As your business expands, you will need to translate your website to cater to your diverse international audience. A short conversation with your Language service provider (LSP) will help you determine your budget and schedule for your website translation, but a lot more goes into this that requires proper planning.
Website translation can vary depending on the scope of the work and the business needs. To make the entire process easy and efficient, you need to know how you will plan for the translation of your website. You will also have to figure out some details internally, and some will be done with your LSP, who will provide you with a questionnaire.
This blog post discusses ‘how to plan the translation of a website’ to make your translation an easy feat.
Planning the translation of a website
Some points that are the same for everyone and every kind of project are planning for budget, time, and hiring the right people for the job. Therefore, we will focus on things that are peculiar to the website translation project.
1. What languages you need: This task is completely done internally. It would be best if you determine what languages you need by studying the geographical pattern of your customers. It is alright to start small and then scale up as you go. Some businesses like to implement change following their growth patterns. So maybe three languages are all you are doing now, you can add some more as you grow. If you are starting small, bear in mind that you might want to maintain a long-lasting professional relationship with your LSP as it helps to continue working with one that already understands your business. It is impertinent that you translate according to your visitors.
2. Plan for the scope of the work: The question you are answering here is what you need to translate. Is your aim to translate the landing page, or to create a microsite or full website translation? You must figure this out because it will determine how you will plan with your LSP. Included in the scope of work is the graphical content of your website. Some graphic illustrations might need translation, especially if they give vital information to your visitors.
3. Consulting with your LSP: Haven figured out the languages you want and the scope of your work, you must consult with your LSP to draw up a strategy for the project. Be assured that your LSP will ask about the two previous steps, so it is essential to figure them out beforehand.
Your LSP would want to know about the following; how contents are managed, organized and published on your website, technical details about your website’s architecture, MT adaptation by your company and future management plans for translated and localized contents.
During communicating with your LSP, they will ask you critical questions that will ensure a smooth process. Communication should be open.
4. Figuring out SEO: Your translated website should not be lost under piles of web pages because not all your visitors might go through your main page. You should figure out a plan for your multilingual SEO at this point. The strategy will include your localization strategy, website hosting, and coding and your URL design. Your LSP might be able to offer you an inclusive service that takes care of this.
5. Involving your website developers: It is essential that you brief your developers on the changes that are to come. Some changes might be needed as regards your codes and hosting, and you might need them to answer some of the questions provided by your LSP.
6. Putting together your content: You need to put together all your content in a format that will make it easy for your LSP. You can inquire about their preferred form because this can either save you time on the project or cause a lag. Do not forget to separate your graphic, audio, and written contents.
7. Finally, publishing: This will need you to determine the appearance and flow of the newly translated content and also plan how to test the material before launching.
In conclusion, translating your website is a big project that can quickly get overwhelming with poor planning. However, proper planning eliminates redundancy and boosts efficiency, and with the right language service provider, you should be expecting a smooth process. As long as you need proficient translational services for your website, TranslationsinLondon is here for you.