Online tools
Recently I have undertaken some interesting projects including; a two week press trip to India, the specification of a dynamic blog and website development with a twist for franchisors. So this month I will be discussing the use of certain web tools to promote your franchise.

How do you use your website?
Franchisors websites have many different uses and users. Firstly there are the actual end consumers that visit the site to find information about products and services, secondly you have competitors, suppliers and other stakeholders and of course you have your franchisees. It is vital that the content of your website considers these different users and engages them all.

Franchisee pages
Some franchisors choose to dedicate a page for each franchisee on their website. This gives prospective customers an opportunity to review products or services available in their local area and make contact directly with them giving the site a more personal and relevant feel. Other franchisors operate through a head office call system and then pass enquiries to the local franchisee. Whichever way you do this on your own website it is absolutely vital that your franchise pages are kept consistent and up-to-date with relevant information and links.

News and blogging – how good can it be?
I have recently returned from a two week press trip with one of my client’s Shared Earth. The trip aimed to review the impact that UK Fair Trade sales are having on Indian artisans and producers. As I would be undertaking many interviews and visiting slums, orphanages, schools, workshops and villages we decided that it would be a great idea to report back on what we were doing while we were there. We set up a blog site which can be viewed at www.sharedearthnewsandmedia.co.uk for people back in the UK to keep tabs on progress as the trip unfolded. This turned out to be hugely successful. With some well timed phone calls and emails leading up to the trip, I managed to get a number of national magazines and newspapers to review the blog while we were in India which has resulted in a number of articles and features being published about the trip. This was good for Shared Earth as it generated additional interest in their recently launched franchise package.

Keeping blogging under control
Blogging can easily get out of control and articles can become out of date. If you embark on a blog make sure that the person responsible for the blog sets aside at least an hour or so each week to do the necessary updates. We recommend Wordpress http://wordpress.com which is free and easy to customise and bolt on to your existing website. We also recommend having the live comments section switched off so that you have an opportunity to review any comments that are posted before they become live on the blog.

News and blogs
Blogs can easily form a great outlet for news stories and used properly form a good communication channel between your business and customers, prospects, media and affiliates. They are also currently favoured by search engines and can help with improving your website’s search engine rankings. More recently we have also established a section for press clippings on the Shared Earth blog. This gives your audience the opportunity to review a range of press clippings uploaded as an image or PDF providing them with additional confidence in your franchise operation.

For more information contact sarah@coconutcreatives.co.uk or call 01963 31030 (five digits!)