Doing Business in China, Designing and Localizing Websites for the Chinese Market

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Doing Business in China:

Designing and LocalizingWebsites for the Chinese Market

Part 2 of 2

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

As Chinas economic importance continues to grow, Western companies have come toregard the country as the place to be. China is achieving an important milestone as itssecond generation of consumers arises, a target market numerically on par with all ofWestern Europe combined.

How do Western companies build a Web presence in China that will compare favorablywith other sites in its category? How do existing sites set, meet, or exceed the

expectations of Chinese customers? How high is the bar for an entering company?

This two-part paper is based on a December 2009 webinar presentation by Rebecca Ray,former Managing Editor for the Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA).

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In thissecond part, we outline the business case for localizing Websites into Chinese, and pointout the costly errors that smart companies avoid. Part 1 examines prominentcharacteristics of doing business in China.

MAIN MESSAGES

1. For both Web design and content guidelines in China, Western companies shouldobtain input from subsidiaries, local partners, local suppliers, and a language serviceprovider from the outset.

2. Western companies should design promotions and Web offerings with China inmind, even before their Chinese Web presence is live.

3. Website localization is an important step in attracting and retaining Chineseconsumers attention.

1In January 2010, Ms. Ray was named a senior analyst at market research firm Common Sense Advisory

Inc.

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2The Art of the Global Gateway Web Globalization Strategies for Successful Navigation, 2006,

http://www.bytelevel.com/books/gateway

KEY STEPS TO DESIGNING YOUR B2B WEBSITE

Once a business strategy is in place, a Western company can turn its attention to a Webpresence that will compare favorably with other sites in its category, whether owned byChinese, Asian or Western companies. How do these existing sites set, meet or exceed theexpectations of Chinese customers, and how high is the bar for an entering company?1. Prepare the Global GatewayThe Art of the Global Gateway, as described by John Yunker,

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This typical example shows a map of the world near the upper-right corner of the homepage:

is the practice of designingheaders and landing pages on multilingual Websites that direct visitors to content in theirdesired language. The reality is that most Web visitors find global brands through the main,corporate URL (e.g., microsoft.com) in the home countrys language, so a well-built GlobalGateway takes them to content in their language with as little hunting and as few clicks aspossible.

Source:www.ge.com

Global brands with large Web localization efforts often contain a selection page with thename of the language in native script alongside the home script for easier identification:

Source:www.lenovo.com

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The Global Gateway should value function over aesthetics. The following example, while

pleasing to the eye, contains elements that keep non-readers of English from promptly

reaching content in their desired language:

[1] Welcome in multiple languages is gratifying to a global audience, but the textis not linked; clicking on it has no effect.

[2] The site is available in the nine languages shown in the header; however, theWelcome text includes three additional languages [2a] Slovenian, Italian andGreek in which there is no content on the site.

[3] The selection box does not offer languages or even countries, but regions, andthese are given in English. Its appeal for visitors with weak English is limited.

Centralize design, customize contentAs a Chinese site becomes more important, tension arises between the corporate owners ofthe global brand, who are keen to preserve as much uniformity across regions as possibleand local experts in content and preferences, whose job it is to keep the Chinese siterelevant and innovative. Companies with large multilingual efforts often publish templates

with approved color schemes and design elements, and then allow in-country staff topopulate the templates with local content.

Source: John Yunker, Byte Level Research

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These examples show the parallels between a U.S. corporate site and its correspondingChinese site, both based on a template:

Source:www.hp.com Source:www.hp.com/country/ch/zh

The following examples compare a global English-language Website to its Chinesecounterpart. The sites use the same design elements and navigation, yet each site focuseson a different product (Sapphire and Business One) and uses photographs of people withwhom local visitors can identify:

Source:www.sap.com/index.epx Source:www.sap.com/china/index.epx

The use of a template allows flexibility in each locales Web presence, while preserving themotif and message of the global brand.

However, the template approach is not a panacea. Asian Websites in general are busy andcontent-filled in comparison to most Western sites, and for some local marketing efforts,the parameters of a template will be prohibitive. Consider the examples on the next pagefrom the Website of a Chinese wireless carrier, aimed at both consumer and corporateaudiences.

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These pages represent the Chinese tendency to use long pages with multiple, small blocksof information that indicate value to Chinese users. Even on corporate sites, animatedgraphics, multimedia, sound, and scrolling text are common.

Source:www.chinamobile.com

Source:www.chinamobile.com

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Contrast the look and feel of the Chinese Web pages with those of a U.S. wireless carriershome page, containing much less information and more emphasis on hardware:

Source:www.vzw.com

The following examples show two different approaches to Chinese Websites with acorporate focus. The first site belongs to a company specializing in online payments(mobile phones, credit cards, voice activation from landline phone) and employs smallblocks of text, animated characters and rich color:

Source:www.yeepay.com

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The second uses muted colors and design elements that are closer to those of its U.S.

counterpart:

Source:www.verisign.com/cn

While the latter is more corporate-looking in the Western style, neither site is a prioribetterthan the other, and both work well for Chinese users. Of importance is the need to be

aware of what local competitors are doing and of local users expectations for the look andfunctionality of a Website.

To summarize, for both design and content guidelines, Western companies should obtaininput from subsidiaries, local partners, local suppliers, and the language service provider(translation company) from the outset. They should also design promotions and Webofferings with China in mind, even before the Chinese Web presence is live. As more peopleat home and abroad become involved, the effort gains traction and credibility, and theChinese audience will receive the companys eventual offerings more readily.

2. Design for the mobile WebChina has become the proving ground for micropayments, virtual currencies, and mobilecoupons, all of which help companies monetize the mobile Web. The Websites of Westerncompanies operating in China need to incorporate them because many local competitors

will already have implemented them to accommodate the small wallets and pursesmentioned in Part 1 of this paper.

Micropayments used in small increments of USD.50, 1.00, 1.50, etc. to pay forsmall pieces of content, games, avatars, and other forms of online content.

Virtual currencies used in virtual worlds such as World of Warcraft andSecondLife. Users can use USD and Chinese RMB to purchase virtual currencies, butonce they become virtual, they stay in the virtual world. The companies are able tomonetize them without redeeming them to the holders.

Mobile coupons accessed through mobile phones for special offers orpromotions.

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3 Figures for 2009 show Baidu at 77% of total search traffic, google.cn at 17% and Yahoo.cn and other

local search engines at 6%. Source: 2008-2009 China Search Engine Research Report Brief Version,

November 2009, iResearch Consulting Group, China Internet Research Center,

http://english.iresearch.com.cn/reports/Search_Engines/detailreports.asp?id=9073

FOUR CONSIDERATIONS WHEN LOCALIZING

YOUR B2B WEBSITE

With a business strategy and site design in place, a Western company can build a Webpresence that meets local expectations and supports the global brand.

1. Language Service Providers (LSPs) do more than translateWhile most companies think of them only in the context of translating text, LSPs add valuein many more ways. They can help clients navigate technical issues (see sidebar) related toWebsite internationalization (I18n) and localization (L10n), recommend local content,perform local-language search engine optimization (SEO), put together L10n initiatives, andevangelize the entire effort among other departments in the company.

2. Study Chinese SEOBaidu.com is the dominant search enginein China,

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Important notes on Baidu:

and companies trying to sellthere should optimize their sitesaccordingly.

Companies can buy good positionon Baidu, which mixes pay-per-click (PPC) and organic searchresults.

SEO still matters on Baidubecause its PPC pricing is basedon organic results.

To rank highly on Baidu, a sitemust be hosted in China.

Sites not hosted inside China maybe occasionally unavailable ordown, resulting in frustratedvisitors and lower page rank.

In short, for most companies that have notalready had success with SEO in China, itis worth paying for experienced, localhelp.

3. Explore Chinese charactersin Internet Domain NamesThe Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced in 2009that users would soon be able to create Internet Domain Names (IDNs) in non-Latincharacters. This will allow Chinese users to enter, for example, either or baidu in abrowsers address field to reach baidu.com. It also means that Western companies

Seven Technical ConsiderationsWhen Implementing Asian LanguageWebsites

1. Standardize on Unicode for storingmultilingual content, especially whereLatin and Asian languages will show upon the same page.

2. Implement a system for each userslanguage preference, so that the Webexperience is linguistically smooth.

3. In database-driven Websites,differentiate between translatable andnon-translatable text to lowertranslation costs and optimize storage.

4. Extend locale-specificity to style sheetsthat contain font definitions, to ensurereadability across languages.

5. Research browser support andrequirements from region to region, andbetween desktop and mobile Web.

6. Avoid the use of third-party softwareand Web components that dontsupport Chinese character sets.

7. Prepare for shrinkage (approximately25%) when translating from Latin-basedlanguages to Chinese.

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introducing their brands to China can create and reserve IDNs with Chinese characters.

This change is unlikely to have a big influence on the Chinese Web in the short run becauseestablished Chinese companies have already reserved and are widely known by Latin-

based IDNs. Government entities and new companies may use Chinese characters as theyestablish new identities and brands, but even if other companies have applied for thesenames, short-term changes are unlikely.

4. Research flavors of ChineseThere are two main systems of writing Chinese: Simplified and Traditional. SimplifiedChinese is read and written in China and Singapore, and Traditional Chinese is used in HongKong and Taiwan. While a Simplified Chinese translation will satisfy users in China,companies intent on a deep customer relationship with both China and Taiwan, forexample, should plan on maintaining separate Simplified and Traditional sites.

Capable LSPs can advise Western companies in these and other linguistic and technicalissues.

THE SEVEN MOST COMMON ERRORS WHEN

DOING BUSINESS IN CHINA

1. Many Western companies make rough calculations based on 1.3 bill ion Chineseconsumers, as if the potential addressable market were really that large, but there arefar too many other factors in any realistic business plan.

2. It is easy to underestimate the speed, agility, and capacity for innovation of bothChinese competitors and non-Chinese competitors operating in China. Success in Chinadepends on innovation, using whatever resources are available.

3. Companies should resist the temptation to go general and broad, and instead shouldgo laser-focused and deep. Buckshot approaches to the Chinese market are likely tofail.

4. LSPs, suppliers, customers, and distributors represent potential partners whoseexpertise in China is easily overlooked and whose horror stories can be cautionary.Companies should align themselves with these partners and reap the benefits of theirinsights, experience, and contacts.

5. Chinese prospects have high expectations which few companies can meet bytranslating merely a subset of a Website. Because of the ease with which a Chinesecompetitor can create a satisfying Web presence and capture the attention of amarket, smart Western companies take the effort seriously by localizing either theirentire site or a self-contained Chinese subset with all market-relevant information.

6. In-country feedback on China (market outlook, messaging, audience, competition) iscritical, and Western companies should incorporate this input as a standard process in

their Web design planning stages, not as an afterthought. There will always be tensionover control of content and the speed with which in-country feedback is incorporatedto products and Websites, but that is not a reason to abandon the process.

7. In descending order of importance, Western companies building a Chinese Websiteshould focus on four things:

1. Suitable translation of text on the site2. Hosting inside China3. SEO4. Graphics, colors, design elements

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Established companies with a long-standing corporate mindset and way of doing thingsoften face problems with the growing pains of going into China. While these problemsseem like cultural differences at first glance, they are more often a function of corporatemindset and practice, and smart companies treat them as such.

Read Part 1. Doing Business in China: How Western Companies Develop their Strategy

OTHER RESOURCES

Website Globalization and E-Business China (Globalization Partners InternationalWhite Paper)

Byte Level Research (The Art of the Global Gateway),www.bytelevel.com The Culturally Customized Website, Dr. Nitish Singh 7 Steps to Successfully Managing Partners: East and West,www.lisa.org/7-

Steps.976.0.html

Ten Best International Web Sites Book,www.lisa.org/Best-International-W.513.0.html

China as a Global Development Center includes detail and background materialfrom Dr. Yuwa Hedrick-Wongs presentation at LISA Beijing 2009. LISA membersmay visitwww.lisa.org/Beijing2009.1331.0.html.

Building a Global Web Strategy,www.lionbridge.com/lionbridge/en-US/kc/globalization/building-a-global-web-strategy.htm

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CONTACT INFORMATION

About LionbridgeLionbridge Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: LIOX) is a leading provider of translation,localization, and testing services. Lionbridge combines global language resources withproven program management methodologies to serve as an outsource partnerthroughout a client's product and content lifecycle. Organizations in all industries relyon Lionbridge language and testing services to increase international market share,speed adoption of products and content, and ensure the integrity of their globalbrands. Based in Waltham, Mass., Lionbridge operates across 26 countries, andprovides services under the Lionbridge and VeriTest brands.

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