Website Localization

WEBSITE LOCALIZATION FOR THE CHINESE MARKET

In the current market, having a website is a must. Not having one would be a major mistake and you would lose a huge number of potential customers. Most of the time, your website is located and hosted in the country where you live, or where your company’s headquarters are. This is understandable because, typically, the company is established in the country that is initially being targeted.

With globalization, however, companies are growing and are no longer focused on one specific country, but on several. In many cases, companies like yours would like to, or have already, targeted the Chinese market, and they want to increase their online presence there. This is the reason that even with globalization, we will talk about the importance of the localization of your website.

The Great Firewall

The Golden Shield Project, also broadly known as the Great Firewall, blocks many famous websites originating from different parts of world. Our team guarantees that your website will not be blocked in China. Our website localization process meets all the technical and legal requirements established by the Chinese Ministry of Security.

CORPORATE WEBSITE LOCALIZATION

Once you decide to target the Chinese market, you will need to localize your website. Please, find below the different leverages of website localization in China:

• The content and translation: by targeting the Chinese market, the first step you will need to take is to adapt the content of your website for Chinese customers. This primarily consists of translating your content into Chinese. However, to make your content more accessible and attractive to Chinese readers, we recommend localizing it, in addition to just translating it.

• The structure: as you know, the Chinese market is unique and in certain cases, you will have to adapt your services and/or your products to attract Chinese customers. Moreover, regarding the structure of your website, it also may need to be adapted for it to be more Chinese friendly.

• Blocked APIs in China: Western websites use APIs (definition: a set of functions and procedures that allow access to features or data of an operating system, application, or other service.). These allow you to show information from other platforms such as YouTube, Google Maps, Facebook, Instagram, etc. There is Internet censorship in China called the Great Firewall. Because of it, you will need to replace or delete all these APIs. You will have to use Youku, Baidu Maps, WeChat, etc.

• Hosting: last, but not least, is hosting. To increase the performance of your website (loading speed), it will need to be hosted closer to its Chinese visitors. If you have a business license in China you will be able to apply for the ICP, host your website in China and use Baidu PPC. However, if you do not have a Chinese business license, as an alternative solution, you will need to host your website in Hong Kong.

• SEO optimization: you will need to do the optimization for Chinese SEO and Chinese search engines such as Baidu.

E-COMMERCE WEBSITE LOCALIZATION

All the elements above are for the localization of a corporate website and are applicable also to localize an E-commerce website in China. Additionally, there are a few other specific items that need to be considered:

• Chinese payment integration: if you have set up a company in China, you will receive payments into your Chinese bank account. Otherwise, you need to develop cross-border E-commerce and implement third-party payment integration. These payment integrations are Alipay, WeChat Pay, UnionPay, etc.

• Logistics integration: you will need to deliver your products in China. This means you will need shipping and logistics integration. QPSoftware can help you to develop these APIs to connect your E-commerce website with these third-parties.

• Third-party integration: you will need to connect directly to third-party software for logistics, payments, etc. QPSoftware can develop APIs for third-party payment, WMS (Warehouse Management System), CRM (Customer Relationship Management), ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), logistics, and OMS (Operating Measurement System).

• Localization of the design: there is more and more homogeneity, or uniformity, within the Western market. However, in the Chinese market, there is still a preference for a long and fully descriptive product page, along with the integration of the different certifications related to the products.