internet value
According to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), the number of Internet users in China is more than 103,000,000 in 2005.
More than half of Chinese Internet users were under the age of 25. Of the total, 32 percent are students, 12 percent are professionals, and nine percent are from the business and service sectors.
People use the Internet primarily to send emails, read news, and find information through search engines. Online shopping spending in China in 2005 was around RMB 9 billion and will rise to RMB 30 billion in 2007. You can expect growth to double in the following years.
With the above figures, businessmen need to understand the value of using the Internet to explore the Chinese market. Search engine marketing should be the most cost-effective method of reaching Chinese Internet users.
Chinese region
In fact, the region of China does not only refer to mainland China. You can also be aware of Hong Kong and Taiwan. Interestingly, the Chinese in these 3 different areas have very different cultures due to their historical backgrounds. Even on the mainland, people from different provinces speak totally different accents of Chinese languages and also differ in their daily living practices. For example, people from GuangDong and Hong Kong often speak Cantonese. They speak Mandarin only when talking to people from other provinces. Also, people in mainland China and Taiwan are generally not that good at English. However, in Hong Kong, many people can speak and read English well. So, you need to notice the differences to write effective website copy to cater to the different readers in the China region.
Another important thing to keep in mind is that people from Hong Kong, Taiwan, GuangDong, Shanghai and Beijing tend to have higher purchasing power.
Search Engines in China
The major search engines in China include Baidu, Google, Sina, and Yahoo. According to a CNNIC study, Baidu has a 51.5% market share, Google 32.9%, Sina 4% and Yahoo 3.7%. Just based on the above figures, you might think that it should be more appropriate to spend most of your effort on Baidu and Google, right? The answer is “Yes or No. It depends!” Why?
This is because the region of China is large and has complicated cultural differences. It’s hard for you to target the whole China region unless you have millions in budget. If you are a small or medium business, decide your target region and focus on it first. For example, if you choose Hong Kong as your target market, I can tell you that Yahoo Hong Kong is the most used search engine and almost no one uses Baidu in Hong Kong!
Another point worth mentioning is that Google is rated the best search engine in China and the rating means a very likely translation of its future growth in market share, according to a study by Keynote Systems.
Paid Search Engine Marketing
The popularity of paid search engine marketing (pay per click) in China is increasing. Baidu, Yahoo and Google have their own programs. To succeed in a difficult region, search engines rely heavily on agents to sell their pay-per-click marketing. Pay per click is a new concept in China, and people think it’s too complicated. Therefore, agents often sell paid search engine marketing for a flat monthly fee based on different schemes. It is somewhat different with the western world.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search Engine Optimization is a fairly new concept in China, but the acceptance of this concept is increasing. Currently, there are many black hat spammers and white hat optimizers in the country. In China, people often optimize only for Google and Yahoo, and use paid search engine marketing for Baidu.
The link building process in the China region is somewhat different with the Western world. Link exchange is rare in Hong Kong and Taiwan. It is much more popular on the mainland. However, the link format is quite different. First of all, high quality links are often obtained from personal/business relationships. Second, the reciprocal linking format in the western world is usually made up of a Hyperlinked Title and a site description, but in mainland China, it is only made up of a Hyperlinked Title. Does it look like a link farm? However, it is a common practice in China. Therefore, getting meaningful links in the China region is not an easy task.
Key Factors in Chinese Search Engine Marketing
Many people make a common mistake. Their websites do not have a Chinese version, but they want to promote their website in the mainland and Taiwan. English may be your native language, but it is not a native language for Chinese. To be successful, you must have a Chinese version. Also, you should keep in mind that Traditional Chinese is used in Hong Kong and Taiwan, while Simplified Chinese is used in mainland China. Sometimes the expressions used in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China are also different from each other.
If you really want to get online sales from Chinese but you are not familiar with their languages and cultures, you’d better use an internet marketing company located in China region to help you.