You know that a multilingual website is the ideal platform to attract international clients.

 

If you get your website translated into different languages, it will be accessible to people in different parts of the world. And that means more business opportunities. More audience for your website, and more potential clients who can be targeted.

 

But getting your website translated is a daunting process. And it requires an investment.

However, you’ve heard that there are so many free tools that can translate websites into different languages. That’s why you’ve probably installed one of this dodgy plug-ins on your website thinking that you’ll get all that juicy international clients you’ve been looking for.

 

And thanks to this plug-ins, you can see websites online like this one:

Illegible sentences and texts that don’t connect with your audience. And you’ll be lucky if your international audience can understand your texts at all.

Of course, it seemed a great idea. You have a multilingual website for free just by installing a plug-in in 5 minutes.

 

Then you realise that:

• The translated version of your website isn’t converting as you were expecting.
• Your international clients don’t buy and you can notice that the bounce rate of your website is increasing.
• Your website doesn’t exist in organic searches in different languages.

 

And what’s worse… All these points have a cost. Then you realise that free isn’t free anymore. Because you’re not selling and your website is stuck.

 

Still not convinced?

 

1// A bad translation will make your bounce rate increase and your conversion rates decrease

Google is seriously taking into account bounce rates. It’s been proved that websites with a lower bounce rates rank higher on Google searches.

 

A free website translation will increase your bounce rate, because people who don’t understand the texts of your website will leave straightaway without giving your website a second chance.

This won’t just affect your bounce rate, but also the business opportunities that you’re losing for every person who does that.

 

A decrease in your conversion rates will make you lose potential sales just because your texts can’t be understood and they don’t connect with your audience.

Would you buy something from a website that you can’t understand? I wouldn’t!

 

 

2// You’re losing potential clients because they can’t understand your texts

You won’t notice it at the very beginning. You’ll think that your website looks great in different languages. Over time, you’ll notice that your sales aren’t increasing, and you’ll feel that you’re stuck.

 

You’d have lost both money and time that you could have saved with a professional translation.

 

You can have a look at your international clients and see how they’re engaging with your website. If you’ve used a free website translation, you’ll probably notice that they’re leaving your website straightaway.

Make sure that you’re implementing a good strategy to make them stay in your website longer.

 

3// The reputation of your brand is at risk

A bad translation can have a negative impact on the reputation of your brand. You never know what’s been translated and if that translation is accurate or says something completely different.

 

Even the name of your brand can be wrongly translated and create confusion among your audience.

If you want to offer your international client the best personalised services, don’t forget to talk their language and make them feel like home to provide the best customer service.

 

4// You’re not in control of the texts of your website

Your texts may change over time if the plug-in or tool that you’re using changes its algorithm. You’re not in control of your texts, a machine is.

 

You’ll never know what your texts actually convey or if they’re going to change next week and say something completely different. They may even stop working one day, which may affect your sales if you’re relying on these tools.

 

You never know what is going to happen with your texts and how that is going to affect your business.

 

5// You’re not ranking on international Google searches

Google isn’t going to index your automatically translated texts. You won’t be found by people looking for something that you’re offering in a different language.

 

You’re again missing business opportunities and your competence is probably ahead of you dominating all the organic searches within your field.

 

Think about everything that you’re missing out. Do you still think that these tools are free? Because they’re not. You’re paying for them with every missed opportunity.

 

 

 

What you can do instead of getting a free website translation that will kill your business

As I said, professional translations aren’t cheap, but they’ll get results and benefits for your business. The same way you invest in marketing because you know that you need to market your business progress, you can invest in a linguistic strategy to grow your business over time and attract more international clients.

 

1// Plan a budget and narrow your strategy

The best way to start to translate your website and marketing material is to plan a budget. What are you willing to invest or what resources you have at hand now to start attracting international clients to your website?

 

This is exactly what I do to figure out how much I am going to invest in marketing. You’ll need to evaluate your resources that you can invest to make your business grow, and the same applies to the implementation of a linguistic strategy.

 

Focus on what you need to get translated so your clients can buy from you. You won’t probably need your whole website translated into a language from the very beginning. You can start working on the main sections of your website and then you’ll be able to translate the rest over time.

 

2// Choose quality over quantity

Focus on quality, on what really matters to your potential client when s/he visits your website.

 

You probably didn’t create all the pages on your website the same day, right? The same applies here. You can start translating the content that your clients need to understand first, and you’ll be able to translate the rest over time to make all these clients come back to your website.

 

It’s better to have a well-translated landing page with your offer so international clients can buy it, than to have all your website automatically translated by one of these dodgy free plug-ins.

 

3// Use languages to make your international clients stay in your website

Once you have the essential translated and your clients can understand your website, you need to come back to get more information about your offer and business. Make sure that you nurture all this audience until they are ready to buy from you.

 

Collect their emails to send them exclusive information straight to their inboxes and make them love the content that you’re offering.

Make sure that your linguistic strategy is focused on make these international clients come back to your website and remind them that you’re the solution to the problem they’re facing.

 

 

Now it’s up to you

 The business world is changing and people prefer to buy experiences instead of just products and services. It’s time to make your international clients feel like home when they do business with you, and languages are becoming more and more important in the business context.

 

Time to debate now: Have you ever invested in linguistic services? Do you think it’s worth it and beneficial for your business? Have you ever used an automatic translation plug-in on your website? Did you notice any results?

 

I’d love to hear from you in the comment section below.