The 'Invisible' Problem Facing Brisbane Exporters
I was sitting down with a bloke named Dave a few months ago. Dave runs a high-end manufacturing business out in Wacol. He makes custom 4x4 accessories that are, frankly, some of the best in the world.
Dave had a problem. He knew people in the United States and the UK wanted his gear. He’d get the occasional random order through his website, but it was a trickle, not a flood. He’d spent a small fortune on a fancy website that looked great, but when he searched for his products from a computer in Los Angeles (using a tool to mimic the location), he was nowhere to be found.
"It’s like I’ve opened a shop in the middle of the Simpson Desert," he told me. "I know the customers are out there, but they can't see the front door."
Dave’s story is common. Many Aussie business owners think that because their website is "on the internet," it’s everywhere. It isn’t. Google is smart. If someone in Texas searches for "custom bull bars," Google wants to show them someone in Texas—or at least someone who looks like they are ready to do business in Texas.
If you want to sell overseas, you need to stop being an Australian business that ships internationally and start looking like a local choice in your target market. Here is how you do it without losing your shirt in the process.
Why You Can’t Just 'Set and Forget'
Most people think getting found overseas is about translating a few pages or adding a currency converter. It’s not.
Think about how you use Google. If you’re looking for a plumber in Coorparoo, you don't want to see a guy from Melbourne. Google knows this. The same logic applies when a buyer in London is looking for what you sell. If your website screams "I'm in Brisbane and I haven't thought about you," Google will bury you on page ten.
To win, you need to understand global search basics. It’s about sending the right signals so Google knows you are a serious player in that specific country.
Step 1: Pick Your Battles (Don't Try to Conquer the World at Once)
I see this all the time. A small business owner says, "I want to sell to the world!"
That is the fastest way to go broke. Trying to show up on Google in 50 different countries at once is like trying to paint a whole house with a single can of Dulux. You’ll end up with a thin, crappy coat that covers nothing.
The Strategy: Pick one or two markets where you know you have a price or quality advantage. For most Aussie exporters, this is the US, UK, or NZ.
The Cost: This step costs you nothing but time. Look at your past 12 months of sales. Where did those random overseas orders come from? Start there.
Step 2: Speak the Local Language (Even if it’s English)
We worked with a company in Morningside that sells safety equipment. In Australia, they talked about "high-vis vests." In the US, nobody searches for that. They search for "safety vests."
If your website only says "high-vis," you will never show up for an American customer.
This isn't just about spelling (though using 'color' instead of 'colour' for the US market helps). It’s about the names of products, the units of measurement, and the way people describe their problems.
What to do: 1. Go to Google. 2. Search for your product. 3. Look at the websites of your competitors in that country. 4. Note the words they use.
If you want to increase online sales without spending a fortune on ads, you have to talk like your customers do. It builds trust instantly.
Step 3: The Technical Bit (Simplified)
I promised no jargon, so here is the deal: Google needs to know which version of your site to show to which person.
If you have a page for the US and a page for Australia, and they are 90% the same, Google might get confused and think you’re just copying yourself. You need a way to tell Google: "This page is for my mates in Brisbane, and this page is for the folks in New York."
There are three ways to set up your website for this:
1. The 'Country' Extension: Having a .com.au for Australia and a .co.uk for the UK. This is the clearest signal, but it’s a pain to manage two or three different websites.
2. The 'Sub-folder': This looks like yourwebsite.com/us/. This is usually the best balance for small businesses. It keeps everything under one roof but tells Google there's a specific section for Americans.
3. The 'Sub-domain': This looks like us.yourwebsite.com. I generally don't recommend this for small businesses as it splits your "authority" in Google's eyes.
My Advice: Stick to sub-folders (/us/ or /uk/). It’s easier to manage and keeps your website's "power" in one place.
Step 4: Speed is a Dealbreaker
If your website is sitting on a server in a basement in Brisbane, it’s going to load slowly for someone in London.
In the world of online shopping, a two-second delay is an eternity. If your site takes five seconds to load, that customer in London is gone. They’ve clicked the back button and gone to a competitor.
Google also hates slow sites. If they see people clicking your link and immediately leaving because it's too slow, they'll stop showing you. Having a fast-loading website is even more critical when your data has to travel across the ocean.
The Fix: Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN). It sounds technical, but it’s just a service that keeps a copy of your website on servers all over the world. When someone in London clicks your site, they get the copy from London, not Brisbane. It’s cheap (often free to start) and essential.
Step 5: Trust Signals (The 'Are You Legit?' Test)
Imagine you’re looking for a new piece of software. You find a site, but all the prices are in Euros, the phone number starts with +49, and the address is in Berlin. Are you going to put your credit card details in? Probably not.
To get global customers finding you, you need to look local.
- Currency: Show prices in their local currency. Not just a converter, but actual local pricing. - Phone Numbers: Get a local 'virtual' number for that country that forwards to your Brisbane office. It costs about $15 a month and makes you look like a global company. - Local Reviews: If you have customers in the US, get them to leave reviews. Seeing a review from "John in Ohio" is worth ten reviews from "Bruce in Bundaberg" when you're trying to sell to Americans.
Real Talk: How Long and How Much?
I’m not going to lie to you like some agencies do. This isn't an overnight fix.
Timeline: - Month 1: Research and setting up the structure (the sub-folders). - Months 2-4: Adjusting the words on your pages and getting that local content up. - Months 6+: This is when you start seeing the phone ring or the orders come in from overseas.
Cost: If you do the research yourself, your main costs are web developer time to set up the folders (maybe $500 - $1,500 depending on your site) and perhaps some local phone numbers. If you hire an agency like us to handle the whole strategy, you’re looking at a monthly investment.
Is it worth it? Well, if one overseas order is worth $2,000 in profit, and this strategy brings in five extra orders a month, the math is pretty simple. It’s a lot cheaper than flying to trade shows in Vegas every year.
What’s a Waste of Money?
1. Automatic Translators: Those little flags at the top of a site that use Google Translate? They are rubbish. They often translate technical terms incorrectly and make you look unprofessional. If you’re going into a non-English market, pay a human to translate your top 5 pages. 2. Buying 'International' Backlinks: You’ll get emails from people offering to sell you thousands of links from overseas sites for $99. Delete them. They will get your site banned from Google faster than you can say "export grant." 3. Broad Google Ads: Running ads to the entire USA without a specific local landing page is a great way to set fire to your cash. Get your website right first, then look at ads.
Your Action Plan
If you want to start growing your export business this week, do these three things:
1. Check your 'Stats': Look at where your current website visitors are coming from. Are people from the US already finding you? What pages are they looking at? 2. The 'Incognito' Search: Use a VPN or a tool like 'I Search From' to see what your website looks like in a search from London or New York. Be honest—would you buy from you? 3. Fix your Shipping/Contact Info: Make sure it is dead easy for an overseas person to see that you do ship to them and how much it costs. Don't make them wait for a quote.
Look, I get it. You’re busy running a business in Brisbane, and the idea of 'International SEO' sounds like another headache. But the reality is, the Australian market is small. The world is huge.
Dave from Wacol? We fixed his site structure, changed his 'high-vis' to 'safety gear' for his US pages, and set up a CDN. Six months later, his US sales had tripled. He didn't need a new factory; he just needed people to be able to find his front door.
If you want to stop being invisible overseas and start getting more enquiries from international buyers, we can help. At Local Marketing Group, we specialise in getting real results for Aussie businesses who want to grow.
Ready to take your Brisbane business to the world? Contact Local Marketing Group today.