Whether you have two franchise locations or two dozen, creating unique content for your individual franchise microsites can feel like an overwhelming endeavor. Not only do you have to gather up content from each franchise location, but you have to ensure you’re provided with quality content that meshes with your overall message and brand.
Breaking the task down into manageable steps is your first order of business, and the initial step for adding content is deciding the type of content each microsite needs to include.
Franchisee Microsite Research
Before you start building your microsites, research and set up templates to make your life easier.
Develop a Template
Consistency is key for your overall brand, and using a template for your franchise pages provides a consistent look and feel. Not only will your brand be recognizable on every page, but your franchise pages will be much easier to maintain over time. You can work with a designer and developer to create custom templates that meet your needs.
Perform Keyword Research and SEO Optimization
You’re already getting an edge on SEO by channeling all your traffic to one main site with multiple microsites. This setup is much more advantageous for SEO than having multiple, completed separate websites for each location (versus microsites).
Fortify your power further by doing your due diligence regarding keyword research and SEO optimizations. While certain keywords may work across the board, such as “hamburgers,” “fries,” and “milkshakes” for a fast food chain, you also need to consider the local searches looking for specific solutions to a problem (like lunchtime hunger). Here you’d try something like “hamburgers and fries in Chicago” or “milkshakes in Kalamazoo.”
Use the HubSpot SEO tool to optimize your microsite pages for local search. The tool provides as-you-type advice, a comprehensive keyword dashboard, and other help optimizing keywords for your specific product, service, and location.
Localize Content
Varying sets of keywords are not the only differentiator among your franchise microsites. You’ll also want each microsite to feature unique content. Whether you have two or 200 franchise locations, each franchise page should focus on what makes that location different from the others.
Focus on services provided, the people who work at that location, testimonials, local events, and anything else that sets each location apart from the pack.
Unique content helps you avoid duplicate content issues across your domain. It also provides visitors with a more customized experience than simply splashing the exact same content across every single microsite.
Franchisee Microsite Must-Haves
Now it’s time to build your microsites. Here are a few things each page should have:
Overview
Each microsite should discuss the company’s product or services, but this needs to be done in a way that matches each location’s local tone, flavor, and specializations. While using the same overview content across all microsites may be tempting, duplicate content will work against you on search engines and with area customers. Remember: making the content unique doesn’t mean simply changing out the name of a franchise location or city.
Consider aspects that make each location a little different from the rest. Also, consider the differentiator between the franchisee and its local competitors.
About the Team
Adding a section about each franchise’s team members is an easy and beneficial way to localize content. Not only does this section introduce local customers to whom they’ll meet at your specific locations, but it also lets employees share a bit about their background and expertise. Write a short bio for each team member and include a photo.
Local Events and Ways You’re Giving Back
Maybe your Chicago franchise regularly participates in the local library’s children’s reading program. Or your Kalamazoo location volunteers at the local animal shelter. Any involvement with the local community where your company is actively involved is definitely something you want to highlight on individual sites. Showcasing your community support makes it easy for the community to support you.
Testimonials
Testimonials can be powerful pages on your franchise sites for several reasons. They prove your services and products are legitimate. They highlight successful results local folks are reaping from doing business with you, and they give recognition to area customers and your area branch.
Ask franchise clients and customers to write a review or testimonial specific to that location. You can ask a few favorite customers personally, request reviews or testimonials online, or provide on-site forms people can fill out and submit when they’re in your business.
Forms and Internal Notifications
Speaking of forms, each franchise microsite needs to provide a way for visitors to contact you. One way to achieve this is with a bottom-of-the-funnel offer form. Visitors can click to schedule a demo, speak to an expert, schedule a consultation, or get in touch with franchise team members who can provide what they need.
HubSpot even does one better with a free CRM that lets you set up round-robin lead distribution. This feature evenly distributes your leads to your sales team, replacing a tedious manual process with a seamless automated one.
Internal notifications on the platform give you yet another boost by sending your sales team emailed notifications every time a new lead fills out a form.
Content Offers
Content offers can be an ideal way to capture leads that may not be ready to buy your product or service just yet. Each microsite should contain content offers that allow visitors to download an eBook, guide, tip sheets, and other valuable content in exchange for their email address. Consider creating unique, downloadable content for each franchise focusing on the biggest problems and solutions faced by area customers or clients face.
Contact Page
In addition to forms, every franchise microsite needs a way for website visitors to contact the office directly. Include the franchise’s address, phone number, and email.
Sales and Prospecting Tools
Once your franchise pages have been created, you can gain keen insights about who is viewing them. With HubSpot’s sales tools, your sales team can view and review visitor interaction with your microsites.
B2B companies can gain similar visitor insights with HubSpot’s prospects tool. Here, your sales team can see how many visitors from each company drop by, along with the specific pages they’re viewing. Both tools help you home in on interested prospects.
Launch Your Franchisee Microsite
Once you’ve reviewed the list and established the content you need from each location, your formerly overwhelming task can suddenly become a fairly streamlined undertaking. You’ll also have a strong start for populating each microsite with unique, quality content that lets your brand and its local players shine.
If you need help getting organized, reach out to our team for assistance. We can audit your site and microsites and make recommendations, or we can implement a strategy to update them all using these tips. Let’s chat!
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