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Lessons Learned in Globalizing a Corporate Website

Lessons Learned in Globalizing a Corporate Website. Guillermo Corea Julio Leal Director Web Marketing Sr. Manager Localization. Web Marketing Team August 2010. Why was a “truly” globalized website needed?.

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Lessons Learned in Globalizing a Corporate Website

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  1. Lessons Learned in Globalizing a Corporate Website Guillermo Corea Julio Leal Director Web Marketing Sr. Manager Localization Web Marketing Team August 2010

  2. Why was a “truly” globalized website needed? Convey information in the cultural, linguistic, and business context of Ciena’s targeted international audience • Expand the brand • Languages, other than English, experiencing a much faster rate of growth on the Web • Localized versions of Ciena.com will demonstrate Ciena’s commitment • Providing support to local offices

  3. Competitor snapshot & overall findings • Main navigation tends to be customized for global sites • Solution content is more heavily translated than product content • Sites tend to link to English for detailed product information • Translation of Flash/video/image content is inconsistent on sites that translate that type of content

  4. Work with local/regional teams to determine key objectives and priorities • EMEA, APAC, and CALA have different priorities and needs. They know their markets so listen to them! • Regions sell different products in some cases • Regions market to different segments (Ex: in Ciena’s case, it could be government entities, MSO, mobile operators, service providers, etc) • Other priorities may exist

  5. Identify priority languages/countries/sites • Where are you trying to grow your business? • Where can you create efficiencies for your sales, support, hr, etc., teams by expanding your web content? • Where do you have in-country support for your translations, reviews, and web maintenance? • Do the translation costs justify the potential new market and customers? • Is a localized web presence relevant in all your target countries?

  6. Determine if you’re going with a country or language approach (e.g. ciena.com.mx or ciena.com/spanish) • Ciena follows a country approach • Ability to easily duplicate content across different domains • Swap out select content (contact info, event and news highlights, etc) • Example: • Launching separate sites for Mexico and Argentina, but from a CMS perspective, the same content is feeding both sites

  7. Develop a domain strategy for new sites and identify the resources who can help implement it • What domains do you already own? • What domains can you obtain? • Who is in charge of purchasing your domains and managing your dns settings? • Do we want to support URLs in native characters (ie, Cirylic for Russian website)?

  8. The Ciena Languages • Phase I • European French • German • Japanese • Brazilian Portuguese • Latam. Spanish • Russian • Phase II • European Spanish • Canadian French • Polish • Arabic • Korean • Italian

  9. Resources employed by Ciena • “It takes a village…” • Web Content Manager • Sr. Manager Localization • Director of Web Marketing • Content reviewers • Web development agency • International search engine marketing vendor (TBD) • Translation agencies

  10. Selecting translation vendors • Familiar with TMS • Able to accommodate to corporate rates • Experience and good references • Multilingual and multimedia capabilities • Translation test: Compulsory and optional material • Dedicated team

  11. Selecting reviewers • Identify the different content types • Find a good balance between availability and quality • Use 1 or 2 reviewers per language maximum • Consider external reviewers as an extension of your company • Quality has a price. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys! • Think simple. The ideal reviewer might be closer than you think.

  12. Select and implement a TMS; integrate with your CMS • Prior to TMS implementation, 11 country sites managed manually • Sites averaged 5 pages and it was a constant struggle to keep them updated with current or accurate information • The TMS needed to serve the Web team and the Translation team • It will serve as a corporate translation repository, not just for the Web • All teams will be able to levarage from each other

  13. Approach • Hybrid model that creates a centrally-managed program that brings together corporate and in-country representatives from the outset • Website rollout plan • Goals for each country • Establish common metrics • Delivery timetables Centralized content; Decentralized control

  14. Technology • Standardization on Unicode • Local detection/selection system (ex: visitor from France get French) • Local specific style sheets • Clickability Global Brand Management + Globalization Management System • Automatic link between content management and content localization

  15. TMS Implementation Issues • Major product launch during the implementation • Redirects and testing domains during development • Communication between vendors • Single-batch submission vs Multiple-batch submission • False expectations

  16. User Experience • Global brand guidelines consistent in design and culturally sensitive • Ex: Templates that account for text expansion in Asian languages • Appropriate language selection framework • Allow users to select their preferred language • Unified global user experience

  17. Content • Global content model – different levels of content scope • Corporate – applies to all regions • Regional – specific to a region • Local – specific to a country • Content publishing plan • What will be published and where? (product/services offered in specific markets) • What will be localized? (value of localization for specific markets)

  18. Content (con’t) • Content production process • Who, how, by when/how often • International Search Engine Marketing • Social Media (Twitter, Facebook tabs, PR)

  19. Content to keep in mind • Images • Flash • Videos (dubbing or subtitling) • Promo boxes • Taglines: ‘the network specialist’ • Financial information and reports

  20. Global Gateway • Ciena worldwide to change to worldwide + globe icon • Globe icon on upper right corner • Clicking on globe opens up a separate page • Gateway page divided by 3 regions (Americas, EMEA, & APAC) • Information will be displayed as follows: • Country – language (both in native language) • Example – Polska - Polski • Ordered by alphabetical order

  21. Figure out where to start • Audit source content and map to regional priorities • Identify “universal” or “core” content that’s applicable across regions (corporate info, high level solutions info, etc) • Start with a group of “core” content • Begin making decisions about country-specific content deeper into the sites

  22. Phase it in and stick to a schedule • Web globalization is a process, it can’t be done overnight • Phase it in by country, language or both…whatever makes the most sense in terms of objectives and resources • Create a schedule for each phase even if it’s an estimate • The schedule will shift, but try to stick to it as much as possible • Designate owners for all steps and processes • …And enjoy the ride!

  23. Thank You Guillermo Corea Director Web Marketing gcorea@ciena.com @memocorea Julio Leal Sr. Manager Localization jleal@ciena.com @leal_julio

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