Any time you enter into a new market, you have to learn and plan around a new set of legal and social parameters. Take Europe, for example. There, privacy laws might restrict even the most rudimentary tracking and data-collection tools. Needless to say, if you don't understand the markets your new web sites are serving, you can get into big trouble. Part of the solution here is getting local input.
Legal advice is important as well.
The bottom line is to make sure your planning process allows for enough time to address necessary strategic and tactical issues. Taking a step into the big-time global business world requires an investment that matches the extraordinary opportunity. Going ahead blind to operational, cultural and other business realities is the riskiest strategy of all. You might as well tell your customers to go screw themselves. As of January 2001, Jeffrey Graham became Director at Dynamic Logic , whose flagship product, AdIndex , measures the branding effectiveness of online advertising.