Wheat Creative on How to Build a Strong Franchise Development Website

Name: Wheat Creative

Website: wheatcreative.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wheat-creative-llc/

Founder Name: Justin Baloun

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbaloun

About Wheat Creative:

Wheat Creative is a digital marketing firm specializing in franchise lead generation. Our services include content creation, website development, digital advertising, creative print and sales collateral. A foundation for growth, Wheat is a breeding ground for brilliant marketing ideas. It’s where those ideas take root; where they get fed, nourished and cultivated into masterpieces. With decades of franchise marketing experience, we've helped systems grow from the ground up, as well as branch off in exciting new directions. Our great ideas grow your franchise. 

1851: What makes a great franchise development site?

Baloun: The short answer? User experience. Individually, the components are simple: a great franchise development site needs to be attractive and well-branded, easy to navigate, and impactful, with content that makes an emotional connection. The challenge is putting all of these components together in a perfect package.

The design must be attractive and professional, seamlessly matching the consumer brand while speaking to a distinct audience of franchise candidates. The website must be responsive – easy to navigate on any device – and move candidates through the sales process without them feeling lost or locked in.

The content must be clear, entertaining, and informative without over-promising. It has to find the perfect balance between the emotionally enticing and the financially pragmatic, assuring a candidate they can trust the franchise with their hard-earned money. Layer in basic programming and SEO requirements, and the entire task of building a new franchise development site is more complex than many think.

1851: What are some sites you see as top notch in franchise development?

Baloun: In no particular order:

Pizza Ranch https://pizzaranchfranchise.com/

Lo-Lo's Chicken & Waffles http://lolosfranchise.com/   

LINK https://linkfranchising.com/

Dream Vacations https://www.dreamvacationsfranchise.com/

Gold's Gym https://franchising.goldsgym.com/

Which Which http://www.whichwichfranchising.com/

MaidPro http://www.maidprofranchise.com/

Little Gym https://www.thelittlegymfranchise.com/

7-Eleven http://franchise.7-eleven.com/franchise/home

1851: How should franchise sales professionals and executives evaluate their development site?

Baloun: Start by asking if your current site matches your consumer brand, if it has been rebuilt/refreshed in the last five years and if it’s responsive. After those basic criteria are met, it all goes back to the components above.

1851: What are the most important KPIs around a development site?

Baloun: Before we launch any new site, we run through the page speed and SEO test. After launch, we monitor three sets of numbers on an ongoing basis:

1. Steadily increasing organic traffic numbers and Google rankings
2. Improving traffic quality numbers (bounce rate, pages per session, time on site)
3. The big one – qualified candidate conversion rate via forms and call tracking

We expect improvement in all three sectors when compared to the old site and in year-over-year numbers.