There are several effective ways to conduct your Chinese Internet marketing. However, before you start, there are some preparation works that you would need to double check in order to be ready.
This looks very obvious but you need to make sure that you are targeting the right Chinese audience. If your website is translated into simplified Chinese, then you are targeting the Chinese visitors from mainland China, and Singapore, as Chinese people from those places read simplified Chinese characters. If your website is translated into traditional Chinese characters, then you are targeting Chinese visitors from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and overseas Chinese communities in the United States and Canada.
As you probably know, Chinese government from mainland China blocks many websites. If your website fully accessible from mainland China? Ask your Chinese friend from China to visit your site, and see if it is accessible. If not, you probably need to unblock your website first before conducting your Chinese Internet marketing campaign. We provide services to unblock your website from China.
A lot of people who read Chinese websites don't speak or write English well. Therefore, it is essential that you have people who can speak Mandarin or Cantonese who can take orders or read emails in Chinese. Please note that Chinese people in general tend to ask a lot of questions before making a decision to purchase, and that they always compare prices before purchase. Therefore, when conducting your Chinese Internet marketing campaign, please also make sure your prices are compatible from your competitors.
After making sure the above two points, you may then start your Chinese Internet marketing campaign. Here are the tips
You probably have heard a lot of publicity for Baidu, the Chinese search engine portal, and "Google of China". However, from my personal Chinese Internet marketing experience, it is probably better to use Google's Adwords than Baidu because most of the mainland Chinese people who have the purchasing power use Google instead of Baidu. Baidu's users are mainly young students who seek games and freebies. Google's users are more serious. Of course, you may try both of them, and I am sure you will agree with me.
A lot of Chinese websites use tricks to increase their visibility. Therefore, try not to advertise on Chinese websites directly. Instead, hire a Chinese advertising agency to do that for you, as they will be more knowledgeable than you to know which websites to advertise on.
From my personal experience, Chinese speaking people tend to ignore advertisements more than their American counterparts. Therefore, sometimes, it is more effective to start a Chinese language PR campaign. More often than not, they will bring much better results than ads alone. Actually, many Chinese websites will help you to engage in an Internet PR campaign if you advertise on their sites. Again, it's probably better to leave the work to the Chinese advertising agency.
Also see Chinese Internet Marketing