You already know that the only way to reach the direct customers is to create Freelance Translator online presence.
But how do you create your online presence?
And what can you do to be visible in the top of Google?
Well, that’s exactly what I am going to share with you in today’s blog post.
Because over a year I’ve been experimenting with my Freelance Translator strategy to create an online presence (“The FT Visibility Technique”).
… and have some AMAZING results to share with you.
The FT Visibility Technique (steps to succeed as a freelance translator online)
In April 2014 I purchased a domain name hannasles.com and launched a website. I published a few pages and got ready for new projects from direct customers.
And you know what?
Nobody came. Nobody visited my website.
A year later I decided that it was time to do something. I have read lots of books about website design, blogging, marketing and social media. All these books gave general recommendations and best practices which could be applied to a business in any industry.
Based on the best ideas, I have developed my own approach how to create an online presence as a freelance translator.
After executing my “The FT Visibility Technique” the number of visitors to my website has increased like a rocket:
Of course, there are still lots of goals to achieve … but I am really satisfied with the results, as I am getting more and more visitors thanks to my approach which matches requirements and needs in the translation industry.
And the best part?
You can do the same thing for your freelance translator website … even if you don’t have much time to study all the books and courses or even if you don’t have a Fortune 500 website development and marketing budget.
When you create content for your website, it is very important to tell customers how you can help them. Don’t know how to do? Check my solutions for clients how to translate English to Russian without a budget.
Map your translation business road in the online network
Look:
A good marketing strategy is more like a map. That’s because it gets you where you want to go.
Same applies to translation and localization industry.
How to find this map? The answer lies in the jungle in 1900s: the formula of five Ws:
Do you want to translate manuals? Do you want to localize video games? Do you want to localize websites? Do you want to cooperate with big companies or entrepreneurs? I can continue with the big list of questions like this.
Check Translator Strategy post and get access to a free downloadable checklist that will walk you through all the basic elements. In this way, you will be able to develop your own freelance translator strategy.
Make your road recognizable and consistent
To follow this step, you will have to master image editing tools and even a video tool.
It’s a must!
What kind of images you will have to create: a logo, images for your website and images for your social media.
How to start?
Firstly, think over, what kind of colors would be dominant on your website, and on your road at large. There are quite a lot of articles about that on the web. Each color has got its meaning and psychological effect depending on your target audience.
You might be surprised, but …
Most successful freelance translators use blue color. The psychologists say blue is the color of mind…
My experience:
I mapped my road with an image editor named Canva. All the images that you see on my website, blog and social media accounts are created with the help of Canva. And yes, you can even create a pretty cool professional logo with Canva.
As the technologies and marketing techniques are rapidly developing today, you will also have to utilize video tools. There are a lot of Apps and online tools, among them are Lumen5, Adobe Spark, Quik.
Choose a domain name and a hosting provider
Now:
Launch a vehicle that will drive the road on your map.
Your vehicle is your website. Choose a brand name for your website – domain name. This is a very important process. If you choose a wrong domain name, then it can be a hassle to switch later on without hurting your translation brand and search rankings.
No doubt about it:
The perfect platform for a freelance translator website is WordPress. It is free to use, you can install plugins, customize your site design.
And the last but not the least:
Choose a hosting provider – a place where your website will live. It’s your website house on the internet.
Every website needs web hosting services. My website’s house is located on Siteground’s servers. Today they offer the fastest and safest services.
Create great content for your freelance translator website
When someone lands on your site from a search engine, two things can happen:
they either leave right away …
or they stick around.
Of course, the second option is the preferred one. That should be your goal.
And you are probably wondering:
How can I encourage visitors to stay on my website for longer?
The answer is content.
It is the content (keywords) that brings visitors from Google search results to your website.
It is the content that keeps your audience engaged and encourage them to explore your website.
The solution for freelance translators:
Create unique and valuable content for your customers using the keywords. With special keywords search tools (e.g., Google Keyword Planner) choose the keywords that visitors might use while searching the web for translation services.
Market your content and drive traffic to your website on your road and achieve success
It is possible to reach new customers if you market your freelance translator services. But, how?
To get the answer, I asked some successful translators in the translation industry.
Tess Whitty from Marketing Tips For Translators shared this:
And when I asked Simon Akhrameev how he reaches his target audience, here’s what he had to share:
And Oleg Semerikov from Translators Family:
As good as their answers were, I still wanted opinions of some other translators.
So, I decided to conduct a survey among 180 translators and localization specialists – and these were the results.
As you can see, most of the translators try to promote their translation services through:
- resume;
- social media;
- networking;
- website;
- blogging.
The post How To Succeed As A Freelance Translator appeared first on English Russian Translator | Hanna Sles.
This post first appeared on Russian Translator & Localization Specialist. Best Russian Translator: Hanna Sles, please read the originial post: here
