Many Americans think the entire world surfs the Web in English. According to Global Reach.com, an international Web marketing/communications firm, that notion may have been true when the Web first became popular in 1995, but today there is a profusion of material available online in every language. Global Reach says that since it started counting online linguistic populations in 1996, the non-English-speaking online world has grown from 7 million non-English speakers to 391 million today. The firm estimates that in 2003, 793 million people will be online worldwide – and a whopping 505 million of them will be non-English users.

Here is Global Reach’s breakdown of the number of today’s Web users internationally, by language use:

Global Reach also says that “Most business executives in non-English speaking countries not only prefer to be addressed in their own language, but they also are more likely to use search engines in their own language.” According to Global Reach’s Bill Dunlap, North American businesses need to keep the following tips in mind when they are trying to market internationally online:

Site Design

Download time is critical in Europe and South America because fewer executives currently have access to fast T1 and DSL connections. The best way to make sure your site will download quickly enough for them is to do the "slow connection" test -- hook up a computer to a 56K line and see how quickly your site loads. Dunlap suggests removing any extra images from your site for International purposes.

If you are hoping to reach Japanese executives, be sure to make your site (and email marketing) wireless-friendly. That’s because many execs spend their commuting time on trains where they can surf the Web and read email on wireless devices, instead of watching the road. Dunlap says, "They just look at their phones and go crazy. Europe is about two years away from that, and America is about five years away."

Many business executives outside the U.S. do search the Internet using American-based engines such as Google, Yahoo and Lycos. In these cases, your regular search engine optimization tactics, adjusted for another language, may work. However, that doesn't mean you can ignore local search engines. In fact, they are more powerful than you think.

Also note, many national search engines are still compiled by people-power instead of spiders and software. This means you'll also need to hand-submit your site to leading search engines that won't pick it up otherwise in each country. Dunlap recommends you use a native-speaker to do your submissions for you. (Yes even in the UK —remember American English is different from British English!)

While Internet users in other countries are flocking to email discussion groups and happily signing up for email newsletters on topics of their choice, most advertisers outside North America haven't caught on yet. In fact, ads in local email newsletters and discussion groups are probably the most effective online marketing you can invest in these days.

B2B prices are about the same as in the US -- at $25-$75 per thousand -- but because local advertisers are slow to try this media you'll probably have much better luck negotiating prices than you would back home. Plus, you'll be able to get prime inventory, including top sponsorships in top business ezines, without paying extra or being on a waiting list.

And, due to the lack of other ads, your ad may stand out and get better click-throughs. Just be sure to have it copywritten by a native and click through to a special landing page for that country so you convert the highest possible number of readers into qualified sales prospects for your company.

For more information: www.glreach.com