China’s slow internet speeds are no secret, because the Great Firewall of China. While the Beijing government races to fix the problem, Chinese internet speeds have consistently been below the global average. However, progress is being made: in the past year and a half China has risen from having the 98th slowest internet on the globe (source: Tech in Asia) to 73rd place at 3.7 megabits per second, a 32 percent year-on-year increase (source: MediaNama).

So China’s internet speeds may be improving, but you want to enter the market now. You’ll need a Chinese website, for starters, although where should you host it? The key to navigating many of China’s internet problems, including slow connection speeds, could be working in partnership with a domestic host. We take a look at why collaborating with a local web host pays off.

You have to make the process of dealing with you as simple as possible. From the initial browsing of your content or products to the final transaction, a fast website gives a better quality experience. This is especially necessary with Chinese consumers, who need to be able to trust you before they commit to buying. Consumers aren’t willing to wait – according to Forbes, the average user expects a website to load within two seconds.

So it is vital to have a fast website, but there are several hurdles to overcome. The Great Firewall of China slows the internet down considerably. Even external sites that are not blocked will be harder to access from within China thanks to the security measures. Using a domestic host, like CDN (content delivery network), places your web domain within the Great Firewall. While this doesn’t free you from needing to comply with the regulations, it does mean Chinese users won’t be slowed down by having to ‘pass’ through the Firewall in order to view your site.  Being hosted in China improves a website’s latency – how long it takes data to be transferred from one source to another. Usually, load times are 50% faster using high quality CDN host within China compared to the providers in Hong Kong, despite Hong Kong leading the world in terms of internet speeds.

Having a website hosted inside the Great Firewall of China allows you to make use of Baidu’s recently launched tool which checks the speed of your website. It provides the result as a number (with 1 being poor and 10 being excellent), and breaks down the data into a handy map so you can make sure your key regions are enjoying the best performance. Seeing as poor connection speed can also affect your Baidu SEO, this tool is worth keeping track of. By registering for an account and verifying your website, you can receive updated email alerts and monitor how performance changes over time (source: China Internet Watch).

(Image source: “Firewall Protection” | www.freedigitalphotos.net)