Nearly half of the respondents to a Marketing Sherpa survey have either globalized their Websites or plan to do so within the next 12 months, according to the firm's "Website Globalization Report 2007."
Over 30% of the marketing executives surveyed had already globalized their sites, which involves translation and localization for audiences around the world. Another 17% planned to do so within the next year.
More than half of those who globalized said that they had spent less than $50,000, although half say they expect to increase that amount. Among large corporations, 18% said they had spent more than $500,000 on the process.
Over 16% of US sites offer some Spanish-language content on their sites, and another 22% plan to do so during the next 12 months. Small companies are especially interested in adding Spanish to their sites.
The report claims that among those globalizing their English sites, German is the most-supported language on the Web, although Spanish is expected to catch up within 12 months, and simplified Chinese is coming on strong as well.