Creating A Chinese Website

What are the steps?

[newborn]

Hello guys - especially the chinese experts. I am a webmaster and actually have about 40 built websites, 30 are blogs and the other 10 regular websites I built using Microsoft Front Page.

I am in a real niche and wanted to find out if I can actually create a website in chinese. I have about 30 pages of original content about my niche. Now I think that it is being searched for in google because I translated it in the google translator and placed it in the Google Adwords tool and there was search volume.

When I searched for it on Baidu and Google.cn there were actually only english sites that popped up. Now first I have now idea what Big5 and GB2312 is so thats out the window.

Can you tell me what should be the first steps.

Is there a Web Page Editor thats good for Chinese websites that I can use if not where do I start.

I also want to host in China if thats possible, even though I dont know where to start.

Help guys for a blue print?

[bill]

It sounds like you have plenty of experience making websites, so we won't have to tell you the basics.

I'm not really sure about your keyword research methods. I wouldn't rely on machine translation for anything that important. Get a native speaker who can work with you to find the actual terms that might be used and work from there.

Also don't even think of making a website with machine translated content. You need a professional human translator for your content. Then, after translation, it would be good to get the content re-written by a copywriter who understands the market. Most translators can't do this. It's often a 2 step process.

Web Page Editor

You can make Chinese sites with FrontPage. It's not the smoothest editor for the language, but it's possible to use. I've used it for Chinese sites in the past.

I've used UltraEdit to work on Japanese and Chinese content. It's not WYSIWYG though. It's a text editor.

You might want to take a look at the FrontPage replacement, Expression Web. There's a free trial available if you want to try it out first.

I also want to host in China if thats possible

You'll want to look at these threads:

The importance of hosting Top Sites in China; Myth or Reality? [webmasterworld.com]

The importance of hosting Top Sites in China Part 2 [webmasterworld.com]

[newborn]

Thanks Bill,

But isn't Chinese translation extremely expensive. Is there a way that I could JV with someone that speaks and writes Chinese, build the website and have them translate it and then share in the spoils. Im not sure if anyone has pursued this business model though but i would love to. Also, I am reading - some of your posts too - and realize that ranking in Baidu is not the same as ranking in Google and that I might have to do some thing different. Say the singer Kid Rock is popular in China and I have a lot of original content about him, can I convince a Chinese translator to join forces with me.

Would this be a better bet. Plus I mean isnt Google Adsense the best way to earn money on Chinese websites?

What do you think... and maybe if anyone is interested let me know right here.

[bill]

Unfortunately there's no way around the translation issue. You've got to have it done by a human, and they're not often cheap. If you can find someone willing to do the work on spec, that's great, but you'll have to do the legwork and convince them. You may be able to find some Chinese speakers at your local university, but keep in mind that professional translators earn their fees by being able to correctly transpose content from one language to another. I've seen a lot of useless garbage by friends and acquaintances who are native speakers. Just because someone can speak the language doesn't mean they can translate.

Plus I mean isnt Google Adsense the best way to earn money on Chinese websites?

Best estimates put Google's market share at around 25% in China for search. Most of the market money is with Baidu, and they don't have an English interface you can work with...