The Franchise Blog

Thousands of Entrepreneurs and Hundreds of Reputable Franchise Brands Congregate in NYC

Want to attend for free ~ courtesy of us?

The International Franchise Expo (IFE) is in New York City, June 20-22, again, at the Javits Center. The IFE is the premier franchise expo offering entrepreneurs the opportunity to gain insight into the vast world of franchising through a show floor filled with franchises, educational symposia and free seminars.

Get your free pass to attend this 3 day show including: • More than 400 reputable franchise brands from more than 60 business categories
• A “who’s who” of the franchise industry allowing prospective small business owners to meet face to face with franchise representatives
• Industry experts will host educational symposium geared toward every stage of the journey.
• More than 70 free seminars
• Nine in-depth symposia

Attendees are sure to find a concept that fits their interests and lifestyle. The IFE offers a wealth of knowledge into the franchise industry. Some of the symposia topics include The A to Z’s of Buying a Franchise, Franchising Your Business, and Global Franchise Expansion: Strategies for Lucrative and Planned Growth.

According to US statistics, there were approximately two million marriages last year.  If you have been to a wedding recently, the current rage is a photo booth.  Crazy hats and props are part of the package.  But now welcome to a new era, Tap Snap.  Instead of a small enclosed booth, Tap Snap is a 42 inch multi touch screen, out in the open and available to all.  The giant screen provides plenty of opportunities for families and friends to have fun and create memories with instant availability to print your photos on site.  With Tap Snap, you can share immediately to your social media pages the moment you take the picture.  You can also doodle and write personal messages on the high quality photos.  YouTube is just a click away with videos from your event. Of course, Tap Snap is not just for weddings.  Sporting events, end of year celebrations, graduations and corporate parties with Tap Snap branding everything with your corporate logo.

Imagine the fun at your next event OR learn about becoming an owner of this amazing franchise at Franchise Solutions.  Let us know if you attend an event with Tap Snap.  We would love to hear from you!

Importance of Google+

Google+ is becoming an increasingly significant component to the success of local franchise businesses trying to obtain more customers through Google.

• In 2012 there was an average of 925,000 new profiles created each day.
• The Google +1 button is used 5 billion times a day during the same year. Sweet sassy molassy.
• Google Local listings have now merged with Google+, making your businesses’ Google+ profile into your one of your most vital profiles (besides your website) on the web.
• Your peers are already interested in investing in Google+!

The mission of this article is to give you a 30,000 ft. overview of Google+ and describe different ways that you can utilize Google+ to generate more brand awareness and bring your local franchise businesses more potential customers through the Internet.

What is Google+?

For those of you who haven’t heard too much about Google+, for now just consider it to be Google’s version of / response to Facebook (though the two channels have a variety of unique differences - click here for great Google+ information).

Getting The Most From Your Google+ Business Profile

• If you haven’t set up a Google+ or Google Local account for your franchise business then go to Google Places for Business and create one.
• If you’re new to Google+ or Google Local and have 10 or more locations that you’d like to upload click here.
• If you already have a Google Local listing set up, go log into that profile (it should’ve automatically merged with Google+ in May, 2012).

Here’s the first step to getting the most from your Google+ Business profile – be sure to fill in all the blanks (i.e. hours of operation, phone number, address, services that your business offers, general business information, pictures of your business). That way, when customers or prospects visit your profile, they see a great snapshot of your business and easily find your contact information (example of a good profile: the Steamatic carpet cleaning business in Fort Worth).

Google +1 Button

Go and get a Google +1 button installed on your website and/or the microsites associated with your franchise business. Check out the Google+ Webmaster FAQ to help address any questions that you or your web designer or search marketing firm may have about adding this button to your web pages. What’s the benefit of adding a Google +1 button to your site? Keep reading.

Google+ and SEO

The main reason, in my opinion, why you want your business and your target audience to get more involved in Google+ is this: it’s going to have an “SEO-like effect” on your website! Let me explain in more detail:

When someone is signed into Google (through accounts like Gmail or Google+), Google tracks and remembers their history of actions (i.e. what places they visit, how long they stay at those places, what websites they +1, what people they connect with on Google+). From this wealth of data Google is able provide you with personalized search results based on your previous online behavior – pretty creepy and cool at the same time.

The people at Google also understand that, more than anything, people trust the opinions of their friends and family when making a variety of decisions (i.e. what car to buy, what books to read, what doctors to see). So what have they done? They’ve modified your personal search results based on how you AND your Google+ connections (if you have any) have used the +1 button.

For example: let’s say I’m looking for a new dentist in Nashville and I perform the search “dentist Nashville” on Google. This picture below shows the top organic “unpaid” search results for this query.

Dr. Richard Gaw is a dentist in Nashville and, as we can see, he doesn’t rank on the top of page one for this lucrative search. Rather, his website ranks on Page 4 for the search, “dentist Nashville.”  It’s very unlikely he’s going to be found by any potential new patients performing that search when his website is so far down the rankings. This will hurt his ability to acquire new patients through the Internet.

However, it just so happens that three of my Google+ connections have clicked his website’s +1 button. The result? When I’m signed into Google and perform the search “dentist Nashville,” I’ll find Dr. Gaw on Page 1 of my personalized search results (see below picture).

To reiterate: Google knows that three of my connections trust Dr. Gaw enough to +1 his website; if my friends trust him then I’m more likely to trust him too, so they put his website right in front of me versus leaving it in the abyss that is Page 4.  This is a smart play by Google – it makes it easier for people to find what they’re looking for and keeps them from attempting a search query on Bing or Yahoo.

Final Takeaways

The takeaways? The more people you can get to +1 your website:

• The better chance it has of ranking higher in people’s personalized search results.

• The better chance you have of generating more online business from your current customers’ network of connections.

• The more visibility your franchise business will have online.

Additional Google+ Best Practices

A few final best practices to end on:

• Don’t just go and add a bunch of new, random connections to your Google+ profile. Google judges your profiles “authority” based on the company you keep – if you’re connected with a bunch of spammy profiles you’ll see no added benefit. However, if you’re connected to people who have large followings, are in your local area and post well-regarded content – you’ll look more credible to Google.

• Connect with Google Authorship. People are more likely going to click on a link with a picture next to their description (see example picture). Plus, when you post original content at different places and link it back to your Google+ profile, you’ll make it easier for Google to assess your level of topical authority based on people’s interest with your content across the web – basically it helps ensure you get credit from Google for any excellent content that you post. Need more on Google Authorship? Click here

• Start posting valuable content on a weekly basis. What is valuable content? Here are some examples:

• Funny pictures or videos that your customer base would enjoy. Like, the Kool Aid guy.
• Information on promotions or discounts that your business is offering.
• An article on the top 10 restaurants in your local area.
• A post on one of your employees getting engaged.
• A quick post on an award that you were recently nominated for.
• A link to a video testimonial or positive review.

What isn’t valuable content?

• Posts telling people to come and do business with you for no reason other than because you say so.

Get the idea? The more that a business or person brags about themselves the less likely people are to believe them. Does Red Bull talk about how many sales they make every year? No. Does Red Bull promote ads about people performing amazing feats? Yes. Do you like Red Bull ads? Probably.

In conclusion, Google+ is only going to become more influential to the success of your business online. Get a Google+ profile for yourself and your business, start growing your connection base and add a “+1” button to your websites and/or microsites. You may not see any immediate benefits but it’s better to be ahead of the curve than behind.

On June 20^th, Fred DeLuca, the founder of Subway^®, will deliver the opening address at the 22^nd Annual International Franchise Expo (IFE), the franchise industry’s premier event. The IFE takes place June 20-22 at the Javits Center in NYC and is sure to draw a big crowd.

DeLucca, a native of NYC, started his first sandwich store at the age of 17. And in the summer of 1965 he and Dr. Peter Buck opened the first SUBWAY^® restaurant. No matter how you slice it, SUBWAY^® is the largest restaurant chain in the world! Today SUBWAY^® has more than 39,000 locations in 101 countries.

Tom Portesy, President and CEO of MFV Expositions, producers of the IFE says “We are elated to have Fred Deluca as part of the IFE this year. Fred brings an incredible perspective on franchising, one which he is uniquely qualified to offer. We are extremely grateful Fred agreed to participate and look forward to his contribution to opening ceremonies along with the thousands of current and future entrepreneurs from across the United States and from around the world who will join us.”

At Franchise Solutions, we’ve had the pleasure of doing business with SUBWAY^® for more than 15 years. If you or someone you know has any interest in becoming a future SUBWAY^® entrepreneur, you can learn more about becoming part of the fastest growing food chain on our site.

Would you like to hear what Fred DeLuca has to say at the 22^nd annual IFE? Well you can. Please click here to receive a complimentary pass and be one of Franchise Solutions’ guests! We will be among more than 400 participants at the IFE and will have a display at booth #972. Please stop by and say hi. And while you’re at it you can attend free seminars, symposiums and network. Hope to see you there.

Sometimes it’s nice to go where everyone knows your name. Remember Cheers? “Norm!” When founder Alex Minicucci began SMS Masterminds in San Luis Obispo, CA, he frequented a different kind of bar, a sushi bar, for lunch. Each day when he finished his spring roll and tea he would hear “See you tomorrow” from the chefs. After just one year SMS Masterminds outgrew their space and like a stealth ninja moved across town where Minicucci was happy to see a new sushi restaurant open right next door.

He often thinks about the chefs at the ole sushi restaurant he attended and wonders if they ask where the “regular” went.  SMS Masterminds are the masterminds behind mobile marketing that can help establishments and small to medium-sized businesses build customer relationships. Through a host of marketing services SMS offers, Chef would have been able to keep in touch with Alex through a Loyalty Marketing system, and offer rewards for his continuous business with a modern day punch card (buy 10 tuna rolls, get one free) in addition to other marketing tools like text messages, email and Facebook.

“Mobile Marketing is much like the internet was 10-12 years ago, in its infancy,” says Minicucci which means mobile marketing is hot like wasabi.  There is money to be made! Just to give you a taste, by 2013, over 13 billion dollars will be spent by advertisers on mobile marketing. And businesses aren’t using it by themselves because they are focused on their own craft.  Build your own business by selling the ultimate small business marketing tool in your area and help customers and clients feel anything but “regular!”

You can live the life you want with a SMS Masterminds business.  You can work from home, set your own hours, have a recurring income and low overhead. If you or someone you know is interested in this exciting business opportunity and partnering with SMS Masterminds you can visit them through their site at Franchise Solutions.

Cristina Salib and Felix Lopez who own a civil engineering and architecture firm in Puerto Rico were looking for the perfect franchise.  Arriving on the Franchise Solutions site, they found Fro.Zen.Yo and loved the product.  ”We believe that Fro.Zen.Yo has the best tasting product we’ve ever tried and also offers the widest flavor variety that Puerto Ricans will love.”   Rather than purchasing a single unit, Cristina and Felix became Development Agents.  DA’s not only open their own stores but sell franchises to other people in their territory and generate revenue both from their stores and the franchises they sell in Puerto Rico.

The Fro.Zen.Yo concept was recently recognized in the Washingtonian Magazine as the Best Frozen Yogurt in Washington D.C.  Their flavors are outrageous including Angel Food Cake, Maple Bacon Donut and Cheesecake. Fro.Zen.Yo is being actively developed by Franchise Freeway founded by Mike Halpern.  Mike is extremely happy with Cristina and Felix and his experience with Franchise Solutions.  ”Franchise Solutions continues to provide me with quality leads. The integrity of the company and the ease of working together is a great match of our companies”.

Congratulations and best of luck Cristina and Felix.  Puerto Rico is going to love Fro.Zen.Yo.

Join thousands of entreprenuers and have the opportunity to meet with over 400 franchises compliments of the International Franchise Expo and Franchise Solutions.

Register to attend the International Franchise Expo 2013 for free now!

Don’t go alone…Invite a friend to attend with you

2013 International Franchise Expo

Congratulations to Ryan Fickert who purchased a ServiceMaster franchise. Ryan visited Franchise Solutions and submitted his information last June purchasing the franchise in February 2013.

ServiceMaster began in 1952 and now has over 4500 locations.  Top quality, attention to detail and integrity are the cornerstones of the long history and success of the company.  The ServiceMaster Acceptance Company (SMAC) offers a wide variety of convenient, affordable financing options with rates and repayment terms designed to help you begin the journey.

Join us in welcoming Ryan to the franchising community.  Good luck!