In Part 1, Rose Newell outlined the key attributes of a good translator. In this part she  attempts to outline what makes a translator successful: since talent alone is not enough. Here are some excerpts:

“What makes a successful translator

The word “successful” is somewhat harder to define than what makes a “good” translator. Some would consider it a success to get enough work to pay the bills. Others (myself included) set their sights (and rates!) a little higher – we have noticed the greater demand for our services as good translators, and we have responded accordingly. We work for those clients that treat us the best and compensate us most fairly.

The point I want to make here is that a good translator is not necessarily a successful one. I was a “good” translator long before I was a successful translator. So what changed? My clients – the number and quality of them. What was the result? A better work-life balance, more flexibility, better compensation. How did I change it? Well, what follows will not be a one-size-fits-all guide to being a successful translator, but it will tell you what worked for me. It will tell you how I gained success as I define it.

Passive (Online) Marketing

Website(s) and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Content Marketing (blog and freebies), Directory Pages, Online Listings

This is where I am most, ahem, “active”. This is the kind of marketing where I put myself out on display, showing people my abilities to entice them in. The advantage of this sort of marketing is that it largely keeps going even when you are having an off-day. It has also got a very good ROI (Return-on-Investment) – since, if you do it well, it not only brings people in, but helps you to show your skills and command a fair rate.

The basics for success in passive (online) marketing

• At least one website is essential for translators. If you are not online, you will not be found. People rarely look in the phone book anymore. Even if they did, I doubt the localisation department at Deutsche Telekom in Bonn, Germany has a copy of the Nottingham Yellow Pages. One that you can personally take control of and update regularly is best. A lot of translators prefer to use self-hosted WordPress for this reason. Prettier themes can be downloaded from WordPress for free, or you can pay money to access a range or just one more suitable, elegant theme. I use Graphene.
• SEO skills, whilst complicated, can really serve you well. Try reading about the fine details of SEO on great sites such as Search Engine Journal (a blog) or SEOMoz.org (handy paid and free tools, blog and VERY useful free guide, which can be viewed online or downloaded). Master these through well-crafted, original content, meta descriptions, alt tags, links and appropriate link text. It might sound complicated, but it is worth learning: just look where I come for the phrase “German to English Technology Translator” (without quotes). THAT is SEO. DIY SEO in fact. A key fact to remember is that Google likes dynamic, often-changing content (like a blog), tweets and links. Write a good, popular blog and your ranking will start shooting upwards. Another fact to remember is that it is not a good idea to pay someone to up your ranking artificially – as Google are cracking down on these tactics (see my blog post on Plagiarism and SEO here). I never spent a penny. Think about it.
• Blog This is what has made my business. After the initial hit of The Ethics of Proofreading, which was linked to (and plagiarised!) everywhere, my rankings started to climb – not just for the blog on a subdomain – but my main site, too. This is another reason to host your own blog.
• Comments on other blogs Such links are usually “NoFollow”, i.e. less valuable to your search engine rankings, but they still count somewhat, and above all else, this is a great chance to get involved in the conversation and arouse interest in you and the services you offer. Keep things interesting, relevant and non-self-promotional though, of course.
• Freebies This is an area I have not yet fully explored. This basically involves giving away some “freebies” to clients – e.g. e-books. When I get time one of these days, I plan to finish one I have been working on.
• Directory Pages These can be varyingly helpful. My page at ProZ.com, for example, is very helpful in presenting my skills as a German to English translator for IT and technology to a wider audience. I get a fair few approaches through directories.
• Online Listings Use Google Places to list your location on Google Maps, or simply use all of these possible sites to link back to your main site. Do not spam, of course, and try to use original content, as this will ensure Google does not apply a duplicate content filter. Read more.

See: The Translator’s Teacup