> There are many differences between Western and Chinese Internet users which need consideration when promoting to Western customers. With major differences between Chinese and Western cultures website adaptation needs to be carefully tailored.

> Western preferences, tastes, and interpretations are different from those of Chinese culture.

> Chinese websites tend to alienate Western users, which erodes trust and goodwill.

> To a Westerner, Chinese websites generally look complicated and cluttered - they are a sensory overload. This leads to the Westerner feeling confused and overwhelmed. Because Chinese web pages tend to be very "busy" it is like looking at the sun - you see it but are blinded and do not focus or look intently at it.

> Chinese businesses must overcome Westerners' perceptions of Chinese goods as Westerners generally associate "Made in China" with goods that are cheap and poor quality. Chinese businesses must overcome this perception by cultivating trust and in turn developing customer loyalty.

> Westerners often find Chinese websites difficult to navigate due to the clutter and the the website organisation. This results in not being able to find the information required and causes frustration. As a consequence trust in the brand is diminished.

> Western websites tend to use simple layouts and minimal colours. Chinese websites tend to be substantially more colourful with layouts that are more cluttered. The use of these vibrant colours and wider colour scheme make it difficult to quickly scan the page because as each brightly coloured section of the web page captures the eye's attention it works as a roadblock resulting in only a small part of the page being viewed.

> Another substantial difference is that Chinese websites often embed flash ads within the body of the web page. Westerners tend to find these ads very distracting and this negatively impacts what is trying to be conveyed by the web page. Previously flash ads on Western websites were a regular occurrence but with modern Western web design flash is out of favour with Western users.

> Chinese websites often have a large number of ads which exacerbate the cluttered feel. A large number of small images tends to be distracting for Westerners. Western websites tend to have a small number of images on a page and each image is generally large. These small images on Chinese websites are generally used to draw attention to a particular part of the page while the Western website images are usually added to enhance the content of the page.

> In Western web pages content is usually broken up into individual web pages where Chinese websites tend to use a single page for multiple overlapping content producing large, long pages. This results in the Chinese web pages lacking focus and being more complicated as they are trying to convey multiple concepts. Due to this, techniques such as bright colours or multiple small images are utilised to gain attention for each idea.

> Due to these visual differences, Chinese websites may not inspire trust in the minds of your potential Western customers.

> Chinese websites tend to have a lot of links which open in a new window or tab and this appears completely acceptable to Chinese internet users. However, with Western websites this is seen as interfering with the user navigation flow within the website and has a detrimental impact on user experience. Chinese users tend to accept pop-up advertising while the majority of western internet users dislike it immensely.

> In China, internet access speeds have been relatively slow. This has led to the Chinese internet user being willing to allow links to open new tabs and pop-ups where Western users dislike this occurring. The speed issue has also results in text dense pages and small images.

> Rather than causing confusion the large amount of text and links on a page indicates a content rich site to a Chinese user and this is related to positive creditability. The opposite is the case with most Western users.

> Often Chinese websites do not really tell you what the company does - instead focuses on telling about the industry and their people. Western websites generally get straight to the point and tell you exactly what the company offers and how it can benefit you.

> It is clear that the Chinese internet user has a different user behaviour while browsing a website compared to a Western internet user.

> Westerners prefer a clean, simple, elegant design.

> There is a preference for individual pages to be individual topics that are easy to navigate between and find. This entails a well organised, hierarchical structure. This is often seen as "breadcrumbs" at the top of Western website pages.

> The content needs to be fresh, professional and useful to build rapport and trust with the visitor.

> You need to ensure that your message, imagery, colour, and content are localised for the Western audience.

> The hierarchy of information needs to be structured to ensure the easy consumption of the information as well as being able to delve deeper into further relevant information.

> Dot com (eg .com) and regional/local domain names (eg .com.au) are more trustworthy, memorable and pronounceable compared to standard Chinese domain names (eg .cn). A quality Western domain name is important for these imperative characteristics.