New Franchise Website

*** We would be looking to launch this site on Jan 1, 2010, so time frames of 30 or more days can not be possible Server Info: Unix running CentOS5 Standard Search Features - Location - Investment Size - Type of Business > Sub-Category Homepage The homepage should be sectioned off so we can dedicate certain parts to different topics. Sections cold be content, search, featured franchises, popular franchise categories, articles, etc. We may also list all, or a rather large number, of franchises on the homepage for search engine keyword recognition. Menu Bar Customizable with multiple sections. Franchise Categories, Links, Search box, Popular Searches, Newsletter signup, Banner Ads Search Results All franchises should include a logo, a small description, investment amount and a check box with the ability to add multiple franchises per request. Featured franchise ability should be added, on a rotating basis, matching up with the proper category searched for. There should be 5 or 6 featured franchises showing per page Also, a hover over popup window that gives more detail on the franchise with the ability to add the franchise or view more detail Lead Submission The request more info section should work almost like a shopping cart. Ability to add multiple items before submitting information. Allow potential buyers to first add as many franchise requests as possible before making them register with the site. Once they have 5 or 10 franchises in the request bucket, they will be more inclined to register. We will ask for basic contact info, investment potential, a few other optional fields, but only require an email address and let the remaining info be optional. [login to view URL] has a really nice method of doing this Franchise Newsletter (NLE) A franchise newsletter, sent out on a weekly basis, should include new franchise articles, words of wisdom by franchisors, advice from a franchise consultant, any new blog entries and of course a list of franchise opportunities. Similar to the nationwide NLE. A second newsletter would be sent when a new franchise is added to the system. Overall this entire process will work just like our local NLE Franchise CEO Interviews As often as possible, we could submit interviews, or advice and simple industry talk by franchise CEOs. Give them some sort of an incentive to offer these articles to us. Maybe a one month feature or something along that line Franchise Press We can keep up-to-date with a healthy list of sites where we may retrieve articles regarding what is happening in the franchise industry Franchise Consultation (Franchising a Business) We can act as a franchise consultant. Allow potential businesses to contact us regarding franchising their business. Same could work on a buyers side. Basically this would become a “general” lead. A lead with no specific industry, but still interested in buying a franchise. Buyers Guide Artciles, Tips, Facts, Statistics, Sources, etc, plus links to other buyer related sections of the site. Great place to add the reseller option of business forms. Franchise FAQs Frequently Asked Questions about being part of a franchise Franchise Events Calendar Even if we are not participating, keep a calendar up-to-date on franchise related events. Press Releases All news about the site should be updated frequently. Submitting not only to an archive, but to PR sites as well. Allow us the option to place advertisement banners on the menu bar Business Forms This is something that I have not seen on franchise sites yet. But simple business forms for starting a business, licenses, LLC or Corp registration, etc. This would be done by a reseller program and we can earn commissions on the usage Multiple Levels of Advertising Ability to maintain multiple levels of advertising. This would include standard ads, homepage spotlight ads, and featured ads. View and click tracking should be available for each franchise and each ad option (standard, featured and spotlight) Backend administration - Administration of all articles, blogs, links, calendars, etc as well as the placement of them - Add new franchises and choose their categories or, enter location info, enter investment info and information about the franchise. We would want to include contact information for the franchise as well. - Ability to add categories and sub-categories as well as special placement abilities (popular franchises for example) - All in all, items mentioned above should be administrated by us with flexible options - We also would want header, footer, section, and menu bar control Examples - [login to view URL] - [login to view URL] - [login to view URL] - [login to view URL] - [login to view URL]