There’s a lot to be said about taking your brand overseas. If you’re a small to medium company looking to transport yourself from the UK to other destinations, it’s possible to do so in a few simple steps. First things first, before you begin selling any products or offering any services, you’ll need to make sure that your brand builds up a reputation in these international markets.
It may seem like a daunting task, especially if you’re a brand new business just starting out, but expanding into other countries can really help your company soar to new heights. When the conversation around growth starts, ask yourself whether or not your business is actually scalable. Can you still ship your products to these countries or offer your services where they speak another language? If you can, then great!
Get your website up-to-scratch
There are a number of things you can do to make sure your website is where it needs to be technically, to give you a better chance of ranking well in the countries you’re expanding to. It might be worth enlisting the help of an experienced international SEO agency who can complete technical audits and develop an SEO strategy on your behalf.
Getting over the language barrier
Often the agencies out there that have a wealth of experience in helping brands launch overseas have in-house members of the team who speak a number of different languages. They’ll be able to provide you with specialist services, from translating your website to making sure your content is actually relevant to that particular country.
Don’t let the thought of not speaking the local language put you off expanding. With an international SEO agency’s help, you may be able to reach a whole host of potential customers, all without offending the locals with embarrassingly bad translations!
Optimising your website
Without optimising your website, will you actually reach anyone? Probably not! Your agency will be able to work with you to identify whether there are any gaps in the market that you can take advantage of. By optimising your website with keyword rich and E-A-T compliant content that’s specific to the given country, you could increase your customer base twofold.
They’ll also be able to crawl your existing website to see if there are any elements you could change to enhance it from an SEO perspective. Simple amendments to the sites title tag and meta descriptions could have a notable impact on your international SEO performance.
Targeted outreach
Reaching out to local blog websites and influencers is one of the best ways to get your brand heard internationally. Getting your business out there to new customers and clients can help bolster your sales, and is a great way to improve your brand’s recognition too.
Whether you have a product you’re able to send for reviews or not, having local voices talk about what you have to offer is one of the top marketing tactics when you move internationally. It’s also the best way to create backlinks to your site to aid ranking too! A win-win all round.
Analyse, analyse and analyse again
Nothing beats a good report when it comes to making strategic decisions! A good SEO agency will be able to provide you with a number of reports from the tools they use, to see whether or not the work you and they have done is having the desired effect. What good is launching a new international arm of your website if it’s not getting the traffic or traction it needs?
They’ll be able to check the status of your rankings with Google, page level engagement with your content and overall site visits. Analytics are powerful and can really help you succeed.
“Often brands don’t know where to start when it comes to expanding internationally,” says Chris, Head of International SEO at Ingenuity Digital. “With our experienced team of writers, technical SEO specialists and international outreach executives, brands can confidently take their business to the next level.”
