The US Commercial Service recently held a special event that dealt with the different aspects of a Website and its intrinsic ability to increase international sales. Of course, this theme is not entirely novel. It has been discussed briefly or in-depth at various other events in the past. However, significantly enough, it’s probably the first time that the US Government has taken an initiative to help e-Commerce businesses on this count.

The event was hosted specifically for online American businesses so that they could grasp the international market nuances. For example, one of the sessions was devoted to the usage of search marketing for exploring new markets and ably accessing prospective customers.

Initially, the idea of Internet to tap overseas markets was thought to be just a passing fad sans any real business value. Understanding the intricacies of the local market was assumed to beyond the grasp of Internet driven businesses. The skeptics were proven totally wrong, with several online businesses managing to generate impressive sales and to log in excellent profits.

In the changing business context, the US Commercial Service aims to promote economic prosperity and enhance job creation through a far-reaching network of the best professionals internationally. An introductory note to its web conference stated that it was essentially designed for US businesses – primarily small-to-medium-sized – to learn to draw, maintain and retain overseas customers and execute sales through their site.

Wanting to check out whether the smaller companies have competitive sites equipped to handle overseas customers, the event release mentioned: “Many small as well as medium sized businesses have now become savvy in finding customers and selling their services/products through their sites. However, with the expanding reach, of today’s advanced business environment, companies are also finding it necessary to  adapt, improve, and effectively use, their websites so that they appeal to and accommodate international customers continually.

“With constraints on staff and budgets, these companies are faced with the need to maximize their outreach strategies. If you have ever asked yourself if there are any simple tools and best practices so as to make your e-commerce site work in attracting foreign buyers, distributors and customers. The answer is here…”

Essentially, the US Commercial Service event dealt with several vital aspects to leverage the reach and power of the Internet so that budding businesses could spread their wings on the global horizon. It primarily provided expertise on how to:

• Decide on the target markets overseas with your website?
• Initiate localization of your site?
• Register a site in an overseas market?
• Check what overseas customers are saying about your product, brand and services?
• Retain and bring back foreign customers on your site?
• Stay away from online scams?
• Trust an inquiry, which comes from your site?
• Deal with international orders when customs/shipping rates and duties vary?

Other aspects like tuning your site overseas search engines and make it easier to navigate for international customers were also considered. The need of translating the content into different foreign languages was discussed in the light of overseas search engines.

All in all, the event explored every possible related to leveraging a business website for international sales.