When Jerod came to me as a new employee with the idea of creating a sports blog so that he could have a testing ground for his passions around both social media and SEO, I said, sure.  What is amazing is that this blog has grown from an experimental project to a heard voice in online sports.  18 months later, the site has accomplished more than either of us would have imagined in our wildest dreams.  With Jerod’s leadership, this sports blog dedicated to Midwest sports has reached the 2 million page view mark, has over 16,000 total pages and 3,614 hand written posts, was in the Top 100 most popular sites on Digg.Com for February of 2010, has been featured on ESPN, referenced by hundreds of newspapers, featured on the front page of The Huffington Post, and has more front page appearances on Digg for this month than Yahoo Sports, CNN, and ESPN.  In 2009 it broke the Top 50 sports blog list.

MidwestSportsFans.Com has been hitting on all eight cylinders ever since the Spring of last year.  With only 6 months of traction as a blog on the Internet, Midwest Sports Fans was a prominent source of Internet information for March Madness 2009.  The single highest source of page views on the blog was last year’s March Madness preview post having over 60,000 page views.  This weekend, Jerod set out to break records as he posted the March Madness 2010 preview post on MidwestSportsFans.Com.

March Madness is always a crazy time of year and it is evident from the search and interactivity online.  I’m excited about our preview coverage on MidwestSportsFans.Com and am looking forward to keep with the content that Jerod creates!

Jerod congrats on your accomplishments with Midwest Sports Fans and at Orangecast!

(Oh, and did I mention that in 18 months he went from “employee” status to having an equity stake in the business?  The power of blogging. . . .)

One of the most amazing things I find about being a professional in Dallas is who comes and goes in this city and no one knows.  While our mainstream media is fixated automobile accidents and the latest twists of 20 year old city hall battles, some amazing people come to Dallas without much recognition.

The first time I realized this is when The Indus Entreprenuers (TIE) organization brought Ram Shriram in as a keynote speaker to a yearly event they hold.  I sat there in the audience of roughly 250 and listened to a speech that literally changed my career.  I actually got a chance to speak with him after his keynote which was an added bonus.  Who is Ram Shriram?  He’s the guy that listened to the founders of Google when no one else would.

We have actually had a couple of those opportunities since then.  Most recently Brian Clark, a.k.a. The Copy Blogger, spoke to a very small crowd a the Dallas-Ft. Worth Search Engine Marketing organization (DFWSEM).  If you’ve missed those and are kicking yourself, you don’t want to miss the opportunity to hear Chris Brogan.  Chris Brogan and Julien Smith co-authored the NY Times best seller Trust Agents.   The book unveils many insider secrets to success in the world of social media by two pioneers in the industry.   Trust Agents is one of the most responsible books I have read on Web 2.0 to date.

Chris’s appearance is brought to us by a relatively new professional organization in the DFW area called Social Media Club Dallas.  The club is one of the most approachable professional organizations I’ve engaged with in a long time.  If you are a traditional marketer, you really should not miss this event as it is a great opportunity to hear one of the thought leaders in social media speak as well as engage with a great local professional organization that is open to marketers of all walks.

For more information visit the Social Media Club Dallas presents Chris Brogan on Event Brite.  The event is on Thursday, January 21 and will be held at the Angelika.  The address is:

One of the most common marketing requests we get at Orangecast are franchisees who are looking for ways to market online.  One of the most common goals is to market products and services locally.  However, franchisors generally setup their web presence nationally and struggle with local search engine optimization.  This leaves franchisees in a bind and usually forces them to consider options such as creating local websites, email campaigns, and engaging in social media.  Unfortunately, many franchisors feel threatened by this and often severely limit these avenues per fine print in franchise agreements.  We have heard stories of franchisors sending “cease and desist” for blogs and local websites and forcing franchisees to turn over all customer email addresses of local customers.  The following is a quick list of items to negotiate into your franchisee agreement to ensure you have the flexibility needed maximize online marketing opportunities.

Tip 1 – Investigate Local Search Performance For Existing Franchises

Most regional and national franchisors want to maintain brand control and have a single website for the brand.  There is generally specific verbiage to prevent the franchisee from creating websites associated with the brand.  As a potential franchisee, you should evaluate the search engine presence for the brand.  This list should include:

• Ask to see analytics reporting for traffic in a particular city.  Get specific as to what keywords drive traffic.  If you are getting into a fast casual dining concept and are being sold on catering being a potential revenue stream, verify that the corporate website is driving local search results related to catering.
• Think like a customer and “Google” local terms to see where the concept surfaces in search.  If you are considering buying a franchise in a handyman services company, Google specific services with local city names and see where their site surfaces in Google.
• Ask if they provide Pay Per Click or Search Engine Marketing campaigns for franchisees.  If so, require that any fees associated with it are on a “cost per conversion” basis versus cost per click.

If you receive significant push back in your search for insight into these items, this should throw up a major red flag.  If you are made promises that this is being worked on, consider delaying your signing or specifically gear payments around progress in this area.  Search Engines are a significant piece of “affordable” marketing for local goods and services.  If this marketing is not available to your franchise, you are starting at a significant disadvantage.

Tip 2 – Review Email Marketing Campaigns

Email marketing is a powerful mechanism for connecting with customers.  Review campaigns provided by the franchisor.  Review content, open rates, and click through rates.  A good campaign will have open rates of 25% or better and will have a 15% click through rate or better.  If the content is too promotional and/or open and click through rates are not good, contractually give yourself the option to execute email marketing locally.  You should be able to drill into these numbers at a local level and content should be local or regionalized.  If it isn’t, opt to run these yourself as you will produce better results for your units.

Tip 3 – Maintain Social Media Rights for Your Personal Brand

Franchisors are very sensitive in the area of social media.  This is understandable as brand impersonation is a huge issue in social media.  Still, you are your own personality and being a franchisee is part of that.  Maintain the right to be “Bob Smith, Dallas Franchisee of XYZ” in your social media profile.  This includes broader initiatives like a Facebook fan page.  Social Media is becoming a very powerful and you should leave your options open in this space respecting the brand management needs of the franchisor.

Summary

There are hundreds of variables to consider when structuring a franchise deal.  Though the above might seem small in the scheme of things, the long term success of a local franchise relies on marketing.  As a franchisee, you can’t completely rely on the franchisor to make your business work and you will want to maintain some control.  If you are being forced into giving up search engine, email marketing, and social media control, consider another franchise opportunity or revisit the concept after they can prove results in these areas.

Marketing Bits co-host Jerod Morris was asked by Glenn Moore to attend Sports Media 360 in Cleveland, OH  to participate on a panel discussing credibility online.   The event was put together by The Dugout Sports Show (OKG Media) and Media Frenzy Communications.
The discussion on the panel was excellent so I thought I’d share with our listener base.  A special thanks to Sports Talk Cleveland for the audio feed and to Glenn Moore putting the event together.

The panel members are:

Brad Zibung – “The Heckler”, Founder/Publisher
Greg Bedard - Green Bay Packers Beat Writer, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Jerod Morris – Midwest Sports Fans