Content Ideas for your Professional Services Franchise

In this installment of the “Content Ideas for Your Franchise” series, I’ll go over some topic inspiration for Professional Services Franchisee Sites. With it, you’ll be able to start producing the content necessary to feed your blog: updating your content regularly is one of the ground rules for SEO.

But not just any content: it needs to be relevant, compelling, local and give real value to the reader. As you know, a good blog that’s updated can help you stay on point with your SEO strategy and  generate 7 times more traffic than a static page! So if you want to take advantage of this but are feeling a little lost on what to write about, we’ve got you covered!

Information Musts for Professional Services Franchises

997219 exclamation mark 150x150 Content Ideas for your Professional Services FranchiseBefore we dig into content ideas for your franchise, you first need to look at your sites: do they have all the information MUSTS so that customers can learn more about your business? These are an essential part of your site and that’s why they’re mentioned here!

Make sure you include these in your site: phone, areas you service, expertise, a CTA, testimonials and your credentials. If they’re not in there, visitors may get confused, at which point it won’t matter what kind of content strategy you use because they’ll probably won’t trust your company.

If you still need to know why they’re important, refer to the “Information Musts” post linked above!

Content Ideas for Your Franchisee Sites

As you know content is a key ingredient in any site. This is even more true for a professional services franchise! You want people to see you as an authority in your field of business. If you own or are part of a franchise that offers professional services, you know that information can go a long way, so go through these ideas to give your customers (and the search engine) the content they need!

Tips & Tricks / How-To’s

Tips and tricks are easily one of the most sought after posts out there. People want to know some pointers that will get them a better car deal, a better marketing strategy, etc. These can be easy to write up because they are digested versions of your area of expertise. This way, you’re showing your visitors that you know what you’re talking with valuable and engaging information.

In the example below, this franchise is giving out some tips on taxes. As you can see, they have a different approach to the subject: tips for teens. By giving it this little spin, they make this post interesting and new. It’s probable that their customers’ demographic consists of middle-aged people that will likely have teenagers at home, so they know that this subject will be right up their alley.

 Content Ideas for your Professional Services Franchise

Think about engaging and common subjects but transform them into a really specific and unique post that nobody has written about. This way you’ll be sure to have a successful blog!

Tutorials on the other hand, are more step-by-step guide on information that can help a customer on a specific subject related to your business. By simplifying complicated instructions to helpful “how-to’s”, you’ll be a leader that visitors may want to come back to when they need some advice on subjects related to your business. Which, in time, may get you a customer base and even new customers!

Again, originality is key here. Make sure you localize your content. A local approach to a common subject can be helpful for visitors that are looking for content that is relevant to the problem at hand. Try it out!

Q & A

Answering customer questions is an effortless alternative to find a subject for your posts. It’s safe to say that customers always have doubts and concerns about topics related to your business. By answering their questions you’re giving them a voice and caring about what they have to say. More over, you’re being informative and helpful in a relevant and compelling way.

Recommendations

Did you find an e-book that can be helpful for your visitors? Is there a video out there that goes through a common concern your visitors have? By suggesting a good read, for example (about something that you can’t post yourself), you’ll be sharing great information with them.

News, Trends & Events

Take inspiration from the world around you! What’s happening in your line of business, your customer’s trends and the events going on in your community can be turned into posts that will help you update your blog and be in with the times!

For example, this same franchise related one of the most talked about occurrences in the year, the Oscars, with their line of business. Tax and Oscar season are brought up together in a way that makes sense and with valuable information, which makes for a “shareable” post.   Plus, it comes with an infographic which makes it more dynamic!

 Content Ideas for your Professional Services Franchise

Real Scenarios

More than ever, people want to read real success stories. These make for great and easy posts because you’re going through real life experiences. Some of your site’s visitors are just researching your company and want information that will give them that extra push towards taking the decision to work with you.

Share the anecdotes of businesses or people you helped, the problem they were having and what strategy you used to solve them.

Additional Ideas

sign 34441 640 150x150 Content Ideas for your Professional Services Franchise – If you want to mix it up now and then, a video post around any of these ideas can be a great option. By giving them visual references you’ll provide a more interesting and dynamic post.

– To this same point, an infographic makes for a more readable and friendly article. If done right and with the correct information, an infographic can be useful and entertaining.

– Since you’re a franchise that offers professional services, I would advice using hard data to back-up your posts. With them you can write up a more authoritative and convincing blog, which visitors will like to come back to get facts from. Make sure that while you are talking about dense information, to make your posts readable, compelling and enjoyable enough.

– As you may know by now, local content is what makes the different in franchisee sites. Write about topics that speak to your local customers! By customizing the posts to fit the local audience, you’re creating engaging content for your visitors.

– If you need some more help and ideas for content, you can always check out the competition and draw inspiration from them.

– At the same time, you can check out this Content Solutions posts that’ll give you tips on how to manage your franchise’s content strategy.

Conclusion

Remember that content is the fuel that keeps your online marketing strategy running, so don’t take it for granted. Encourage your franchisees to write up a post or give them templates that they can customize. If you do this on a regular basis, you’ll see an improvement in your ranking, your traffic and, ultimately, your customers. Try out these tips and ideas to start out right away!

If you have any questions regarding this post or Empowerkit, feel free to ask!

If you want to read a post about Content Inspiration for QSR Franchises, click on the link.  Or you can check out this post on Content Ideas for a Cleaning/Restoration Franchises!

If you’d like me to write up a post on Content Ideas for other types of franchises, let me know in the comments section below!

March 6, 2013

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