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Poll: Which method do you find most useful to get clients?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 08:09
English to Portuguese
+ ...
In memoriam
Two points Nov 28, 2015

Mario Chavez wrote:

... deceptively simple advice: newcomers to the profession should just say no or stop accepting those lowballing offers.

I know, it's easier said than done, especially when a bilingual person loses his job and has a family to feed. In desperate or urgent situations, 3 cents per word is better than zero cents per nothing.

The challenge, everybody's challenge is to force an upstream response: no, I will not work for your rates. No ifs or buts. No means no.

Career planning is always an important strategy in any era.


Easier said than done, indeed.

Being translation a mostly deregulated profession everywhere, the access paths to it are wide and varied.

I got in through a side entrance while earning my degree in industrial mechanical engineering. Many colleagues came in through the front door, via a university degree in translation, possibly with much more hope than I had in the profession (in the 14 years I spent in full-time jobs before becoming a freelancer, translation was one among my duties).

The real issue is how much does a translator learn about management, costs & profit, etc. in their path?

I guess that few translators ever read about time management. They haven't realized that they are actually selling their TIME, whose unit value depends on the skills they have, consequently what they can do in that time.

The peculiar thing about TIME is that it is the one fairly distributed resource we have. Every one of us has exactly the same 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and so on.

Without this knowledge, they may miss the unavoidable truth that... if they sell that limited time they (and all of us) have for a low price, there won't be enough of it left to earn enough to make ends meet.

Mario Freitas wrote:

There will always be those who use ProZ to offer lousy jobs and rates. After all, these people are the vast majority, and the coutries with such practices (including mine) are also the vast majority. Now, it's up to the translator to screen the good and bad proposals, of course.


This raises the issue that what is "good" in one market may be "bad" in another, and vice-versa. It is aggravated by translation work have been rendered ubiquitous by the Internet.

For instance, I could move from Sao Paulo to Mumbai, and continue serving (most) of my clients in EN-PT. From what I've read, I would enjoy a royal lifestyle there with my current rates. Conversely, if an EN-CN translator moved from Wenzhou to Zurich, s/he'd be starving in no time.

Overall market balance is achieved by most translators living either in their source or target language locations. Taking this into consideration, either a translator can find clients willing to pay what they need to make, in order to uphold the lifestyle they need or want, or they must...
a) improve their act to be worth it;
b) become more productive, so they do more in the same (limited) time; or
c) find some other endeavor to earn a living, as time is running out.

Then I wonder, on top of languages and CAT tools knowledge, if translators are ever made aware of these (and countless other) self-management issues. If they were, they wouldn't be taking those groveling rates.


Mario Freitas wrote:

Nevertheless, ProZ is still, and by far, the best resource for me. And, forgive me some colleagues who stated otherwise, but LinkedIn has been absolutely useless for me in over five years of using.


On a final note, I am also an unconditional Proz fan, otherwise I wouldn't be a member here for so many years. It's at least great for networking across international borders. Facebook now and then helps in finding colleagues to network, but I wouldn't pay a subscription there. And LinkedIn is, indeed, completely useless for me.


 
Ahmad Abd Al-Fattah
Ahmad Abd Al-Fattah
Egypt
Local time: 13:09
English to Arabic
1. ProZ, and other similar sites 2. Word of mouth for a quality job Dec 2, 2015

ProZ.com Staff wrote:

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Which method do you find most useful to get clients?".

This poll was originally submitted by Mario Chavez. View the poll results »



 
Semen Akhrameev
Semen Akhrameev  Identity Verified
Kyrgyzstan
Local time: 17:09
English to Russian
+ ...
Thanks for mentioning my blog post! Dec 3, 2015

José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:

... word of mouth often - though not all the time - being a close second.

After I had entered my answer, I found this link on Facebook:
http://russiantranslator.pro/five-reasons-why-every-freelance-translator-needs-a-personal-website.html

PRESENCE on Proz is important, especially having WWAs, however IMO it doesn't help much to get decently-paying clients. It is some kind of a catalyst. So I crammed my Proz profile with links to service-specific pages within my web site.

[Edited at 2015-11-27 11:43 GMT]


In addition to a personal website, I would suggest cold emailing to the potential clients and, of course, targeted advertisement using AdSence (for local small markets only, because it is hard to compete with big players that have incomparably larger advertising budget).


 
José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 08:09
English to Portuguese
+ ...
In memoriam
On SEO for freelance translators Dec 3, 2015

Simon_VA wrote:

In addition to a personal website, I would suggest cold emailing to the potential clients and, of course, targeted advertisement using AdSence (for local small markets only, because it is hard to compete with big players that have incomparably larger advertising budget).


A friend/client of mine had a small translation agency. She used some expensive Google service to stay on the top of the heap. When a cost cut became mandatory, she stopped paying it. Her office phone, which used to ring all the time, became silent. Now and then she'd call that landline from her cell, to check whether it was working.

A freelancer paying through the nose for their web site's visibility on search engines is not - IMHO - a sustainable option. Any time, a large, bottom-feeding translation agency may cover your bet and take your place there.

The solution is to cram your site with information that is USEFUL to your prospects. C'mon, you must have some.

I began stocking mine with hard-to-find info on sworn translations in Brazil, not only in Portuguese, but also in English (the foreign language I am licensed for), which is something even harder to find.

One particular feature is that I include links to all official online directories for sworn translators in Brazil like me, including other languages', and openly recommend that they hire the physically nearest one (ancient law makes it involve hard copy). So it's a useful public service.

What's the marketing trick here? Since they are already on my web site, if my language pair and physical location is convenient, since the rates are statutory, why would they go look elsewhere?

How did I get material for it? I used the term 'FAQ' - Frequently Asked Questions - literally. I used each and every question I was asked about it, which I had to answer by e-mail, phone or Skype over and over again.

Then I expanded it, covering other areas where I work, such as video subtitling or dubbing, and several others, like PDF translation.

My articles on miscellaneous matters have been clustered in what I call "almost a blog". A true blog requires new stuff periodically, which is not my case; all such articles are a permanent source of reference. It would be a PLOG (permanent log), but this term hasn't been coined yet.

The more people come to your site for information, search engines will notice that, and make it rise. The rationale is simple: If your site offers VALUABLE and sought-for information, search engines will add value to their advertising space if they rank it higher.

Of course, well-thought keywords are essential. Bottom line is that I have never spent one red cent in SEO, however in some specific keyword combinations my web site is among the three first on Google.

Does it take time? Yes!
However in my assessment of FAQs I had been answering one by one, it is much more efficient to answer a question by giving a prospect the URL for the specific page where I published that answer.


 
Nadine Verdier
Nadine Verdier  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 12:09
Member (2014)
English to French
+ ...
Getting clients Dec 4, 2015

Proz comes first (through my profile) and then word of mouth. I'm on linkedin but no action.
I must admit that my situation is a bit particular as freelance translation is not my only job (but it's becoming more and more important), therefore I don't really have time to get clients by myself.


 
Claudia Hoffmann
Claudia Hoffmann  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 12:09
Member (2013)
English to German
+ ...
Proz Profile Dec 4, 2015

I have got a lot of new clients through my proz.com profile and my website.
I am not much on LinkedIn or Facebook and do not use Twitter and others.


 
Brenda Ramirez
Brenda Ramirez  Identity Verified
Peru
Local time: 06:09
English to Spanish
+ ...
Word of mouth Dec 4, 2015

First: Word of mouth (people recommend me)
Second: Translators list in my profesional association (Colegio de Traductores del Perú)
Third: Yellow pages


 
David Stewart
David Stewart
United States
Local time: 05:09
Afrikaans to English
+ ...
How to get customers Dec 4, 2015

The best tool I have found in half a century of translating is simply to be available, be findable, when a customer needs you.

Cutting prices does not work, because you cannot create a demand for translations, because a customer either needs you or he does not. It also creates contempt for you if you are cheap.

The vast public has no clue of what a translator is. Star Wars relegates him to a dumb robot who is held in low esteem.

Both the public and the cli
... See more
The best tool I have found in half a century of translating is simply to be available, be findable, when a customer needs you.

Cutting prices does not work, because you cannot create a demand for translations, because a customer either needs you or he does not. It also creates contempt for you if you are cheap.

The vast public has no clue of what a translator is. Star Wars relegates him to a dumb robot who is held in low esteem.

Both the public and the client need to be educated by the market place. You cannot do this yourself. If the customer makes unreasonable demands - he always does - send him away and tell him to come back after he has tried somewhere else. For example, a college professor came to me demanding a fast translation of a Japanese patent. I realized that even yesterday would not have earned his respect. I told him I was too busy at the moment. Go try up on campus. A few days later he came back, hat in hand, telling me I could take all the time I needed. He learned that college professors, as a rule, cannot translate.

I have learned by sad experience that a good translator cannot work for somebody else. For anyone who translates more than three languages, the sheer jealousy is stifling. I have found it peaceful to pretend I am an agency instead of a person.

Google has no doubt made great inroads into the field. A good translator will still always be in demand.

I think it is short sighted to require the use of Trados or any other artificial help. They always slow me down. Because of such requirements, I doubt whether there are any good translators among the rising generation. The only way to get good at any language is to translate it. Lots of it. Speaking is nothing. Any fool can memorize thirty phrases and impress the gullible without having a clue as to how the language actually works.

It is impossible to translate anything without having a thorough knowledge of the field. I have seen two certified Bulgarian translators in the Defense Department translate as "physics of the hard body" what should have been "solid state physics." The sad thing about working for the government is they know they can treat you like dirt because there is no outside demand they have to compete with. When they fail to see that our enemies are only pretending to be in shambles, even that market dries up.

I have published over 40 books on amazon.com on my ancient language translations and discoveries. The paltry royalties there pay me more than translation does now. I still have to supplement my income by restoring antique clocks. Translations never were adequate, even with 72 languages. Any other field pays more and requires less. Much less. Any computer language, no matter how hard, is easier than any natural language, no matter how simple.

Samuel F.B. Morse taught painting. He told one of his pupils to go into some other field. The man did, and had a successful career. Painting was not it.

I agree with Morse. Translations are only profitable in wartime. Even then, everybody will hate you for being given special treatment. It isn't worth it.

If you doubt my word, pick up any exotic language dictionary. Look at the copyright date. They are only published in wartime.
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Ananda Kalapugama
Ananda Kalapugama
Sri Lanka
Local time: 16:39
English to Sinhala (Sinhalese)
+ ...
I got none via Proz.com Dec 5, 2015

Most of my work are from my inclusion in databases of foreign translation agencies. A few is from one or two translation related websites. I got none via Proz.com.

 
Annette Christmas
Annette Christmas
Spain
Local time: 12:09
Member (2015)
German to English
+ ...
Proz rocks! Dec 5, 2015

I have to say that since becoming full -time freelance in August, my network of regular clients has largely arisen from Proz contacts.
At first I used to bid on a lot of jobs, but now I don't even have time to look at the board, I'm so busy working!
Many thanks Proz for giving me the boost I needed -now I'm turning down a lot of work and just doing the things I'm really good at and enjoying.


 
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Poll: Which method do you find most useful to get clients?






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