handmade silver jewelry Article

Web Copywriting For International Markets
By Peter Wise, Mon Jan 2nd

So your website is beautifully written, the keywords are all inplace and everything seems just fine. But hang on, half or moreof potential customers will probably never find you - and manyof those that do could find your web copywriting baffling,unappealing or even offensive.

How come?

Well, it's not called the World Wide Web for nothing. Like anyweb, it can act as a trap for the unwary. And a web thatstretches all across the world is going to contain a great manylinguistic and cultural pitfalls.

To start with, there's really no such thing as Standard English.Standard American English, yes. Standard British English, ofcourse. But for once, Oscar Wilde wasn't exaggerating when hesaid that we're two countries separated by a common language.And it can make a big difference to your web copywriting.

Here's an example. If you're selling a product that almostanyone anywhere in the world could want, like specialistjewelry, then you write your site with appropriate keywords -'custom-made jewelry', 'handmade silver jewelry' or whatever.However, you should consider also doing those same keywords butspelling 'jewelry' as 'jewellery'. That way you won't miss outon more than half of the English speaking world - those whodon't use American spellings.

But even if you're savvy about US and UK spelling, you'd beamazed at how many other potential differences there are outthere. You can easily see this for yourself if you have a recentversion of Microsoft Word on your computer.

Simply go to their language options (Click on Tools, thenLanguage, then Set Language). They'll do a spelling and grammarcheck on your document in no fewer than eighteen differentvariants of English. They list everything from AustralianEnglish to Zimbabwean English. Not only do they have CaribbeanEnglish, they have Trinidad & Tobago English (those countriesbeing but a tiny part of the Caribbean).

How on earth do you cover them all? The answer is that youdon't. Not all of them. But if you're an American site it'sworth remembering that between them, countries like the UK,India, South Africa, Australia and much of the Caribbean can addup to a great many potential customers. In numbers, at least, alot more than those who live in the States. And that's not evencounting Canada, where the words and phrases they use can attimes baffle Americans and British alike.

Remember too that many, if not most, people learning English forthe first time learn British English. So you could be missing alot of searchers if you're not covering at least some of themain bases with your keywords. It's true that search engines aregetting better at recognising different forms of the same word,but they still have a long way to go.

If you're serious about marketing across frontiers, it's alsoworth taking cultural differences into account on the web.Copywriting styles that go down a treat in New England can sinklike a lead balloon in the old country. To oversimplify,Americans want to be sold to, but the British want to beseduced. We prefer

reason, politeness and avoidance of excessiveclaims - factors that will probably leave the average American(or German) consumer cold.

But there's much more to it than that. In most western cultures,the individual is all; in others such as China, the community orgroup is much more important. In the same way, some culturesprefer predictability and order, others emphasise risk-taking.Your web copywriting will need to reflect that.

Humor can work in both the US and the UK, but in very differentways, so it's a tactic to be careful with. Note the Americanspelling of humor - in the UK, it's simply seen as an Americanspelling. But write it as 'humour' for an American audience andthey'll most likely think it's a typo. Not good for yourcredibility if you're a British site trying to market across theAtlantic.

The same goes for common words like 'centre' and 'colour' andall those words which the Americans spell with a 'z' and theBritish spell with an 's' like economise, realise andsympathise. (And note that in a list of three items like that,the British don't put a comma after the 'and'.)

As for vocabulary, there are the well-known words like 'fanny','rubber' and 'bang' that will be innocuous in one country andpotentially offensive in another. (As a young innocenttravelling round the States many years ago, I once tried tocadge a cigarette by asking if I could bum a fag. Not a questionI ever asked again.)

But many, many other words or phrases can have unintendedeffects. I remember reducing an American girlfriend to hystericswhen I talked about 'paddling in the sea' (that's walking withyour feet in the water, in case you were wondering). And justlast summer I completely baffled the guy in a Canadian fishingtackle shop by forgetting where I was and asking for a wiretrace. I meant metal leaders for lures; he thought I was doingcovert surveillance.

Never mind regular words, just the sounds can differ.Take something as mundane as a dog bark. It's "woof woof",right? Yes, unless you're in Italy, where it's "bau-bau", orAustria where it's "wuff-wuff". And you've got to love Rumaniandogs: they go "ham-ham". It's the same with cats - there are atleast half a dozen ways of spelling "meow", depending on thecountry.

Even the length of the text can catch you out. Take thatbeautiful piece of text that fits so well between those twopictures on your product page - if it's going to be translatedinto German or Norwegian, you're going to need up to a thirdmore space.

In other words, there are innumerable hazards out there. Andit's all worth considering if you're serious about marketingworldwide, and you have a webpage, a section or even a separatesite for potential customers abroad that you want to optimize(or is that optimise?)

© Peter Wise

About the author:Peter Wise is a freelance advertising copywriter, websitecopywriter and Search Engine Optimization copywriter based inLondon, UK. He also writes direct mail, brochures, newsletterarticles and press releases. If you're looking for a freelanceUK copywriter, please call +44 (0) 7767 687524 or visit http://ideaswise.com/