Can a Restaurant Use the Internet Better?
Operating any service business is challenging, but running a restaurant is especially so. No one has to tell you that you need to have a website. However, given all that you have to worry about, have you truly considered all the ways in which you might maximize the benefit you get from your online property?
Make your advertising work together: The Internet is rather inexpensive once you have your website planned, built and published. Therefore, it is a good idea to use your other, more expensive, forms of advertising in a way that complements your restaurant’s website. Feature your web address in all of your broadcast and print ads. Make sure that the URL is also added to your business cards. Think how much your website can say in great detail about your establishment compared to a thirty second TV ad, a quarter page in the newspaper or even an entire billboard.
Menu display: Be sure to include your full menu, and update it online whenever it changes in the restaurant. Make sure the design makes it easy to update with your daily specials. The design should also reflect the style of the dining experience. If you operate a diner, don’t use a formal looking background on your menu page. On the other hand, if your restaurant is known for an elegant setting, the appearance of your web menu should reflect that.
Include pleasant pictures: Pictures of the food are fine for cookbooks and boxed macaroni and cheese on the supermarket shelves, but you want your food to speak for itself as your guests dine. To attract the eyes of your website visitors, you need to show real human beings enjoying the food and the social experience. Make sure that the pictures include the kinds of people you want as customers, representing the full diversity of your community.
Build an email list: Request the email information of visitors to your web pages and allow your customers in your restaurant to add their addresses to their checks. Use regular email marketing to announce new menu items, offer special coupons or other enticements. You might email a secret word of the week. If they whisper that word to their waitress they receive a free dessert with their dinner or a courtesy visit from the chef.
Definitely encourage and display testimonials: While a great restaurant review from the local newspaper or local magazine is wonderful, most folks like to see what non-journalists have to say. You might want to put these on a separate page, but also intersperse some of the more interesting remarks throughout your site.
Everyone in any part of the service industry needs customers who keep returning over and over. In order to help your diners feel as if they want to visit your establishment often, they should feel that they have a lasting relationship with you and your business. A well designed, efficiently used service business website can help establish that bond. This is particularly important in the restaurant industry, where there is already so much social contact.