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 sector.

People use the Internet primarily to send emails, read news, and search for information through search engines. Online shopping spending in China in 2005 was around RMB 9 billion and will increase to RMB 30 billion in 2007. You can expect double the growth in the following years.

With the figures above, entrepreneurs should 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 China region does not only refer to mainland China. You can also keep an eye on 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 completely different accents of Chinese languages ​​and also differ in their daily life 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. Therefore, you need to note the differences in order to write effective website copy to cater to the different readers in the China region.

Another important thing to note is that people from Hong Kong, Taiwan, GuangDong, Shanghai, and Beijing tend to have higher purchasing power.

Chinese search engines

Major search engines in China include Baidu, Google, Sina, and Yahoo. According to a CNNIC study, Baidu has a market share of 51.5%, Google 32.9%, Sina 4% and Yahoo 3.7%. Just based on the figures above, 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 China region is large and has complicated cultural differences. It is difficult for you to target the whole China region unless you have millions of budget. If they are small or medium-sized businesses, decide on 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 hardly anyone 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 be successful in a difficult region, search engines mostly rely on agents to sell their pay-per-click marketing. Pay per click is a new concept in China, and people think that it is too complicated. Therefore, agents usually sell paid search engine marketing for flat monthly fee under different schemes. It is something 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 usually 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 usually obtained from personal/business relationships. Second, the reciprocal link format in the western world is usually composed of a hyperlinked Title and site description, but in mainland China, it is only composed 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 no easy task.

Key Factors in Chinese Search Engine Marketing

Many people make a common mistake. Their websites don’t have a Chinese version, but they want to promote their website to the mainland and Taiwan. English may be your mother tongue, but it is not a mother tongue for Chinese. To be successful, you must have a Chinese version. Also, you should note 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 Chinese online sales but you are not familiar with their languages ​​and cultures, you better use an internet marketing company located in China region to help you.