Designing a website that pulls in diners
When searching for local restaurants on the internet people have short attention spans and even less patience. Your website is your key restaurant online marketing tool and needs to make it quick and easy for people to find key information. Forcing them to sit through a slow loading, flashy introduction is more likely to have them looking for an exit than being impressed.
So your website needs to be easy to navigate and your home page needs to clearly explain in seconds who you are, the type of cuisine you serve and, of course, where you are.
Key elements to include in your restaurant website:
- Professionally taken photos
- Details of your latest special offers
- A box for people to enter their email address for discounts or to join your newsletter, building your guest database
- An easy to read menu, preferably not as PDF…
- An embedded map using Google or Bing
- Clear contact details (which should be easy to find on every page)
- A guestbook or feedback form
- A special events calendar
- A way to book your restaurant in realtime with instant confirmations
Making it easy to book online
Your website’s main aim is to attract as many diners as possible. With this in mind, your website should make it as easy as possible for people to book a table online.
Whilst many are still happy to pick up the phone, more and more people prefer the speed and convenience of an online booking system. So being able to take bookings on your website can vastly improve your online restaurant marketing success.
The Livebookings website booking interface helped to deliver over 4 million diners to restaurants last year. In fact, around a fifth of people who see the Livebookings booking interface on a website will book a table.
Sources:
http://www.ignitehospitality.com/
http://www.topdrawmedia.com/Web-Design-for-Restaurants.html
http://www.restaurant-webdesign.co.uk/
