Create Better Content for Franchise Websites: What Audiences Want in 2019

Today’s post is all about creating franchise website content that engages, captivates, and converts. Read on for some insights on what audiences want from your franchise website in 2019, and get your site seen and shared like never before.

Surprise your Readers without Dashing their Expectations

Good content needs to fulfil promises made to the ready via title, context, or description tag. That means avoiding clickbait, blackhat link-dropping practices, and straight-up lying to your readers. But it doesn’t mean your content should be limited to vanilla advice and recycled information.

Anytime your content can contribute a fresh point of view, you’re greatly increasing the odds of engagement and shares. When you’re stuck working with old information, try to reframe it in interesting ways, or tie in personal experience to add a unique point of view.

Craft Aesthetically Pleasing Content your Audience want to Share

Even the most brilliant piece of writing gets under-appreciated if it’s housed in an ugly shell. Think of your content like an entree in a fancy restaurant–presentation matters!

Fortunately, even dull content can get dressed up for better engagement. Make sure everything posted on your franchise website follows these rules (or bends/breaks them knowingly, with purpose):

• Write short paragraphs with plenty of white space between them. You may also want to choose a font that does this for you–sans-serif fonts are generally thought to be the most readable. This simple adjustment can make your content much more attractive, easier to read, and less intimidating compared to a dense block of text.
  
  
• Vary the layout of your content, especially when recycling similar posts for multiple locations. Use bullet points, text highlights, block quotes, bold words, header tags, and italics strategically to mix up your presentation and pique audience interests.
  
  
• Embrace the fact that multimedia matters. Using images, videos, infographics, and audio makes your content exponentially more powerful by appealing to all different “learning styles” at once. And since search engines love multimedia content, adding these elements also increases SERP ranking and visibility.
  
  
• Practice brevity. Keep it simple, stupid (KISS). Short and sweet. In late, out early. Whatever pithy maxim you like best–just do it!

Create Welcoming and Accessible Assets

You wouldn’t build a brick-and-mortar business without accessibility features, so why would you create content on your franchise website that people with disabilities can’t access?

In 2019, users expect accessible content–in fact, it’s a legal requirement.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a comprehensive civil rights law that was developed to protect the rights of individuals with disabilities. The law requires that all “places of public accommodation” – including your business and franchise website, as of 2010 – are legally obligated to eliminate any barriers that prevent disabled individuals’ from accessing “goods and services.”

Common violations include:

• Missing alt text
• Video-only content without audio accompaniment for the visually impaired
• Missing captions for pre-recorded audio
• Use of color as the only means of conveying visual information
• Franchise websites that cannot be navigated by keyboard alone
• Using page language that is not determinable by all users, and incompatible with assistive technologies;
• Failure to adhere to the text and image contrast ratio of 4.5:1 (does not apply to large-scale text);

But this is by no means an exhaustive list. In fact, when conducting our ADA compliance testing, we use 300-point checklist. If your franchise website content is in violation of any of these criteria, you’re technically breaking the law.

Learn More About Creating High-Performance Content for your Franchise Website

Visit https://clicktecs.com to learn how we can take your franchise website content to the next level in 2019.