European Marketing

[p8r]

We are currently beginning to sell to Europe, my question is should I create a new European website (if so which TLD should I use) or should I be doing something different with my existing sites? I already have a few websites going that get good traffic from North American visitors, but nearly no traffic from Europe. Any other Tips would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,
Andy

[incrediblehelp]

Get your websites hosted in the countries targeted and buy domains using the countries specific domain extensions when available. Of course obvious SEO techniques apply after that like getting IBL's, on topic, from websites with the same criteria above.

[jacobwissler]

Use the local language of that country, to show respect for their culture. This also allows you to "copy" the text on your American site without it being duplicate content, since the language will be different.

Remember that Europe is a continent, not a nation. There is a different language and a different culture in each country. Their countries are the size of American states, and crossing borders is now easy, but you must not treat all Europeans as being the same. Italy is not Denmark.

[dburdon]

P8R,
I'm not sure what you're selling but there are soem general rules. Culture and language are key issues in Europe. It works in three dimensions:

1. North/South - Nordic to Latin
2. West/East - Democratic to authoritarian
3. English, to non-English speaking

Britain and Ireland won't be that different from the US or Canada. Holland and Scandinavia won't be far behind with 95% of people under 50 speaking English. Perhaps more importantly the people in this part of Europe are more pre-disposed towards American culture.

Then you've got the three main language groups of German, French and Italian. Don't tackle any of them until you're sure of you've got it right in Holland and Scandinavia.

As a general rule Calais is only 18 miles from England but it might as well be a 1000 miles away culturally. On the other Holland and Scandinavia could almost be next door. Sweden is even known as little America.

If you need any other help PM me.

[a.rypinski]

I am from France and I totally agree with the previous replies: "Language is key". Many foreign companies think of Europe as the new Eldorado. Transactions are easier accross borders thanks to the Euro but mostly these companies fail to see the difference in culture.
Many people in Europe are not going to feel comfortable buying from a company that they do not know and particularly who does not market its goods in French, Italian, Spanish...
They will also be scared if the customer service is all in English...
Maybe you should be more specific about the market you want to target which depends a lot on your product and resources.

[p8r]

If it helps, we sell fabrication equipment such as benders, notchers, bandsaws, coldsaws...etc. Full list at the url below.
http://www.bii1.com

[dburdon]

Don't forget, the UK and ROI excepted, everybody else uses metric measures.

[brian.mark]

Originally Posted by dburdon

Don't forget, the UK and ROI excepted, everybody else uses metric measures.

Voltage is also different, and some blades are not legal for sale in certain countries (dado blades specifically.) Make sure you check local codes and laws before selling to those countries.

Brian.

[andrewtcrane]

pr8,
What is it that you are selling?

Cheers,
Andrew