Many web agencies use external tools to meet their clients' needs. You can find out more about this in our video series with Uros Mikic from Serbian agency Flow Ninja, and also in the dedicated blog post: How to use Weglot as a web agency.

Beyond knowing how to use a tool like Weglot, as a web agency or freelancer, you also need to know how to present it to your customers and how to include it in your commercial offer. 

In fact, capitalizing on the use of external tools to add extra functionality to your website projects can enable you to increase your sales and even create a source of recurring passive income. 

In this article, you'll find a summary of the video “How to include a multilingual solution like Weglot in your business proposal?” as well as additional information to support the words of Uros Mikic, who shares his experience as CEO of Flow Ninja.

Part 1 – Determine if your client needs a multilingual website

The aim of a web agency or freelancer, when they take on a website development project for one of their clients, is obviously to meet their customers' expectations and needs, both in terms of design and functionality. 

As a European agency, based in Serbia but with an international reach, Flow Ninja accompanies customers from different countries who are aware of the importance of having a site that is accessible to as many people as possible, and therefore made available in different languages. In this case, to quote Uros: "A tool like Weglot is a big asset".

Customers usually approach them with the idea of translating their website already in mind. According to Uros, this is less the case in regions where a common language predominates, such as on the North American continent with English. Customers tend not to mention the multilingual aspect of their site in the initial brief. 

Flow Ninja, therefore, advises you to ask the following questions when embarking on client projects: Could my client need a multilingual site? Is this a legitimate service I can offer as a web agency or freelancer? Is it relevant to offer an external tool like Weglot? 

There are generally 3 predominant scenarios: 

1. The customer already has a website and wants to redesign it or migrate from one technology to another. In the case of Flow Ninja, these are migrations to Webflow, for example. The agency advises in this case to build on the existing site and to include the multilingual aspect and specific languages directly in the quote if the customer already had a multilingual site. 
2. The customer doesn't have a site, but already has a mock-up on which the multilingual aspect has already been planned. In this case, the strategy is the same as for the previous point: include it in the offer. 
3. The customer is starting from scratch and doesn't mention the multilingual aspect in the definition of their needs. In this specific case, if it's relevant, Flow Ninja recommends adding site translation to the customer's proposed offer in order to implement an upsell strategy, highlight additional expertise, and position itself as a growth partner, which can make all the difference when the customer is in discussion with several agencies. Naturally, customers tend to think of website translation as something complicated and may be afraid to take care of this aspect of their site themselves. To judge the relevance of this additional offer, the agency or freelancer needs to ask themselves: do they really need it? How to implement it the best? And, which languages are the best for them to implement?

Part 2 – How can you work with the client on using Weglot?

As Weglot's dedicated contact for agencies and freelancers, I'm often asked this question: How can I manage my multiple Weglot projects and invoice my customers? Actually, it's more a question for agencies to think about, depending on their business model and the relationship they wish to maintain with their customers. In the video, Uros shares the best practices Flow Ninja has adopted.

Flow Ninja has chosen to offer customers a global quote, including the translation service in the total price. To do this, Uros rightly points out that it's very important to be fully transparent about the fact that the web agency or freelancer uses a third-party tool to manage the translation and potentially other tools for other functionalities, just as the site's technology such as WordPress, Webflow or Shopify is very often mentioned in the quote. 

It's a good idea to itemize the price for each area of site development, such as SEO management, asset creation, and translation. In the case of the latter, it's important to take into account any additional development required to add this functionality. For example, if the customer wishes to translate the site into a custom language, the web agency or freelancer will have more manual work, and this may be reflected in the quote. This is also the case for right to left languages such as Arabic, or languages with long words such as German, which will require additional work on the design of the translated website. 

Once the multilingual website design project is complete, the agency or freelancer and the end customer must agree on the continuation of the project. They will then have 2 options: 

1. One shot delivery 

This consists of offering a turnkey site to the customer, who can then manage it as they wish. In this case, the customer is responsible for payment of the Weglot subscription. At Flow Ninja, this is generally the process they offer their customers. This allows them to avoid any payment problems. They bill their customers for Weglot implementation on the site project and then let them manage the subscription over the long term. 

2. Ongoing basis

The other way of proceeding, which generally corresponds to less tech-savvy customers, is to offer customers long-term support via a maintenance package. In effect, the agency can offer a quote for the creation of the website, as well as support at the end of the project to make any changes the customer may wish to make, even after the project has been delivered. In the case of content and translation management, this involves proofreading and modifying translations, and ensuring that multilingual content is well-referenced in terms of multilingual SEO.

Finally, Uros believes that it makes sense for a web agency, or even a freelancer, to offer site translation as an expert service in its own right, as is the case with other subjects such as SEO, ads, content, and many others that agencies offer their customers. The agency can then create its own dedicated offer. It's an upsell that can make all the difference compared to other agencies. So don't hesitate to add "Website translation" to your range of services.

Taking Flow Ninja as an example, we understand that web agencies and freelancers are able to include additional services to their offerings thanks to multilingual solutions like Weglot. The use of such tools can increase revenues and create recurring sources of income.

However, it’s important to determine whether the customer needs a multilingual site, and how Weglot can be integrated efficiently and, above all, transparently to the customer. Uros encourages agencies to consider site translation as a distinct expertise that can set them apart from their competitors.

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