Every Successful Restaurant Website Must Have 5 Key Ingredients
Every restaurant website has one definitive goal which is to attract customers. Frequently, I see poorly designed restaurant websites that are missing the main element ingredients had a need to successfully convert people to customers.
What are the key ingredients in an effective restaurant website? Listed below are the 5 items that every restaurant website will need to maximize its likelihood of converting web site traffic into paying customers.
1. Map and Directions
Don't make it problematic for visitors to find where your restaurant is situated. Rather than only listing the address on your website, display an easy-to-read map and directions, which means that your customers can quickly find your restaurant. The easiest and quickest solution to display a map to your restaurant is by using Google Maps and embed it on your own website.
2. An Accessible Restaurant Menu
If your restaurant website doesn't include the menu with the prices - do it now! Your menu is the main marketing tool on your own website and your opportunity to make mouths water, so don't forget to include some enticing pictures of your dishes.
The key thing here is to create your menu accessible. All too often I see restaurants take the lazy approach and upload a PDF copy of their menu. PDFs take an agonizingly, long time to load, particularly if people are attempting to view your menu from their cell phones. PDFs provide no search engine optimisation (SEO) benefits for your website.
My advice would be to take the extra time and energy to create a dedicated menu page on your website. Make sure your menu page includes descriptions of the meals, any specials or promotions and appealing photos of one's dishes.
3. A Photo Gallery of your Restaurant and Food
People love to see what the restaurant appears like before they opt to eat there. This is why every restaurant website will need an image gallery. Great site during one of your restaurant's busy times and capture the ambiance, decor and dishes that produce your restaurant unique. Then display the photos on your own website in a straightforward photo gallery.
Pictures are worth a thousands words and great pictures are invaluable for convincing people to come to your restaurant.
4. A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE, Restaurant Homepage
Your homepage may be the most important page on your website since it makes the initial impression. Within minutes of arriving to your homepage, a person will decide if it's worth their time to look through the rest of your site.
So how can you ensure that your homepage is engaging?
Firstly, your homepage must display a prominent photo of one's restaurant. Pick a excellent picture of your restaurant or perhaps a signature dish and make sure it is the first thing people see if they come to your website.
You also need to have some well-written copy to check your image. The copy should tell people what your restaurant is approximately and how it is different from other restaurant experiences. Make certain this content is short and compelling. If this content is too much time, people will simply not take the time to read it.
Finally, beside your primary image or your marketing copy, you should include a strong proactive approach. A call to action is a link or perhaps a button that encourages the person viewing your homepage to click to another page. Types of good calls to actions for a restaurant website will be:
View our delicious menu and weekly specials (links to your menu page)
Take a tour of our restaurant (links to your photo gallery page)
Make a reservation for your next event (links to your e mail us page)
5. Reservation Information on Every Page
Every restaurant website needs a dedicated area for making reservations on each page of their website.
If you are able to install an online reservation system on your own restaurant website, that might be the perfect solution. Another way to accept reservations online is to use OpenTable.com that is free to use. However, unless you want to work with online reservations at the moment, just display a telephone number that people may use to make a reservation directly.
The main point here is to help make the reservation information highly visible on every page. The most effective spot to put your reservation info reaches the top of your website, near your primary navigation. This makes the info easy to spot for the visitors and they will appreciate you for this.