
With the state's support for cross-border e-commerce in recent years, more and more foreign trade companies or individuals are considering building an English foreign trade website to gain attention and orders, soWhat steps are needed to build an English foreign trade website? Also,What factors should be considered, are there anyNotes?
This article by Naibabiji Website Building Notes shares my views onEnglish Foreign Trade Website Constructionopinion.
Factors to Consider When Building an English Foreign Trade Website
The first factor to consider when building an English website is server selection. Usually, choose a location close to your target audience, so that visitors can access your website faster, which is beneficial for user experience.
Then consider the positioning of your website: whether it is a display website or a marketing website. If it is a display website, you can consider registering a domain name related to the company brand;
If it is a marketing website, it is recommended to register a domain name related to your product keywords.
Foreign Trade E-commerce Platform or Independent Website?
Foreign trade e-commerce platforms include: Amazon, eBay, Alibaba, Made in China, MEB, etc.
SoWhen building an English foreign trade website, should you choose to use a foreign trade e-commerce platform or build an independent site?
Naiba's suggestion is to consider based on your actual situation. This article discusses theMethods for Building an Independent Site, you can also consider operating both a foreign trade platform and an independent site simultaneously, provided you have enough energy and funds.
Steps for Building an English Foreign Trade Website
The steps for building an English website are the same as those shared on this site forBasic Steps to Build a Website Yourself, and are divided into the following steps:
- Purchase Domain and Hosting
- Set Up Website Environment and Program
- Update Website Content and Promote
Purchase Domain and Hosting
Because we are building an English website, the visitors are international users. For domain and hosting selection, we can consider registering with overseas registrars.
Domain, Naiba recommends:dynadotorNamesiloRegister a domain name. A .com domain usually costs around $8 per year.
It is recommended to include your product keywords in the domain URL, which is beneficial forwebsite SEO. For domain registration, you can also read further inHow to Choose a Domain Name for Beginners Building a Websitethis article.
You can choose either shared hosting or a VPS cloud server.NaibabijiThis website is built on a VPS, which offers more customization and scalability compared to shared hosting, but requires some technical skills.
If you are not confident in your technical skills, Naiba recommends purchasing managed WordPress hosting, such as SiteGround. Refer to the following article:
- SiteGround Registration Tutorial for Foreign Trade WordPress Website Managed Hosting
- SiteGround Add New Domain and Install Second Website Tutorial
Set Up Website Environment and Program
If you purchase a VPS, you will need to set up the website environment yourself. Beginners can directly useBaota Panelto help, making it very simple to accomplish. Refer to the tutorial:#WebsiteBuilding# Beginner-friendly Baota Panel setup tutorial
If you buy shared hosting, then you don't need to set up the environment yourself; you can just install WordPress directly.
- SiteGround One-Click WordPress Installation Tutorial
- Tutorial on building a website with Hawk Host and binding domain DNS
Update Website Content and Promote
After setting up the website, choose a theme template you like, configure basic display content such as About Us, Contact Us, Our Products, and then regularly update articles related to your products and services.
Website promotion methods mainly rely on website SEO and some self-media platforms for traffic, such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Precautions When Hiring Someone to Build an English Website
If you are not confident inBuilding Your Own Websiteand want to find a web development company to help you build a foreign trade website, then you need topay attention to the following issues:
- Whether the ownership of the domain and website data belongs to you;
- Whether the website is built for you using open-source website building software;
- What after-sales services are provided;
- Where is the server located, what is its performance, and does it have a dedicated IP, etc.;
- What is the renewal price for the second year, and if you don't renew, can the data be directly provided to you.
If you trust Naiba, you can also consider Naiba'swebsite hosting service。
Optimization of English Websites
Once the website is built, you cannot just leave it unattended. If you think you can just build a website and leave it, then it's better not to build one—it's a waste of money.
The purpose of a website is to attract traffic, generate conversions, and gain benefits. To get more traffic, we need to optimize the website. For English websites, optimization usually involves Google SEO. Even if you drive traffic from other platforms, you need to optimize the website content to retain visitors and improve conversion rates.
How should an English website be optimized?Naiba has roughly summarized it, and there arethe following points:
- The URL should be simple and clear, containing keywords. For example, if you are working on vehicle GPS, then the URL slug should include words related to vehicle GPS.
- The page title should contain keywords. The page title is one of the most important points in SEO. Insert keywords in appropriate positions while ensuring readability.
- Article table of contents. If an article is too long and has no formatting, it can be tiring for others to read. Use headings like h1, h2, h3 appropriately to distinguish sections and highlight hierarchy.
- Content. Content is the core of a website. Ensure your article content is valuable to the website's target audience; original content is even better.
- Keyword placement. In addition to including keywords in the title, you can also insert some keywords within the article content. Keywords can be synonyms or related terms, not necessarily exact matches.
- Image optimization. Ensure image sizes do not cause slow webpage loading. Beautiful, relevant images that fit the article theme benefit user experience. Image file names can be named using keywords.
- Mobile optimization. Nowadays, themes are basically responsive, so you don't need to worry about this.
- Internal link optimization. Link to relevant pages on your website at appropriate positions within the article content. For example, for more website optimization tips, you can refer to:10 Methods to Improve Website SEO Ranking
When building an English website, following the requirements from the startGoogle SEOwill provide considerable help to your website's future traffic.Never think about paying someone for SEO。