How to Easily Create a Multilingual WordPress Site: An Expert‘s Guide

Do you want to translate your WordPress site into multiple languages to reach a global audience?

From enabling international growth to boosting SEO, launching a multilingual WordPress site has many advantages. But creating and managing translated content can seem daunting if you don‘t know where to start.

In this comprehensive guide, you‘ll learn everything you need as a webmaster for creating a multilingual WordPress site.

I‘ll share insights from my 15 years of experience operating multilingual websites, so you can avoid pitfalls and accelerate the process.

Here‘s what I‘ll cover:

• The compelling benefits of translating your WordPress site
• How to select the best translation plugin for your needs
• Step-by-step setup and configuration of top translation plugins
• Practical tips to streamline translating all your content
• Best practices to manage a multilingual site long-term
• Answers to frequently asked questions about multilingual WordPress

Let‘s dive in and get you on the fast track to launching your translated WordPress site!

Why Going Multilingual Opens Big Opportunities

Before we get into the technical setup, let‘s look at the key reasons to translate your WordPress site:

Reach 4x More Internet Users Worldwide

Over 56% of online users are non-native English speakers. China alone has 988 million internet users.

According to Statista, the countries with the most internet users are:

1. China: 988 million
2. India: 624 million
3. United States: 313 million
4. Indonesia: 191 million
5. Brazil: 154 million

Launching a multilingual site allows you to tap into these audiences who prefer content in their native language.

Increase Organic Traffic and Rank Higher Locally

Google and other search engines give preference to pages that match a user‘s language and country.

In my experience managing multilingual sites, properly translated content boosts local organic traffic and rankings.

For example, your Spanish content will rank higher for users searching Google from Spain, Mexico, and other Spanish-speaking countries.

Boost Conversion Rates in Local Languages

Visitors are much more likely to convert when they can interact with your site in their own language.

According to a study by Common Sense Advisory, 60% of consumers said they never or rarely purchase from English-only websites.

Eliminating language barriers makes users more comfortable to engage with your brand and convert.

Gain a Competitive Edge in Global Markets

Stand out by providing an amazing experience for visitors regardless of their language. Many competitors only offer content in one language.

Being multilingual shows customers you care about their needs wherever they are located. This builds trust and loyalty with global audiences.

Future-Proof Your WordPress Site for International Growth

Even if you only operate in one country now, translating your site makes it easy to expand globally when the time is right.

You‘ll have all the tools and translated content ready to tap into new markets. Taking a "translate later" approach is much harder.

The Bottom Line

There are compelling reasons to translate your WordPress site. It allows you to reach more users worldwide, boost SEO and traffic, convert visitors into customers, gain a competitive edge, and set up future international growth.

Multilingual WordPress opens big doors. Now let‘s look at how to choose the best translation plugin for your needs.

How to Choose the Right WordPress Translation Plugin

WordPress plugins make translating your site much easier compared to coding everything from scratch. With over 43% market share, WordPress dominates global websites.

There are several robust translation plugins for WordPress:

WPML – The Most Powerful Translation Plugin

WPML is the world‘s most popular multilingual WordPress plugin, with over 600,000 active installs. It packs virtually every feature you could need:

• One-click translation for all site content
• Convenient translation management system
• Support for professional human translation services
• SEO optimization per language
• Compatible with leading ecommerce plugins like WooCommerce

In my experience, WPML is unmatched in capabilities for advanced multilingual sites like ecommerce stores. The premium version even adds translation memory and machine translation integrations.

However, WPML may have a steeper learning curve. I recommend it for experienced WordPress users with complex translation needs.

TranslatePress – An Intuitive Translation Interface

TranslatePress makes translating WordPress sites easy with its intuitive visual editing interface. Simply click on any text on the frontend to translate it instantly.

Other useful features include:

• Support for Google Translate integration
• In-context editing without switching between backend and frontend
• Translator role to allow other users to translate your site
• SEO settings like hreflang tags for local languages

I suggest TranslatePress for site owners who want a streamlined translating experience. Beginners find it easier to translate sites visually rather than using advanced tools like translation memory.

Polylang – A Popular Free Multilingual Plugin

Polylang is a full-featured multilingual plugin with over 700,000 active installs. The free version includes:

• Translating posts, pages, taxonomies, navigation menus
• Language switcher widget
• URL configuration for different languages
• Importing existing translations

Polylang is the ideal pick if you want to test the waters of a multilingual site without paying for a premium plugin. You can always upgrade to the Pro version to unlock more capabilities.

Weglot – Automated Translation Using Machine Technology

Weglot takes a different approach. Instead of manual translation, it uses machine translation to instantly translate a site to the visitor‘s language.

Weglot is a great "hands off" solution. But I don‘t recommend it for beginners, since machine translation quality is still hit or miss compared to humans.

Key Takeaways When Choosing a Plugin

Based on your translation needs and skill level, consider which plugin offers the best experience:

• WPML for advanced sites and full translation management
• TranslatePress for intuitive visual translation interface
• Polylang to try multilingual functionality for free
• Weglot for automated machine translation

I suggest narrowing down your choice to 2-3 options, then installing plugins in a WordPress staging environment first. Test driving them allows you to determine what works best before launching your live multilingual site.

Next, let‘s walk through how to install and configure the plugins.

How to Set Up WPML for WordPress Multilingual Sites

I‘ll provide step-by-step instructions to install WPML – the premier WordPress translation plugin with the most robust set of features.

Getting Started with the WPML Installation

First, purchase a WPML license from wpml.org. You‘ll gain access to download the plugin ZIP file, plus a license key to activate WPML.

1. Login to your WordPress dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New.
2. Click on "Upload Plugin" and install the WPML plugin ZIP file.
3. Activate WPML, then click on the notice to enter your license key.

That‘s it – WPML is now installed and ready to start translating your site!

Configuring Key Settings in WPML

Next, we need to configure WPML‘s key settings:

1. Go to WPML > Settings and run the setup wizard. This handles basics like:

   • Choosing your default language
   • Adding secondary language translations
   • Installing the language switcher

2. Under WPML > Settings:

   • Adjust URL format per language
   • Configure SEO options like hreflang tags
   • Enable translator roles to allow other users to translate

3. Under WPML > Translation Management:

   • Connect professional translation services (paid)
   • Enable advanced features like translation memory

Take the time to explore each setting section. Properly configuring WPML from the start will make your translation process smoother.

WPML has a wealth of options to customize your multilingual site. Now let‘s look at translating your actual content.

How to Translate Your WordPress Site Content using WPML

A key benefit of WPML is its extensive controls for translating all your WordPress content.

Let‘s cover how to translate:

• Posts and pages
• Categories, tags, and taxonomies
• Navigational menus
• Theme strings

Translating Posts and Pages

When viewing your posts or pages, you‘ll see an "Add new translation" button for each language:

Clicking this allows you to create a translated version of that post or page. The translation management screen also shows the translation progress for each language:

Translating Taxonomies Like Categories and Tags

You can translate terms like categories and tags under WPML > Taxonomy Translation. Here you can search taxonomy terms and then add translations:

Translating Your Navigation Menus

For navigation menus, go to Appearance > Menus in your WPML dashboard. You‘ll then see options to add translations for each menu:

Translating menus does take more work since you must re-add menu items for each language.

Translating Theme Strings and Static Content

Under WPML > Theme and Plugins Localization, you can scan your theme to identify any static strings that need translation:

The String Translation module also lets you manually translate text in any theme, plugin or widget.

With these steps, WPML gives you complete control over translating all the elements of your WordPress site.

Practical Tips for Streamlining WordPress Translation

Based on my experience managing dozens of multilingual sites, here are my top tips:

1. Translate Full Sentences or Paragraphs For Context

I recommend sending entire paragraphs or sections for translation instead of individual words and phrases.

Keeping text together preserves context and allows translators to account for grammar rules in the target language.

2. Have a Separate Quality Assurance Step

Even if you hire professional translators, always budget time for quality assurance (QA).

A separate QA editor should proofread all translations before publishing to catch any lingering errors.

3. Avoid Machine Translation For Public Content

Machine translation tools like Google Translate have gotten better, but still make errors.

I suggest only using machine translation for internal or non-public site content. Paying for professional translation is worth the investment for public visitor-facing content.

4. Centralize Translations Instead Of Using Separate Files

Keep all your translations in one place within your translation plugin. Fractured processes with separate files leads to inconsistencies.

5. Plan For Ongoing Translation Maintenance

Remember translations will need continuous updates as your site evolves. Budget for ongoing translation costs – it‘s not a one-time task.

Key Takeaways For Translation

Follow these tips from the start to maximize translation quality and minimize headaches down the road:

• Preserve context by translating full content blocks
• Implement a separate quality assurance step
• Avoid low-quality machine translation for public content
• Centralize translations within your plugin
• Plan for ongoing translation maintenance as your site grows

Smooth translation workflows pay dividends in the long run.

Top Tips for Managing Your Multilingual WordPress Site

Managing an existing multilingual WordPress site comes with its own set of challenges. Here are my top recommendations from experience:

Create an Editorial Calendar for Multilingual Content

Maintain an editorial calendar with translation deadlines when adding new content or making site changes.

This ensures all languages stay in sync and translations are ready before new content goes live.

Double Check SEO Optimization Per Language

Don‘t assume your SEO strategies translate across languages. Target relevant keywords for each localized site.

Confirm translated meta titles, descriptions and other metadata are optimized for rankings.

Keep Word Counts Consistent

Translated content often ends up with different word counts. But significant variation looks sloppy.

Have translators aim to match source content length as closely as possible.

Automate Multilingual Site Backups

Losing translation progress is devastating. Set up automated daily backups of your translation plugin.

Test restoring backups periodically to ensure you can recover lost translations if needed.

Audit Quality Quarterly

Set time quarterly to spot check translation quality on your site. Identify common issues and refresh low-quality translations.

Ongoing quality audits help you nip translation problems in the bud.

By putting these practices in place now, you‘ll avoid major headaches over the long haul operating a translated WordPress site.

Frequently Asked Questions About Multilingual WordPress

Here are answers to common questions I get about translating WordPress sites:

Should I use machine translation to save money?

I advise against relying on machine translation if your content is customer-facing. The quality is still too low compared to humans.

Machine translation like Google Translate is fine for internal site content. But for public text, pay for professional translation services and factor the cost into your budget.

What‘s the best practice for handling multiple translators?

Appoint one bilingual editor to oversee all translators. Have them review every translation for consistency before publishing.

Translators should use your translation tool‘s comments to flag uncertainties and ask the editor questions.

How do I know if a translation plugin or service is any good?

I focus on user reviews from other WordPress site owners. Give preference to translation solutions with 4+ star ratings. A history of happy customers indicates a good product.

Avoid newer services without much customer experience to tap into. Testimonials matter more than marketing claims.

Should I translate entire posts/pages or just snippets?

Always translate posts and pages in their entirety – don‘t break into snippets or individual paragraphs.

Full content translation retains proper context and clarity. Plus, reusing existing translations is easier when everything is centralized.

What‘s the #1 mistake to avoid when going multilingual?

Not budgeting enough time and cost for quality assurance testing before publishing translations!

QA can make or break how smooth your transition to a multilingual site is. My advice is allocate 20% of your translation budget specifically for QA and proofreading. Don‘t rush the process.

Are You Ready to Unlock the Multilingual Potential of WordPress?

Creating a translated WordPress site has tremendous benefits for reaching more users worldwide. But only if you use the right translation tools and workflows.

In this guide, my goal was to equip you with practical knowledge from my years of experience operating multilingual websites.

We covered:

• Choosing the best WordPress translation plugin for your needs
• Step-by-step setup and configuration
• Actionable tips for translating content efficiently at scale
• Recommendations for managing your multilingual site long-term
• Answers to the most common translation questions

Understanding these best practices will give you confidence to start translating your WordPress site the right way.

Ultimately, creating a multilingual site does take commitment. But the long-term rewards are well worth the effort for your business and brand worldwide.

What questions do you still have about launching and managing your translated WordPress site? Let me know in the comments!