Which Countries Have the Most Internet Users? The Answers May Surprise You!

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Hello fellow warriors,

Just ran into this cool resource World Internet Usage Statistics News and World Population Stats It shows you, by continent and country, who has access to the internet.

I don't know about you, but if your offering is for ANY english speaking country and you use adwords, this could be a very valuable resource.

I just added 12 new countries to my adwords account.
#main internet marketing discussion forum #answers #countries #internet #surprise #users
  • I was very surprised to see that Asia has the largest amount of internet users in the world!
    Thanks for this
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  • Yes. And Asia is going to lead the way for a good long time to come! Something every internet marketer should know AND use.
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    • [8] replies
    • Many speak English.
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    • Asians speak more than 20 languages that are even worth considering when it comes to marketing (there are actually over 2000 'small' languages spoken in Asia). If you want to be able to make your business accessible to the majority of Asians start learning Arabic, Hindu, Urdu, Bengali, etc.
    • This is a very scary question

      Seriously if you don't know which is very unusual finding out is VERY easy.
    • LMAO!
      First good laugh of the day. Thank you.


      The answer, of course, is Asian.
      • [2] replies
    • Kono kuni de nihongo wo shabeteiru.
      • [1] reply
    • Mandarin
      Japanese
      Korean
      Thai
      Hindi
      Blah Blah Blah
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    • Non-american...

      Joking aside, they speak Asian dummy :p

      And the ones that don't speak Asian, speak one of these:

      Category:Languages of Asia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

      So as long as you target the right keywords, it's not a problem
    • Asians use different languages but English is mostly the second language.
  • Asians Rule!
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    • [1] reply
    • You don't have to. Just click on the "English" language in your adwords account and let Google do the rest. They'll target your ad to english speaking only sites in Asia.
  • Does not translate into sales though..these countries have very different buying habits..
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    • What he said...

      Anyone who disagrees has their head in the PC sand...
    • You've got a point there.
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  • That's the same concern I have, too. I've tried many different countries before where they speak English. I even had great CTR with as many clicks as I could afford, but no sales.
  • Hi,

    I think it's important to note that not only the numbers, but how many of these people can purchase online. How many people can whip out a credit card and purchase. I'd bet most of such users are in N. America and Europe. Else where in the world, those who do have plastic, are most likely English speakers as well.

    Sam
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    • You do have a point there. Not all asian's believe in the plastic.
  • What about India? It's another growing economy and english is spoken there.
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    • Almost 1/3 of my visitors now come from India and the one thing all of them want to know more about is learning English. My only switch topic that has worked so far is learning how to learn.

      When I look at the skyrocketing numbers of doctors from India I have little doubt that a book on how to get into an American college (with little or no money) would go over big. Ditto on British colleges, I think.

      I tried offering translation machines, and never got a nibble.
  • wo zhong xin jia bo
    wo hui jiang eng yu
    wo ye hou xin yong ka

    Alvin Huang
    • [1] reply
    • I could not have said that better myself!
  • So your saying sales aren't good from India?
  • I don't know where they get their data, but Australia's population is only 21 million and some change, not 34 million, and I can't see us having 20 million users on the internet either, however we do have over 50% of the population on it, and an average of 2 computers per houshold.

    Statistics provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

    Not sure how accurate this data is, but it is way off for Australia.
    • [1] reply

    • Oceania/Australia includes Australia plus NZ, PNG and all of the other islands/nations in the region.
  • Asians are not a regular online buyers compare to the Europeans yet.
    • [1] reply
    • I think so too. My relatives still prefer buying plane tickets from travel agents rather than online. They're scared of identity theft.

      China and India, countries that tops the charts in respect to high population count are in Asia. I'm not really surprised with the stats.
  • Also don't forget that money's worth a lot more in asia and most people there have a lot less of it. so 30 bucks might seem like nothing to us but it could be a fortune for someone over there. not a lot of people are gonna fork out a fortune for a 20 page special report.
  • not a surprise at all
  • There is always that human urge to extend a helping hand.
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    • That's true, but as another warrior pointed out, who's going to take out the plastic, the man or woman in India or the one in Canada or Europe. The answer to that question will be worth $$$.
  • Well, I just found this little golden nugget. It's a Nielsen report titled Global Online Shopping Report for Feb 08 http://th.nielsen.com/site/documents...eportFeb08.pdf
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  • I believe the BIG numbers is from china which has BIG population. They have purchasing power as my friends doing online games make his millions from china market.

    The bad news is you need to know chinese to penetrate the market.
  • Isn't a lot of Asias 'net access "locked" to the country of origin and using portable devices?

    It seems I saw a TV report about their access and high speeds but it was limited as far as access and that people did a lot of social type activities. Something like that.
    • [2] replies
    • Hi,

      without checking out the statistics provided, i kinda guessed this. You have to look at China has a population of 2 billion people, so nearly a third of the people that live on this earth. India has now exceeded a population of 1 billion people. So just between these two countries, they have nearly half the amount of human beings that live on this planet.

      How does that equate to sales?

      Well if you are targeting adsense - great. If you look at targeting these 2 countries on an area of nationwide interest. e.g. a specific religious festival, you may make an absolute killing on adsense.

      However, if you are promoting certain products, your success rate may have a huge dip! Yes these two countries have a very large population of English Speakers, but with you have to bear in mind the cost of living, the standard of living and most important the mindset and culture of people.

      People from opposite sides of the world may well view certain subjects altogether differently. So i don't believe you can just target a country or continent just based on numbers. You have to know what people are thinking, what their problems are and what solutions they are seeking before you target them.

      We do all the necessary research before diving into a niche, but how often do you think of the culture of the people you are targeting. I am of Indian origin and visit India every year, but am born, bred, educated in London. I can tell you now, relatives, friends of mine in India may face the same problems as me, but they will go about things a hell of a lot differently, due to our differences in culture!

      Cheers
      Partha
    • Asia is a pretty big place: There might be some countries where that happens but that's like saying the people of the Americas have their net access locked because El Salvador does. Or the people of Europe have their access limited because Moldova does.

      Tommy.

      P.S. - There are lots of Asian Warriors, even though this site is, I believe, hosted in Texas.
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  • I live in Japan now. Here at least, many people do use their cell phones for internet. Many people can speak English, but I doubt many of them would ever buy from an English site..

    I am surprised the internet rate that low for Asia since almost everyone is connected here and speeds are much faster than North America. I suppose it is because there are so many poor people in places like Vietnam, China and India that are being counted.
  • Hi, how about my country Indonesia. We speaks indonesian. According to List of countries by population - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia We are number 4. Very huge market. But we are still a poor country and still developing. We'll be the next I in BRIC (Brazil, Rusia,India, China).
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  • It depends on the niche you are targeting whether it will be worth your while to target other countries.

    People in Asia or certain parts of Europe still have qualms about spending money online.

    You will want to target the countries where the largest concentration of BUYERS are, and for most niches (especially if you are selling information products) that's still USA, UK, Australia, Canada.

    Allen
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    • This for me is 100% correct!! from my sales..One note about Asia..alot of their online sales are really business to business with other Asians businesses in USA. ..Asians have a heavy online usership and India as well but they do not buy what most I.M. are selling..their stats are very Asian to Asians in USA(for business purposes,clothing,toys,..etc)
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  • I've tried adwords worldwide (but still english), and while I may have had optins from all over, only US, canada, uk and australia every bought anything (with a few exceptions of course).
    My clickbank refund rates and unsubscribes in the UK where so large that I now only target US/canada and australia.
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    • this is not a surprise!!asia is the most populous continent!!
  • Be careful when opening up your adwords account to more countries. Make sure you keep an eye on your stats, and you know where your traffic is coming from and who is buying your products. I've been using adwords for many years and have tested many different markets, and can say that there are many countries out there that will eat up your adwords budget without giving you a single sale.

    Even if you're playing the adsense gambling game - just remember that Google is the house, and the house never loses. If you start getting traffic that doesn't buy, your adsense income will drop through the floor.

    So make sure you're tracking everything before you test the other adwords markets.
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    • well, it's like asking what language do they speak in Europe!!!

      European, of course
  • The power of buying and spend money online for Asia Country is still low. So, I'm still focusing on current targeted country such as US and Canada.
  • One thing also is most of the population in Asia does not use credit cards or purchase online yet even though they will opt in on your list and have internet access.
  • I agree with Jason, certain things (like ebooks) people in other cultures simply dont buy (yet) ... as I have learned ... you may need to rethink at least the vehicule you use to reach them online...
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    • Why do you think that is?
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  • Whoever is surprised by these statistics needs to get out more...

    We have sites in the UK, USA, Germany and France and I get so pissed off at the number of fellow USA citizens who don't know what a pound sign is for example. Or who don't realise that .co.uk is related mainly to the UK etc...

    Many also think .com is exclusive to the USA.

    Wake up people!
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  • INTERNET USAGE STATISTICS The Internet Big Picture World Internet Users and Population Stats.. This look great...

  • Being a large population in the world such as China. Many Chinese do not have the habit to buy intangible product or service online. I think Amazon may be the affiliate choice if you wish to target Asia.
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  • I was thinking that USA will be the winner..But shocked -> Asia .. :O
  • Wow! I think there gonna be some country wars...but whatever you guys say, Asians really do rule.
  • Maybe we are thinking in the wrong direction. Maybe we should think of what our Asian visitors have to sell -- that we could resell, of course. I remember that back in the '60s Thomas L. Hall was moving millions of dollars worth of hand carved Jade into the United States, and already sold and paid for when it arrived. He was a one man operation compared to Mellinger and SMC
    Another friend of mine amassed the largest reptile collection in the United States by asking pen pals to send him any reptile they could catch in their back yard. Some of his prizes turned out to be unknown to any herpetologist.
    I'm not gaited to any of those scenes but I am thinking how many people have light weight items they would be glad to sell if they could find a buyer. Maybe start an Internet Pawn Shop?
  • With 3.7 billion people in Asia and the growing economies if China
    and India, the number of Internet users in this region ought not
    surprise anyone.
  • I agree with you Gary. I had a hard time in the foreign market.
  • makes sense asia has the most , they are fascinated by computers etc
  • I have a lot of clickbank sales from the UAE (United Arab Emirates), like Dubai and I dont know...

    These sales are from english websites. I have heard that the golden era of Dubai is going to an end, but still it would be cool to have more traffic from that area.
  • FYI. Asia is not a country... (Stupid americans)
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