How to give a quote for keywords? Thread poster: Sarah Hassan
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Sarah Hassan 
United Arab Emirates
Local time: 03:42
Arabic to English
+ ...
Hello all,
A client has recently contacted me for a paid search related project and she asked me to give a quote for around 5,000 keywords. When I tried to calculate it like usual (words per page), she said that quoting for keywords is different from regular quoting.
I worked on localization before but I used to agree with the clients on a flat rate, so I do not really know how to quote for keywords.
Any advice will be much appreciated.
Thanks... See more Hello all,
A client has recently contacted me for a paid search related project and she asked me to give a quote for around 5,000 keywords. When I tried to calculate it like usual (words per page), she said that quoting for keywords is different from regular quoting.
I worked on localization before but I used to agree with the clients on a flat rate, so I do not really know how to quote for keywords.
Any advice will be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Sarah ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 01:42
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Hourly or flat rate. | Jan 23, 2018 |
Quote hourly or provide a flat rate.
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 00:42
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Beware of quoting too low on this | Jan 23, 2018 |
Sarah Hassan wrote:
A client has recently contacted me for a paid search related project and she asked me to give a quote for around 5,000 keywords. When I tried to calculate it like usual (words per page), she said that quoting for keywords is different from regular quoting.
I haven't done an entire project, but keywords come up from time to time. Your client won't just want an accurate translation. They'll want the term that Internet users will be most likely to use, so you need to research current search habits, trends, etc.
I should think you could come up with a per-keyword figure, but it would be far higher than a normal word in running text would cost. Alternatively, charge for the time it actually takes, i.e. per hour. If you're going to have to come up with a set-in-stone price before you start then I strongly advise you to invest a little time in actually doing a few keywords before you quote.
| | | | Mervyn Henderson (X)
Spain
Local time: 01:42
Spanish to English
+ ...
... the only one here who doesn't know what "giving a quote for keywords" entails?
Regards,
Puzzled
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 01:42
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| SEO Keyword research project (not a translation project) | Jan 23, 2018 |
Mervyn Henderson wrote:
... the only one here who doesn't know what "giving a quote for keywords" entails?
Regards,
Puzzled
At least it's how I understood it, it's internet marketing.
Either that, or the client already did the research and just want her to translate them (a string of random words and phrases)
| | | | Mervyn Henderson (X)
Spain
Local time: 01:42
Spanish to English
+ ...
| A load of words? | Jan 23, 2018 |
So they just give you a list of words ...
Meat
Vegetables
Kitchen
Knife
Fork
Spoon
Pressure cooker etc.
(can you tell it's nearly lunch time?)
... and you translate them. OK, I can see that, thanks.
Me, I'd just count the words like any other job.
[Edited at 2018-01-23 12:04 GMT]
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 01:42
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Yes, sometimes they are semantically grouped. | Jan 23, 2018 |
Mervyn Henderson wrote:
So they just give you a list of words ...
Meat
Vegetables
Kitchen
Knife
Fork
Spoon
Pressure cooker etc.
(can you tell it's nearly lunch time?)
... and you translate them. OK, I can see that, thanks.
Me, I'd just count the words like any other job.
[Edited at 2018-01-23 12:04 GMT]
But often times they are random hence more difficult for translation, and the client is just finding out sneaky ways to pay this by the word (not the same as a word in a contextual piece). I think some research will be involved on the translator's side as they need to research the common words in their language, the usage or preferences may be different than the English ones so straight translation won't work.
[Edited at 2018-01-23 12:08 GMT]
| | | | dropinka (X)
Italy
English to Italian
+ ...
Mervyn Henderson wrote:
So they just give you a list of words ...
Meat
Vegetables
Kitchen
Knife
Fork
Spoon
Pressure cooker etc.
(can you tell it's nearly lunch time?)
... and you translate them. OK, I can see that, thanks.
Nope, it's not just about translating words: https://www.wordstream.com/seo-keyword
Me, I'd just count the words like any other job.
And you'd make a loss, because you'd need to use tools like Google Trends to make sure you choose the words people use the most for their Internet searches. And this takes time.
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 01:42
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
dropinka wrote: Mervyn Henderson wrote:
So they just give you a list of words ...
Meat
Vegetables
Kitchen
Knife
Fork
Spoon
Pressure cooker etc.
(can you tell it's nearly lunch time?)
... and you translate them. OK, I can see that, thanks. Nope, it's not just about translating words: https://www.wordstream.com/seo-keyword Me, I'd just count the words like any other job. And you'd make a loss, because you'd need to use tools like Google Trends to make sure you choose the words people use the most for their Internet searches. And this takes time.
As I said this is about google trends, internet marketing, SEO, etc. Anybody who knows how to use these tools and analytics, should also know how to charge for the work (usually hourly, sometimes a flat rate).
| | | | Mervyn Henderson (X)
Spain
Local time: 01:42
Spanish to English
+ ...
| In that case ... | Jan 23, 2018 |
... maybe shouldn't bother. Anyway, if it had been what I thought, I was having second thoughts anyway about context, the bother of translating single words line by line, or one-word segments in a tool.
No idea, Sarah, sorry.
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 00:42
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| The ones I've done haven't been simple lists of words | Jan 23, 2018 |
Mervyn Henderson wrote:
So they just give you a list of words ...
Meat
Vegetables
Kitchen
Knife
Fork
Spoon
Pressure cooker etc.
(can you tell it's nearly lunch time?)
... and you translate them. OK, I can see that, thanks.
Me, I'd just count the words like any other job.
What I've done is help clients to find exactly the word combinations that people might search for when looking for products or services. Those are the combinations that need to be defined as keywords for SEO purposes as they'll be the ones that will bring the client's website to the attention of these people. So if your website is full of recipes for traditional English meals, people may be searching for "Meat and two veg" so that would be identified as a keyword and used within the website text.
Is that clear? I'm not good at explaining IT technology, sorry  .
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 01:42
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Cross-disciplinary. | Jan 23, 2018 |
Sheila Wilson wrote: Mervyn Henderson wrote:
So they just give you a list of words ...
Meat
Vegetables
Kitchen
Knife
Fork
Spoon
Pressure cooker etc.
(can you tell it's nearly lunch time?)
... and you translate them. OK, I can see that, thanks.
Me, I'd just count the words like any other job. What I've done is help clients to find exactly the word combinations that people might search for when looking for products or services. Those are the combinations that need to be defined as keywords for SEO purposes as they'll be the ones that will bring the client's website to the attention of these people. So if your website is full of recipes for traditional English meals, people may be searching for "Meat and two veg" so that would be identified as a keyword and used within the website text. Is that clear? I'm not good at explaining IT technology, sorry .
It involves several disciplines combined: marketing, IT and web/programming, and linguistics. Also some sociology and consumer behavior. And the client is trying to pay for all this with a per word rate.
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Sarah Hassan wrote:
A client has recently contacted me for a paid search related project and she asked me to give a quote for around 5,000 keywords. When I tried to calculate it like usual (words per page), she said that quoting for keywords is different from regular quoting.
I don't think I understand what your client is asking you to do. Is your client asking you to find and translate words in a particular domain of research? Or is the client asking you to translate an existing set of keywords from research she has already carried out? Tracking down 5,000 keywords is a phenomenal task. I think I must be missing something.
Perhaps it is this type of context : https://searchengineland.com/the-giant-list-of-keyword-tools-41678 ? Search, as in search engine, etc.
If so, then the task still seems fairly hefty and I would recommend invoicing this on a good hourly rate, rather than on a per-word basis. It seems to me that your client has probably done you a favour by suggesting that a per-word basis was perhaps not the best choice!
[Edited at 2018-01-23 20:49 GMT]
| | | | Sarah Hassan
United Arab Emirates
Local time: 03:42
Arabic to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Keywords are provided | Jan 24, 2018 |
Nikki Scott-Despaigne wrote: I don't think I understand what your client is asking you to do. Is your client asking you to find and translate words in a particular domain of research? Or is the client asking you to translate an existing set of keywords from research she has already carried out? Tracking down 5,000 keywords is a phenomenal task. I think I must be missing something. Perhaps it is this type of context : https://searchengineland.com/the-giant-list-of-keyword-tools-41678 ? Search, as in search engine, etc. If so, then the task still seems fairly hefty and I would recommend invoicing this on a good hourly rate, rather than on a per-word basis. It seems to me that your client has probably done you a favour by suggesting that a per-word basis was perhaps not the best choice! [Edited at 2018-01-23 20:49 GMT]
I will not need to search and find keywords, my client will provide them, they just need them to be localized. This of course involves looking for the best term used to search for the same in Arabic, so I think an hourly rate is the best way to go.
| | | | Sarah Hassan
United Arab Emirates
Local time: 03:42
Arabic to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks for all your responses, I think an hourly rate is the best way to go.
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