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Nowadays, anybody who has something to say writes it in a blog. From web gurus to experts in home deco to work-at-home-moms, blogging seems to be the best way to share ideas, insights and everyday problems with an audience of peers. That been said, it is quite likely that, as a translator, you’d been wondering if you should start your own blog. In fact, it could be a great idea and it could have a significant impact on the number of clients you work for.
Let’s discuss the main reasons why having a blog could help your career.
A Great Way to Establish Credibility
Whether you are an experienced translator or a recently graduated one, writing your own blog will allow you to share your insights, communicate news, write about the challenges you face while working on a document, or simply get your name spread around. Even though a blog should not be considered a direct marketing tool, it is true that if yours is successful it will definitely have some linking power that will call the attention of other colleagues, translation agencies and potential clients as well. Having an “About Us” section in the blog will allow you to promote your business and share with your audience your areas of expertise, translation portfolio and so on.
Besides, blogs are easily indexed by most important search engines. Therefore, anyone searching for your name in the Internet will reach your blog. This leads us to one of the main important aspects that you should take into consideration if you write a blog as a translator: you should be absolutely careful with what you write about and the quality of your writing. As a language expert, your blog should have an impeccable grammar and syntax, no typos and it should deal with language-related topics. The more professional your blog is, the more readers will stick to it and probably a large number of them will eventually become your clients.
An Awesome Networking Tool
Another reason why translators should have a blog is that it provides them with an awesome tool allowing them to meet colleagues and establish nice relationships with them in an informal way. There are great chances that fellow translators either have their own blogs or like reading other people’s blogs. You can be part of really interesting discussions, get to know other translators better and learn a lot of different things. Many bloggers that share similar interests usually organize face-to-face meetings over a cup of coffee. Wouldn’t that be nice?
Professional Control in Cyberspace
It is also worth mentioning that having a blog allows you to carefully build your own online reputation while having at the same time full control over it. Since you are the writer and editor of your own posts, you can rest assured that everything you publish is well written and useful.
Show Off Your Skills
Last but not least, having your own blog is a great way of sharing with potential clients your knowledge of your area of specialization. This is especially useful if you specialize in a highly competitive niche or in one in which having a good writing style (just as literary or marketing translation) is very important.
