Craig Mazur has been working with the US Commercial Service, which is part of the US Commerce Department, to deliver presentations regarding International SEO techniques to Arizona business leaders who are interested in learning how to penetrate international markets via the Internet.
The presentations took place on July 14 in Tucson and July 16 in Phoenix. The basics of SEO were covered as well as advanced techniques needed to carve out higher rank positions in the search results viewed in foreign countries. Registering ccTLDs, seeking hosting in foreign countries, localization of web sites and other techniques were presented. Alternatives to SEO such as Google AdWords pay-per-click advertising and seeking a presence in Google Places were also discussed.
The presentations also dealt with the cultural issues involved with entering new markets and how to avoid the pitfalls that companies inevitably experience when entering foreign markets. “We went into each country one at a time and learned many hard lessons along the way.”
Craig Mazur has over 20 years of international marketing experience gained while working with a start-up company that went aggressively into international markets in the 1980s and 1990s and eventually was very successfully selling products in 160+ countries around the world. The company went from a small, start-up to become the worldwide leader in their industry. Craig played a primary role in seeking new manufacturing partners around the world, including companies in Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Germany, Italy, France, UK and Sweden. On the selling side of the business, Craig played integral roles in developing and entering new markets for a range of products.
Craig was the executive sponsor and played a hands-on role in developing one of the very first international B2B e-commerce sites in the late 1990s that offered local languages, local currency pricing and a unique product mix for each major market. This was done in the days before shopping carts were available, so each feature had to be developed from concept to implementation.
The US Commercial Service assists USA companies who wish to sell products in foreign markets. They offer a range of services, including training presentations, coaching and matchmaking services to help companies establish a presence in other countries.
