China’s online market has proven to bring fortune to online shop owners, including Jack Ma of Alibaba, as well as others. It’s not a surprise why these people have become successful. The primary reason for this is that China’s online market is massive. With 650 million internet users, China is the largest e-commerce market in the world. In 2015, the volume of e-commerce in China reached 500 billion USD.
So how can you tap into this gold nugget for your ecommerce business? Today, we will be going over the ways you too can get a piece of the action.
Geo Targeting
You can’t simply launch an online shop and expect the Chinese to rush to your site. Almost all internet users in China prefer visiting a website of which is in their language in their country. Therefore, your online shop that’s optimized with English keywords will never get found. It’s critical that you hire a content writer that can speak and write Chinese to help with this technology dilemma.
Moreover, Chinese users have totally different browsing behaviors to that of English-speaking countries. Your URL, domain, and site language must be geo-targeted and localized for Chinese internet users.
Local Hosting
You need Chinese local hosting, period! You have to keep in mind that you may experience server issues if you host your site outside China. When Chinese internet users browse through foreign sites, the loading becomes very slow.
This is because the Chinese government uses firewall technology to filter and even block foreign websites. Because of this, your website Chinese is still categorized as a foreign website if the host is foreign. This is why you have to have local hosting.
Baidu Search Engine
In the world of SEO, one of the most important things to consider is the Google search. Even in some non-English countries, website owners spend time, energy, and money for SEO in order to rank high on Google. In China, SEO is very different because Google is not the popular search engine there, it’s Baidu! If you wish to optimize your site in China, Baidu search engine is the one to study and follow. They have a different search rules and algorithm technology.
In order to rank well in Baidu, you will have to learn different strategies. Your past SEO strategies for Google will not be the same for Baidu as this will take a different skill set which you can learn yourself, or hire a professional company like the Chicago SEO company to help break into this vast market.
Social Media
Normally, we launch a site and optimize it for Google. Afterward, we conduct social media marketing to promote the site. We create a Facebook page and a Twitter account. That’s not the case in China as Facebook and Twitter are not as popular. “WeChat” is their version of Facebook in China. It is the second largest traffic source next to Baidu. On the other hand, “Weibo” is their version of Twitter.
Being social means you must have something to share such as your niche blog that is connected to your site, WordPress and Blogspot are not that popular either. “Sina” is the most popular blogging platform there, and it’s one of Baidu’s frequently indexed blogs.
Conclusion
China’s online market offers big opportunities, and to tap into this market means fortune! However, there are lots of things to consider, which are unusual to what you have learned about traditional SEO. By following the above tips you will have your ecommerce business up in no time.
Author Bio
Wendy Dessler
Title: Super-Connector at OutreachMama
Wendy is a super-connector with OutreachMama who helps businesses find their audience online through outreach, partnerships, and networking. She frequently writes about the latest advancements in digital marketing and focuses her efforts on developing customized blogger outreach plans depending on the industry and competition.