Team of 12 Franchise Experts Evaluates 200 Websites, Announces 8th Place Rita’s Italian Ice

More than 200 franchise brand websites were reviewed by industry judges, and 75 were recognized as best-in-class. Each of these categories were meticulously evaluated by a panel of 12 judges and given a score on a ten-point scale; the website rankings are based on a composite average of these scores. Rita’s Italian Ice was a “best of the best,” tied for 8th overall with a score of 7.25.

The judging panel was comprised of industry experts: Sean Fitzgerald, of 1851 Franchise; Nick Powills, of No Limit Agency*; Batchelor, CEO and Jack Monson, Director of Digital Strategy, of Qiigo; Michelle Rowan, President of Franchise Business Review; Craig Slavin, CEO of Franchise Navigator; Jamshaid Hashmi, CEO of ClickTecs; Kay Ainsley, Managing Director of MSA Worldwide; Keith Gerson, President of FranConnect; Stan Friedman, President of FRM Solutions; Steve Beagelman, CEO of SMB Franchise Advisors*; and Todd Bingham, President of Pinnacle. Each judge was tasked with judging hundreds of submissions, from which they awarded 75 standout franchise development websites with a gold, silver or bronze designation. The judges had this to say about Rita’s Italian Ice’s franchise development site:

Rowan: I love the webinar idea - it’s a very low-pressure way to educate candidates. Site is visually fun and conversational, which is consistent with the type of product the brand offers. Webinar invites are a great, non-invasive way to capture candidate info right away without hiding basic franchise info from them. The site overall is very clean and easy to read and navigate.

Ainsley: Straightforward, simple design with good top line information.

Beagelman: I liked the strong brand association, great movement, use of cutting edge and multiple graphical tools, and that it had lots of information.

Friedman: Modern look. I liked the layout of the information. The site incorporated videos nicely with text content.

Slavin: I’m not sure why I ranked this site so high as it is all about the company and not the benefits of owning. However, part of their messages is good.

Hashmi: The site is clean and information is easy to access. I liked the sticky bar at the top because it allows the user to easily ‘inquire'.