HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - A panel conducted Friday afternoon at Internext discussed how American webmasters can gain traffic from abroad.
Bob Rice, president of YNOT Payment LLC, moderated the discussion, which featured four panelists: Marc Jarrett, the business-development manager of Password-By-Phone.com, an award-winning global pay-per-call geo-targeted billing solution that communicates to surfers in their language; Moreno "Mo" Aguiari, president and founder of TranslationsXXX.com, a company that translates websites into English and offers customer support; Oystein Wright, chief executive officer of Mansion Productions LLC; and Sharon Gal Franco, senior marketing director of SafeCharge.
Jarrett said more people than ever are willing to learn English and use English-language websites - except for the French. By using a single language with a shared monetary system, he said, it is easier for webmasters to keep track of income. He said he uses International Direct Dial Supply (IDD).
"If a surfer wants to pay, you have to make sure you have an easy way for him or her to do that," Wright added. "So we added billing platforms - including direct-debit and credit-card solutions - to help them pay fast and easy. However, one of the challenges I see is that not everyone has a credit card, and they also might want to remain anonymous. So having them pay by using their telephone works best."
Jarrett agreed. "In England, especially, so many people are afraid of being victims of fraud, so they do not want to use their credit cards," he said. "So we give them the option to pay by phone. It's anonymous."
Aguiari said translating sites would help increase traffic from other countries; the other panelists agreed with his point. "You should translate your site to the language of the surfer when he or she logs on," he said. "It's not expensive, and all surfers want to be on a site that is in their own language."
The panelists also discussed which foreign markets are showing the most growth: Jarrett said the Asian and Arab countries are at the top, with gay traffic making up the largest user base.
The session closed with a discussion about whether it is safe for American website companies to go offshore (out of the United States). "It could work, but I do not advise it," Wright said. "There are a lot of U.S. companies going offshore and hiding out, hiding their accurate numbers of profits in order to pay less taxes. Then they get caught, and the government imposes more restrictions on us."
