When growing a brand and gaining popularity outside of the physical market, websites are essential. This is especially true for food establishments such as restaurants whose sole purpose is to please the masses and show us what they have in store.
Engaging with their customers, growing the business, spreading brand awareness, and giving people information are only some reasons companies should have websites.
However, what is the must-have features that a restaurant website should have to ensure that they stay relevant and provide enough information to the customers?
Restaurant Websites – Top 5 Must-Haves
Here are 5 must-haves that restaurant owners should note when making their website!
Accurate Information
Before anything, you have to prioritize the accuracy of the information that you put on your website. Things such as your menu options, your time of service, and whether you accept pick up or delivery orders or not should be correct and up to date!
The information you put on your website is the information put into sites such as Google eats, Zomato, and even Yelp. So making sure that the information that you have is accurate at all times is essential. Your website should be the primary source of reliable information, and you may face the wrath of angry customers!
Website Usability
How pretty your website looks won’t matter if your website lags or slow to load and not well-optimized. The ease of use should also be a priority because whether customers stay or leave the site relies on that ease of use. Website design is the cornerstone to your online business success!
Google has a tool that helps track ease of use based on page speed, and you should utilize that as much as possible. It’ll give you feedback on what you should change and optimize to make you sure that your website is running as fast as possible and so that people don’t run out of patience when visiting your restaurant’s website!
Mobile Optimization
70-80% of Americans own a mobile phone that has access to the internet. The reason why that statistic is important is that most of the people that visit your website will be these people who are looking for a place to eat on their phones. Because websites are commonly made on a desktop, what you see on the desktop version may be different from the mobile version.
Ensuring that the mobile version of your website is just as good looking as the desktop version is essential! Google even has a mobile-friendly test where you can test out whether your site is well optimized for mobile users or not. Key take-away here is that mobile SEO is critical to any website!
Testimonials And Proof
Proof of the legitimacy of the information on the website is the first thing that customers look for. However, testimonials and social proof are what makes them choose to dine in your establishment! Your restaurant has to provide “proof” to help these customers end up with the verdict to eat.
These testimonials can be in the form of implementing a “reviews” section on the homepage of the website. Urging customers to leave an honest review of their time in the restaurant can attract or deter other customers based on the quality of service that the reviewer experienced during their stay.
If you get a bad review, don’t feel discouraged. Instead, try to improve in the area wherein you got critiqued to show your customers that you adapt and listen to their concerns!
If your restaurant has gotten good reviews on Yelp or has garnered a large following on social media sites such as Facebook, this can show how good your restaurant is.
Subscribing System
To convert a first-time visitor into a frequent diner in your establishment, you have to be the first thing on their mind whenever they think about where they want to eat. And for that to happen, you have to connect to them and engage with them!
You can do this by adding a system that allows them to get newsletters, exclusive deals, and notifications by subscribing and adding their email in a sign-up form. These forms have to be in multiple locations so that people would be inclined to sign up. Eventually, they won’t even need special offers or notifications to push them into eating in your restaurants!
If you’re a restaurant then we hope you found value in Restaurant Websites – Top 5 Must-Haves, and now have a game plan to build or optimize your website!
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