Tech

5 Ways to Optimize Your Website for the China Market

If you are looking for a new market to enter, then the China market is one that you should be considering. Many businesses are looking for ways to increase their exposure in the China market.

As the second economy of the world and with over a billion residents, China offers a lot of potential revenue if you can break into the market. However, it is not always easy to do business in China because the business environment is so much different from what many companies are used to. To help make your website more appealing to Chinese visitors, we have compiled 5 things that will help optimize your site for this country’s unique needs.

  • Optimize your site in Simplified Chinese

Most people in China speak Mandarin, which is the official spoken language in China. If you want to reach as many people as possible with your website, if you have audio content, this version of Chinese must be used on your site. The written language in mainland China is Simplified Chinese. There are many ways that you can do this, but the best way is to use professional translators who are proficient in both English and Chinse. Google Translate or any other machine translation is not recommended due to the inaccuracies and discrepancies due to the wide difference between the two languages. A well translated website will help increase trust between yourself and potential customers because they understand your business. This way, users will know exactly what benefits they could gain by purchasing from you versus another company selling similar products or services.

  •  Use the right keywords

You need to make sure that you are using the right keywords on your site. This will help users find your business easily once they search within Baidu, Sogou or Shenma, some of China’s most popular search engines. You should also incorporate Chinese characters into these keyword phrases so potential customers can see them when looking through their results list.

  • Make sure your site loads quickly on mobile devices

Cell phone is ubiquitous in China and shopping on mobile devices takes a much larger market share. The more time your site takes to load, the less likely a user will stay on it and continue looking around. If your website loads too slowly in China, there’s no reason for them to stick around when they can go somewhere else where their experience is faster.

However, note that fast-loading times aren’t just important in China though – it’s crucial everywhere that users have access to high-speed internet connections. This is so because numbers show that most people don’t care about waiting longer than two seconds for a webpage.

  • Choose a Chinese hosting service

Using a Chinese hosting service means your content can be hosted on a server within China. This is important because your site has to pass a china firewall check, which is critical in ensuring your website is optimized for the Chinese market. Hosting in China does not come in easily as elsewhere in the world, so it is recommended that you research this topic first before shopping around for a Chinese hosting company.

  • Consider using a video with subtitles to showcase your product

Studies have shown that videos with subtitles tend to perform better than those without. If you want people in China and other parts of the world where English isn’t a native language, consider making videos with subtitles and uploading them online for everyone. Or even better, you can have your video dubbed in the local language for better exposure.

Take Away

Optimizing a website for the China market is not as daunting as it seems. With these five steps, you can provide your customers with content they love and have them coming back to do business with you time and again.