As you know, LavaBlast develops software for the franchise industry. The most important piece of custom software most franchisors will have developed is their franchise website. The Internet is now a leading source for franchise prospects and should not be neglected. Some franchisors neglect their website, thinking that their customers don't use it anyways. Simply put, this is not a good strategy since the website is not only useless for customers but also turns off any franchise prospects.

We've listed a few of the important steps to help guide you in the development of your franchise website. Depending on your franchise, some of these step may be optional.

Step 1) A credible web design template 

All websites start with a general web design template which drives the look & feel. This template can be changed with time but it must be visually attractive AND serve a functional purpose. Visitors will judge your franchise's credibility based on this template, whether you like it or not. As you know, first impressions are everything! If you cannot afford to hire a high quality web designer to create a custom web design template for your franchise, do not design it yourself. One affordable solution is to use an open source web design template as a temporary measure. Still, beware of easily identifiable stock photography, which decreases the credibility of your franchise website. 

Step 2) Quality content

An often neglected step when creating a new website is to write high-quality content. Most franchisors are busy with numerous other business development tasks and do not have the time to write content for their franchise's website. Others simply do not have the writing skills required to do the task. In both cases, there are solutions to both of these challenges (yes, you may have to cancel that upcoming golf trip to speak with a writer!) and you must create high-quality content to put on your website.  Although you might prefer a succinct website featuring a few bulleted lists, search engines use your content to drive traffic to your site. Furthermore, in-depth articles help keep visitors on your websites, increasing your chances of finding a new franchisee or attracting new customers.  LavaBlast can help you write quality content and structure it appropriately!

Step 3) A few important dynamic modules.

Every franchise website should contain two critical dynamic modules with which visitors interact (as opposed to static pages which visitors simply read). The first module is a franchise information request form. Franchise prospects fill out a small questionnaire which notifies the franchisor of their interest. Software development firms such as LavaBlast can send these leads to your CRM software and automatically send some relevant documentation to these leads.  Since LavaBlast imports these leads into FranchiseBlast, you can monitor the effectiveness of various marketing campaigns. The second module is a store locator which is used by your customers to find the nearest store or service provider. Very small franchisors can simply list the stores but this approach is not scalable. Thanks to FranchiseBlast, LavaBlast can integrate a store locator into your website within minutes, because all franchisors share the same problem.

Step 4) E-commerce

Depending on your business, you may want to offer an online store. The e-commerce software built by LavaBlast allows you to manage your website in the same way you would manage a store's point of sale, and automatically imports your product line and shows your sales in FranchiseBlast, your franchise intranet. If you decide to have the closest franchisee fill the order, your sales can show up directly in their point of sale. However, should you want your warehouse to ship orders, LavaBlast will gladly integrate with their software systems. An often overlooked element is the return process, which must be flexible for customers without being too costly for the franchisor.

Step 5) Internationalization and localization

Once your website content has stabilized, you might want to attack new markets in other countries. This may require you to translate your website into another language, offer new currencies, and even vary content according to the visitor's country of origin. If you plan on entering foreign markets or simply if your country has multiple official languages (such as Canada!), your web developer should build your website to ensure its localization will not be a problem when you're ready. LavaBlast's software engineers can assist you with this process.

Step 6) Search engine optimization (SEO) and website promotion

Search engine optimization is the process by which a website is improved to increase its attractiveness to various search engines. There are a few technical hoops you need to jump through and LavaBlast can help you with those (or you may want to try out automated tools such as HubSpot's Website Grader). The secret to getting a high placement on Google is to have high quality content and numerous incoming links. Promoting your website is an arduous task, especially in the franchise industry where the competition is fierce! As soon as your website is online, you should take advantage of tools such as Google Analytics to monitor your traffic and continually refine your content and promote your site to increase visits.

Conclusion 

The secret to obtaining a successful franchise website is a combination of:

• Attractive web design
• High-quality content
• Follow the basic technical search engine optimizations
• Promote, promote, promote!
• Continually monitor and refine your website!