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Just wanted to bump up this thread. Anyone have expert advice on the Chinese markets? I know we have some awesome programs that accept traffic from Asia!
Inspi post up your questions. One of the biggest challenges that I’ve heard/seen has been around payment processing and fraud. What are you looking to find out specifically?
Thank you Arjun, there are actually more questions I have about the Chinese market.
I would need to know active is currently the Chinese government in searching for gambling related websites and blocking their domains? Do you have any insights on that?
I have read several articles about some large departments that basically only search for specific domains that will get blocked in order to make sure Chinese people wont read anything they “should not”. Dont know what is the real situation out there…but one thing we know for some time already – China is investing a huge amount of money into getting internet “under control”.
Another thing – do you know what ways Chinese gamblers are using when they want to visit gambling website that has been blocked by their government? I have found some ways – like using VPN, IPs and proxy servers from another countries (paid and free), toolbars for anonymous browsing etc. but there are surely more, and easier ways for them… do you know about some they might be using currently?
Last thing – what are the most effective ways to protect yourself againts loosing traffic when Chinese decides to block your domain?
I know its a lot of questions but they are vital for making any major decisions about entering this market.
I am the Affiliate Director at Bodog Asia. Here’s what I can tell you:
China is still very much like the “wild, wild, east.”. Good and Bad for you if you’re interested in entering.
Good:
- If you’re looking to gain search engine traffic, Baidu (primary seach engine in China) is behind google by a few years. That means the SERPs are a bit more volatile and typically we don’t see websites maintain rankings for long. That gives newcomer a better opportunity to rank but question is for how long.
- The cash model is still fairly young that means the affiliate model is as well. The affiliate model is growing fast.
- You probably have some content that can pertain to a typically Chinese gambler. Although probably not as much as you think. Localization is key and truly understanding Chinese players and what’s important to them. I wouldn’t recommend simply translating your content to Chinese.
- Forums do very well so building a relationship with your community and players will help you survive long-term.
Bad:
- Yes there are censorship in China on several level:
- The Chinese Firewall: You’re not likely to get approved hosting and domains in China which means you’ll have to host offshore. That means you have to get through the Chinese firewall. This is the Chinese government’s control of what content gets in and what stays out (i.e. Facebook, google was once but acceptable now, etc.). If the government doesn’t like your website, you be blocked indefinitely. On top of that expect poor website performance especially during peak hours because of the firewall bottlenecks. And yes they do have a large team in China doing this everyday.
- Baidu blocking: Baidu can crawl for unacceptable content such as porn, gambling and mostly anything against the Chinese governement. You can be banned from Baidu and eventhough Google is now allowed most are primarily using Baidu at the moment.
- Don’t except friendly competition. I’ve seen many occasions when competitors are reporting each other, ddos attacks and site’s that get hacked and overtaken.
- You asked what happens if you get blocked? Well the simplest answer is that you get new hosting, new domains and start over again. Or you can find some sort of crazy way to trick the system. I think it’s better that you build your database and some form or alternative communication with your players while you still can. If you’re lucky you don’t get blocked for a long time.
- Yes there are VPN’s, proxy servers, custom browsers and such. All of which can be blocked as well. There is a demand for it and it works to some level but there are technical challenges as well. One example is performance of these alternative solutions and how well it works with different gaming clients.
- Depositing through Credit Agents are still the primary choice of online gaming. In fact at least 10X the size of the cash market.
These are just what’s on top of my head. I’m sure there are many other issues that we can discuss. Many benefits in being in the China market as well.
I have 22 people in my staff supporting affiliates all over Asia. 8 in China alone. If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact us at [email protected]. I’m not in the forums much so you if you need to reach me, add me to skype at johndang90.
I’ll have my team chime in on this thread as well. Hope that was helpful to you.
John Dang
Hi John,
thank you very much for all the insights you have provided here. I really appreciate your help! I have to agree with you that the Chinese market is really like a “wild, wild, east.” in many ways, at least from what I have seen so far. I have contacted you on skype, so if you will have some time, I would love to discuss some of the topics you have mentioned in detail.
Inspi
John summed it up nicely.
When we started out 6,5 years ago we decided to target the Chinese market only since the US market was too competitive at the time. We soon realised that Chinese legislation forbids any form of gambling online. As a result we had to redesign our entire website. That said the only thing we’ve kept is the 888 logo from our original site since the number “888” is considered a lucky number in Chinese.
The Asian market is still “relatively” unexplored and holds a lot of potential. Also bear in mind if you want to target the Chinese market the content of your website must be 100% Chinese.
Good luck!
