Showhomes

For the latest iteration of its Franchise Development Website Awards, 1851 Franchise did a deep dive into more than 175 websites to determine the brands that stood out from the crowd.

1851’s panel of judges evaluated each franchise development site according to three criteria: quality of site, quality of content and quality of form. Sites were scored on a five-point scale in accordance with these three criteria for a maximum score of 15 total points; the overall website rankings are based on a composite average of these scores.

Over the course of the month of May, each of the top 20 franchise development sites as determined by the judges will be broken down, one by one, to highlight their strengths and what stood out to the judges.

In a three-way tie in the No. 6 spot overall is Showhomes, receiving a composite score of 11.8 out of 15. Showhomes’ score breakdown saw the site garner a score of 4.1 in quality of site; a score of 3.9 in quality of content; and a score of 3.8 in quality of form.

After evaluating Showhomes’ franchise development site, FranConnect president Keith Gerson said the site’s strengths include an excellent icon-driven section on its ‘About Us’ page that is “easy to navigate and provides excellent information on the health of the industry, among other areas.”

Each of the franchise development site’s subsequent sections includes clean and attractive icons that complement great information that, importantly, includes numbers, Gerson noted.

“I’m also a big fan of detailing the sales process, which takes the ‘risk’ of the unknown away for prospects. Showhomes executes this nicely,” Gerson continued. “In my opinion, there is an opportunity for improvement on the home page, as the photo images at the top distract from the messaging – [brands should] consider using screening to make the fonts stand out.

I’d also recommend reordering the ‘Learn More about Showhomes’ section – after all, most prospects come to a website expecting some information before being asked to provide their short-form information … Overall, a very good recruitment site.”