The verdict in three sentences
For a Berlin machinery manufacturer earning more than half of its revenue outside Germany, a German-only website sends French, British and American engineering buyers straight to competitors. The project rests on three things: a solid technical translation of the 80 machine pages (0.12 to 0.20 EUR per word), a per-language URL structure with hreflang, and downloadable spec sheets in every language. At Kolonell, the site itself costs between 800,000 and 3,500,000 FCFA (1,220 to 5,340 EUR) depending on the Starter, Growth or Premium tier, delivered in 9 to 12 weeks.
The real cost driver: technical translation
On an industrial site, translation often outweighs development. A machine page runs 500 to 800 words (description, use cases, specifications, options), plus company, service, after-sales and news pages. With 80 pages at 600 words and about twenty corporate pages, you land around 60,000 words per target language.
| Translation method | 2026 rate (net, per word) | Cost for 60,000 words | Best use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Specialist machinery translator | 0.16 to 0.20 EUR | 9,600 to 12,000 EUR | Product pages, safety, CE conformity |
| General translation agency | 0.12 to 0.15 EUR | 7,200 to 9,000 EUR | Company pages, news |
| Machine translation plus post-editing | 0.06 to 0.10 EUR | 3,600 to 6,000 EUR | Repetitive content, FAQs |
| Translation memory (repetitions) | 20 to 30 % discount | Saves 1,500 to 3,000 EUR | Product lines with similar specs |
| Review by a native sales engineer | Internal time | 3 to 5 days | Checking customer vocabulary |
| Technical glossary DE, EN, FR | 600 to 1,200 EUR | Flat fee | Consistency across languages |
With two target languages, English and French, translation usually lands between 14,000 and 24,000 EUR before translation-memory discounts. The glossary keeps a single term for each component across every page.
Multilingual architecture and DACH compliance
Subfolders (/de/, /en/, /fr/) keep authority on one domain and are enough in 80 % of cases. Country domains (.fr, .co.uk) reassure some buyers but multiply SEO work. Subdomains bring nothing extra for a mid-sized company.
| Criterion | Subfolders /en/ | Country domain .fr or .co.uk | Subdomain en. |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEO authority | Shared on one domain | Rebuilt per country | Partly shared |
| Maintenance cost | Low | High | Medium |
| Local signal | Via hreflang | Strong | Via hreflang |
| hreflang setup | Single configuration | Cross-domain | Cross-domain |
| Recommended for 90 staff | Yes | Only with a local subsidiary | No |
Every page declares its equivalents (hreflang de, en, fr, de-AT or de-CH if content differs, plus x-default). In Germany, the Impressum required by the Digital Services Act transposition (DDG, formerly TMG) must be reachable from every page, and the DSGVO privacy notice must cover each analytics and form tool. Consent must be opt-in before any tracking fires. Spec sheets follow the same logic: one file per language, named, indexable and dated.
What the Kolonell site includes
Development follows the showcase grid: Starter from 800,000 to 1,200,000 FCFA (1,220 to 1,830 EUR), Growth from 1,200,000 to 2,000,000 FCFA (1,830 to 3,050 EUR), Premium from 2,000,000 to 3,500,000 FCFA (3,050 to 5,340 EUR). Languages are set in the quote, as are the number of machine pages and any ERP connector. Translation is handled by your translators or quoted separately. An 80-machine catalogue with filters, generated PDF sheets and a quote form per machine usually sits at Premium. Maintenance then costs 35,000, 75,000 or 120,000 FCFA a month (53, 114 or 183 EUR).
Mini case study
Stefan, export director of a 90-person special machinery maker in Berlin, runs 18 M EUR in revenue, 9.9 M EUR of it outside Germany. The current German-only site brings 3 English-language quote requests a month.
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Target: 2 more qualified requests a month, 24 a year. At a 15 % win rate and an average machine price of 180,000 EUR, that is 3.6 machines, about 648,000 EUR in extra revenue and 162,000 EUR of gross margin at 25 %. Investment: 19,000 EUR of translation, 4,500 EUR for a Premium site and 1,500 EUR for PDF layout, 25,000 EUR in total. One export order covers the project.
FAQ
Do we need a separate version for Austria or Switzerland?
Only if prices, lead times or contacts differ. Otherwise one German version with hreflang de, de-AT and de-CH is enough, showing EUR and CHF if you sell direct.
Is machine translation good enough for spec sheets?
For FAQs and repetitive content, post-editing at 0.06 to 0.10 EUR per word works. For safety instructions and specifications, a specialist at 0.16 to 0.20 EUR avoids costly mistakes.
How long does the full project take?
Plan 9 to 12 weeks: 2 weeks of scoping and glossary, 4 to 6 weeks of translation running alongside development, then 2 weeks of acceptance testing per language.
How do we measure the return of the English pages?
Track impressions per subfolder in Search Console and quote requests per language. A first signal usually appears 8 to 16 weeks after launch.
Does Kolonell handle SEO after launch?
Yes, through a monthly SEO plan at 100,000, 200,000 or 350,000 FCFA. Details are on our SEO services page.
Let's scope your project. Tell us how many machine pages you have, the target languages and your next trade fair date, and we will scope the architecture, translation workflow and launch plan. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
