Restaurant Marketing: 16 Restaurant ONLINE MARKETING Features
About 6 months ago I was seeking to book a reservation for a restaurant in my city. I knew the name, but wasn't quite sure of the spelling.
I visited Google, and I simply couldn't find the restaurant online. It proved I had the spelling correct, yet couldn't find it in Google.
Instead, I found a huge amount of reviews, most of which were good (that's why I wanted to eat there).
But, as a way to contact this restaurant, I relied on a telephone number in a directory as opposed to the restaurant's website.
I did eat as of this restaurant and it was fantastic. WHEN I ate there I grabbed a small business card, and they did have an internet site. What a shame their SEO was so very bad or non-existent.
I don't own a restaurant, but I own a small business with an area clientele. My SEO is not much different than a restaurants. Moreover, given I study online marketing for many forms of small businesses (and take action for my very own), I thought I'd publish articles for restaurants. Specifically articles providing restaurant marketing ideas utilizing a website.
I'm all about a business' website being unique. But, in nearly all industries, there's basic information that is important to prospective customers. This is certainly true for restaurant websites.
16 must-have restaurant website features for both conversion and SEO are the following:
1. Menus
Publishing up-to-date menus is a no-brainer. Every restaurant should have up-to-date menus on its website.
It's critical it be up-to-date. The last thing a restaurant needs is telling guests "oh, that menu has changed and it's really not right on the website." That's unprofessional and won't sit well with a guest.
I would go so far as to include wine, beer, and liquor menus as well.
Even though you're at it, set out the nutritional value of the dishes. Many diners are interested in nutritional content.
2. Location Info and Map
These days it's so easy to integrate Google Maps right into a website. Make it easy for anyone to find your restaurant with a map. Many people search for restaurants with mobile devices. A map leads them straight to your door.
3. Contact Info
I believe all smaller businesses should have their telephone number and contact form on every page of these website. Restaurants included. Make it incredibly easy for your website visitors to contact you.
4. Photographs of the Establishment
Hire a specialist photographer when you're busy and get a huge amount of great photographs. Place those photographs around your website. Part of dining may be the environment and atmosphere. Show off your establishment on your website.
5. Event Calendar
For those who have events such as live music or special dinners, set up an event calendar on your website.
6. Chef / Owner Bios
Feature in a bio your restaurant's key players. Whether chef, owner, or both. If you have a general manager, consider having a bio of your GM. Spend time writing up the bios. Perhaps hire a specialist writer. In fact you might wish to hire a professional writer for all of your website's content (or at least the key pages).
7. Restaurant History
Why not use in your About page a brief overview of one's restaurant. Some restaurants have a remarkable history. Visit the website may be thinking about such information. You can write and it just might persuade you to definitely try your establishment.
8. Awards & Reviews
Don't be shy. Publish your list of awards and reviews (get permission from the reviewer first). If you can't get permission from the reviewer, then provide a link that is a popup window to the review. Why a popup? Which means that your visitor stays on your own site and doesn't end up on another restaurant's site through the review website.
9. Careers / Jobs Available
Make it easy for people to connect with your restaurant. Regrettably, many restaurants have high turnover and are frequently hiring. The more applications you receive, the more hiring options you have.
10. A Blog
As a restaurant owner or operator, you might have a lot of fun with a blog. A blog informs, entertains, and is wonderful for SEO.
11. On-Site Local SEO
Benefit from every page and blog post by optimizing your content for the search engines. You can do. The more content you have (hence the significance of a blog), the more opportunities you will need to rank for various search terms (called keywords) in the search engines.
Be sure to create meta titles and meta descriptions for every page and post. If you aren't thinking about doing on-site SEO, hire an excellent SEO company. Your goal would be to rank well in your area, city, and state/province (or geographic area).
Don't be just like the restaurant I tried to get Online and not rank well in the various search engines. There's a huge chance for business by just ranking well in the search engines. The good news for restaurants is you don't need to compete globally. You need only rank well for the local area(s).
12. Online Reservation Maker
Not all restaurants would want to hand over booking capacity to customers. That is why I contemplate it an optional restaurant website feature. However, if you take reservations, it's a good way to book reservations and freeing up your staff time all in one go. The more people who self-book, means fewer reservations your staff must make.
If use a Restaurant WordPress theme, you can easily put in a reservation feature utilizing a plugin. 5 reservation plugins to take a look at include:
? WebReserv
? Checkfront Booking
? Booking Calendar
? Wp-Reservation
? MealClick
If you don't use WordPress for the website, have a look at:
? OpenTable
? Live Bookings
? Restaurant Diary
? Guestbridge
? Reservation Genie
13. Takeout Online Ordering
If you sell take out, why not offer website visitors the choice to order takeout during your website. Like reservation software, you save your staff time processing orders and ensure it is easy for website visitors to order meals. You could even process payment online if you wish to save even more time whenever your guest accumulates their food.
14. Pre-Ordering Service
Sometimes a guest is pretty quickly and would like to eat upon entering your restaurant. You can offer a pre-ordering option during your website.
15. Notable Guests
If your restaurant attracts notable guests, say etc your website.
16. Offer Gift Cards for Sale
Gift cards can be quite a terrific revenue generator. Sell them through your restaurant website. You need basic e-commerce software. It's easy nowadays regardless the platform on which your restaurant website is made.