4 Steps to an Online Rollout Across Multiple Asian Markets
A rollout across multiple Asian markets should consider regional differences in every facet, from language to choice of domain name and understanding the different search engines.
A rollout across multiple Asian markets should consider regional differences in every facet, from language to choice of domain name and understanding the different search engines.
A regional strategy for Asia requires considerable thought and preparation, as no market within this region is the same.
Here are four key areas to consider when planning a rollout for an online business across multiple Asian markets:
First, consider which markets within Asia best fit your business. China is an obvious one for many businesses, as this is nowadays the largest consumer market in the world. Here are a number of key ones:
One of the most efficient ways to reach local consumers is to speak their language. A website’s content should be created in the local language of your target market.
Languages for some Asian markets include:
Next step is choosing the right domain name(s) for your multi-language website, and there are a number of options:
The first option will allow the greatest flexibility, as each market’s website can be treated as a totally separate entity to the websites of other markets.
For example, you can customize your website for China as much as possible for local marketing and promotional purposes without it having an impact on the websites and marketing functions of other markets.
You can maximize this advantage by building local marketing and operation teams for China.
When choosing the second option, we normally assume the websites for all the markets will be built under one single infrastructure which allows for easy maintenance and high consistency.
The websites (or sub-domains) of each market can still be hosted separately in their own country’s web hosting.
The third option is essentially multiple languages are hosted on one single website. If your website or page loading speed is an important area for optimization, then this will not allow for the optimization for each country. However, the advantage of this setup is the high consistency and ease of maintenance across all market websites.
To learn more about selecting domain names in China, check out my previous posts on the subject, here and here.
When growing your user base in each market, search engines are one of the major traffic sources, and cannot be ignored.
The major search engines of each market with best optimization for organic search traffic and buy/paid search traffic are:
As you can see, no market in Asia is the same – so a calculated and strategic plan should be established before any Asia-wide rollout begins.
Good luck!
Image via Shutterstock.