Translate your site: Having a website is good. But having a multilingual website is even better! Especially since the number of websites that are becoming multilingual is increasing. Isn't it time to add more languages to yours (or at least start seeing if it's feasible or not)?

And even if you can't imagine your site in several languages, your clients may still ask you, one day or another, to translate theirs. You'll tell yourself that this is not your job, that you are a webdesigner, not a translator. But here's the thing: you are the one who takes care of the technical side of the website. So how do you translate your site into several languages?

#translation #tuto #weglot

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Using a translation agency?

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Contents

• Why translate your website into several languages
• Why not a manual translation
• How to translate your website: step by step
• 1. Create a Weglot account
• 2. Configure Weglot
• How to install a language switch
• Weglot translation: how it works
• 1. Automatic translation
• 2. Manual modification
• 3. Connecting the site to a professional translation service
• What makes Weglot so special
• My review of Weglot:
• 1. Its advantages
• 2. Its weaknesses
• Conclusion

Video

Translate your website: Why translate your website into several languages?

Let's say you are targeting different customer profiles; some speak French, some speak Dutch, and some speak English. A unilingual site would not be a good idea. Many opportunities will slip through your fingers, and that's a shame! That's why it's important to translate your site into several languages.

Your site will also be better referenced. I don't know if you've noticed, but in most cases, it's the bilingual or multilingual sites that appear on the first place of Google. This is simply because these sites are visited by a large audience from different countries.

On the other hand, the keywords of multilingual sites have equivalents in each of the translated languages. And more keywords mean more chances to rank higher on Google.

In the eyes of prospects, the one who has a multilingual site will look more serious, professional and competent. Otherwise, he would never have made the effort to create a site of this scope. He has a large audience, which means more people trust him.

In your case, your clients will say that in addition to your skills in creating Webflow sites, you are also bilingual! A quality like that is very much in demand these days.

Why not a manual translation, page by page?

If you were to ask me the question I asked you earlier (about the most cost-effective and easiest way to translate a site), I would choose the last option. That of using an automatic translation tool like Weglot. You can find a complete list of other interesting tools here: no-code tools make our lives so much easier !

Let me explain the disadvantages of manual translation:

• Google will consider that your contents are duplicated, because you will certainly have duplicated the pages before translating them. In terms of natural referencing, the site will have no chance to gain the best position on Google.
• Your target customers will not necessarily know that your site is multilingual (because nothing indicates it; no language switch). You should try to specify it somewhere on the site. In any case, it's not practical at all!
• Now imagine that you have a very large site (already more than a hundred pages long) and that you want to translate it. With all those pages, will you ever manage to do it? All this, to tell you that with automated tools like Weglot (ready to be integrated on Webflow), you save a lot of time (as I explain in my videos that you will see a little further on, it only takes 3 minutes).

The ultimate tutorial for translating your website with Weglot - Step by step

This is all well and good. But all that remains is to know how to do it, concretely.

Here are the main steps:

1. Create a Weglot account

Once your account is created, you will be asked to add this information:

• domain name of your site
• its original language
• the languages you want to add (in case you were wondering, you can indeed add more than one language)

An additional configuration is still necessary. You have to configure the DNS of your domain name to create subdomains. To do this, you need to go to your domain name hosting account (OVH, a-a-hébergement, BlueHost, HostGator, etc.).

In the DNS tab, click on "create a new entry". Then click on CNAME. All you have to do is to add the code of the concerned language, in the "name" part.

For the "data" part, it will be this address: websites.weglot.com.

Finally, the button: check DNS.

If you've done everything within these rules, everything should be fine!

PS: each language has its own unique code.

2. Configure Weblow

Your webflow site also needs to be configured. So go to :

paramètres > code personnalisé > onglet head code > add code at the end of the <head> tag > coller le code Javascript de ton compte Weglot.

All that's left to do is record and publish.

This video series will certainly enlighten you on the steps to follow:

And now, "how do I switch from one language to another?" There's the language switch for that.

Translate your Site: Tutorial to install a language switcher - Weglot

Actually, the language switch appears automatically on the interface of your site. It's usually at the bottom right of the screen. It has a neutral style, by default, but you can customize it to take a more stylish form that better fits the rest of the design.

Finsweet has collaborated with Weglot for this. He created some language switches that can be customized, available on the Weglot website.

The first thing to do is to click on the "clone" button, in the upper right corner. You are then redirected to the Webflow editing page. This is where you choose the button you want to use.

For each selected language selector, you have the choice between :

• wg-element-wrapper
• wg-code

They are to be copied, then pasted, on your site, obviously, for the switch of your choice. Proceed as follows:

• Put your cursor on the place where you want this element to appear
• Then copy the "wg-element-wrapper" to this very spot
• The switch is displayed immediately, as soon as this code is pasted
• Then you have to go back to the UI kit (the link I gave you earlier) to click on the selector you chose
• Now click on the "wg-code", then on "open code editor".
• A script is given to you, and you will have to copy it
• Enfin, tu te rends dans les paramètres de Webflow pour le coller dans la partie <body>
• Record and publish!:)

Here is the process to follow to make this basic Weglot switch invisible:

• On your dashboard, go to "project settings", then "web feed settings".
• Écrit (ou copie pour être sûr de ne pas faire d’erreur) ce code “weglot-container{display:none;}”

Language Switch Weglot basic

Language switch on custom Webflow

Weglot translation: how does it work?

Weglot translates websites in 3 different ways:

1. Automatic translation
2. Editing translations manually
3. Connecting the site to a translation service

Which method to choose? It's up to you. In order to help you in your choices however, I prefer to explain you one by one, these methods.

1. Machine translation:

This technique is the easiest. You don't need to do anything, because all the contents are automatically translated. And when I say "all", I really mean "all, without exception".

But then again, some things don't need to be translated. In this case, you can simply edit them on your Weglot dashboard.

2. Manual modification

The best way to get a reliable translation is this one! You have to go to your Weglot site (in the translation section), then edit my translations. Then click on the "eye" icon (on the right of each sentence or block of sentences).

Here is an example:

• If Weglot translated a sentence like this: "I am on the road"
• You can change it to "I am on my way".

The best thing about this second option is that you have all the information you need, such as the number of words, the creation date and the URL associated with the content. If you ever made a mistake and want to go back, use the "history" option. Finally, there is the "suggestions" option which, as its name suggests, automatically offers you alternatives to the translation that is already there.

For a modification on the Visual Editor, it is even easier! Modifications are made visually. To start, you still need to search for the page to be translated using the search bar at the top left (still via the dashboard). Once you've found the page you want to translate, all you have to do is click on the pencil in the blue circle for the elements you want to modify.

3. Connecting the site to a translation service (Pro)

Please note that this offer is only available for paid plans. It allows you to collaborate with approved professional translation agencies. You don't need to pay any additional fees; they are included in the premium rates.

The process is also simple:

• You go to the dashboard of Weglot, in the the translation section.
• Now that you have the list of translations in front of you, all you have to do is select the pages, articles or sentences you want to entrust to a professional agency. Send them to the shopping cart, and finally, all that's left to do is pay!
• The translations will be delivered to you within 48 to 72 hours, depending on the quantity of elements and words to be translated.

Anyway, I told you earlier that you can choose one of these 3 methods. What I forgot to mention is that you can also combine them ;)

Translate your website: What makes Weglot so special

Iparticularly like the fact that Weglot can be used as a team. When website translations are included in my services for my clients, I work with a team of editors, translators, copywriters... It also happens that my web design team needs to go on Weglot. In this case, I invite them all to join me in the project concerned. This way they have access to the dashboard. Sometimes, my clients themselves need to have a visualization of what's in the back office. In that case, I invite them as well.

However, other equally interesting options are present (on the dashboard, in the menu):

1. Auto Redirect: this is very useful for those who target people who speak other languages than French. Let's assume that your target audience is mainly Dutch speaking visitors. In this case, you go to auto redirect, and change the default language.
2. Translate Email: emails can also be translated with Weglot. Isn't that great? To enable it, just check the box for translate emails.
3. Translate AMP: yes! You can choose to activate or not the AMP translation. Only, it will be a bit more expensive.
4. Private mode: it is also very interesting, because it allows you not to display the translations on the front-end. Only you and your team will have access to the translations.

Here is the overview of the Weglot dashboard

My opinion on Weglot - its strengths and weaknesses

1. Assets of Weglot

As you may have noticed, it's super easy! Once installed, it does the work itself, without any additional tasks required (as is the case with wordpress plug-ins; if you're interested, I wrote a complete guide on the main differences between Wordpress and Webflow). And if you want to change some sentences - for the human touch for example - because they don't sound the way you want them to, the changes are made in real time.

It is no longer rare to find software compatible with Webflow (especially since Weglot is a very complete tool). Weglot works perfectly with it. This is why it is able to translate all the elements of your site (from the different pages to the various articles of your blog, including menus, products sold on the site's online store, etc.).

Finally, dedicated pages are immediately created during the translation (of this kind : www.fr.exemple.com), which avoids duplicate content, and therefore, it is a good point for the SEO of your site. For each new page, an href lang tag is created. Its purpose is to show Google that even if there are several versions of the same page, it is only a translation.

Here is my opinion on SEO and Weglot

2. The negative points

Let's face it, Weglot does have some flaws. I'm telling you about it so that you can prepare yourself for it, not to doubt its efficiency :)

Let's start with the price. The price is high for 5 additional languages, especially for sites that have a lot of content to translate. The free version would be insufficient in this case.

Then, if you expect "high end" translations, you will still have to modify the machine translations by say 30% (of course, nothing beats manual translations). Machine translations have a few typos from time to time, so proofreading is always necessary.

Conclusion

Are you looking for a simple translation solution? I recommend WEGLOT without hesitation! Its simplicity is only a small part of the advantages it offers; it is also complete, fast and overpowering... I'll finish by saying that it's a huge time and money saver for companies.

What about you?

Are you ready to use Weglot? What do you think?

Share your experience in the comments ;)

Want to try Weglot for 10 days for free? Yes, I want to try

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