Enter the dragon’s domain
You don’t need to deliver kicks and punches like Jackie Chan’s to make an impression on the Chinese market. With 800 million searches performed each day, having an online presence on Chinese search engines is a cost effective and powerful way to break into the Chinese market.
A new domain
To cross over China’s online threshold, start by arming yourself with a .cn domain name – it is the localised Internet address for China. With over 950,000 .cn domains registered in 2007, it is essential to secure a unique online presence that distinguishes your brand in the Chinese market and protects your business’ online identity.
While not everyone can aspire to achieve a unique identity as powerful as the stratospheric 88-storey high Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai, your job of creating a distinctive .cn domain is a lot less daunting, beginning with the following considerations:
- use only letters, numbers, or hyphen (”-”)
- cannot begin or end with a hyphen
- must have at least 3 characters, not including .cn
The sooner your domain is registered, the better it is for your business as it ensures:
- brand protection in China
- access to the Chinese market
- ability to provide more relevant, localised information about your business
- enhanced rankings and increased traffic through Chinese search engines
Remember, web hosting for your domain name must also be sourced within China to ensure optimal search results for your website.
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A big gong to Baidu, not Google
In the Chinese market, your best online partners are not Google or Yahoo. Brush up on your Chinese and get used to names like Baidu and Sina instead.
Searches on Chinese search engines are rarely performed in English. The local language, simplified Chinese text, is used instead. As such, Chinese text-based search engines the likes of Baidu dominate over the usual suspects Google and Yahoo.
According to a September 2007 report by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), baidu.com took up 74.5% while Google.com made up 14.3% of search engines that users favour in China.
Even when Baidu is leaving others in its trail, it is interesting to note that Google is fiercely competing for the attention of the high-end demographic. In the same report by CNNIC, statistics reveal that 47.72% of the audience comprising of non-student users aged 25 and above, receiving Bachelor’s Degree and above and enjoying a monthly income of over 3,000 yuan (approximately AUD$500), have selected baidu.com as their preferred search engine while google.com comes very close with 42.32%.
Nonetheless, it is prudent to set your sights on Baidu and other Chinese search engines to make it on the Chinese market.
Don’t get lost in translation
With the dominance of Chinese search engines, it is essential to speak their language and have your website translated into simplified Chinese text too.
Creating a website in Chinese gives your business greater exposure in China and helps to increase the natural rank of your website in Chinese search engines. In addition, your business draws Internet users in markets such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore that also use simplified Chinese text heavily when searching on the Internet.
Perfecting the art of Chinese search engines
Submitting your website to Chinese search engines is one key step to ensuring your website is exposed to Chinese Internet users. But before doing so, ensure that your website follows basic design principles: user-friendly features, informative and relevant content, high visual appeal, suitable links to related industry websites and a seamless user experience.
Beyond that, there is a wide variety of online marketing options available through Chinese search engines that you can use to further promote your business:
- Directory Inclusion – Submit your website to a fixed-price directory based on yearly payment. The major Chinese search engines such as Baidu and Sina require a fee for directory placement for your website.
- Fixed Ranking Placement - For a monthly payment, the major Chinese search engines guarantee a top 10 ranking for your website based on the keyword supplied. The monthly payment is determined by the popularity of the keyword provided.
- Pay per Click (PPC) - A paid advertisement service that displays your website based on the keyword provided. Advertisers bid for a keyword, and pay a fee every time someone clicks on the advertisement.
- Contextual Advertising - Paying a fee for your advertisement to appear on certain websites that have allowed banner advertising to appear on their website.
The Internet in China is growing strongly and is likely to continue to expand at a rapid rate. CNNIC issued a report as of June 30 2007 that China’s Internet user base had reached 162 million. Meaning there were 100 new users per minute on average in the first half of the year. Internet penetration also came up to 12.3% with 122 million broadband network users. If this trend continues, the Internet will represent a ticket onto the Orient Express for Australian businesses to introduce and promote their services in the booming Chinese market.
Need help?
Talk to a Melbourne IT specialist Asia-Pacific e-Business Consultant on 1300 793 247.
Useful links
- Information on .asia landrush application
- Apply for a .asia domain name
- Apply for a .cn domain name – global domain names