10 characteristics of a kick-ass franchise sales website
TRANSCRIPT
10 Characteristics of a Kickass Franchising Website Webinar
Introduction
Rachael Wachstein Fishman PR
Vice 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 Garner HigherVisibility
Director 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.
Website
Content
Why do Franchise Websites Matter?
Website Development
TakeAways
THE OVERVIEW
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.
WEBSITE CONTENT
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.
#1
When 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.
Website Content
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.
Website Content
Content like franchisee profiles and testimonial videos help prospects visualize themselves
owning your concept. Select franchisees who fit the profile of your target audience.
WEBSITE CONTENT
How much can I make?
Kickass franchise sites assist prospects in researching the opportunity. #2
Start 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.
Website Content
Isn’t this segment too crowded?
Unlike the Snuggie,
the messaging on
your franchising
website should not
be one-size-fits-all.
WEBSITE CONTENT
Kickass franchise sites offer up a relevant experience for prospects #3
Marketing 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.
WEBSITE CONTENT
Kickass franchise sites nurture leads #4
If 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.
WEBSITE CONTENT
Benefits of Blogging for Franchise Sales:
Kickass franchise sites have a blog. #5
Blogging 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. SEO
2. Online Reputation Management
3. Digital Footprint Expansion
4. 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 Topics
Franchisee Stories
Executive & Leadership Profiles
Industry Trends
Consumer Demand
New Deals
Company Milestones
WEBSITE
DEVELOPMENT
WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT
Kickass franchise sites utilize one domain for consumers and franchise development #6
Creating 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 #7
SEO 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
#3
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 Garner HigherVisibility
901.672.7243 ext. 15
For a free consultation, contact:
Rachael Wachstein Fishman PR
847.945.1300
