QUICK FACTS ON CHINA INTERNET DEVELOPMENT 2009 by Hosea Lim SMASHWORDS EDITION ISBN: 978-1-4762-3059-7 Copyright © 2012 Hosea Lim All rights reserved Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work, which have been used without permission The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners License Notes This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author Table of Contents About This Book The Growth of Internet Economy in China SEO in China Get Set China For the Affiliate Marketing Race How to Tackle the Chinese Market The Chinese SEO in the Internet SEO Formula Why Baidu Is More Popular Than Google in China Chinese Internet – Learn The Way To Leverage It To Earn Advantages of Chinese Search Engines SEO and SEM in China Growth of the Mobile Internet in China Conclusion About The Author: Hosea Lim About This Book This book get you up to date to the current affairs of Chinese internet in China The contents of this book give you a quick understanding of China internet so that you can jumpstart your projects in the Chinese domain This book is written for busy people that want quick answers to help them make better informed decision in their endeavors The Growth of Internet Economy in China The development of Chinese internet technology and ecommerce represent the historical, current and future aspects of the ecommerce industry In fact, the Chinese internet technology is changing the face of the ecommerce industry, especially at the global front Although one cannot predict the future of ecommerce in the virtual world, but one can certainly draw inferences from a critical observation of the present scenario in China Presently, the Chinese internet broadband users have witnessed a record low in the number of IP addresses and websites that have been used since the year 2007 According to a survey, the infrastructure of internet technology in China remained unfazed by the financial crisis in the United States of America, a large number of Chinese internet users have been recorded in the first half of the year 2009 Statistics confirm the number of internet users in China to around 338 million estimates This indicates a steady increase in the number of internet users and is around 13.4 percent more than in 2008 China has been revolutionizing the mode of information technology and industrialization at the state level by inculcating various policies that are aimed at enhancing the network infrastructure for the country The national strategy for information development from 2006 to 2020 has propelled the manpower force and other resources required for making information platforms in order to ensure that the internet users have an easy access to the World Wide Web The steady increase in the demand for internet access in China can be attributed to the evolution of sophisticated technology and its applications in mobile phone technology that has made internet easily accessible to the common man Moreover, the software and hardware required for accessing internet has been simplified and the networks are constantly monitoring their products and services in order to make sure that the users are totally satisfied The decline in the cost of broadband internet access, combined with a simultaneous downfall in the cost of user platforms has been instrumental in bringing internet to the forefront, thus revolutionizing business Although many Chinese internet users are vary of giving their personal information on the internet, they are still contributing to the advancements in ecommerce In fact, they are indirectly contributing to the global economy in many ways that are not quantifiable But, one can definitely predict the future of ecommerce in the virtual world The various ecommerce websites cater to a wide variety of clientele from around the globe and there are no definitive borders The internet users in China are strategic in bringing about a revolution in internet access, tools and appliances that make the internet economy SEO in China China is an important market that developers need to consider when developing a new line of websites or search engines Why is China relevant? This is because China contributes to the large number of prospective users that need to be catered to, and also because there are a significant number of users contributing to the IT market China is not only one of the leading edge countries that ensure their ability to contribute to the market, as well as its ability to contribute to the market China is as important as the United Kingdom and the United States of America, both equally powerful and dominating when it comes to online services Not only are most of the products known to UK and America available online, their number of literate people is commendable-like in China Regardless of the difference in population, the literacy rate of China is close to that of UK and America, which further makes it a contributing factor to the market situation It has been seen that search engine optimization derivatives are hard to come by when the scope is beyond UK and USA due to the exclusive focus on the two China, along with some other countries, is being disregarded and if they want to access sites they are to be expected to adjust to it However, it is not wise for a search engine developer to wait for its users to adapt to it; it has to adapt to the needs of its customers And if the customers need Chinese-based answers, then so be it UK and USA have an edge over China because of their widely used language, hence makes for easier understanding on their part Efforts has been made for Chinese search engine to be as engaging as different forms of search, and encouraging Chinese users to use their search technology comes in the form of offering them an engine that uses Chinese inputs and displays relevant content Key phrases and words are used in search technology, and this is the same with the Chinese search engine Proper construction of a database that stores the keywords being searched and crawls through different sites to make sure that all the entries are connected and tagged appropriately in connection with the search is embellished Experts believe that there is a need to develop a Chinese search engine capable of all the characteristics being offered in the universal search engine International Search Reviews have made it a point to focus on the situation of the market in China, looking deeply into the reasons why search engines in China are often discussed but are not being developed full blown It has been due to the lack of financial motivation coming from Chinese users that motivate the development of new methods-but this is also due to the lack of good investments Get Set China For the Affiliate Marketing Race With more than 300 million Chinese internet users, China is the country with the largest population of internet users The reason why many internet search engine companies wanted to penetrate the Chinese market is because the sheer size of the Chinese population will earn millions of dollars in revenue Imagine surpassing the number of internet users in the technologically advanced United States? IT should not come as a surprise since the Chinese have been vying for various top spots in the international race Look at how Google is fighting to increase its shares in the internet search engine market 31.3% is not bad for a foreign company like Google Although the leading company, Chinese internet search engine Baidu, still has the upper hand in this market, foreign companies are confident that they will be able to get into the market in time A little more research must be done in order to fully understand how the new market thinks Expansion in China is equated to expanding operations in the country where the world’s largest internet users can be found There’s just too much potential that can be generated through doing business in China And it will surely generate jobs that will help Chinese people ultimately Unfortunately, the strict control of the communist government of China is in conflict with the freedom that overseas companies would want to implement The recent bad blood between Google and the Chinese government proves that there is still a strict and compelling force in this country that prevents even multinational companies from doing what they want or what they have to Restraints and censorship on search engine queries and e-mail activities of peace campaigners are strictly discouraged by the government to the point of hacking Google’s complex algorithms in order to access these emails purportedly sent by Chinese rebels who want to seek help from international organizations But even though this kind of conflict is currently happening in the country, this must not discourage internet companies to expand their operations to this highly populated country The goal here is to make as much significant business transactions that will benefit both their company, the people of China and the government of China By doing so, you are contributing to their economic growth which is the cornerstone of all countries aiming to become first world countries Beating Baidu is out of the question-competition is good because it improves the quality of products in the marketplace As for now, Baidu exists as the hallmark that Google and other internet companies must surpass In the mean time, while they are still working on their strategies to a larger part of the population as clients, they must learn well from how Baidu provides the information Chinese internet users in China need How to Tackle the Chinese Market It is paramount in the understanding of the Chinese market that their personal preferences need to be considered This can be easily expressed through the development of test systems that will determine how they prefer their websites to appear and how relevant should the search engine feeds they receive be The Chinese search engine is one of those that are still being developed, thus it is still not capable of a full scale implementation of the universal search technology Some sites like Google have started the revolutionary method of allowing for search engines to translate content into a more understandable paradigm With this enhancement, many search technologies followed suit and gave way to the understanding of the need of a new system that allows for this capability in a full scale implementation The Chinese search engine is an effective method that can be used to tackle and understand the Chinese market With the preference of vernacular language so that everyone will understand the contents of the page, the Chinese market is being paved Whoever comes up with a search technology that knows how to convert the contents of pages into a more reasonable portfolio will win the bargain Consequently, those who are able to develop a search engine that knows where to locate local entries for the use of Chinese users are encouraged If the profile of the country is to be indicative of its importance, the Chinese profile will definitely make it to the top of the list Not only is China included in the countries that have been boosted by Information Technology businesses, it is also one with a high number of internet users that contribute to its importance With these many Chinese users to cater to, there is a need to understand how best to serve them It is easy to understand the Chinese market All one has to is know the sites that they visit often and research on why they prefer these sites It is recommended to start with the social networking sites Chinese often visit and start from there Different networks have different functionalities, and you will know which is preferred by the users in the number of users Be adamant in this process, for taking proper measures will ensure that you will succeed in the Chinese market After all the details of what they want included in the Chinese search engine is noted, you can work on a normal search engine and customize it so that it will be able to give you an edge in the Chinese market With proper investment in the crawlers and the search engine to use, you are guaranteed that the Chinese industry will be yours to conquer in no time The Chinese SEO in the Internet SEO Formula Most ecommerce websites are designed in order to drive the Chinese internet users to the website thus delivering a good user experience that converts the users into customers According to a statistical report on the internet development in China, conducted during the year 2009, the Chinese SEO of the ecommerce site plays an important role in determining the perception of the internet users towards internet as an information gateway and its impact on the user’s behavior and attitude on internet trust According to statistics around 84.3% of users turn to the internet as a major source of information But when it comes to internet trust, it has been found that although a large number of people rely on the internet for information, very few trust the internet for any online transaction as they are not willing to provide true information for online registration As stated by Chinese SEO experts, 82.4% of the Chinese internet users are wary of giving out their personal information on the internet and they have installed security software in order to safeguard their computers from viruses and many other frauds, including internet account access and passwords In the year 2009, around 195 million internet users had to deal with many problems caused due to infringement of internet security as viruses and Trojan horses invaded the privacy of personal computers One hundred million Chinese internet users’ accounts were hacked and passwords were stolen Most websites that aim at the Chinese internet users for doing business often refer to the Chinese SEO experts, in order to enhance their internet share in the virtual world Around 78.5% of Chinese internet users state that when ever they find useful information, they pass it on to the others This factor is instrumental in enhancing the brand value of the website, thus increasing the Chinese SEO for the website Seventy Six percent of the internet users have been found to pass on information about the website, if they find it informative and visually appealing These are the two most important aspects of Chinese SEO and can be summed up as an ease of navigation combined with aesthetic appeal that will drive the prospective customer to the website The statistical survey only confirms the fact that SEO mainly focuses on the human factor and gives little importance to the technical search engine, as this will ensure long term benefits for the company This approach will make the customers totally satisfied with the internet experience, as they are getting what they desire on the internet The success of any online venture indicates that the SEO formula has been instrumental in propelling the website to the virtual forefront Why Baidu Is More Popular Than Google in China SEO, search engine optimization, is surely dominating the Internet marketing industry It is one of the most reliable forms of Internet marketing today and it is preferred by businesses from all around the globe in their attempt to gain leverage in their respective fields or niches, including those based in China Once called the “Sleeping Giant,” in Central Asia is no longer in deep slumber as far as business opportunities are concerned China as a nation is booming, generating billions of dollars a year in numerous industries, including tourism, entertainment, and information technology, which involves the use of Chinese search engine The Internet is perhaps the greatest contribution of man to today’s modern world With the World Wide Web, people have access to practically everything They can be in touch with their families, friends, and business contacts They can have information they need at the click of a mouse With laptops being manufactured and sold in bulks, people can now enjoy powers beyond their comprehension anytime they want The Internet, also known as the World Wide Web, no doubt plays an increasingly significant role for businesses worldwide This fact rings no truer than in China In this country, the role of a company’s website has evolved amazingly from being a simple type of catalogue where products and services as well as the company’s basic information can be displayed, to an indispensable marketing tool – the best source for leads and new clients Having a great degree of online visibility on a leading Chinese search engine has become the primary goal of companies; online visibility is a crucial aspect in a company’s success and profitability in China And that is why Baidu is more popular than Google in China Baidu offers their Chinese clients from big and small companies alike to promote their businesses in a way that appeals to the Chinese The SEO rules for the Internet market of China are different than that of another country, particularly the US The core difference lies in content Baidu is sensitive to content, which suits the Chinese audience perfectly fine Remember, although China has awakened, it is still pretty much a conservative nation Thus, websites that contain sensitive information are instantly blacklisted or taken off the list Unlike the American audience, with which Google succeeds, the Chinese audience is more careful with their inquiries, taking extra care with spelling and syntax, even when using a Chinese search engine It is not as surprising as some people think; the Chinese government has realized the importance of the English language and has encouraged their people to study it – and typing in search engines in practice Baidu has taken these things into consideration, filtering out blogs and forums accordingly Chinese Internet – Learn The Way To Leverage It To Earn In recent years, the influence of the internet world has reached China You can easily find that there are people surfing the internet in China In the past, there would not be a lot of people using laptops in China but there are plenty of people using it everywhere in China Moreover, the use of mobile phones to surf the internet has encouraged a lot of people to use the Internet as well Therefore, a lot of people would like to study Chinese internet market and then create opportunities for businesses to leverage the characteristics in this market in order to earn You can easily find that there are people who are interested in establishing a business in China Therefore, it is the key for any parties to understand the characteristics of Chinese internet market first According to some statistical researches, it was found that a large proportion of users of the internet in China are students and some corporate staff For students, they may not have a strong purchasing power but they may have this form of power in the future Therefore, a lot of businesses are advised not to use short term strategies to promote the businesses Instead, they are advised to spend efforts to build a good relationship with these teenagers and students so that they would return to buy when they have the purchasing power Therefore, a possible strategy is that the businesses can try to use SEO to target the corporate staff and they can also use some minor keywords of images to target the students On the other hand, businesses should be aware of that the average income of citizens in China is actually around RMB 500 per month Therefore, the general public would not try to buy a lot of luxurious products Businesses should try to use some usual keywords to SEO for the website instead of using a lot of keywords like “expensive” or “luxurious” if they want to target the general public Otherwise, they would not receive good traffic because the customers actually would not this kind of search online In recent years, there is an increasing number of accesses of internet from mobile phone Therefore, SEO techniques should be integrated to website design to make the website more convenient for people to surf with mobile phone In order words, the images or videos used for SEO should not be bulky or otherwise it would require a long period of time for the devices to load those images and this would be annoying to the customers Advantages of Chinese Search Engines If there would be no search engine for the web there would be chaos If you wanted to find something on the internet you needed to know its exact address Where would the online community be without the search technology? Today search engines have become the sole source of organized information available on the Chinese internet Chinese users seeking information, products or services from the popular Chinese search company known as Baidu and expect to find exactly what they are looking for There are many search engines that know this and make it a priority to optimize the search results with the best results for each query In the absence of Chinese search technology on the Chinese internet, visitors would be required to memorize and bookmark the URL’s of the websites they found through printed sources and other media Search engines in china exist in order to bring all sorts of information to the users in China The main goal of it is to collect pertinent information found on the website, organize it and make it easily accessible to millions of users in China The search technology in China use a system of robots in order to scan entire web pages, including Meta tags and titles because of the enormous volume of websites in existence today The data collected from each web page is used to score, index and rank the websites The Chinese search engine finds out about a new website through clicking on a link to it from another website or when it is submitted to them for approval into their database The ranking system is performed with the aid of algorithms, a set of rules that is used by the search engine in order to evaluate a web site by determining its relevancy to a particular search Each major search engine on the Chinese internet uses its own methods and rules to produce search results, although most of the principles are common Baidu is practically the most popular Chinese search company available on the Chinese internet today Google is the world’s best search company but there is news that Google just renew its ICP license and with limited web presence in the Chinese domain Most web site owners hire SEO companies in order to improve their listing on the Chinese search ranking, and Baidu is mostly targeted as it is widely used in China There are many companies that are trying to empower the Chinese internet in order to achieve top listings, gain visibility and maintain top listings on the Chinese internet SEO and SEM in China With the advent of internet, the Chinese people are shopping and learning new ways, thus the ecommerce sector is evolving at fast pace in order to meet the needs and requirements of the wide variety of clientele Today, a large number of Chinese internet users like to shop online but have very little idea about China SEO strategies involved in the process of internet shopping According to a survey conducted on the statistics of internet users in the year 2009, it has been found that 69.4% of Chinese internet users had used search engines and this has gone up by 1.4% from the end of 2008 Today, internet has become a major life aid as more and more people are making use of the internet for doing their work In China, China SEO has become the latest buzzword as the Chinese internet users are constantly making use of the major search engines like Google, Bing, etc in order to find information about the various products and services that they would other wise have to gather from sales representative or any other source like the TV Commercials or through spam mail Therefore, in order to conform to the standards, the ecommerce industry and China SEO need to work together, in order to bring about a revolution in marketing on the World Wide Web Chinese internet users looking for information about products and services rely on the blogosphere for referrals, before venturing into online shopping Blogosphere has a large amount of information contained in various blogs available with the website The China SEO has been evolving at a fast pace and more number of websites involved in ecommerce are making use of the blogosphere to propel the sales of their products and services Social Networking websites are very crucial for gaining informational as well as shopping for the products and services available on the internet Today, the social networking websites have become almost addicting as more number of Chinese users like to stay connected at all times for social networking and shopping online The most popular mode of communication on the internet is email, instant messages and blogs In the year 2009, the Chinese users that own a blog have reached 53.8% There has been a phenomenal increase in the figures The rate at which the internet users update their blogs is 35.2% In fact, today most blogging websites have converted into interactive social websites that are instrumental in directing the customer to the ecommerce site In order to be successful in the online venture, China SEO experts suggest new ways in order to match the way the internet users are shopping online and work towards creating several leads that draw the internet users to the website through inbound marketing Growth of the Mobile Internet in China The year 2009 has witnessed major changes in the internet development in China The Chinese internet is no longer confined to the computer terminal, especially with the advent of mobile internet technology The number of Chinese internet users that make use of mobile phone for browsing the internet has been growing at a fast pace According to statistical data, the count of mobile internet users has touched the 155 million mark and shows a growth rate of 32.1% for the last six months The state council government has passed a resolution in favor of the application of Chinese internet technology to mobile devices This has been made possible by issuing 3G Licenses to mobile phone manufacturers in China The internet services also reduced cost of internet access on the mobile gadgets Therefore, there has been a considerable advancement in mobile phone technology and this combined with easy access to GPRS, where the Chinese telecom services are working in favor of advancing the mobile phone technology by reducing the fee for wireless connectivity Other major telecom operators in china have also contributed towards bringing Chinese internet technology of the mobile phone users in china The concept of internet on the mobile phones has been catching up with the Chinese internet users, especially with the younger generation The younger generation is very interested in standing out in a crowd with some of the latest gadgets and high tech accessories Mobile devices with GPRS are very much in vogue among the youngsters as they make use of the mobile internet technology as a status symbol As they say, with an increase in demand there is a consequent increase in supply, therefore, with the increase in the usage of mobile phone technology, various internet applications have evolved like the mobile blog, mobile video and mobile entertainment TV that is very much in demand Today, the mobile devices have recorded a penetration of around 60% or more, in some of the developed countries Another fact, the mobile and internet have been the driving forces that created demand for information on the internet that is available anywhere anytime and comes at a low cost too In terms of ecommerce, there are many advantages of having an interconnected population in china, that also presents a vast opportunity for technological as well as ecommerce advancements, as distance is no longer a barrier Mobility of the internet and easy accessibility has given a new face to ecommerce, as it can provide more meaningful service to the mobile phone users This has lead to a universal availability of useful information and adaptation and management that has been critical in the success of mobile internet in china Conclusion To conclude, Chinese internet market is a unique market and there are a lot of features which are different from the internet world in other parts of the world Any businesses which are interested in this market have to understand the unique culture in order to build a long term relationship with the clients Chinese people would like to establish long term relationship with people and businesses Therefore, the work to target long term customers would surely pay About The Author: Hosea Lim Hosea at the age of seventeen started to live his dreams and always seeking opportunities to pursuit his visions Retired at the age of twenty seven, now a retired workaholic, squandering his time online Since his retirement he lives like a nomad, enjoying his humorous lifestyle, roaming from city to city for the past ten years Follow me @hosealim Add me to your circle on G+ Author website: hosealim.com ... marketing Growth of the Mobile Internet in China The year 2009 has witnessed major changes in the internet development in China The Chinese internet is no longer confined to the computer terminal,... definitive borders The internet users in China are strategic in bringing about a revolution in internet access, tools and appliances that make the internet economy SEO in China China is an important... few trust the internet for any online transaction as they are not willing to provide true information for online registration As stated by Chinese SEO experts, 82.4% of the Chinese internet users