Home
> Resources > Article
Centre
Local Input Critical for Global Web Content Success
By Huiping Iler, August 2005
A successful web site puts their customers first. The first
question your customers ask when they visit your web site
is, "So, what do you have for me today?" Let's face it. People
on the web are only out for themselves. They come to your
site, and you have a time window of less than 30 seconds to
convince them to stay.
"We're celebrating our 10th Anniversary!"
"So?"
"25 percent off -to thank you, our loyal customers!"
"Happy Anniversary and, show me your stuff!"
A smart web content writer knows what words will induce
the "So?", and what words will drive profitable action. So
picture this when the globalization whistle goes off, and
you start to develop your web site into Chinese and German.
Do you know what speaks to your Chinese and German customers?
What care you can take so that your content represents your
customers' needs and wants?
Recently I had a chat with a web content manager from the Canadian
Tourism Commission. They ran in-country focus groups for the
markets that they were going into and some very interesting
findings came out of their study.
Even though both Canada and Australia are English spoken, users
in each country showed different preferences for menu labeling.
For example, Canadians preferred "Destinations," whereas Australians
liked "Explore Canada." Canadians liked "Activities and Attractions,"
compared to Australians, who preferred "Chase an Experience."
The focus groups in other countries also found comparable variances.
So what are some ways that you can research your customers'
care words in foreign markets?
A good place to start is to look up search engine data and
find out what words people are using to search for your products
and services. Great content is a result of thorough understanding
of why and how your customers search. You should use the words
that your customers use, rather than the words that you might
like to use.
-
is very handy, and free. This keyword tool provides valuable
search data for 15 countries and 20 languages. When you
type a word into it, it will tell you how many times this
word and related terms were searched for during the last
month. This data allows marketers to research what words
searchers are using.
- Google also has a tool (http://adwords.google.com), similar
to Yahoo!'s. The supports 16 languages and 25 countries, but
it doesn't disclose keyword demand figures-only an estimate
of the number of clicks you'll receive. Understanding what
people search for offers very meaningful guidance in developing
your content. But nothing beats TALKING to your customers
directly. Getting opinions straight from the horse's mouth
is always the best way to go. Did you know that senior managers
at Walmart spend at least half of their time on shop floors
talking to their customers?
Remember, your web site is for your customers, not for you.
Ask YOUR CUSTOMERS what they want, not yourself.
You are welcome to republish this article once you place the
following text and link at the end of the article.
Simply copy and paste the html code below in your web page:
|
