for a website developer, it would be better to search for websites that inspire and motivate you to make something similar in order to avoid quality risks involved in gathering quotes from companies displayed at the top of searches.
The below section (repost) tells you how to search for websites, and if you find one that you wish to aspire to, you may be able to find the website developer that produced it by conducting an online search using the name of the company whose website you like and the word “WORKS.”
13 points of caution to avoid failure when creating an English website(repost)
Whether that fantastic website is a one-hit-wonder by that website developer, or whether it is work of consistently high quality can be confirmed by viewing the “WORKS” field of the company.
If there is a high possibility of it being a one-hit-wonder, then it would be wise to repeat this process again from another website you find inspiring. After finding the website developer that seems like the right fit for you, prepare an RFP（Request for Proposal）to get a feel and proposal from the developer, in order to better understand the concepts and skills of that company, as well as its creators and designers.
Helpful English writing tips RFP（Request for Proposal）
If commissioning a U.S. or European website developer to create your website, the cost would likely be equal to, or greater than, that of a Japanese developer. A relatively inexpensive option would be to commission an Asian developer or overseas freelancer.
However, if you are still at beginner level regarding both web knowledge and English proficiency, it would be extremely difficult to properly communicate with a non-Japanese-speaking party, therefore please be sure to first have advanced knowledge of either the former or latter before placing an inquiry with an overseas website developer or similar.
It would be extremely reassuring to have an almighty, around-the-clock sales tool when expanding internationally!
There is still one hurdle to clear after becoming able to efficiently convey your company’s strengths (hoist your flag) in overseas markets.
There are many other flags (competitors) being flown in overseas markets.
That is why you must have a reason to be continuously chosen over the rest.
Continuously chosen?
That’s right.
In order to be continuously chosen, you need good branding.
