How To Create An International Business Blog

Can you promote your services to international audiences with a blog ? Yes, this is what I do with my blog and it works very well because of my particular situation.  But different businesses are in different situations. And, in these different situations, is a blog still a good option to connect with an international audience? You need to dig deeper to find out.

Your International Audience

When defining your international audience and establishing the right communication to engage with this audience, you can look at this audience from different angles.

You can use a blog to connect with you international clients, potential clients, business partners, suppliers, employees and other business contacts you may have.  This is one way to look at your audience.  And it is an important one.

But before speeding ahead and analyzing this in detail, remember to take the step backgrounds and look at the very first level of your communication on an international blog.

Don’t miss this very first step in determining whether an international blog is right for your business. In my experience, many missed international business opportunities are due to skimming over some of the most basic research.

Communication Challenges

The first step is to establish the communication challenges related to who you are and who you want to reach. If you read this blog regularly, you know how important it is to question yourself first.  It is the same with an international blog.  Before you can successfully blog across cultures, you need to have a very clear understanding of you, your business, your international blog and where all of this is in relation to your audience.

Here are 3 different situations, each with different communication challenges to consider before you start your international blog.

1 – English speaking companies targeting audiences in other English speaking countries

Even if you speak the same language, if you want to develop specific English speaking international markets, you still need to pay attention to your cross-cultural communication and marketing. Many businesses forget this and do not adapt their communication to other English speaking markets

Business Opportunity: Country-specific marketing. If you are already getting some clients from another English-speaking country, imagine the potential of developing this market even further with some country-specific marketing.  A blog can be the hub from which you do this.

2 – Non-English speaking companies targeting audiences in English speaking countries

The task is almost the same as above, except this time it is more obvious… and therein lies the problem.   You see, this time there are not only different languages but also different cultures involved. And people from different cultures may not realize the value of having a blog in English. They hesitate longer and increase the size of the obstacles to overcome.  Language issues often become bigger than they need to become.

The good news is if your business is currently selling to English speaking markets, this is not usually a big hurdle to cross.  It can even be easier to market abroad with your native language reserved for your home audience, and English to target your main international audience.

Business Opportunity: This is a no-brainer.  All non-English speaking companies targeting an English speaking market should have an English language blog, more on this below.  A blog and social media makes it easy to conduct a variety of different international marketing tasks.  If what you offer appeals to people in English speaking countries, it is foolish to not invest in an English language blog.

3 – English speaking companies targeting audiences in non-English speaking countries

There are a few additional points to consider. The most important ones are:

• Whether blogs are common in the country you want to reach
• How people in this country use blogs

You need to be a bit more methodical in your research. And a few other tasks important in standard international marketing practices are critical at this first stage:  risk analysis and monitoring, flexibility and adaptability to new environments.

Business Opportunity: There are almost always opportunities for international business research.  Instead of thinking about a blog all about you and your sales pitch, think about market research possibilities.  If you use your blog to try to look for international business opportunities, there are many possibilities with a little research and some thinking outside of the box.  Remember, today a blog does not need to look like a blog and it is much cheaper than on-site research.

Opportunity To Reach English-Speaking Markets

Many businesses in English-speaking countries realize the need for a blog now. Unfortunately this is generally not the case for businesses on continental Europe and other parts of the world.  If only they knew how publishing a few blog posts in English each week could open international audiences for their business.

What do you think?

• Are you interested in reaching international audiences with a blog?
• How does your blog engage international clients?
• Who should use a blog to develop international business?

Please share your comments below.

More on How To Create An International Business Blog:

• My International Blog Promotion Secret
• Investment In An International Business Blog
• Business Blogs For Sales Conversion
• Business Blogs To Get International Clients
• Business Blogs To Open Foreign Markets

More on International Social Media

• An International Business Blog To Discover New Markets

More in these Get International Clients Business Guides

• Build Your International Marketing Strategy
• International Web Marketing
• Connect With Your International Markets
• International Market Research

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

3 Different Communication Challenges Of An International Blog

Cross-Cultural Living

It’s not always easy to know how to extend greetings during the end of year Holiday Season.   Our communication is global and “Merry Christmas” is not appropriate for everyone.  But extending good wishes for the new year is much easier for a global audience.

Here’s a video to help you get the pronunciation right for a few of the languages listed below.

“Happy New Year!” In 92 Different Languages

And here’s a list for you to have fun wishing those around you “Happy New Year!” in the language you need.

1. Afghan – Saale Nao Mubbarak
2. Afrikaans - Gelukkige nuwe jaar
3. Albanian - Gezuar Vitin e Ri
4. Armenian -  Snorhavor Nor Tari
5. Arabic - Kul ‘am wa antum bikhair
6. Assyrian - Sheta Brikhta
7. Azeri - Yeni Iliniz Mubarek!
8. Bengali - Shuvo Nabo Barsho
9. Breton [Celtic Brythonic language] -  Bloavezh Mat
10. Bulgarian -  ×åñòèòà Íîâà Ãîäèíà, pronounced “Chestita Nova Godina”
11. Cambodian – Soursdey Chhnam Tmei
12. Catalan – Bon Any Nou
13. Chinese - 新年快乐,  Xin Nian Kuai Le
14. Corsican Language - Pace e Salute
15. Croatian - Sretna Nova godina!
16. Czech - Šťastný Nový rok (or Stastny Novy rok)
17. Danish - Godt Nytår
18. Dhivehi - Ufaaveri Aa Aharakah Edhen
19. Dutch - Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!
20. Eskimo - Kiortame pivdluaritlo
21. Esperanto - Felican Novan Jaron
22. Estonians -  Head uut aastat!
23. Ethiopian – Melkam Addis Amet YihuneliwoI!
24. Finnish - Onnellista Uutta Vuotta
25. French - Bonne Annee
26. Gaelic - Bliadhna mhath ur
27. Galician [NorthWestern Spain] - Bo Nadal e Feliz Aninovo
28. German - Prosit Neujahr
29. Georgian - Gilotsavt Akhal Tsels!
30. Greek Kenourios Chronos
31. Gujarati - Nutan Varshbhinandan
32. Hawaiian - Hauoli Makahiki Hou
33. Hebrew - L’Shannah Tovah
34. Hindi - Naye Varsha Ki Shubhkamanyen
35. Hong Kong (Cantonese) – Sun Leen Fai Lok
36. Hungarian -  Boldog Ooy Ayvet
37. Indonesian - Selamat Tahun Baru
38. Iranian - Sal -e- no mobarak
39. Iraqi - Sanah Jadidah
40. Irish - Bliain nua fe mhaise dhuit
41. Italian – Felice anno nuovo
42. Japan – Akimashite Omedetto Gozaimasu
43. Kabyle - Asegwas Amegaz
44. Kannada – Hosa Varushadha Shubhashayagalu
45. Kisii – Somwaka Ompyia Omuya
46. Khmer – Sua Sdei tfnam tmei
47. Korea – Saehae Bock Mani ba deu sei yo!
48. Kurdish – Newroz  Pirozbe
49. Latvian – Laimīgo Jauno Gadu!
50. Lithuanian – Laimingu Naujuju Metu
51. Laotian - Sabai dee pee mai
52. Macedonian – Srekjna Nova Godina
53. Madagascar – Tratry ny taona
54. Malay – Selamat Tahun Baru
55. Marathi – Nveen Varshachy Shubhechcha
56. Malayalam - Puthuvatsara Aashamsakal
57. Mizo - Kum Thar Chibai
58. Maltese - Is-Sena t- Tajba
59. Nepal - Nawa Barsha ko Shuvakamana
60. Norwegian - Godt Nyttår
61. Papua New Guinea - Nupela yia i go long yu
62. Pampango (Philippines) – Masaganang Bayung Banua
63. Pashto – Nawai Kall Mo Mubarak Shah
64. Persian -  Sal -e- no mobarak
65. Philippines - Manigong Bagong Taon!
66. Polish – Szczesliwego Nowego Roku
67. Portuguese – Feliz Ano Novo
68. Punjabi – Nave sal di mubarak
69. Romanian – An Nou Fericit
70. Russian -  S Novim Godom
71. Samoa - Manuia le Tausaga Fou
72. Serbo-Croatian - Sretna nova godina
73. Sindhi - Nayou Saal Mubbarak Hoje
74. Singhalese - Subha Aluth Awrudhak Vewa
75. Siraiki - Nawan Saal Shala Mubarak Theevay
76. Slovak - Stastny Novy rok
77. Slovenian - Sreèno novo leto
78. Somali - Iyo Sanad Cusub Oo Fiican!
79. Spanish - Feliz Ano ~Nuevo
80. Swahili - Heri Za Mwaka Mpyaº
81. Swedish - Gott nytt år!
82. Sudanese - Warsa Enggal
83. Tamil - Eniya Puthandu Nalvazhthukkal
84. Tibetian - Losar Tashi Delek
85. Telegu - Noothana samvatsara shubhakankshalu
86. Thai - Sawadee Pee Mai
87. Turkish - Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun
88. Ukrainian - Shchastlyvoho Novoho Roku
89. Urdu - Naya Saal Mubbarak Ho
90. Uzbek - Yangi Yil Bilan
91. Vietnamese - Chuc Mung Tan Nien
92. Welsh – Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!

And here’s an extra one suggested by one of our readers:

1. Visaya (Philippines) - Maayong Bag-ong Tuig

And here are another video:

A very Happy, Healthy & Prosperous New Year to you and your family!

Now it’s your turn…

• Have you noticed any mistakes here?
• Are there any other ways to say Happy New Year in these languages?
• Are there any other languages you would like to add?

Please share them in the comments below!

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

92 Ways To Say Happy New Year

Taming Foreign Languages

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause

Small businesses, or website owners who do not have the budgets for full fledged website localization, can still market to foreign cultures using little tricks to get around common cultural hurdles.

One of these cultural hurdles can simply be related to the different alphabets and “character sets”. How can you communicate with a foreign country if you can’t even type in language?

A reader emailed me today with a question on the readability of different language character sets. This questions deserves more than just a quick answer.

Here is her question is:

“We are adding Russian to our website and our usual visitors do not have Cyrillic type, thus cannot view the Russian area.
Have you had this problem with any languages and if so is there a way to solve it without using PDFs or art?”

There are two easy way out.

• Using a PDF file
• Saving each page as images are options

Both of these solutions allow most people to read your Russian characters. But each has disadvantages.

• PDF files can be big and some users will not download a PDF.
• The text in an image is just an image, so the search engines will never find it.

Installing The Cyrillic Type For Internet Explorer And Firefox

There is one thing to do first.

• On YOUR page, make sure that you identify your content as being in Cyrillic.

If you don’t call out that the characters are in a different alphabet then you may see something like the following entry instead of Cyrillic letters:

• ::::::::::::::::::::::;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;????????????????????///////////////////

The HTML code to use the Cyrillic character set (CHARSET below) is very important.

Here is what you need to insert with the rest of your meta tags above the body of your html code:

<META HTTP-EQUIV=”Content-Type” CONTENT=”text/html; CHARSET=windows-1251″>

Need To Use A Different Character Set?

If you want to do this with a different character set, this is where you can get the full list of Windows Charset: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa752010(VS.85).aspx

How To Set Your Computer To Read Foreign Languages

I am not going to tell you how do this on all computer operating systems and all versions of those systems.

Here are changes you will want to make on the two most common operating systems in use. The examples used are for Cyrillic.

In Windows XP

To Be Able To View A Different Character Set Such As Russian:

• Go to your Control and double click on ‘Regional and Language Options’ which will open a window.
• From this new window select ‘Advanced’ and a list will appear with supported languages.
• From this list select the languages which match the version on of the languages that you wish to see.
• At the top of the list is Cyrillic which you should select.
• Lower on the list there are other versions of Cyrillic which you should also select.
• In addition, it is safer to include the language Ukrainian.

If you are doing this for languages using something other than the Cyrillic alphabet, it is better to select more options than you think necessary – other people can make mistakes when defining their language.

To Be Able To Type In Russian:

• Go to your Control and double click on ‘Regional and Language Options’ which will open a window.
• From this new window select ‘Languages’ and then ‘Details’.
• Clicking ‘Details’ will open a new window ‘Text Services and Input Languages’.
• In this window select ‘Add’ and yet another new window will open.
• In this window, from the ‘Input Language’ drop down menu select ‘Russian’.
• The ‘Keyboard layout/IME’ drop down menu will change to Russian.

The results in the ‘Text Services and Input Languages’ will be an additional keyboard listed which you can select when typing in Russian.

In Windows Vista

In Vista there is only one process to both read and type in a different character set.

• From the Control Panel select the ‘Regional and Language Options’ icon which will open a new window.
• From this new window select ‘Keyboards and Languages’, then ‘Change Keyboard’, which will open a new window.
• In the new window click ‘Add’ (yet another window) and from this final window select ‘Russian’.

You should now be able to type in Russian in Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, and most other applications. You can switch to ‘Russian’ by either clicking on the ‘Ru’ icon from your task bar or by using Alt + Shift to select your language.

And likewise, once you have finished typing in Russian, you can switch back to English by clicking on ‘En’ or using Alt + Shift again.

In some programs such as AOL and old versions of Word (95) you will also need to choose a specific Cyrillic font such as ‘Arial Cyr’.

Easier Than It Seems

Enabling your computer to view and read different character sets will make it easier for you to do market research and communicate within that particular language and country.

Remember that other computers outside of the country in question may not be set up for those languages. To get around this problem you can use PDFs and images to transmit your message in the different character set.

This way all of your readers will be able to see your message, in Cyrillic for example, instead of thinking there is a mistake either on your website or their computer.

More On Taming Foreign Languages

• Foreign Lingo
• How To Get Your Computer To Read Foreign Alphabets
• Use Of Non-Latin Characters In Domain Names To Be Reviewed In November
• Special Notice – Foreign Lingo

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

How To Set Your Computer To Read Foreign Languages