Growing Your System Using SEO, PPC, Social Media Portals & Trade Shows

Presentation to the Southeast Franchise Forum

The major resources available to your franchise system include:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Pay Per Click (PPC)
• Social Media – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, GoogleBuzz, Blogs, RSS feeds
• Review Sites – Yelp, Kudzu, Angie’s List
• Web Portals – Fran Gator, Solutions, Opp
• Trade Shows – IFE, Atlanta Franchise Show, Industry Trade Shows, Home Shows
• Policies for protecting your brand/marks

The Search Market

The Facts:

• 82% of US adults who conduct research online before making a purchase decision use search engines as a research tool.
• 40% of those conducting online research go to search engines first. Nearly equal percentages of respondents who use search engines to research products online use them to find a web site from which to buy (54%) or investigate where to purchase their desired product (53%)

Where Do They Click?

• 62% of search engine users click on a search result within the first page of results, and 90% of search engine users click on a result within the first three pages of search results. Statistics like these indicate that in order to be seen by the most searchers, marketers need to try to get their listings onto the first few pages of the search results.

The Future of Search Marketing

• Paid Search Marketing was a $8.6 billion industry in 2006 and it will nearly triple to $26.8 billion in 2011. Through 2011, spending for local online advertising will grow at a faster rate than either national advertising or total online advertising, making it a key growth area in a maturing Internet ad space.

Pay Per Click

Where Do They Click?

How SEO Works

While the industry recognizes 160 – 210 checklist items, we have put our efforts into 3 categories to make it easier for our customers: Content, Crawl-Ability Back Links

• Content, Content, & More Content
  • Ok, so Content is important 😉
  • Actually a well written, well planned page has more “SEO Value” than a just a page of words
  • Content is King
  • Targeting Keywords
  • Proper keyword density
• Crawl-Ability
  • This is the equivalent of Braille for your website
  • This is the more technical area of SEO
• Back Links
  • This is the equivalent of a reference in the real world.
  • Some “references” or links carry more SEO value than others
  • Relevance is important

How Pay Per Click Works

• Catch Customers when they are looking for your Product/Service
  • Great Lead Generation Tool
• Only Pay when someone clicks on your Ads
  • Could Show Ad millions of times, but not pay a penny
• Use Custom Landing Pages
  • Increases likelihood of a “conversion‟
• Budget is Set on Daily Limit
• Track Everything
• On Average, a PPC Campaign will require 15 – 20 man/hours per month to run effectively
  • Blind Bidding Process
  • Specialized Software to manage effectively

Market Forecast 2009-2014

Helpful Hints/Lessons Learned

• Prioritize Your Efforts
  1. SEO
  2. PPC
  3. Portals
  4. Shows
  5. Social
  6. Social Media
• Be sure Management is Engaged (Executive Sponsorship)
• Online efforts are a Strategic Business decision not a Technical Decision
• Develop Two Online Strategies/Plans: 1 for Franchise Units/1 for Headquarters
• If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. Focus on ROI (Return On Investment) rather then Technical Metrics
• Focus on the efforts that generate the greatest ROI, otherwise you end up with “The Internet doesn’t work for our business.”
• Community will always trump Brand online. Coordinate online efforts with your franchisees. This will pay dividends to your concept for years.
• Get professional help. Like off-line business, there is no substitute for experience.
• Develop System-Wide Policies & Distribute them to Franchisees
• Monitor Online Activity for Compliance