how franchises can win at search › wp-content › uploads › 2015 › 04 › how... · how...

#CFA2015

How Franchises Can Win at Search

STEVE BUORS - CEO & CO-FOUNDER

KIRK ALLEN - COO & CO-FOUNDER

DEAN SPOKES – METAL SUPERMARKETS

A P R I L 2 0 1 5

The opinions or viewpoints expressed in this presentation do not necessarily reflect those of the Canadian Franchise Association (CFA).

© 2015 Reshift Media Inc.

#CFA2015

#CFA2015

ABOUT RESHIFT MEDIA

D I G I T A L M A R K E T I N G O R G A N I Z A T I O N S P E C I A L I Z I N G I N F R A N C H I S E

O R G A N I Z A T I O N S W I T H S P E C I F I C E X P E R T I S E I N S O C I A L M E D I A , S E A R C H A N D W E B S I T E / M O B I L E D E V E L O P M E N T

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How we view the digital world

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How franchises can win at search

› Search fundamentals

› How to use your franchise network to improve your ranking in search engines

› What local search is and why you should care

› Paid search strategies to increase visibility for high-value search terms

› Metal Supermarkets case study

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SEARCH FUNDAMENTALS

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Search is an excellent way to find people ready to buy

› Google is basically the “homepage of the internet”

93% of all online experiences begin with search

› People are telling you exactly what they want when they conduct a search

› In many cases they are actively looking to buy and are just deciding where and when

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Aluminum bar

How search works

Other Websites

Index

Your Website

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THE SEARCH ENGINE’S OBJECTIVE

P R O V I D E T H E M O S T R E L E V A N T I N F O R M A T I O N B A S E D O N W H A T

T H E P E R S O N I S L O O K I N G F O R

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YOUR OBJECTIVE

W H E N S O M E O N E P E R F O R M S A S E A R C H W H I C H I S R E L E V A N T

T O Y O U R B U S I N E S S Y O U W A N T T O R A N K W E L L V E R S U S

Y O U R C O M P E T I T O R S

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OBJECTIVE ALIGNMENT

M A K E S U R E Y O U A R E R E L E V A N T I N Y O U R I N D U S T R Y A N D T H E S E A R C H E N G I N E

W I L L B E M O R E L I K E L Y T O S H O W Y O U R S I T E W H E N S O M E O N E I S L O O K I N G F O R

T H E P R O D U C T S A N D S E R V I C E S Y O U O F F E R

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Search lingo

› Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Optimize your site to rank organically for your brand and specific words / phrases related to what you do

› Search Engine Advertising (SEA or SEM): Advertise on Google to specifically target prospective customers

› Branded search: When someone is searching for your brand or some variation

› Non-branded search: When someone is searching for the products and services you offer, but not necessarily your brand

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Search engine advertising (paid ads)

Organic search results

(unpaid)

Product listing ads (paid ads)

Search engine

advertising (paid ads)

Google News

results (unpaid)

Local search results

(unpaid)

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OPTIMIZING FOR ORGANIC SEARCH

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Pet food

Other Websites

Index

Your Website

“On Page” “Off Page”

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On-page opportunities

› Metadata

› Technology

› URL structure

› Site content

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Create unique metadata for all pages

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URL structure is important

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It is all about content

› Unique to your site

› Fresh / frequently updated

› Relevant to your brand and/or industry

› A blog is a great way to constantly keep your site updated and position yourself as an authority in your industry

› Also valuable from a franchisee attraction perspective

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Homepage Title: COMPANY NAME | WHAT WE DO Description: Describe your business overall Content: Describe what you do

Products Overview Page Title: PRODUCTS | COMPANY NAME Description: Describe your products overall Content: Describe what your products are or what benefits they provide

Product #1 Detail Title: PRODUCT | COMPANY NAME Description: Describe the specific product Content: Describe the product in detail

Franchising, Contact, Team, etc.

Product 2, 3, 4, etc.

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FRANCHISE ORGANIZATIONS HAVE A NATURAL

GEOGRAPHIC ADVANTAGE

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› Use your scale to create a substantial digital footprint which ranks both nationally and locally

› Replicate your physical store network on your website

› Create a “main” website for all of your corporate information

› Create a single page or a microsite for each location

www.website.com

website.com/store123 website.com/store973


website.com/store456

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› Allows you to tailor your web presence to your local customers

› Provide key local information

Address

Hours of operation

Areas of specialty

› Search optimize your local pages to create natural local entry points for search traffic

www.website.com




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› Search optimize your national site for industry-specific keywords as a search “catch all”

› Search optimize each of your local pages for local-specific terms

Localized metadata

Local products & services

Address, city, province, region

Cross-street / intersection

Regional terminology & spelling

www.website.com




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USE YOUR HEFT TO DOMINATE LOCAL SEARCH RESULTS

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#CFA2015 Source: google.com/think

people conduct local searches. They search on: 4in5

#CFA2015 Source: google.com/think

People purchase at a higher rate after a local search

18% of local searches led to a purchase within a day compared to 7% of non-local searches

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People act quickly after a local search

Source: google.com/think

% of people who visit a store within a day of their local search:

searches on smartphone occur right before people visit a store

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PAID SEARCH IS AN EXCELLENT WAY TO GENERATE LEADS QUICKLY

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Paid search results in quick leads

› Purchase specific terms people are searching and target custom-tailored ads to them

Can be highly geographically targeted

Allows you to find high-quality prospects

› You only pay when someone clicks the ad

You choose where they go on your site and what they see

› Extremely measurable to identify effectiveness against defined business results

› SEO and SEA efforts will work hand-in-hand

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Paid search lingo

› Cost of each ad is based on an auction

› Cost-per-click (CPC): Cost when someone clicks on your paid ad

› Click-through-rate (CTR): The frequency of people clicking your ad relative to the number of times it is shown

› Cost-per-acquisition (CPA): Cost relative to the number of conversions you receive

› Conversion: When the person does the thing you want them to do (ex: call you, fill in a form, buy something)

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How paid search works

Ad rank (which denotes ad

position) =

Relevance

Quality Score X

Bid amount

Max CPC

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Landing page › Distinct from your “organic”

pages

› Page layout is designed to have a strong call-to-action

› Detailed tracking of performance

Use unique numbers so calls can be tracked

Form completions

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The franchise advantage

› Use geography to your advantage to run a more efficient campaign

› Create local paid search campaigns

Hone in on geographies where you operate to avoid wasting dollars

Incorporate local search terms for increased relevance to improve conversion and ad visibility

› Engage local franchisees to unlock local advertising dollars

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www.website.com




› Create local-specific paid search campaigns attached to your local microsites / pages

› Allows for:

Granular targeting of geographic terms

Customization of products by location

Improved conversion through relevance

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When to use what

› SEO is aimed at providing long-term visibility in search engines for your brand and core products & services

› Paid search is used to:

Tactically to increase visibility during a campaign

To gain visibility for highly competitive search terms you cannot rank organically for

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DON’T FORGET ABOUT MOBILE

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Mobile is critical

› For some time both Google and Bing have been strongly suggesting that all companies have a mobile site

› People have a strong preference for sites that look & work well on their device

Expect the site to load in 3 seconds or less

40% go immediately to a competitor's site

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Google is updating their algorithm

› As of April 21, 2015 Google is changing their algorithm worldwide to prioritize mobile-friendly sites in their mobile search results

› You can test your site here:

google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

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SUMMARY

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Summary

› SEO is aimed at providing long-term visibility in search engines for your brand and core products & services

› Paid search is used to:

Tactically to increase visibility during a campaign

To gain visibility for highly competitive search terms you cannot rank organically for

› Your franchise network is a tremendous strength

Dominate local search results

Be smarter than competitors with your paid search campaigns

› Ignore mobile at your own peril



CASE STUDY: SEARCH OPTIMIZATION

AT METAL SUPERMARKETS

D E A N S P O K E S – D I R E C T O R F R A N C H I S E S U P P O R T & O P E R A T I O N S

M E T A L S U P E R M A R K E T S


About Metal Supermarkets

› World’s largest small-quantity metal supplier

› Business-to-business focused

› Over 70 brick-and-mortar stores across the US, Canada, and United Kingdom

› Serve over 60,000 customers

› Sell a wide variety of metals including aluminum, hot-rolled steel, cold-rolled steel, stainless steel, alloy steel, galvanized steel, tool steel, brass, bronze and copper


Objectives

› Increase traffic to our website

› Improve visibility over our competitors in the areas we operate

› Generate new leads directly to our local franchisees

High quality

Measurable

› Increase new customers & sales


Search strategy

› Based on our findings, we developed a targeted search strategy:

Compete both locally and nationally at the same time for organic & paid search visibility to drive new business

– Incorporate a strong local focus to out-manoeuver national competitors

– Use our international scale to out-rank local competitors

Capitalize on mobile search opportunity


First priority was to create a mobile site

› Enables greater visibility in mobile searches and a much improved user experience

› Overall mobile traffic

108% › Mobile search traffic

92%


› Use our scale to create a digital footprint to rank both nationally & locally

Optimize our national pages to rank for non-branded searches

Optimize our local pages to rank for local searches

SEO implementation


› Ensured site structure is SEO-friendly

› Used keyword research to identify opportunities

› Included relevant metadata and content throughout the site

Search traffic 102%

Step1: Enhanced site infrastructure


Step 2: Improved product pages

› Built out our metals pages to include search-friendly terminology to improve both search visibility and user experience

› After only 6 weeks:

Section traffic 124%

Search traffic 102%


4/1/2015 54

• Create relevant and timely information

• Use keyword research to determine areas of focus when writing content

• Train Google to come back frequently

Step 3: Invested in content creation

© 2015 Reshift Media Inc. 4/1/2015 55

› Eliminate duplicate information

› Include key local information

Area / intersection

Community-specific content

› Strong Call to Action

Step 4: Create unique local pages


Paid search implementation

› Created local paid search campaigns which were heavily geared toward generating local leads & in-store foot-traffic

Geo-targeted so each franchisee targets only their area

Negative keywords

Keyed-in on competition

Incorporated local search terms for increased relevance

› Ultimate objectives

Lead generation & driving sales

Visibility

Lower cost & superior position over our competitors


Created unique local paid search pages

› Created individual landing pages for every location to encourage conversion

› Local address & hours

› Trackable local phone number which connects directly to local store

Recorded for quality assurance

› Localized lead generation forms that go directly to local franchisees

› Product and services information to improve quality score


Engaged franchisees

› Corporate office set up the program and funded a trial and a campaign

Refined & tested the local approach

Included one month of paid search advertising for every store

› After the trial, we opened the program for franchisees to participate, at their option

Franchisees can decide if they would like to contribute ad dollars from their local marketing fund, and how much

› More than 75% of franchisees are currently participating


Paid search results

› Have far exceeded even our most optimistic expectations

Click-through rates >3%

Conversions rates >20%

Cost-per-lead $12

Average sale $150


Summary

› Making use of our entire franchise network has been the real key to our success

Strengthening our local approach has also made us more competitive nationally & internationally

Engaging our franchisees in the process has been extremely beneficial

› A combination SEO and SEA approach provides a real competitive advantage

› Have seen measurable business results from our efforts


Steve Buors, CEO & Co-Founder Kirk Allen, COO & Co-Founder

Dean Spokes, Metal Supermarkets

416.616.3046

RESHIFTMEDIA.COM

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