Joel Libava
One of the most important things you need to do (as a franchisor), is build a powerful online presence for your franchise brand. Why?
Because it’s no secret that consumers are spending more and more time online, and if your business isn’t visible there, you’re losing out on many potential customers and new franchisees.
(With that in mind, I hope you enjoy this Guest Post from Erik Emanuelli)
In this post, we will discuss 10 ways that you can build an online presence for your franchise business brand. These tips will help you get started on the right foot!
On Using Content To Increase Online Presence For Your Brand
- Understand Your Audience
- Create Value
- Pick the Right Keywords
- Work on Your SEO Strategy
- Pay Attention to Design
- User Experience First
- Build a Newsletter and Email List
- Be Social
- Try Out Ads
- Leverage Guest Posting
Understand Your Audience
Before you can start building your online presence, it’s crucial that you understand your audience.
Who are they?
What do they want to see from your business?
To answer these questions, you can:
- Review Traffic Data and Analytics
- Create Buyer Personas
- Conduct Surveys
Review Traffic Data and Analytics
One of the best ways to understand your audience is to review traffic data and analytics.
This information can tell you a lot about who is visiting your website, what they’re interested in, and how they found you.
It’s important to track this data over time so that you can see patterns and trends.
This information will be invaluable as you work on building your online presence.
Create Buyer Personas
Another great way to understand your audience is to create buyer personas.
These are fictional characters that represent your ideal customer or franchisee.
You can give them a name, age, occupation, interests, and anything else that will help you understand them better.
Once you have your franchise buyer personas created, you can use them to guide all of your online marketing efforts.
Conduct Surveys
Another option is to conduct surveys. This can be done online or in person.
Ask your customers and potential franchisees questions about their needs and wants.
Find out what they think of your business and what you could do better.
This feedback will be very helpful as you work on building your online presence.
Once you have a good understanding of who your target market is, you can start creating content that appeals to them.
Creating Value Always Helps Increase The Online Presence For Your Franchise Brand
Another important thing to keep in mind as you’re building your online presence is to create value.
Your content should be informative, helpful, and relevant to your audience. If it isn’t, they won’t stick around for long!
Some practical tips include:
- Focus on Solving your Audience Problems
- Ask Your Users to Participate
- Be the First to Cover the News
Focus on Solving your Audience Problems
Your content should be focused on solving your audience’s problems.
Think about the questions they’re asking and the pain points they’re experiencing.
Then, create content that addresses those issues.
If you can help your audience, they’ll be more likely to stick around and and inquire about your franchise opportunity or products.
Ask Your Users to Participate
Another great way to create value is to ask your users to participate.
For example, you could ask them to fill out a survey or leave a review.
This not only helps you gather valuable information, but it also shows your audience that you care about their opinion.
Be the First to Cover the News
If you want to build an online presence for your franchise brand, it’s important to be the first to cover news about franchising and your own brand.
When something new happens in franchising, write about it!
Your audience will appreciate being able to read about the latest news and developments from you.
Pick the Right Keywords To Increase The Online Presence For Your Franchise Brand
If you want your business to be visible online, you need to choose the right keywords.
These are the words and phrases that potential customers will use when they’re searching for businesses like yours.
Do some research and figure out which keywords are most relevant to your franchise concept. Then, make sure to include them in your website content, blog posts, social media posts, etc.
Some tips to find your keywords include:
- Think Like a Customer
- Study Your Competitors
- Consider Long-Tail Keywords
Think Like a Customer
First, think about what your potential customers/franchisees would search for.
What keywords would they use?
What questions would they ask?
Make a list of these keywords and phrases, and then start incorporating them into your content.
Study Your Competitors
Another great way to find keywords is to study your competitors.
See which keywords they’re targeting and try to come up with some of your own.
Consider Long-Tail Keywords
Finally, don’t forget about long-tail keywords.
These are longer, more specific phrases that are less common than shorter keywords.
But they can be very effective because they show that you’re an authority on a certain topic.
And they’re often less competitive, which means it’ll be easier for you to rank for them.
Work on Your SEO Strategy For Your Franchise Brand
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a crucial part of building an online presence for your franchise.
Basically, it’s the process of making your website and content more visible on search engine results pages.
There are a lot of different factors that go into SEO, so it’s important to do some research and figure out what will work best for your business.
Some strategies include:
- First Write for Humans, Second for Engines
- Focus on Building Links
- Optimize for Featured Snippets
First Write for Humans, Second for Search Engines
One of the most important things to remember when it comes to SEO is that you should always write for humans first.
Your content should be informative, well-written, and engaging.
If it isn’t, people won’t want to read it – and that’s not going to help you grow your franchise business!
Once you’ve written your content, you can then start thinking about how to optimize it for search engines.
But don’t forget that humans should always come first.
Focus on Building Links
Another important SEO strategy is to focus on building links.
Basically, this means getting other websites to link back to yours.
The more high-quality links you have, the better.
So, how do you get other websites to link to yours?
Well, you can start by creating great content that people will want to share.
You can also reach out to other websites and ask them if they’d be interested in linking to your site.
Optimize for Featured Snippets
Finally, don’t forget to optimize for featured snippets!
Featured snippets are the little boxes that appear at the top of search engine results pages.
They usually contain a summary of the answer to a searcher’s question.
If you can get your website featured in one of these boxes, it’ll be a huge boost for your business.
To do this, you need to make sure your website is optimized for featured snippets.
This means using clear and concise language, using structured data, and including images and videos.
Pay Attention to Design
When someone lands on your website, you want to make a good first impression!
That’s why it’s important to pay attention to website design. Your website should be visually appealing and easy to navigate. If it isn’t, potential customers will click away quickly.
Remember to:
- Keep It Simple
- Match Site Colors With Your Brand
- Use White Spaces
Keep It Simple
When it comes to design, less is often more.
You don’t want your website to be too cluttered or overwhelming.
Instead, focus on making it simple and easy to navigate.
Match Site Colors With Your Brand
The colors you use on your website should match the colors of your brand.
This will help create a cohesive look and feel for your site.
Use White Spaces
White spaces, or negative spaces, are the areas of your website that are empty.
They may seem like wasted space, but they’re actually very important!
White spaces help break up your content and make it easier to read.
So, don’t be afraid to use them!
User Experience First
Remember that your website is for your users, not for you!
That means that you should always put user experience first.
Make sure your website is easy to use and provides the information that your audience is looking for.
Some tips include:
- Optimize for Mobile
- Most Important on Top
- Know Your Audience
Optimize for Mobile
More and more people are using their phones to browse the internet.
That’s why it’s important to optimize your website for mobile devices.
Make sure your site is responsive and easy to use on a smaller screen.
Most Important on Top
When someone lands on your website, you want them to see the most important information first.
So, make sure it’s prominently featured on your homepage.
Know Your Audience
Before you start creating content or designing your website, take some time to get to know your audience.
Who are they?
What do they want?
What kind of language do they use?
Answering these questions will help you create a website that appeals to your target audience.
Build a Newsletter and Email List
One great way to build an online presence is to start a newsletter.
This can help you stay in touch with your audience and let them know about new products, services, blog posts, and more.
Keep in mind to:
- Use Attractive Opt-Ins
- Collect the Right Data
- Provide Valuable Content
Use Attractive Opt-Ins
In order to get people to sign up for your newsletter, you need to use attractive opt-ins.
This means creating a sign-up form that is eye-catching and easy to fill out.
Collect the Right Data
When you’re collecting data from your subscribers, only ask for the information that you need.
Don’t try to collect too much data or you’ll turn people off from signing up.
Provide Valuable Content
If you want people to keep reading your newsletter, you need to provide them with valuable content.
This means writing interesting and informative articles that will appeal to your target audience.
Be Social
Another important part of building an online presence is to be social. Use social media to connect with potential and current customers.
Post interesting content, answer questions, and get involved in conversations. This will help you build relationships and grow your business.
Some tips to be successful with social media include:
- Create a Strategy for Each Platform
- Be Consistent
- Interact with Your Users
Create a Strategy for Each Platform
Before you start posting on social media, it’s important to create a strategy.
Think about what platforms you want to use and what kind of content you want to post.
Be Consistent
Once you’ve created your strategy, it’s important to be consistent.
Post regularly and interact with your users often. This will help you build a strong online presence.
Interact with Your Users
Social media is all about interaction. When you’re posting on social media, make sure to interact with your users as much as possible.
Another important aspect of user interaction is having reliable email communication. As business communication remains a cornerstone of effective marketing, franchise owners should consider utilizing affordable email providers tailored for businesses. This ensures seamless and cost-effective professional interactions with customers and partners.
Answer their questions, respond to their comments and get involved in conversations. This will make them feel valued and help build relationships between you and your customers.
Try Out Ads
If you’re looking to reach a wider audience, you can try out ads.
There are a lot of different advertising options available, so do some research and figure out which one would be the best fit for your business.
To have success with your advertising campaign, remember to:
- Target Relevant Keywords
- Use Powerful Headlines
- Talk About the Benefits
Target Relevant Keywords
When you’re creating ads, it’s important to target relevant keywords.
This will help make sure that your ad is seen by people who are interested in what you have to offer.
Use Powerful Headlines
Your headline is one of the most important parts of your ad.
Make sure it’s attention-grabbing and tells potential customers what they can expect from your business.
Talk About the Benefits Of Your Franchise Brand
When you’re creating an ad, always focus on the benefits of using your product or service.
What can you do for your customer? How will they benefit from using your business? Answering these questions will help create a successful ad campaign.
Leverage Guest Posting
And finally, one last tip for building an online presence is to leverage guest posting. This involves writing blog posts for other websites in your industry.
It’s a great way to get your name and your business out there, and it can also help you build relationships with other businesses in your industry.
Some tips for guest posting include:
- Build Relationships
- Write Epic Content
- Leverage Your Bio
Build Relationships
Before you start guest posting, it’s important to build relationships with other bloggers in your industry.
Reach out to them and introduce yourself. Once you have a relationship established, you can start pitching ideas for blog posts.
Write Epic Content
If you want people to read your guest post, you need to write epic content. This means writing something that is interesting, informative, and well-written.
Leverage Your Bio
When you’re guest posting on another website, make sure to include a bio at the end of your post.
This is a great way to promote your business and get people interested in what you have to offer.
Final Words
If you follow these tips, you’ll be well on your way to building a strong online presence for your business. Just remember to be patient, consistent and always put your audience first!
What are some other tips you would add to increase your online presence?
Let us know in the comments below!
(This post was written by Erik Emanuelli. I’ve known Erik for a long time, and he’s a veteran online marketer, blogger, and one of the good guys.)
Note: When you buy through links on this website, we may earn an affiliate commission. In addition, I've started to use AI to help me craft better article titles and headings.
