Business franchise companies often hire content writers to rewrite standard scripts for reuse on their franchisee’s websites. They are looking for content that says the same thing, but that duplication checkers won’t block. What kinds of tips can they give their writers to make sure the writing sounds fresh?
Writing content for franchises is tricky. Each franchisee basically provides the same service/s or sells the same products as the franchiser, and uses a standard business model to do so. It makes sense for them to have the same text on their websites. But the proliferation of content copying, and Google’s changes in algorithms to prevent such copying, has caught franchise webpages in the net. Google finds the copies, weeds out all but one, and allows only the one to show up on searches.
Franchisers need to keep the standard script, but modify it for each franchisee. This is hard to do by just reordering lines or a few words here and there. It’s much easier to do by changing focus when rewriting.
For example, if an original script is for middle-aged buyers with quality of service in mind, a new writeup could address younger buyers with time and budget constraints. A writer would do that by emphasizing different things in the text and reordering the content to match.
With good instructions, a franchiser could even hire a cheap article writing service to do the work. Here are a few ways in which a franchiser can help guide a writer-for-hire to rewrite content safely:
- Tell the writer in what types of locales franchisees normally operate. For example, in an average city customers look for convenience and choices. In a small town, customers look for friendliness and good service. In a resort type of area, customers look for quality and guarantees. Each focus can generate a different writeup for the same scripted text.
- Tell your writer what kinds of customers different stores appeal to. Some might be set up to sell primarily to college students, where others might sell to homemakers. Each has different products or services they would highlight, so the writer would emphasize those, placing them first and using more text to describe the higher-interest products or services.
- Let the writer know if different cultures are involved. In a primarily Hispanic location the phrasing could be slightly different with a few Spanglish words thrown in to match the cultural background. The same is true with other cultures.
- This concept applies with particular areas of the country or different states too. A writer could add a tidbit about Florida, for example, and focus the writeup on tourist beach areas. Or they could slip in something about hiking in mountainous areas.
The key to rewriting for franchises is to give each writeup a slightly different focus and match the text to that focus. When a franchiser knows ahead of time ways in which their franchisees will differ, let the content writer know.
Susette H is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.
