Franchise organizations often face unique challenges when it comes to making a website. It needs to serve both the local and national audience (national means countrywide here). Among the responsibilities are managing all local business listings of franchisees and developing original content for both local and national pages.
A renowned agency of Web design Toronto states that when an effective website for a franchise company is being designed, the following factors need to be kept in mind:
A clear navigation on both local and national scale
One of the most important elements in web design is the navigation menu. It helps provides customers a guide to exploring the website’s architecture. Navigation is important on a franchise website. Users can toggle between national and local store (company) websites any second. They should be able to identify when they are switching between the two.
One such example is the Nissan website. Nissan’s website is designed specifically for each market present around the globe apart from a global website. It notifies users time and time that they are on the global website if they visit them. It also shows them the link from where they can go visit their local country website.
Suppose a Canadian internet user based in Winnipeg browses Nissan’s global corporate website. Eventually they find a way to the Canada website of Nissan and starts checking various models. They then decide to book a purchase for Nissan Qashqai. Since the user is in Winnipeg, they will look for Nissan Dealeerships in and around Winnipeg in Manitoba.
That is what Nissan always does to internet users who visit its website from anywhere in the world. The website has one of the best navigation mechanisms present today.
Branding, design and style be consistent
Being a recognizable brand is not just about a good logo, promotional material and colors. It is also about consistency in above three and in everything else. They all should be consistent across both national and local websites.
If web design companies are allowing franchise companies to update local websites on their own, they should provide them with a style guide and a media library in maintaining a consistent look and feel across the whole digital space and cyber universe.
The location folder should be detailed
One of the best ways to help users find their nearest store is through the implementation of a franchise locators on the national website. This can help potential customers navigate to the store’s location easily especially to the one most relevant to them. This also allows for corporate-to-local conversion tracking.
Adding Google maps to the website helps in creating a smooth navigation process. This thus creates an easy experience for users. A lot of users today have mobile devices in hand and navigation should be mobile friendly on all devices (responsive as well).
Some franchise websites are also known to add geo-location functionality to their websites. This helps detect location of each visitor to the website thus prompting them to check out their nearest store’s local page.
A compelling blog
One of the best ways to catch more website traffic and expanding the reach is regularly publishing blogs on the website. HubSpot believes that businesses that are regularly blogging generate around 55% more website traffic in comparison to those who do not create blogging content.
As businesses increase the number of blogs on their website, search engines will able to crawl and index more of the content easily. This thus raises the business’s visibility.
Blogging is a good way for brands to make creativity. It also creates useful, up-to-date content demonstrates that the business is a trusted source and an industry thought-leader. A thought leader in the industry care about providing resources to customers free of cost (make money online).
Local SEO and localized content
Here is a checklist to ensure content is localized and SEO is local:
- Optimized URL.
- Location optimized titles and meta-tags.
- Name, Address and Phone number.
- Data structured on Schema.
- Google Maps embedded wisely.
- Ensuring contact information on the local website is available and is consistent with ones on search engines.
- Localized content as per area and country.