Internationalize your business website so consumers around the world can find you
Website Internationalization
Make it clear to website visitors that you are capable of handling international sales.

Website Internationalization

International SEO is important for cross-border ecommerce

Let the world know you are open for business online.

Website internationalization is the first step in the 3 Stages of Website Globalization, and is a term used to describe the process companies go through to make their websites more effective at reaching potential customers and business partners in other countries. It is the most common-sense approach for small and mid-sized companies looking to enhance their international marketing and sales efforts.

It begins with optimizing your website for search engines, in order to identify and solve technical website issues that would prevent international buyers from finding and transacting with you online. 

 

There are three phases of website work that businesses should grow through for international sales:

  1. Internationalization: website is culturally neutral, high-performing regardless of bandwidth, and structured to facilitate transaction and translation.
  2. Regionalization: website has specifically designed landing pages to facilitate cultural and language more focused on a particular region of the world, but not a specific country. Market research and analytics help define and refine market opportunities to pursue.
  3. Localization: modifying a company’s website to specifically focus on a particular country.  Localization of a website in another country must be done correctly to be effective and demands professional assistance. Please visit the eCommerce Business Service Providers Directory to find a solution to meet your business’ online needs.

Our Website Globalization Review (WGR) Gap Analysis Service provides technical and strategic assessment of a business’s website and ecommerce sales channel efforts.

We recommend working with your local Trade Specialist to internationalize your website as a part of your digital strategy.

Find Local Trade Specialist

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Global Business Navigator Chatbot Beta

Welcome to the Global Business Navigator, an artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot from the International Trade Administration (ITA). This tool, currently in beta version testing, is designed to provide general information on the exporting process and the resources available to assist new and experienced U.S. exporters. The Chatbot, developed using Microsoft’s Azure AI services, is trained on ITA’s export-related content and aims to quickly get users the information they need. The Chatbot is intended to make the benefits of exporting more accessible by understanding non-expert language, idiomatic expressions, and foreign languages.

Limitations

As a beta product, the Chatbot is currently being tested and its responses may occasionally produce inaccurate or incomplete information. The Chatbot is trained to decline out of scope or inappropriate requests. The Chatbot’s knowledge is limited to the public information on the Export Solutions web pages of Trade.gov, which covers a wide range of topics on exporting. While it cannot provide responses specific to a company’s product or a specific foreign market, its reference pages will guide you to other relevant government resources and market research. Always double-check the Chatbot’s responses using the provided references or by visiting the Export Solutions web pages on Trade.gov. Do not use its responses as legal or professional advice. Inaccurate advice from the Chatbot would not be a defense to violating any export rules or regulations.

Privacy

The Chatbot does not collect information about users and does not use the contents of users’ chat history to learn new information. All feedback is anonymous. Please do not enter personally identifiable information (PII), sensitive, or proprietary information into the Chatbot. Your conversations will not be connected to other interactions or accounts with ITA. Conversations with the Chatbot may be reviewed to help ITA improve the tool and address harmful, illegal, or otherwise inappropriate questions.

Translation

The Chatbot supports a wide range of languages. Because the Chatbot is trained in English and responses are translated, you should verify the translation. For example, the Chatbot may have difficulty with acronyms, abbreviations, and nuances in a language other than English.

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