Keys to Creating a Successful International Website

Has the time arrived for your business to go international? That’s great! The next thing to take into account is optimising your website for different countries.

However, international websites involve more aspects to keep in mind in contrast to a website which is addressed to clients in only one country.

Do you want to know what aspects you should take into account when creating international websites? Take note of the following tips!

Creating International Websites: Getting Started

When you’re planning to create an international website, some vital decisions need to be made before the development starts. We’re talking about aspects that will shape the whole project.

Therefore, it is important to think certain things through and define the details that can make or break the success of your international webpage. With the aim of preventing you from losing time and money because of poor strategic planning.

 

 

English or multi-language?

At first glance, it may not seem like a big decision to make. Because once you’ve created your website in English, the only thing to do is translate the content to additional languages, right?

Well, that’s not recommended. In fact, it’s one of the biggest mistakes companies are making nowadays. Not adapting their website to the market(s) and thinking that what works in one, should work in every other too.

If you are going to expand your business to other countries, you should keep in mind that you should adapt your webpage to it. Keep reading to find out why this is so important.

 

An international website should be optimised for each country on which it’s focussing

 

Website structure

International websites are about getting known in a new market. In case you are a major brand, you might already have some brand awareness there. But if you’re not and you need to approach new customers, you need to make it easier for them to find you.

This is where SEO and the architecture of the web come in. You can create a single website where different languages are selectable, or separate websites for each country you’re targeting.

But what are the differences between these options? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons!

 

Would you like to know how much it costs to create a website? Discover it with this tool!

 

 

Option 1: Domain per country

In other words, it’s about having a different URL for each country you’re targeting. For example, yourweb.es for Spain, yourweb.it for Italy, yourweb.de for Germany etc.

In this case, the management of the website is complicated, as you will have as many different websites as there are countries you are focussing on.

However, having a domain of the country you are targeting usually gives good results in terms of web positioning.

Hiring servers to host the international website in the country you want to focus on can have a positive impact on your positioning too.

However, creating a website from scratch also means that the domain won’t have as much power so it will take more time to position it on Google or other search engines.

 

 

Option 2: Subdomain per language

In this case, the URL of the international website would be something like “es.yourweb.com”, for example.

Creating a subdomain, from an SEO point of view, distributes some strength and authority from the main domain.

Nonetheless, they are more complex and time consuming to position, as search engines will interpret them as different websites.

Option 3: Directory by language

If you choose this option, the web URL would be “yourweb.com/es”, for example. This would make it easier to position the web because it transmits the strength of the domain to pages in other languages.

In addition, the management of the web will be simpler because you will have a single web with its different versions.

Are you feeling overwhelmed with all these options? That’s totally normal. There are so many decisions to make that could have a great impact on the expansion of your business to other markets.

Therefore, the best option is to count on a team of experts who can help you out with creating an international website for your business.

 

The best solution is to be advised by a team experienced in the creation of international websites

 

Tips for creating international websites

1. Take cultural differences into account

When planning your international website, the most natural idea might be to clone the main website, simply changing the language of the texts. However, you must take cultural differences into account.

It may not be very distinctive in countries close to each other. But if you’re going to target customers in markets very different from yours, it’s important to study their behaviour and apply it to the UX/UI of your website.

2. High-quality texts

It is very important to work with professional translators who can guarantee you high-quality translations of web copies.

In order to reflect professionalism and a good overall image, it is important that there are no errors or grammar mistakes in the text on your website.

Besides, having professional translators or native editors will ensure that possible differences in terms of measurement equivalencies, date formats, etc. will not be overlooked.

In the same way, they will know how to adapt the text using local expressions, for example.

3. International search engine positioning

Normally, when you are trying to position a website in your country, you do certain things to make Google happy.

But it’s a mistake to do the same if you’re targeting a country where Google isn’t the main search engine. Hence the importance of having a team specialised in SEO and international marketing.

An extra SEO hack: If you have an office in a different country besides the headquarter, adding the address and contact data of it can improve the SEO of your website.

 

 

4. One language for different countries?

International websites often target different countries that have the same official language, such as English or Spanish. Search engines like Google might recognise these pages as duplicate content, which is not so good for your SEO.

That’s why it’s important to know how to tell the search engine that, although they look alike, they’re different sites. To do this, hreflang tags are used to indicate that each page is aimed at users from different countries.

If you are using tools like Search Console to track your search engine ranking in different countries, it’s necessary to configure the segmentation of your markets.

Ready to launch your international website?

As you can see, there are many things to keep in mind when launching an international website that reaches new clients. The best guarantee for success is that you surround yourself with an experienced team to help you out.

At Yeeply we have experience working with major brands and the knowledge to connect them with the right certified professionals. So, stop worrying about finding the right team for your project and start trusting Yeeply.

Tell us more about your project, we are happy to help you out!