Our China Blog
China Cybersecurity Law: 5 Things You Should Know
Chinese internet overseeing authority has completed implementing China cybersecurity law which was first introduced at the end of 2016. The law was aimed at tightening state control over the internet by Chinese government. Although some of the practices that the law describes were not new and have already been implemented informally by many companies operating in China prior to the law taking effect, this act prescribed specific guidelines and punishments for non-compliance.
The latest China cybersecurity law have had broad implications to technology companies operating in the Mainland. It also covers wide range of areas which were not explicitly defined up until the enactment of the law. read more…
Advertising Options with Youku
Advertising on Youku, China’s largest video host, has its similarities as well as significant differences with YouTube in ways ads are displayed and priced. Here is an overview of different advertising options with Youku with the visual description of how each of them works.
No More Cash: Chinese Payment Systems Usher New Era
Chinese digital payment systems are helping to create a true cashless society and it’s happening faster then anywhere else in the world.
The rapid adoption of digital payment systems continues to transform Chinese economy and society in unprecedented ways. Nowadays, handling cash seems like a thing of the past with nearly everyone in China using one of the two main payment systems: AliPay or WeChat Pay.
When is comes to digital payments, China is, undoubtedly, the technological leader. Once Chinese payment systems have become the primary payment method online, brick-and-mortar stores started to adopt them for offline payments as well.
read more…
Banner Ads in China
Banner ads in China are still a fairly effective channel to advertise and, on average, Chinese are more receptive to this type of advertising compared to internet users in western countries. Ad blocking software and plugins have been, so far, more common in the West than in China where banner advertising is a rapidly growing business.
Also, the type of banners ads that are considered to be more effective in China tend to be flashier and more animated, something that Western users typically find most annoying. read more…
China Email Marketing and Chinese Anti-Spam Laws
China email marketing is still one of the most effective direct marketing channels and it is widely used by marketers. The main appeal of email marketing is in its relative low cost combined with the ability to get your message directly to the recipient’s inbox, or a smartphone as it is increasingly becoming the case. Excellent ROI and enormous reach of email campaigns, provided, of course, that your email manages to bypass spam filters, are what make this channel an important component in the overall marketing strategy. read more…
Chinese EDM Checklist, Part 1: Designing Emails That Work in China
When it comes to designing an email for Chinese EDM campaign, there are few rules to keep in mind. Let’s have a closer look at the main design elements of an email template.
Main design elements to use with Chinese EDM campaign
Images
The best eye catching email designs often include an image at the top. This would be the first and most visible part of the email, therefore it should always have a purpose. In some cases, a logo would do too as long as it reinforces an already familiar brand. read more…
5 Unique Taobao App Features That Boost Sales On Mobile
More than half of the sales on China’s largest ecommerce platform, Taobao, are going through its mobile app. Browsing through Taobao products on a smartphone has become one of the most popular past times of Chinese mobile users after using WeChat. Here are the five top unique Taobao app features that are the largest contributors to its efficiency and popularity.
5 unique Taobao app features that drive its mobile sales
Picture search function read more…
Overview of Baidu PPC Advertising, Best Practices
As long as Baidu remains the largest search engine in China, Baidu PPC advertising should always be the first choice among pay-per-click campaigns for businesses looking to reach Chinese audience.
In general, the reason Baidu PPC advertising can be highly effective is the fact that users who are actively searching for something already have a buying intent. It means that they are more likely to convert, in other words to become the actual customers compared to those who are passively looking at ads or are still in the process of discovery of a specific product or service. read more…
Baidu SERP: How to Take Advantage of Baidu Zhidao Marketing
Baidu Zhidao is China’s equivalent to Quora or Yahoo Answers and one of the most linked knowledge base sources. Baidu Zhidao Marketing is an alternative way to get to Baidu top search results.
What is Baidu Zhidao
Baidu Zhidao (百度知道) literally means Baidu Knows is a Chinese language collaborative Web-based collective intelligence by question and answer which is built and run by Baidu. read more…
6 Bizarre Body Image Weibo Trends That Went Viral
Last few of years have seen the rise of several bizarre body image challenges that went viral on Weibo, one of the most popular Chinese social media networks. Those Weibo trends attracted millions of views, likes and retweets as well as great deal of criticism and mockery. Let’s have a look at some of the most popular ones.
Six most popular body image Weibo trends
Weibo trend #1: hairy armpits selfies
Basics of China Keyword Research: Weibo Index
Weibo Index Tutorial
In terms of monthly users, Weibo is the second largest Chinese social media platform after WeChat. However, unlike WeChat, it is still primarily PC based. Weibo is one of the most powerful marketing tools in China offering wide range of possibilities for reaching people across various demographics and psychographics. read more…
Basics of China Keyword Research: Qihoo Index
Qihoo (360 Search) Index Tutorial
Qihoo, also known as 360Search and So.com, is the second largest Chinese search engine. By various estimates, it holds between 15 to 25% of the search market share and is fairly popular among younger users. read more…
Basics of China Keyword Research: Baidu Index
Baidu Index Tutorial
Being the largest search engine in China, Baidu keyword research should be the one to start with. Currently, Baidu offers Baidu Index tool that is free for Baidu advertising accounts, offering some basic information to users. read more…
Basics of China Keyword Research: Measuring Search Trends
One of the foundations of successful online strategy in any market is keyword research and China is no exception. Since the familiar tools such as Google keyword planner are irrelevant here, China keyword research must be done with the local equivalents.
Choosing Between PPC vs. SEO for Chinese Market
SEO and PPC are the two basic options for boosting traffic to your website. Choosing between PPC vs. SEO for Chinese market is often a difficult decision to make.
Up until the middle of 2016, Chinese PPC, especially with Baidu, was, on average, delivering better returns than SEO. This was due to several factors:
- First, the search results, especially for popular terms, were dominated by paid ads. In some cases, hardly any organic results would be displayed in the first page;
- Second, there was little visual distinction in Baidu between paid and organic results and most people couldn’t even tell the difference.
Understanding Baidu SERP: Increase Exposure with Baidu Baike Marketing
Baidu Baike is China’s answer to Wikipedia and one of the most trusted source for information. Baidu Baike Marketing offers brands a backdoor access to Baidu top search results.
As China’s largest search engine, Baidu handles approximately 3.3 billion queries per day. In comparison, Google is only slightly ahead with 3.5 billion queries per day globally. Unlike Google, vast majority of Baidu searches come from China. read more…
Guide to Baidu Baike, China’s Wikipedia Equivalent
Baidu Baike is the Chinese equivalent to Wikipedia and is one of the most visited websites in China. Baidu SERP prominently features Baidu Baike entries, therefore getting a page on this platform can propel brands to the top search results.
Here is our guide Baidu Baike.
Baidu Baike (百度 百科 in Chinese, translated as “Baidu Encyclopedia”) is a collaborative, web-based encyclopedia that is owned and produced by the Chinese search engine Baidu. The test version was released on April 20, 2006 and within three weeks the encyclopedia had grown to more than 90,000 articles and surpassing Chinese Wikipedia. In January 2018 Baidu Baike had more than 15.1 million articles. read more…
Overview of Advertising with Chinese Search Engines
China is one of only three major markets where Google is not a dominant search engine. The other two markets are Russia where Yandex holds the commanding market and Korea with Naver being the most popular choice. Currently, Baidu is the most popular among Chinese search engines with market share somewhere between 75% and 85% according to various estimates.
Moreover, Baidu is also the leading choice for searches on mobile devices, the increasingly important Chinese search engines market. In June 2016, it was reported that Baidu had 667 million monthly active users (MAU) just for that month alone. read more…
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