10 Characteristics of a Kickass Franchising Website

Webinar

Introduction

Rachael WachsteinFishman PRVice President of Content Marketing

Rachael is an experienced digital marketing strategist with over 10 years’ experience working with B2B and B2C companies. She began her career in broadcast production at the Chicago-based ad firm, Leo Burnett. Rachael also worked as an SEO and digital marketing strategist for Organic Ranking Systems.

She joined Fishman PR in 2009 and developed the content marketing practice. In her role, Rachael creates effective strategies to help franchise brands achieve consumer awareness, franchise lead generation, search engine optimization and online reputation management objectives.

Introduction

Andy GarnerHigherVisibilityDirector of Business Development

Andy focuses on all avenues of interactive marketing strategies to provide valuable solutions and maximize client’s digital exposure. He is passionate about uncovering new opportunities and bridging gaps to continually provide growth in the franchise market. His assessment starts with a bottom-line focus when it comes to each client. In the end, ROI is the sole purpose of his job, and his execution must be precise.

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Why do Franchise Websites Matter?

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TakeAways

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Introduction Questions

WHY DO FRANCHISE WEBSITES MATTER?

Why Do Franchise Websites Matter?

The franchise sales game has changed.According to Franchise Update’s most recent Annual Franchise Development Report, the Internet is the top source of franchise leads, with search engine optimization accounting for the largest percentage of Internet leads.

• Prospective franchisees have greater access to information and are self-directed as they explore franchise opportunities.

• Prospects research and evaluate opportunities online before consenting to engage with a brand.

• Prospects inevitably turn to the Internet and specifically your franchising site for more information.

Why Do Franchise Websites Matter?

• It is critical to franchise sales success for brands to communicate a consistent and powerful story about their franchise opportunity through their website.

• Franchising sites provide an opportunity to develop trust; demonstrate creditability; address an ideal candidate’s needs, desires and goals; answer commonly asked questions; and overcome objections to investing in the franchise opportunity.

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WEBSITE CONTENT

Kickass Franchise Sites Tell an Effective Brand Story

Facts and figures are important—demonstrating profitability is key for any franchise sales site. But numbers don’t inspire and connect with prospects the way that real stories about real people do. Create website content that helps candidates understand your brand’s mission, purpose, impact and culture. These are the things that truly differentiate your opportunity from all others.

#1When it comes to franchising websites, facts alone won’t cut it anymore. Franchise brands must tell inspiring stories about themselves in order to stand out in a crowded marketplace.

Kickass Franchise Sites Tell an Effective Brand Story

Example: e² Young Engineers Help Change the World One Child at a Time

Owning and operating a children’s educational enrichment franchise is much more than an investment in your financial future – it is an investment in the future of your community. The mission of e² Young Engineers is to prepare children for the world they’ll be living and working in. e² Young Engineers fills the gaps that traditional education fails to address.

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WHAT’S YOUR MISSION?

The franchise brand provides children with accessible, fun and exciting ways to learn important science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) concepts – skills that are necessary for the creative and critical thinking needed to be successful in the modern world.

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Content like franchisee profiles and testimonial videos help prospects visualize themselves owning your concept. Select franchisees who fit the profile of your target audience.

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How much can I make?

Kickass franchise sites assist prospects in researching the opportunity.#2Start by making a list of questions most commonly asked by candidates. Then, create content to answer those questions.

Do I need prior experience?Is this concept a good fit for my franchise portfolio?What kind of support do you offer?Isn’t this segment too saturated?

Don’t be stingy. Don’t hold out. A lack of great information on your franchise sales site is not going to lead prospects to call or email you to take their search further. If prospects don’t find the information they seek on your website, they will, at best, look elsewhere and, at worst, move on to another opportunity.

Kickass franchise sites assist prospects in researching the opportunity.#2

Website Content Kickass franchise sites assist prospects in researching the opportunity.

Call out your value propositions.Offer franchise reports with in-depth information.

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Isn’t this segment too crowded?

Unlike the Snuggie, the messaging on your franchising website should not be one-size-fits-all.

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Kickass franchise sites offer up a relevant experience for prospects#3Marketing to different types of franchise candidates means having to speak to a variety of needs and wants.

Instead of trying to be all things to all people with a one-size-fits-all approach, let prospects put themselves into buckets and make their experience far more meaningful and relevant.

In addition to the information that Gigi’s Cupcakes provides to prospective single unit candidates, they also offer a resource for multi-brand franchisees.

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Kickass franchise sites nurture leads#4If the only form on your franchise sales site is your franchise application, you are missing out on considerable opportunities to capture and nurture “soft” leads.

Increase qualified leads by engaging prospects who are researching your concept but might not be ready to fill out your application or speak to a sales person.

Offer a downloadable industry report to capture soft leads.

To turn these soft leads into quality leads, automated email drip campaigns educate and inspire prospects to visit the site and consider investing in your franchise opportunity.

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Benefits of Blogging for Franchise Sales:

Kickass franchise sites have a blog.#5Blogging is one of the most powerful tools for franchise lead generation. Publishing high-quality content on a regular basis establishes a franchise brand as a trusted thought leader, keeps prospects engaged with the opportunity and ensures that the right messaging is delivered in online searches for the brand.

1. SEO2. Online Reputation Management 3. Digital Footprint Expansion4. Validation

Frequently updated blog content indicates to the search engine that the site is relevant and therefore ranks higher in related searches.

With each new blog post, you are adding a new opportunity to rank for keywords, obtain PageRank and engage visitors.

Quality blog content gets shared and links. Backlinks contribute to higher search engine rankings.

1. SEO — Search engines love blogs!

2. Online Reputation Management — A negative online reputation can kill franchise sales

By publishing high-quality, optimized articles to a blog on a regular basis, you create a buffer of positive content for the franchise opportunity.

Social media and networking sites like Twitter and LinkedIn are an important part of a franchise brand’s digital footprint.

Blog content is distributed through franchise development social channels to expand the online footprint of the franchise opportunity.

Use the social media networks as micro-publishing platforms, driving traffic to the franchising site.

3. Digital Footprint Expansion

Social media profiles rank high in branded searches, which means they are highly visible to prospects conducting research on your opportunity.

4. Validation — Blogging provides an opportunity to expand on the brand story and establish company executives as trusted thought leaders.

Recommended TopicsFranchisee StoriesExecutive & Leadership ProfilesIndustry TrendsConsumer DemandNew DealsCompany Milestones

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WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT

Kickass franchise sites utilize one domain for consumers and franchise development #6Creating a well-built website that hits on all cylinders starts by ensuring all information is structured under one domain.

Maintains brand consistency across consumer and franchise development sections.From an SEO perspective, you don’t want to split the power/authority of the website.

Provides seamless navigation to the user.

WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT

Kickass franchise sites are developed with SEO in mind#7SEO is the main key to any website. Rankings equal traffic, and traffic equals conversions. • Unique titles, descriptions and content for each webpage• Enough content to support the theme of each webpage.• Clean code that allows the search engines to easily crawl the website.• Mobile friendly• Quick response times (i.e. page speed)

WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT

Kickass franchise sites have a clear navigation hierarchy #8

1. Planning out how you want to structure the site is crucial.2. Make sure your URL structure falls in line with your hierarchy.3. Keep your coding simple and allow the search engines to access it easily. (HTML)4. Minimize the number of clicks the user has to make (no more than 2 clicks if possible).

#1 #2

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WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT

Kickass franchise sites utilize internal linking#9

• Don’t hide or bury the main link navigation. (Be accessible)• Allow your website to spread link juice from the most authoritative pages down. • Internal linking will help reduce your bounce rate.

• Use content to build links from page to page

Internal links show search engines which pages are the most important and where to find them.

WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT

Kickass franchise sites are built with the user experience in mind#10 Proper planning and structuring of the site will provide a great user experience.

TAKE AWAYS

• Tell an effective brand story• Assist prospects in researching the opportunity• Offer up a relevant experience for prospects• Nurture leads• Have a blog• Leverage a single domain• Keep SEO in mind• Make navigation smooth• Include internal links• Built with user experience in mind

Kickass Franchise Sites:

Questions?

Andy GarnerHigherVisibilityandy@highervisibility.com901.672.7243 ext. 15

For a free consultation, contact:

Rachael WachsteinFishman PRrwachstein@fishmanpr.com 847.945.1300