UK Firm Helps Western Companies Navigate SEM Beyond Chinese Firewall

U.K. based company Backbone IT Group has launched a dedicated search engine marketing service designed to enable Western companies to target a Chinese audience.

With numerous barriers to entry into the Chinese market including language, cultural and legal issues, the service aims to act as a gateway for Western businesses to take advantage of a booming Chinese economy.

“Western companies seeking an online presence in China often fail due to a lack of understanding of the market, and cultural differences surrounding it” stated Richard Unwin, Backbone co-director. “The Internet is a very different place in China. There are numerous legal hurdles, and various issues negotiating the so-called ‘great firewall of China,’” he added, referring to the censorship and access limitations imposed on sites from outside mainland China.

Having establishing an office in Nanjing in 2004, Backbone officially launched their Chinese service last week. The company now employs over 80 English and Chinese-speaking staff in China, and holds official legal status there.

Analysys International predicts the China online ad market will reach over $1.5 billion by the end of 2010, so it’s no surprise Western companies are looking to cash in on a relatively untapped Chinese market.

Backbone will offer the full range of typical SEM activities such as Chinese keyword analysis and development, PPC monitoring, Organic Chinese SEO and Internet marketing consulting. In addition it will offer assistance mounting the ‘great firewall of China’.

According to Unwin it is virtually impossible to reach a Chinese audience with a site outside of the country itself. Even with a registered .cn domain, unless a site is hosted from inside the ‘great firewall’ it will be blocked entirely, or load so slowly Chinese users are unlikely to wait. In addition, leading Chinese search engine Baidu’s algorithm factors in download time, so faster-loading sites will achieve higher search rankings. As a result, hosting from within China itself will play an important part in the company’s offerings as an essential prerequisite for any SEO and SEM activity.

Although estimates vary, Baidu currently holds around two thirds of the Chinese search market, making a good relationship with the site of key importance to any SEM campaign. Google.cn accounts for around a fifth of the market, with the likes of Yahoo and Sohu.com’s SoGou making up the remainder.

In addition to hosting, Backbone will offer full site design and creation in keeping with Chinese Web culture and language needs. Unwin emphasized the importance of the differing ways in which the Internet is used and perceived in China, explaining that seemingly simple factors such as page layout and navigation can alienate users if not carefully tailored to their needs.

“Chinese users are attracted by different things than their Western counterparts. Sites that may be perceived as cluttered and garish to a Western audience will be commonplace in China. The cultural differences extend to business practices also. It’s not like advertising in the West. Relationships with advertisers are built on trust, and face-to-face negotiation and payment.”

Backbone is also set to announce a reverse operation next week, enabling businesses from within China to market more effectively on the rest of the Web.