Zee or Ess (Z or S)

A slightly different topic for me to blog on today.  Is it appropriate to use a Z or S in the spelling of certain words?

Being an Australian we typically use the letter S when spelling particular words like:

OptimiSe, CentraliSe, SpecialiSe

When writing reports for Australian clients (or customers), I will use the letter S.

However, our North American friends will use the letter Z in their spelling:

OptimiZe, CentraliZe, SpecialiZe

Here’s my dilemma – I’m an Australian whose target audience is predominantly North American.  To be found in search engines by my Target Audience, I HAVE to use the Z in the spelling, not the S!  The number of times I’ve been contacted by one of my customers, or potential customers, to be told that I’ve ‘spelt something wrong’ because I have used the Australian spelling of a word.

So to my Australian Brothers and Sisters, I apologise (apologize) for any offense I provide in using the American spelling of words. However, the Australian market is just a small part of my target audience…. really, it’s not personal, it’s just business.