I am a big fan of any tool that will help make the Web more accessible.  There is no doubt that the language barrier might be the last big barrier to break when it comes to Web conversations and content.  One tool that is making translations easier for any web site or blog is ConveyThis. 

To us it, all you have to do is copy and paste the code into your web site’s design.  That is it.  After doing so, you will be given a button that allows you to quickly translate your web site pages into almost any other language out there using a number of different translation services. 

Here is my one on one interview with ConveyThis’s mastermind of operations, Andrew Sylvester.

In what way would a web site be benefited by putting the Convey This translation tool? 

Any websites that wants to expand its user base, attract more visitors or transmit its message to anyone across the globe would benefit from ConveyThis.  Machine translation is the simplest, easiest, and fastest way to convey the content of a website to users who may not fully understand the webmaster’s native language. 

ConveyThis offers a very unique and useful function for webmasters in that it simplifies the translation process both for themselves and for their visitors: the ConveyThis button code is generated instantly and can be copied and pasted directly onto any page, and the button itself is fairly small and elegant, unlike the huge, bulky translation toolbars offered by most translators.  Additionally, visitors can select their language from a simple drop-down or pop-up menu, then choose any translator of their preference that supports that language.  Some people may prefer Google, others Babel-Fish, and so on, and rather than having to visit each translator independently and copy and paste a site’s URL onto a form, they need only to click two buttons and the entire process is taken care of automatically. 

On top of that, registered users can log back in to ConveyThis and view statistics on page views, languages translated, translators used and so on.  This data is invaluable to anyone researching his or her site’s demographics! 

What was the inspiration behind Convey This? 

ConveyThis was created by a company that specializes in professional web and document translation by human translators.  We wanted to create a sort-of "gift to the internet" and, inspired by sites such as AddThis, we used our talents in the translation industry to carve our own niche and shift the focus to a field we already had experience in.  As we say on our website, we’re on a mission to convey all the world’s information, and hopefully ConveyThis is great big step in the right direction! 

You just went through a recent update, what was the main reason behind this and what have you improved on? 

We’ve been very busy over the past few weeks going through a major ConveyThis update, and it’s already making a big, positive difference for our users.  We knew when we created ConveyThis that we had a unique tool that any webmaster would find useful, and we were very pleased–and certainly surprised–with not only how popular it became, but how fast it was growing, too. 

In order to accommodate the sudden influx of new users we upgraded our servers and reconsidered our original button codes to make everything as efficient as possible.  ConveyThis should now run twice as fast.  We were inspired while reprogramming the buttons and came up with a new alternative, unregistered buttons, that can be generated and placed onto pages and blogs without needing a ConveyThis account. It’s a great way to try the service out, but translation statistics and other functions will only be available to registered users. 

After some cosmetic changes to our blog and website here and there, we added support for an additional 9 languages, bringing the running total to around 40.  It’s been a busy couple of weeks, but it was worth it; things are running smoothly, and ConveyThis is better than ever!  

Would you like to work on other related projects or is all of your attention on Convey This for now? 

We still have a lot of things in mind for ConveyThis, so for right now we’re going to stick to that direction.  We get a lot of great suggestions from ConveyThis users that we take into consideration, and big things are definitely underway.  More fully customizable buttons, additional plugins (bloggers should check out our WordPress plugin), support for translating RSS and Twitter feeds, and many other features are all under consideration and development.  The future is looking bright for ConveyThis and its users!  

Why should people sign up to use Convey This? 

If you have a website, you have a message you want to spread.  Why not convey it to as many people as possible, regardless of where they’re from or what language they may speak?  ConveyThis is a fast, convenient, safe, and secure way to get all the benefits of every major online translator in a single, unobtrusive button.  There’s nothing to download, nothing to install, and the benefits are priceless–and we mean that literally, because ConveyThis is totally free, and we don’t collect or sell personal information from any of our users! 

I’d just like to close by giving a big "thank you" to every one of our registered users at ConveyThis who have helped spread the word and made us as popular as we are today–and thanks especially to you, Mitch, for not only being an early adopter and supporter of ConveyThis, but for allowing me this outlet to convey OUR story to everyone else!  We wouldn’t be here today without all of you, so thanks again, and be sure to "convey" your thoughts on our button through our feedback form or blog–we love to hear from you all!