7 Technical Tips to Make A Website That Works in China

7 Technical Tips to Make A Website That Works in China

Knowing how to create or update a current website that works in China helps elevate your online market presence in the Middle Kingdom and beyond. 

So often, Western businesses feel that surpassing the Great Firewall of China or dealing with non-Western social media platforms are too difficult to master and a Chinese audience too distant to reach.

However, China Gravy demonstrates just how easy it is to make a few minor adjustments when setting up or reimagining your business online using a few simple tips on how to create a website that works in China, and is compatible with any type of business! 

Find out what you need to do to avoid censorship in China. Open up a new frontier of digital marketing to one of the largest global markets out there today.

A Glimpse into the Chinese Market

Just how big is the Chinese market? With approximately 883 million online users in 2019 and a forecasted 1.14 billion users by 2024, China is a digital market to watch. It is nearly 3 times the size of the United States’.

The largest online community in the world is not only great in size but also in the scope of usage. The average length of time spent online by Chinese consumers was almost 6 hours, which accounts for why China averages about 1.5 trillion USD in e commerce sales.

The largest shopping event is the 11/11 Singles’ Day. It took a few seconds above the one-minute mark for popular sites such as Alibaba to record 1 billion USD in sales in 2019.

In other words, it pays to know how to set up a website that works in China!

What’s Stopping Most Western Websites from Reaching China

Even though 1.8 trillion websites are currently online, so many find their website access blocked in China. This is largely due to not complying with internet censorship regulations set by the Chinese government. 

The updated list of protocols to follow to surpass the Great Firewall of China seems to be never-ending. This is why many businesses feel overwhelmed with pressure to consistently maintain their website, so they can continue operations in the Chinese digital market. Many times, it might not feel like enough of a reward to try.

Another aspect of why so many online businesses fail to include the Chinese market is the concern an ICP license. This is necessary to operate a digital business place in the country. 

However, this is not always the case. There are web hosting solutions that use strategic geographical locations, such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Seoul/South Korea to enter into the Chinese market and bypass the need for an ICP license.

Finally, the load speed of websites or apps, the difference in Western social media platforms and Eastern ones, as well as variance in search engine websites factor into whether a business is accessible digitally to a Chinese audience. 

The great news is that it’s not that difficult to adjust a website that works in China. Plus, it requires normal amounts of maintenance to continue its Chinese presence.

The 2 Most Important Factors When Making a Website That Works in China

Designing websites or apps that work in China doesn’t have to be a daunting, costly endeavor. Get ready to make adjustments in order to create a website that works in China!

Two factors will ensure that you save time and money while always remaining accessible to Chinese consumers. These are checking for load speed and blocked services.

Fix for Speed

One of the most overlooked but crucial areas for improvement of current business platforms is website or page load speed. 

If you want to have a website that works in China, this means adjustments to keep your website loading at its quickest. The Great Firewall of China slows down the speed at which pages load. Therefore, optimizing a website to have the quickest load time means that Chinese consumers view your content more readily.

A website that loads too slowly decreases digital consumer satisfaction ratings. Plus, it usually results in a click away from the website. 

This means less traffic to your content, products, and services as well as a greater likelihood that consumers do not stay on your website to find out more information, continue browsing your brand or return in the future. The cache, images, and plugins all factor into the load speed of your website.

The physical server location can also affect how quickly your website loads. Given that China has an extra layer of internet controls, initial load speed optimization is important in maintaining a user-friendly experience for Chinese digital consumers. Read up on 13 ways you can improve your load speed and notice the performance power of updating your website.

Remove Blocked Services

If you are searching for updates that you can make to your current website to regain website access blocked previously by the Chinese government, one of the most cost-effective ways is to remove any blocked services connected to your website.

Most Western social media and search engine platforms are unavailable due to the Great Firewall of China. A simple fix for making sure you have a website that works in China is scanning for these web sites or services linking to your website. 

To do this, use a digital tool such as Chrome Developer Tools to search for sources. There you will find which services connect to your site. Then, you can easily remove those that are unavailable in China. 

For instance, the Google tool Recaptcha on our website. This will cause the content to be removed. In fact, the website may not even load at all. Removing these blocked websites will put your website back in business in China.

Although Western platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google are unavailable in China, you can still use alternative Chinese-based platforms and SEO in China to appeal to 

Chinese consumers use these platforms just as much as Western audiences use Western social media and search engine platforms. Making the switch to these localized digital tools is more effective in reaching the largest Chinese audience possible anyway. 

So you are actually gaining a larger marketing advantage over other Western businesses by choosing to use Chinese-based social media and search engine platforms at little to no cost for your business.

5 Additional Cost-Effective Website Solutions

There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to making a website that works in China. For one, load speed and removal of blocked services will contribute greatly to your digital reach into China. Secondly, there are other affordable ways to achieve online success and ensure that your website will load in China.

  1. Translating everything on your website to Simplified Chinese to localize the content and optimize it for Chinese search engines. Also, make it appeal to Chinese consumers who may have different values and needs than audiences in the West.
  2. Correctly set up hreflang and canonical. This ensures that search engines can read variations in websites in different geographical locations. Plus, they are more accurately able to geographically place your website.
  3. Consider using a Cloud server that is close to China if you are not already doing so. This makes a website that works in China load faster for Chinese consumers.
  4. Opt for a CDN provider with servers in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, or South Korea. They can deliver web content quickly to China and improve the efficiency and speed of your website. This is regardless of its geographical location outside of mainland China.
  5. Determine if you should copy your current website onto its own domain (either .cn or .com). If the amount of effort to optimize a website that works in China is too great or expensive a task, providing its own optimized platform to work with without affecting the optimization work of your other global content.

Lastly, don’t stress over which route to take. Choose solutions that work best for you and your business. At the same time, keep the costs and time commitments low to get the most out of the process. Reaching a Chinese audience shouldn’t be a costly process.

Website that Works in China – The Takeaway

Establishing a website that works in China does not need to take up all your time or break the bank. Without a need for an ICP license and with hosting options available near but not in China, businesses have more options for reducing the costs associated with creating a business presence in this large market.

Moreover, simple adjustments when setting the foundation for the website to ensure that the Chinese audiences will always be able to access a business’ website without additional maintenance requirements in the long run. 

The key is remembering to account for the load speed of websites and the removal of blocked services. It is also beneficial to create a website in Simplified Chinese to specifically target, relate, and appeal to Chinese consumers.

The digital marketing professionals at China Gravy can offer affordable website solutions for your business. Thus helping you to reach Chinese consumers without large costs or lengthy-time commitments. 

Connect with our team today to find out more about our services and experience with Chinese website creation. Let us assist you in updating your digital platform. It will be a website that works in China to grow your business beyond borders!

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