This document discusses best practices for creating a successful web presence in Germany. It begins by presenting the results of an audit of companies' websites which showed room for improvement in areas like technical tuning, SEO, social media, content, and trust features. It then outlines some key differences companies must consider when expanding their web presence to Germany, including the competitive, technology, socio-cultural, and legal environments. Specific examples are provided of how these environments differ for concepts like butter and mobile phones. The document emphasizes the importance of cultural and language localization for the German market. It provides tips for optimizing the online strategy, domain, SEO, content, and processes to ensure customers in Germany can find, engage with, and do
2. Web Presence Best Practice for Germany
• Handbook for
creating a
successful online
presence in
Germany
• Will be available
from EI website in
due course
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3. Need for action: Unleveraged opportunity
Audit of EI companies for:
• Website Visibility
– 17 criteria across 4 categories:
Technical Tuning, Onsite SEO,
Offside SEO and Social media
• Website Impact
– 17 criteria across 4 categories:
Content & Translation,
Customer Service Support,
Clarity of Website, Trust-
enhancing Features
– Plus 4 additional criteria for
any companies that provided
e-commerce type of
transactions
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0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60
0.80
1.00
1.20
1.40
1.60
1
Best
Worst
Average score
4. Web presence abroad
means operating in a different environment
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Competitive
Environment
Technology
Environment
Socio-cultural
Environment
Legal
Environment
6. Example: ‘Butter’
Different online (types of) competitors in Germany
Ireland (google.ie) Germany (google.de)
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Search:
butter
7. Example: ‘Mobile Phone’
Different online competitors in Germany
Ireland (google.ie) Germany (google.de)
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Search:
(in native language):
Mobile phone vs. Handy
8. The impact of a different cultural
environment on web presence in Germany
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Competitive
Environment
Technology
Environment
Socio-cultural
Environment
Legal
Environment
9. The cultural environment directly determines the
(online) marketing approach
• Culture is …
– “a universal orientation
system typical of a
society, organisation
or group”
– Influences the way all
of its members
perceive, think,
value, act :
• Attention
• Interest
• Desire
• Action
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“The web is not a culturally
neutral medium … a website has
to be designed for a targetted
customer segment … Local
adaptation should be based on
a complete understanding of
a customer group’s culture …”
10. Many users only perceive, think, and value
only in their own language
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Considerable country variances !
Question:
Do you use a language other than
your own to read/watch content
on the Internet ?
11. ... and usage of another language is not very
frequent (and not necessarily English) ...
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12. ... and usage of other language(s) online
declines, the more serious the transaction is
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13. Language’s influence on purchasing decisions:
“Can’t read, won’t buy !”
• Real foreign language proficiency (and use) is lower than
you think
• Most people prefer to buy in their own language
– 52.4% only buy from websites in their own language
• Language is particularly important for complex and larger
purchases
• No translation or ‘bad’ translation is not really an option
– First impressions count !
• After ‘brand’, the most important decision factor is
‘language’
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14. At the most basic level, cultural localisation is
about local standards and conventions
• Important conventions for cultural web
presence localisation include:
– Use of colours
– Use of formats
– Use of measurements
– Use of symbols
– Use of icons
– Use of pictures
– Use of currency
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15. But culture goes deeper and impacts thinking
(“value”) and behaviours (“act”)
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions
• Power distance
– Attitude of the culture towards these inequalities amongst its members
• Individualism
– Degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members
• Masculinity/femininity
– Main motivations in people, wanting to be the best (masculine) versus
liking what you do (feminine).
• Uncertainty avoidance
– Extent to which people feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown
situations
• Long-term orientation
– Extent to which a society shows a long-term versus a short-term point of
view of the future
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16. Comparison: Ireland - US - UK
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PDI = Power Distance
IDV = Individuallism
MAS = Masculinity/Femininity
UAI = Uncertainty Avoidance
LTO = Long-term Orientation
17. Comparison: Ireland - China
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PDI = Power Distance
IDV = Individuallism
MAS = Masculinity/Femininity
UAI = Uncertainty Avoidance
LTO = Long-term Orientation
19. The impact of different technology usage on
web presence in Germany
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Competitive
Environment
Technology
Environment
Socio-cultural
Environment
Legal
Environment
20. Successful web presence abroad requires an
understanding of technology usage patterns
• Preferred search engines
• Approach to search
• Preferred websites / blogs
• Preferred social media platforms/channels
• Preferred online directories
• Preferred price comparison engines
• Online usage patterns
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23. The impact of different legal and/or
regulatory requirements on web presence in
Germany
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Competitive
Environment
Technology
Environment
Socio-cultural
Environment
Legal
Environment
24. Legal considerations for web presence abroad
• Online legal aspects different from country to
country include areas such as:
– Privacy and data protection legislation
– Advertising legislation
– Brand legislation
– Consumer legislation
– Copyright
– Terms and conditions
– Liability
– Domain names
– Website content
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25. Example of legal requirement in Germany:
‘Impressum’
• ‘Impressum’ is a legally mandated
statement of the ownership and
authorship
• Required in Germany for all forms of
web presence as per § 5 of the
Telemediengesetz (2007)
• Needs to be clearly visible and
easy to find, and immediately
and always available
• Needs to contain certain minimum
information, including: information
about the publisher, including their
name and address, telephone
number or e-mail address, trade
registry number, VAT number, and
other information depending on the
type of company
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26. 4 steps for a successful web presence abroad
• Content
• Culture
• Language
• Channnels
• Resources
• Processes
• Domain
strategy
• Search Engine
Marketing
• Social Media
• Target
market
research
• Online
Marketing
Strategy ...getting
ready for
them
...getting
them to
find you
... getting
tehm to
engage
with you
....getting
them to
do lasting
business
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27. Step 1:
Define your online strategy for the new market
• Do target market research
– Offline market
– Online market
• Review and refine your online value
proposition for your target market
– Clear competitive differentiation
• Online content and design
• Online visibility
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30. The impact of Kerrygold’s
German value proposition on search results
Searching for
“Gesunde Butter”
In www.google.de
=> SERP 1 for
Kerrygold
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36. Step 2:
Make sure your target customers can find you online
• Domain Strategy
– Domain name
– Domain URL structure
• Search Engine Marketing
– Search engine optimisation
– Keywords for the target market
• Social Media for target market
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37. Domain name:
Name that is meaningful and easy for target market
If possible, a search-friendly domain name
• For search engines and target market users
• Meaningful in native language
– Example (Germany): www.franchise-direkt.com
– Example (Germany): www.promobecher.de
• Keyword-friendly in native language
• Easy to remember
• Easy to spell
• No double meaning
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39. Search engine marketing for new market
Social Media
Optimisation
Search
Engine
Optimisation
Search
Engine
Advertising
• Keywords for SEO and
SEA for target market
– Value proposition
– Target market
language
– Used by target market
online users
– Differentiating
• Off-page SEO for
target market
• Social Media for target
market
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Keywords !!!
40. SEO and SEA play a key role in attracting
online customers abroad
Example: German e-commerce companies’ approach to
internationalisation:
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41. Good keywords are not only translated, but must
also reflect native language search patterns
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Source: Google Trends on 103372013, Germany, past 12 months
Also watch:
- Language and grammar
- Different thinking patterns
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42. Example Kerrygold:
Good keywords express local differentiators
Keyword Irish search result
(google.ie)
German search result
(google.de)
butter
Page 1 (Place 5) Page 5 *
healthy butter (gesunde
butter)
Not found
(on first five pages)
Page 1 (place 6) **
Irish butter (irische
butter)
Page 1 (Place 1) Page 1 (place 2) **
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•Organic search results only, Google ads shows earlier
** First product in the listing
43. • Create inbound links from reputable websites in the
target market
– Example: www.german.hostelworld.com
• Encourage local links and followers
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Off-page SEO for foreign markets:
The importance of local links
44. Other Off-page SEO for new markets:
Being seen in the ‘right places’
• Locally used generic directories
• e.g. for Germany: www.allesklar.de
• Locally used industry directories
• e.g. for Germany: www.psiproductfinder.de
• Local price comparison websites
• e.g. for Germany: www.geizhals.de
• Social networks
• e.g. for Germany: Xing
• Social bookmarking sites
• e.g. for Germany: www.mister-wong.de
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45. Step 3:
Make sure your target market customers
buy into you online
• Appropriate and local language content
• Cultural adaptation of web presence
• Making your web presence looks local
• Legal requirements for web presence
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48. Website translation is more than just translation
• Translation quality
• Translation scope
• Translation updates
• Style of translated text
• Formatting of translated text
• Consistency of translation
• Keyword focus on translated text
• Quality assurance
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Avoid:
- Google Translate & Co!
- Unqualified translators
- Mixed-language approaches
49. Examples of translation considerations
• Video content:
– Keenans – fully dubbed
– Combilift – ‘silent’ movie
• News section:
– Franchise Direct
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Franchise Direkt
50. Tackling ‘uncertainty avoidance’ online
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• Customer service: FAQs, customer service options,
customer help/contact
• Guided navigation: Site maps, well-displayed links,
forward/backward navigation
• Tradition theme: Emphasis on company history, phrases like
‘company legacy’, ‘for generations’ etc.
• Local stores: Contact information for local dealers, shops etc
• Local terminology: Use of country-specific metaphors, local
touch of the website
• Free trials or downloads: Free stuff, free downloads, free
product trials, free memberships, free service information, toll-
free numbers
• Transaction security and testimonials: Customer
testimonials, seals of trust, ethical business practices from
third parties
58. Making your web presence look local
• German domain name and/or German ccTLC
• Providing local payment options
• Local contact options, e.g. Address/phone
number
• Local case studies
• Seals of approval by local organisations/bodies
• List of local events
• List of local websites
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67. Step 4:
Make sure you can do business with the your new
target market customers
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• Channels
• Communication
• Resources
• Skills
• Processes
68. Channel strategy for new markets
• New channel created due to web presence in new market
– Where does this fit in overall channel strategy for new market?
• New web channel will lead to increased communications
– What are the implications for channel strategy, resources, skills,
response speed/format ?
– How to best deal with your new communications: Planned and
unplanned as well as incoming, outgoing, ongoing ?
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Source: Alex Osterwalder: Business Model Canvas
69. Question: How to you provide telephone
support to non-English speakers ?
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
EU-27 Sweden Germany France
At least 1 language
At least 2 languages
At least 3 languages
No foreign languages
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Languages spoken well
enough to hold a
conversation
70. Question: How do you deal with foreign
language enquiries or comments ?
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71. Language strategy is worth the effort
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Source: European Commission PIMLICO Report: Language Management Strategy and Best Practice in European SMEs (4/2011)
74.7 % say availability of after-sales support in
own language influences their buying decision
72. Next steps
• Planning web presence for new market
– Online value proposition for new market
– Monitoring
– Strategy
– Quickwins
• e.g. Domain registration, homepage
• Improving web presence for new market
– Checklist
– Quickwins
• E.g. FAQ, Certification, QA, Audit
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73. THANK YOU
For more info, contact:
sudirks@evorsprung.com
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