| |
| |
|
Internet Marketing Information |
|
|
|
A World Outside The US
With the exception of myself and a small handful of very remote and isolated journalists, no-one today bothers writing about the growth of the web. It's old news, and we already get it. Today's buzz is more about reaping the benefits of what's already there. Global business is now the norm, and the world is our marketplace. Those of us who are fortunate enough to be making a living writing and selling software have the luxury of riding on the very crest of the wave of good fortune. The whole Try Before You Buy concept allows us to send our software across the whole world quite literally in minutes, and users from almost every part of the globe can download, try and hopefully buy our products. If our business deals exclusively with downloads and avoids working with physical media, then we have nothing to worry about with getting our products from A to B, and no packaging, shipping, customs or tax issues to keep us awake at night. But the reality is somewhat different, and the vast majority of websites selling products or services online are doing so almost exclusively with the US market in mind. If you truly want to sell your products to the rest of the world, chances are that you'll need to make some changes. Change the way you think! The very first step is the most important, and requires a change in attitude. The world extends beyond the US borders, and to assume that the rest of the world follows the same norms as the US is wrong. A potential buyer may not speak English as their main language, may have no access to US Dollars, and may not have, use or want to use a credit card. Assuming you'd still like to sell your products to a buyer like this, you have to consider the practicalities. Setting up a link to an online currency converter is child's play, and there's no shortage of options to choose from. Doing so not only reassures the buyer that you take international considerations into account, but also makes the buying process easier for them. And making it easy sells. Make sure that you provide this information before the actual order page. Many people's first question when a product catches their eye will be how much it costs, and they shouldn't have to go searching for it. Again, make it easy. The same principle should also be applied within the software itself. If your application deals with different currencies for example, then you shouldn't assume that the user will automatically want the US Dollar as their base currency, or even that they will want to use the Dollar at all. And I'm assuming that you have already included the Euro, haven't you? Many users will be unfamiliar with the concept of sales tax, and other countries have different names, such as VAT in the UK, and GST in Australia. Regional variations in numerical formats are also important - most countries outside the US don't use the MM/DD/YYYY format, and many will use a comma for a decimal symbol, and a period for the digit grouping symbol. If your icons and interface are non-standard, then make sure they're clear to all users. There's a reason for sticking with the standards and familiar icons, and that's the fact that they have become instantly recognisable to most users, all over the world. If you're going to use something a little more original, make sure that other people will understand the symbols and images that you use. Having a US stop sign might not mean as much to someone who's never actually seen one before. What about your web forms? But even once your potential buyer has found your website, understood how much your software costs and even decided to buy it, the battle may be far from over. If you've ever tried ordering from an "international" store on the web, and you live outside the US and Canada, you'll already know how frustrating the process can be, and how the dreaded web forms can often make the process near impossible for us to work with. I've tried to buy products from sites that don't have Finland listed in their pull-down menu, that demand a State and/or County even when I don't live in one, and don't leave enough room for my phone or fax numbers. Even though my wallet, bills and bank statements are all full of Euros, there are still (at the time of writing) a huge number of sites that allow me to pay in everything from Algerian Dinars to Zambian Kwacha, but still don't consider the EURO a real currency. I'd suggest they wake up. And even the more flexible forms that allow all these options may still fall over when it comes to shipping costs. I can enter my delivery and credit card addresses in Finland, but when it comes to choosing my shipping option, I frequently have US POSTAL SERVICES and US FED-EX DOMESTIC only. More than once this has resulted in my simply giving up and looking elsewhere. Wasted opportunities don't get any easier to avoid! If you use a third party to handle your sales, then make sure you use one with flexible options. I use SWREG, who can handle everything under the sun, including fax, phone, online, check, international money orders, direct payment and more. Can yours? And if your software involves a large file download, then you have to consider the many users around the world connecting at a theoretical 56 KBPS, who simply cannot even consider downloading a 15 MB file. If you want to reach those people, then you have to make it easy for them. Even if you don't want the headache of burning a CD and mailing it yourself, there are services out there that can do this for you, and their prices are very reasonable. Make it easy. If you don't want their business - let them know! But ultimately if your business cannot or will not adapt to the rest of the world, then I have one humble request. Please make it clear from the start. I've filled out so many of your long forms, only to find out at the very end of the process that you can't deliver to Europe. Amazon is considered by many to be one of the world's most successful online stores, yet even they are guilty of these sins. Assuming I don't mind paying the shipping, I can order books and software through their US website. But when I go to software downloads, and add these items to my Shopping Cart, everything is fine until it comes to checkout time. At this point I get a message informing me that they do not offer digital downloads to my country. Go figure - and ask yourself why they waited until that moment to tell me. I've also filled out other long forms and received an email 24 hours later explaining that you don't normally ship outside the US; but if I will pay an additional $35, you'll send your $30 product direct by courier. And when your international user has already downloaded, installed, used and admired your software, falling at the final hurdle is a very painful and frustrating process. The irony in writing this article is that while preaching the concept of internationalism, many of the ideas I suggest for achieving it are aimed primarily at US developers. But it's not only the US developers who need to expand their views. The ability to reach across the globe is yours for the taking. But if your software, website or ordering options aren't up to the task, then you're throwing away a whole world of opportunities. Think international. Be seen, be sold. Copyright 2004 Dave Collins About The Author Dave Collins is the CEO of SharewarePromotions Ltd., a well established UK-based company working with software and shareware marketing activities, utilising all aspects of the internet. http://www.sharewarepromotions.com and http://www.davetalks.com. This article may be used freely in opt-in publications, RSS feeds, printed material and websites, provided that the full and unedited resource box (About the author paragraph) is included and all links remain active. A copy of the issue/material or a link to any online posting would be appreciated but is not equired. Send an email to dave@sharewarepromotions.com.
MORE RESOURCES:
Internet-Marketing - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
The Secret Of Focused Responsive List Once you have decided on your ideal business to create and have research the feasibility of it, you will then need to figure out what your target market is.I have seen many people fight this area and want to skip it. Use Landing Pages to Boost Sales and Capture Metrics If you are sending out a periodic email newsletter, no doubt it contains links back to your Website. These links probably take the responder to a product promotion, a featured offering, a contest sign-up location, or essentially any offer which is a means of gaining new clients or increasing your sales. Web Marketing: Unusual Tricks Of Internet Marketing Gurus To Attract More Visibility Do you post to message boards, e-mail discussion lists, classified ads sites, FFA sites or newsgroups?People will usually read the subject line before they read your ad or message, so it's important they get noticed.Below are ten simple, but powerful web marketing tips to get your ads or messages noticed. Writing Your Own Entrepreneur Success Story The world of entrepreneurship is a difficult one full of ups and downs. In order to rise about your struggles and survive amidst the headaches and heartaches, you will need to learn the key to entrepreneur success. Three Key Steps to Invention Marketing Ever see a new product and say to yourself, "Why didn't I think of that?" Well, if you stop to think about it, probably everyone one of us has either had an idea for a new product, believe we are capable of a new product idea or knows of someone else who has had a new product idea.To get an idea of the magnitude of new product ideas and activity, I did a quick search on the word "inventor" on google and back came 9,300,000 websites. Increasing The Perceived Value of Your Product or Service Whether online or offline, small businesses often show little faith in the quality of their service or product. Instead, they tend to focus on the limitations and lower their prices. How a Multi-Faceted Approach to Site Promotion Can Secure Your Search Engine Positions Copyright 2005 Tinu AbayomiPaulIn my last article on site promotion, I talked about why using one site promotion technique is a short-term solution. Now I'm going to illustrate why site promotion is multi-faceted, and show an example of how these techniques can build on one another to help you get better search engine results from your search engine optimization efforts, as well as more traffic to your site overall. Dumb Money And Smart Money One of my goals online is to give you the total picture and tell you everything you need to succeed in your own Internet Marketing Business.This internet marketing "stuff" has been a God send for me and it can be for Anyone of you who will apply yourself and be very, very serious with it, not get rich overnite - but I am talking about coming in to this "net marketing world" with the same attitude that I came in with. Niche Marketing the Right Way! Niche marketing is hot these days. Membership sites pop up everywhere inviting you to make tons of money. Hype! Has The Internet Gone Too Far? I remember back in the 1980s (history for many of you reading this), I had a friend working at the University of California who had access to the Internet through the University system. It was new, it was esoteric, it was for academicians, nerds, and professional scientists. Internet Marketing: 10 Motivational Insiders Tricks To Attract Thousands Of Visitors If you have a website but not attracting many visitors, it may be because you've not known the insiders secrets that I have.By just making a couple of changes at your website, you can attract an avalanche of visitors and sky rocket your sales. Personality Profiling Your Prospects for Internet Marketing, E Commerce, and Ebay Ads Do you want me to tell you the truth or just what you want to hear?"In your opinion how much would you need to earn to be able to do all the things you really want to do in life, try to be realistic?You may think this is a bizarre opening line to ask, you may be wondering why anyone would want anything but the truth. Fact is many people know the truth when they hear it or read it (or so they believe) but do they?When we write copy for marketing purposes, which if you think about it is almost everything that goes into print. How To Increase Your Online Sales Anytime Hold a discount sale on your web site. Use the sale to get rid of excess inventory, gain new or repeat customers, and increase your sales. An Internet Marketing Plan Is Crucial A Internet marketing plan provides you with a way to define your potential market and allows you the chance to position your business for optimum sales. You wouldn't start on a trip without map, would you? Likewise, starting an online business without a well thought out strategy Internet marketing plan is a recipe for failure. Why Online Business - The Harsh Reminder Why Online Business Is For You Many people want to achieve financial freedom and they know very well that running their own business has always and will always be the best road to financial freedom. Here are some reasons to remind these people why online business is the best way toward financial freedom. Why People Will Look Back In Years To Come And Wish They Were You It's true. Just think about it for a minute - the World Wide Web as we know it has really only been around for around 10 years or so. What Businesses are Succeeding on the Net? The most basic question any Internet business owner will have to answer at one point or another?"what should I sell?".After the settling down of the dot-com bubble, sanity checks have brought realistic expectations to the fore. The 2 Step Lead Generation Machine Cold calling doesn't work, it's no fun and often you end up with leads, or worse yet, clients, that don't really value what you do.Having said that, leads are the lifeblood of growth, without a lead, there is no client. Website Sales: 10 Super-Charged Tactics To Spark Up Your Sales If your website sales are down and you desire to spark it up, here the secrets to do so:1. Spend money on targeted advertising instead of mass media advertising. Viral Marketing What is Viral Marketing?"Viral marketing is word of mouth marketing on the web. In other words it is the "e" term for word of mouth marketing.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
