Companies are adopting new ways to measure the return on investment of translating content into other languages, according to Byte Level Research. The wisdom is self-evident: executives able to demonstrate return on translation, or ROT, are more likely to get larger budgets to spend on translation. Popular ROT metrics include unique visitors, leads, qualified leads, and referrals to local dealer Web sites. Plus, Byte Level Research has documented a new ROT technique, based on a simple "Translating For Clicks" model.

According to John Yunker, president and chief analyst at Byte Level Research, the Translating For Clicks model is based on the assumption that more Web content generally results in more search engine referrals. The focus here is on organic, free search engine referrals rather than paid search referrals.

Essentially, the model enables translation executives to use paid search engine marketing costs as a way to project and quantify returns on translation costs. For example, an organization may project that for every 100 new pages of translated content, it will get a certain number of additional "free" clicks from search engines, and create additional value through estimated lead generation or conversion rates.

"I've floated the model past a number of Web services and marketing execs already and the response has been quite positive. The model is another way to unlock the hidden value of translated Web content," said Yunker.

About the market research brief

The Byte Level Research brief, "Return on Translation" (February 2007; 9 pages) presents the "Translating for Clicks" (TFC) model, a new way to measure the return on translation spending. It takes the value assigned to each paid referral and applies this value to organic search-engine referrals. It enables applying return-on-content metrics to a return-on-translation metric.

These topics are also available to subscribers to the Byte Level resource "Global by Design" (February 2007).

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