Website Translation – Preparation at Translation Agency TraDos

How you prepare your website for translation depends on what level of translation service you require and how much of your website is to be translated. If you are to translate just a product page or landing page then preparation involves simply creating the page and naming it appropriately. If your translation project is to include most or all of your website, then much more is needed.

Domain Name & Hosting Choices

There are many choices on the potential hosting and domain name and opinions of which may be best are numerous and often conflicting. This is not intended to be an exhaustive analysis of the innumerable hosting and domain names choices. Our aim is to give you enough information to help provide ideas about how to conduct your research and your ultimate decision.

Sub-Domain, Directory, or New Domain?

Let’s start with a very brief description and examples of these three:

• Sub-Domain: As the name implies a sub-domain is a domain that resides “under” the primary domain name… http://www.example.com would be the primary and http://www.espanol.example.com would become the sub-domain using “espanol”.
• Directory: Sometimes called a “folder”, this is a basic tenet of website structure… http://www.example.com indicates no directories and http://www.example.com/espanol is the same site with the directory of “espanol”.
• New Domain: This requires little explanation and even less of an example but it remains a very valid alternative, and in some cases is the only one. China is the best example of where a new domain name with the “.cn” extension is required by China’s premier search engine Baidu to be included in its listings.

Which one is right for you?

If the primary reasoning you have for translating your website is to enter a new geographic region, a new domain is the most effective choice. In general, search engines put greater emphasis on the domain extension (.com, .es, .cn, etc.) when determining how a site should rank for a particular term in a particular country. As an example, if all other items are equal between two websites, Google will rank a Spanish site with an “.es” extension higher than a Spanish site with a “.net” extension. A new domain name gives you the opportunity to brand your translated site with your company name or use a domain name that includes your primary keyword. Search engines tend to rank sites very high when the domain name includes the searched upon keyword.

A sub-domain is almost as flexible and beneficial as a completely different domain name. You can use the two-letter abbreviation for the country being targeted or use the language as the name of the sub-domain (es.examplesite.com or espanol.examplesite.com). Both the new domain name and the sub-domain are free to be hosted anywhere and separately from the main domain. This is becomes very advantageous in creating the best experience for the end user because proximity of the server to the web surfer improves delivery speed. The physical location of a server also improves the chances of high rankings with SE’s (search engines). High rankings with SE’s also come from using the correct country specific IP address which in turn builds a solid foundation.

A new directory may be the easiest way to post your newly translated content but it is also the least effective from a SEO (Search Engine Optimization) point of view. The new directory option facilitates the transition of e-com sites and cms (content management systems) or database driven sites.

Informational Graphics

For the purpose of clarity but not a strict definition, an informational graphic is any file that includes words but cannot be modified using a text editor such as notepad. All images, flash files and Adobe pdf’s fit this definition. These files will need DTP (Desktop Publishing) services either by your translation service provider, your website services provider or your own in-house design team depending on the level of website services you choose and by the experience level of the other two choices. If the files (images) that reside on your website itself can not be easily modified, the source files must be delivered to your DTP provider for language insertion. Here you’ll find a list of the most common DTP file formats.

CMS (Content Management Systems)

There are many choices for a cms. Some are very good and some are specifically designed for multilingual content management. Opting to upgrade to a multilingual CMS is only warranted if the volume and or frequency of new translated content is very high. Although not a CMS, traditional website management (manual entry directly into code or a WYSIWYG program like Dreamweaver) is still a primary way small website owners manage their own content. Any and all of these systems will still allow you to benefit from localization. We can help you decide whether a change in your content management system is warranted and which one will best fit your needs.

Programming Languages

Nearly all website programming languages are suitable for translation projects but there are a couple of items that need to be checked.

1. Ensure that all of the software used to generate your website is utf-8 compliant
2. Make sure that your website translation provider has experience with your software combination

In short, we can help you determine the best domain name tactic to use based on your individual goals. We will help you choose the best hosting option for your translation project. We will translate all image source files and ensure that graphics are suitable for a particular culture. We will also analyze your current cms to determine its effect on your globalization project.