Multilingual websites with Weglot

In a world that's getting smaller - no, not really, but definitely in digital terms - it's time to free your website from its linguistic cocoon and let it flutter out into the wide world of the internet. Imagine your business is a party: the more languages your website speaks, the more guests you can invite and the more exuberant the party will be.

The good news? You no longer have to be a polyglot genius to make it happen. Thanks to tools like Webflow or Weglot in combination with AI, multilingualism is no longer rocket science, but more like learning a magic trick that will amaze your audience - i.e. your customers - from all over the world.

But in the technical world, not everything is magic and glittering unicorns; everything has advantages and disadvantages. Especially when it comes to handling, SEO, pricing, etc. We have websites with both technologies in use and know the facets of both opponents.

Of course, you can write tons of analyses on the respective points, but I have summarized the most important points. If you need more information, write us a message or give us a call. We will be happy to help.

For the rest of the process, it is important to know how Webflow works and that we refresh our basic knowledge. 

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What does Webflow do?

Webflow is a professional site builder for static websites, the most important thing here is "static". Webflow uses its builder to generate solid, robust and finished HTML websites, which are then provided by the Webflow servers. Wordpress, on the other hand, generates the HTML files on the server side from database content and PHP files.

The Weglot chapter: Your magic key to multilingualism

The great thing about Weglot? It works like an invisible, tireless translator that keeps going without a break or need for coffee. You edit and publish the content on your Webflow page in the original language as usual. Weglot then takes on each new page or updated text and translates it dynamically and fully automatically with its AI.

Weglot, as an external service, scans the content of your website when a translation is called up and if it finds new content, the Weglot AI translates the content on-the-fly. If you want to customize the translations, this can be done via the Weglot portal. There is an extra area where rules for translations can be defined, including "translation exclusions" or "default translations", where defined words are always translated in the same way.

An additional language can be added with just a few clicks and the AI does the rest. In addition, images can be exchanged for each language via a detour in the Free Plan, automatic forwarding by browser language can be activated or subdomains can be set for each language.

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Deeper in the weglot Rabbit Hole

So far this sounds great, and it is. But there are also downsides that need to be considered. First of all, the translation takes place in a different portal that needs to be learned, even if it is not really difficult. The translation takes place via a Javascript integration, as Webflow has generated the static content as HTML files. When a request is made for a translation, your website is first called up with the original "German" content. At the same time, Weglot sends a request or your content to the Weglot servers and retrieves the translation elements. The German texts (and images) are then replaced with the translation and the page appears in the desired language. So it's a somewhat complicated approach, but it works very well.

Speaking of the translation of images, images do not really need to be translated, but sometimes it happens that images receive texts. The AI is not yet able to do this automatically, so the images with texts have to be translated and created manually. When the translated content is requested, the images are then replaced.

The use of subdomains is a good step in the right direction, but is still not perfectly optimized in terms of SEO. In this case, the translated pages are accessed via a subdomain (e.g. en.wagemut.studio) and also appear in the English-language Google search, but you should not rely on this 100%. 

With complex pages, the AI can mix up content and change the styling of passages and individual elements, which then have to be manually reworked in the portal. In addition, there is a pricing structure that is not so easy to understand and can cost €790 or even €3,000 per year, depending on the situation. This is the case, for example, if an extensive blog is added to the website and many pages and content need to be translated.

But if we are honest, these are still manageable costs for a multilingual and internationally accessible site that serves to carry your company and your services into the wide world, as well as to generate advertising and thus sales for you. 

A conclusion?

So far, Weglot has been our most frequently used tool when it comes to translating content. As we are convinced of its benefits, we have been a Weglot partner for years. That's why we also use Weglot as a translation tool for our own website. It is simple, clear and easy to maintain.

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But what about Webflow localization? We will shed light on this in the next article.