Aplus.net Blog

Writing for the U.K.’s e-consultancy.com Internet business website, Greig Holbrook explains why you should think internationally when you’re mapping our your online sales strategy and optimizing your site for SEO.

“English-only websites are a thing of the past,” writes Holbrook. “They overlook 95% of the potential market (since only 5% of the world’s population speaks English).”

So, it’s in your best interests to think on a global scale, even if you’re running a small start-up online business. Everyone knows that shoppers use search engines to find what they’re looking for need online. And search engines are international, so in theory, you may already be getting international traffic. Why limit your sales potential by ignoring this huge market segment?

Holbrook tells us more:

Last year saw 147.1m Chinese participate in e-commerce (source: MasterCard Worldwide), a higher number than the total population of all but the world’s eight most populous countries.

In less than two years, this number is projected to triple.

Across the ocean, Brazil is also seeing incredibly strong e-commerce growth.

Online spending there is predicted to grow by one-third in 2008. Brazil’s rapidly growing population of online buyers are among the most active retail e-commerce users in the world (source: e-Marketer).

Considering the current credit crunch we’re facing here in the U.S. (a similar crunch is also happening in the U.K.), broadening your sales horizons seems like a no-brainer.

Click here to read “The wonderful world of multilingual SEO” by Greig Holbrook.