Translation

Localisation is the term for various services that convert and adapt content to a new place. Translation from one language to another contributes to the lion's share of this work. Localisation also includes adapting units, formatting, accounting for cultural variations, and adjusting the content accordingly. Translating web content helps it to be more attractive, comprehendible, and engaging to a local population, essentially converting 'foreigners' into customers. Here are some practical ways to increase revenues and profits through website translation services.

Website Translation as a Catalyst

Despite the travel restrictions and slowdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic, the world has become a tiny place. It's explicitly visible how one region of the world impacts the other. Though language barriers remain a factor, a robust industry has emerged to narrow language gaps. As per Nimzi, the language services industry generated revenue of US$53.6 billion in 2019 and is expected to expand to US$70 billion by 2027.

"Website translation services represent just a small fraction of the total," says Ofer Tirosh, CEO of Tomedes. "Despite being highlighted only to a small portion of the global translation industry, the market contains thousands of players from large-scale operations to freelancers."

When you look for the right website translation services, it's best to understand your requirements first. This means focus on which languages you plan to expand your content to, what your timeline is, does your content needs specific industry knowledge etc.

Make Money from Website Translation Services Fast

Undertaking any local project is a strategic decision and a long-term investment with substantial upfront costs. Although website translation is not rocket science, it demands technical sophistication and linguistic insight. The costs and duration of your project depend on how many languages and localities you understand, and upside potential of each local market. Do your homework before taking up a project.

You could test the waters with one or more manageable pilot projects to measure the revenue potential of translating your website content to more than one language. Consider the translation and localisation costs of a direct mail campaign and social media advertising, leveraging Facebook's capability to target language and other demographic factors. Ensure to account for marketing and technical support staff, including translation agency, freelance, or in-house, to support the campaign. Carefully keep track of expenses and income, integrating A-B testing methods to distinguish which content and language combinations generate the most revenue.

Keep repeating this process for several languages and local targets. These include regional and national variations on the same language, for instance, British vs. American English or French of Montreal vs. French of Marseilles. After all, website translation is a numbers game! The KPIs you reach for engagement and conversion will need to be reviewed in terms of revenue yield and cost per conversion.

Choose the Right Website Translation Partners to Maximise Profit

You can choose translation agencies and localisation companies as your website translation service partners. There are thousands of freelancers offering website translation service at reasonable rates on platforms such as Upwork and Freelancer.com. Hiring freelance translators may be tempting for a fraction of what an agency would charge as lower cost can transform the bottom line for any website translation effort.

It is a considerable strategy if you are testing the waters of website translation. Still, it is likely to become unmanageable soon if you are localising more than one language or locality. Even though managing freelancers is doable, the downside is the personal attention it requires from you, and the higher risks of working with a collection of humans. Collaborating with a top-tier translation company or local agency gives you a one-stop-shop, which can do the internal management of teams, translating and localising of your website and social media. Partnering with a well-repudiated and accredited agency is capable of delivering certified translations on-demand and equipped to handle a significant localisation effort.

Choose Website Translation Partner

Another tempting avenue to profitable localisation is improving machine learning technology. The Google Translate API has one of the best applications with programming interfaces, which can integrate auto-translation on your website or app. Utilities such as Zapier and IFTTT make it easier and seamless to translate your website automatically. Lower labour costs indicate higher profitability for your localisation effort. WordPress plugins are also there for generating website translations. Avoid relying on software translation for high-profile published content. Artificial intelligence-driven machine translation has improved in the past few years, though it still does not match the criteria of an expert who is a mother-tongue linguist.