As the internet continues to grow, more businesses around the world are finding themselves online, even in countries where the majority of the population is not.

In fact, according to Internet World Stats, no less than 44.8 per cent of the total internet users are from Asia, with 21.5 per cent coming from Europe and 10.4 per cent from Latin America and the Caribbean.

How much of the world actually speaks English online?

According to IGB Affiliate Magazine, 27 per cent of internet uses speak English as a first language, though a total of 54 per cent of the content currently on the web is in English. This ratio however, is not prevalent in everywhere:

“Based on Internet World’s estimates, around eight per cent of the internet’s users speak Spanish as a first language, but according to w3, only four per cent of web content is in Spanish.”

In other worlds, half of the Spanish speaking world chose to use an alternative language whilst they use the internet.

So why is it worth becoming a multilingual agency?

As already stated, the digital world is growing to new places and with that so is the opportunity. In fact, many agencies are casting their attention not on Spain or Latin America, but rather in Asia, where the Russian and Chinese markets are expecting large growth over the coming year.

According to China Daily USA:

“Economic growth in China will be about 8.5 per cent this year, with domestic demand being the driving force for expansion.”

As well as an increase of growth within the Chinese economy itself, internet usage in the country has also increased over the past few years, with primary Chinese search engine, Baidu now finding itself in fifth place on the Alexa Rank.

According to CEO, Robin Li, 99% of China’s online population now uses Baido, and looking at the statistics, it even outperforms Google China who yield only 30% of the search market in the country.

If you’re still not sure on how much potential the Chinese market holds, according to the UN Broadband Commission, if current growth continues, the Chinese language will overtake English as the main language used by internet users by 2015:

“In terms of users, English and Chinese dominate the Internet, accounting for 27% and 24% of total global Internet users respectively, with Spanish a distant third. Indeed, if current growth rates continue, the total number of Internet users accessing the Internet in Chinese may overtake the number of Internet users predominantly using English in 2015.”

How does the future look for the rest of Asia?

Very interesting, as even in North Korea where the internet is very strictly monitored and available only to a very select few (literally 0 per cent of the population), the tide is slowly turning in the favour of the web - in the most controlled country in the world.

Although the state department of the United States described Google’s recent visit of North Korea as being ‘not particularly helpful’, the visit signalled one of the most important private visits to the country in the past few years.

Writing on his G+ account, Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google said:

“As the world becomes increasingly connected, the North Korean decision to be virtually isolated is very much going to affect their physical world and their economic growth. It will make it harder for them to catch up economically. We made that alternative very, very clear.”

How many decades it will take to goad the North Korean government into a free internet however is another thing. Now that Google Earth has placed the North Korean labour camps on its maps, that time may have etched a little further away.

The only assurance there is that whenever the iron clad gates do open, what will be found inside may well spell a new era for the internet as a whole; making international business prospects tantalisingly real.

So is it worth it?

Almost definitely.

Even if you do decide to fall on the Spanish speaking world, the market is growing in terms of internet usage, especially in South America where growth was reported at 15 per cent between 2010 and 2011.

Though we are all now very aware of how lucrative European and English speaking markets are, the time is now here where branching out across the world is about to become a necessity. And it has never been easier.

Blueclaw are a company which specialises in giving its clients both a multilingual service and audience, whether that entails SEO optimization, PPC advertising or Social Media – in whatever country you desire.