Translate your website yourself or outsource it?

When are you going to translate your website?

Most companies translate their website to tap into a new market abroad. But you can also be a franchisee for an international company, and translate your website into Dutch. A website that is available in multiple languages is also easier to find on Google. The more languages, the more keywords and the higher you end up in the search results list. There may be several reasons for you to translate your website.

What do you need to consider?

Translation is more than literally "copying" words into another language. This is especially true for websites.

• Target audience: Ask yourself the question: who do I want to reach? Then think about how you are going to get that target audience to your website. By conducting SEO research in advance, you will find out which keywords your foreign target audience uses frequently. These may be completely different keywords than in Dutch.
• Tone: You want the tone of your website to come across well even abroad. That's why it's extra important that you not only know everything about the language, but also about the culture of the country where you will be doing business. This is especially important when translating humor. So your website needs to be localized.
• Content: Decide what content you will and will not translate. Again, this is closely related to your (new) target audience. Some information on your website is irrelevant to a foreign audience. Think of certain blogs or products.
• URLs: Although probably not the first thing you think of, it is wise to translate your URLs as well. Translated URLs make you more findable on Google and look more professional.

Is automatic or machine translation of your website smart?

That depends a bit on the website you have. Although machine translation engines are now a lot more intelligent than when they first came online, they still have trouble with proverbs and sayings. For example, the Dutch saying 'Een uiltje knappen' is still translated by Google Translate with: 'To snap an owl' but it means 'doing a nap'. Similarly, localization and SEO optimization can only be done by a human. However, there is online content where machine translation is a very useful tool. You can think especially of certain product information. For example, if you have an online clothing store and want to translate all the washing instructions for your entire stock in one go, machine translation can be just the thing.

Reasons to translate your website yourself:

• You have a small online store with few products/services
• You don't have to update the website often
• You are bilingual and grew up in the country where you will be doing business

Reasons to seek help of a translation agency:

• You are not proficient in the language you want to translate the website into
• You don't have time to do it yourself
• You have no understanding of SEO optimization
• You want your website translation to be 100% accurate

Translate your website quickly and worry-free

So it all depends on what you want to achieve with your website abroad. In any case, it is advisable to have your website translated by a native speaker from the country of your new target audience. At Scriptware Translations, we work with in-house and freelance translators from several countries and have extensive experience with website translations. If you have any doubts or want to know more about how we work, check out our page on website translation or contact us at . We will be happy to help you!