{"id":182020,"date":"2021-09-23T14:41:01","date_gmt":"2021-09-23T14:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motionpoint.com\/?post_type=pillar&p=182020"},"modified":"2021-09-23T14:41:01","modified_gmt":"2021-09-23T14:41:01","slug":"website-translation-services-cost","status":"publish","type":"pillar","link":"https:\/\/www.motionpoint.com\/translation\/website-translation-services-cost\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cost of Website Translation"},"template":"","class_list":["post-182020","pillar","type-pillar","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"pillar_minute_read":"9","meta_title":"Website Localization & The Hidden Translation Costs","meta_description":"Learn how website localization services may attract you with low translation costs but send invoices that cost WAY more than expected","meta_keywords":"website localization services cost, translation services cost, professional translation services price, document translation services prices ","pillar_hero_title":"The Cost of Website Translation","pillar_hero_subtitle":"Many website translation vendors say they have low translation costs, but usually send invoices that cost WAY more than expected. Get the inside track on these less-than-best practices, and how to find better vendors.","pillar_content":"

Introduction<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Engaging a vendor to translate your website is the critical first step in expanding your services and products to new markets. And it\u2019s also the most important one. Depending on the vendor, you may face unexpected costs related to website translation<\/a>, quality assurance, technology management and more. Costs can add up quickly and threaten your budget.<\/span><\/p>\n

And there\u2019s risks associated with not translating your site at all.<\/p>\n

In this section, we\u2019ll examine:<\/p>\n

The Opportunity Costs of Neglecting Website Translation: <\/strong>You might be losing more than you think by not localizing your website<\/a> for multilingual markets. We break down some of the biggest risks, such as the legal repercussions for not translating content, how brand image can suffer, numerous lost benefits (from SEO to market share) and more.<\/p>\n

Common Website Translation Pricing \u2018Gotchas\u2019:<\/strong>M The website translation industry is rife with vendors that concoct creative ways to appear<\/em> to present low translation costs, but in fact often wind up costing more in the long run.<\/span> This is the stuff vendors don\u2019t want you to know, such as the ways they add hidden fees to offset their bargain-basement translation pricing, and how they usually heap the most challenging technical and managerial aspects of website translation<\/a> onto you, their customer.<\/p>\n

Getting A Fair Deal:<\/strong> We then provide a few cures to the pains described above. We provide a thorough guide to determining scrupulous translation vendors from opportunistic ones. You\u2019ll learn about transparent translation<\/em> pricing (and how it sidesteps the nickel-and-diming billing of most vendors), the importance of simple, streamlined billing and must-have capabilities that maximize the value of your translation investment by continuously driving down costs.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

The Opportunity Costs of Neglecting Website Translation<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The value of website localization<\/a> becomes abundantly clear as more companies pivot to serve customers in multilingual markets. But some organizations balk at the investment required to properly translate their websites and choose bargain-priced translation vendors\u2014or choose not to translate their sites at all.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, either choice winds up costing companies far more in the long run.<\/p>\n

The truth is companies often<\/strong> lose more money when they ignore the needs of multilingual customers than they\u2019d spend to localize their websites with superior vendors.<\/strong><\/span> If you don\u2019t translate your website, here\u2019s what your company stands to lose:<\/p>\n

Stagnating International Growth<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Once you\u2019ve exhausted the growth within your domestic market, you\u2019ll want to branch out into new global markets. This is challenging to effectively accomplish without translating your website.<\/p>\n

Multilingual customers expect to conduct online business in the languages they prefer. That means if they can\u2019t read your website, they won\u2019t visit it. But they\u2019ll surely visit your competitors\u2019 translated websites.<\/p>\n

Breaking Local Laws<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Many countries have language-related laws and regulations that companies must abide by to do business in the market.<\/p>\n

For instance, businesses that sell products or services in the Canadian province of Quebec must provide French versions of their websites. These sites include localized product\/service descriptions, order forms and receipts. Failing to follow this \u201cfrancization\u201d rule can result in fines.<\/p>\n

Similar rules and penalties exist in other markets, too.<\/p>\n

Tarnished Brand Image<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Serve multilingual customers without content in their language\u2014or providing them with low-quality translated content\u2014is bad for your brand\u2019s reputation. It gives users the impression that you don\u2019t value their business.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lost SEO Benefits<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Your company\u2019s website is full of SEO-rich content that search engines crawl, index and use to help potential customers discover your brand. But if multilingual customers are looking for your solutions and there\u2019s no content available in their preferred languages, they won\u2019t find it via search.<\/p>\n

Without a translated website, you miss out on the same invaluable SEO benefits that drive organic traffic and brand awareness within your domestic market.<\/p>\n

The Competition Wins<\/strong><\/h3>\n

If your brand doesn\u2019t deliver the world-class localized experience that multilingual customers expect, they\u2019ll find a competing brand in your industry that does.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even if your products or services are of better quality or more affordable, your competitors may fare better in a multilingual market simply because they have properly localized websites<\/a>. They\u2019ll have the online brand awareness, SEO ranking and in-language customer experience that your company lacks.<\/p>\n

Choosing a Lousy Vendor<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Even if your company provides a localized online experience, the method you use to translate, deploy and operate it could be generating more effort and costs than you think. You\u2019ll learn more about these pitfalls later in this section.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It Hurts Your Bottom Line<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Using a subpar solution to localize your website<\/a>\u2014or avoiding it entirely\u2014doesn\u2019t simply impact the short-term revenue gains you\u2019d gain by using a superior solution. It also affects future gain.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why: The damage done to your engagement metrics, SEO and brand reputation takes more time and effort to fix after the fact<\/em> than it does to proactively serve multilingual customers with great localized content from the get-go.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Common Website Translation Pricing \u2018Gotchas\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Website translation services<\/a> often compete on price and use tactics like low \u201cprice-per-word\u201d translation costs and \u201cprice-per-page-view\u201d schemes to make their rates appear lower than they actually are.<\/p>\n

These apparent bargains can woo prospective customers, but hidden costs usually appear later on. Let\u2019s take a closer look.<\/p>\n

Low Price-Per-Word Costs<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When it comes to website localization<\/a>, project costs are often defined by \u201cprice-per-word\u201d translation rates. This pricing standard is usually determined by the languages needed for a project, the availability of translators, the project\u2019s subject matter and the number of translatable words within the project\u2019s scope.<\/p>\n

This traditional pricing scheme might appear fair at first glance, but many translation vendors leverage it in ways that benefit their<\/em> businesses, not their customers\u2019. One key way is that price-per-word models don\u2019t always take translation quality into account.<\/p>\n

In exchange for bargain basement price-per-word translation rates, many website translation services<\/a> may employ inexperienced translators, or neglect critical editorial review or QA steps.<\/span> Revising those sloppy translations\u2014and problems they can wreak with a localized site\u2019s UX\u2014often end up costing a company more than if it had selected a more reputable vendor in the first place.<\/p>\n

Cheap per-word pricing comes with other risks, such as:<\/p>\n