Guest Post By: Scott Sisson of Sisson Media Corporation
It’s no secret that franchise owners begin the process of franchising initially because they want to grow their core business location.
With the physical expansion comes extra reach to new local markets, new opportunities and new customers they could otherwise not reach.
The same goes with web customers. Like their offline counterparts, the online customers also search for local products and services.
When we think of local, we are talking of course about finding something online so that we can physically visit while offline.
Chicken Pizza Anyone?
For instance, I live in Canton, Georgia and want to find good BBQ Chicken Pizza. Where do I begin? I might call some of the local pizza shops to ask them if they serve this unique style of pie, or better yet, I might just belly up to the computer or whip out my mobile phone to access my favorite search engine.
This online search has been a growing trend over the past 10 years. Each year in fact, more and more people of all ages are less and less likely to pull a phone book or use a telephone to find what they need locally.
Businesses of all types have recognized the need for both offline real estate AND ONLINE real estate. So how do businesses lay claim to online retail space? They try and get in front of eyeballs, much like the old saying….location, location, location.
However, with online real estate, location is defined by rankings for appropriate keyword phrases. That is, if my business makes a killer BBQ Chicken Pizza, I want to make sure my business site ranks for all types of phrases a potential customer might type to find the best BBQ Chicken Pizza in town….me!
Expanding Reach With Local Franchise SEO
What if I’m a franchise owner though? How can I leverage my site for better search rankings?
Well, first off, I want to be sure that I have an online presence for each location I serve offline. Let’s say my base operation is in Atlanta. Odds are, I already have (or should have) a plan for top rankings for phrases related to ‘bbq chicken pizza’ and any number of Atlanta based prefix/suffix type searches.
However, lets say my franchise is expanding into Chattanooga, TN. The last thing I want to do is slap a generic message on my franchise site or a simple one page addendum mentioning the move. I want to take advantage of this new market for my business with a plan of attack to gain online search rankings for the Chattanooga area.
In simplest terms, this means utilizing multiple pages on my site dedicated to the Chattanooga area. How many pages should you focus on? It depends on the competitiveness of the product or service for your target area. In this case, you would need to research applicable keywords for search numbers and relevance, then plan your optimized content around those topics.
Think about answering questions your customers are likely to have, and consider each page as an answer serving one potential search phrase. You may achieve the rankings you want with just one or two new pages, but you’ll need to research, then review results and tweak or add more content monthly.
Utilize external sites too….see if you can pick up links to you new content from social media sites, forum discussions, review sites and online directories. With some work up front you can secure a steady stream of visitors over time that won’t likely go away!
Since my entire fictional pizza site is likely dedicated to the Atlanta area, this second physical location offers me the chance to build a section of my franchise site dedicated to Chattanooga. Just like our offline efforts, online strategy requires content and optimization planning….don’t leave those rankings on the table!
With a new market content strategy for your new market, you can easily match your offline presence with plenty of new visitors online. So, don’t forget to plan for website expansion with each new location your franchise offers!
Scott Sisson is the founder and president of Sisson Media Corporation, an Atlanta, GA based web services company. Since 1996, Sisson Media has been building, maintaining and ranking websites across multiple industries.
For more information, check out more on this topic with our online franchise consultants blog.
If you would like to speak with one of our franchise consultants today, please don’t hesitate to call (706) 356-5637!