The hospitality industry is especially cutthroat when it comes to competition. If we look at a section of the industry that is restaurants, the story is even fiercer.
A good number of restaurants around the world operate on razor-thin margins and compete to provide the best possible quality of service. Operating a successful restaurant business is an arduous battle that is fought every day.
You cannot take the competition out of the industry, but you can make things a little easier with the help of the internet and good website designing.
Restaurant Website Designing 101 – Top 6 Tips
How do you build a website that generates tons of leads and is optimized enough to convert them? You must combine the power of the internet with good website designing to achieve this goal.
The following are the top six tips for great restaurant website platform design and development:
Home/ Landing Page – Make A Website Designing Statement
Your Home/Landing page is the most important page on your website. The majority of visitors will first stumble upon this page when they find your website. Therefore the statement you make on this page sets the tone of your overall website. The first impression is always the most important one, thus you need to make an impact.
The following are website designing must-haves on a good Home/Landing page:
- Make sure to include call-to-action buttons on your home page.
- Use your homepage as a platform to show the success of your restaurant as a business venture.
- To establish trust, include user aggregated testimonials on your home page.
- Use your homepage as a message board to notify your visitors of any special days or events coming up.
About Us – Let Website Designing Tell Your Story
Your website is the online representation of your restaurant. Therefore everything your restaurant stands for must reflects on your website. The about us page on your website is the best place to tell your story. Use your about us page to share your message, talk about your inspiration and provide your visitors with relevant information.
The About Us page holds special importance in the whole website designing process. You want to use as much real-estate as possible for your brand-building. You can also use your about us page to share the philosophy and specialization of your restaurant.
Gallery – Show, Don’t Tell
Going to a restaurant is a costly and time-consuming affair. As a result, the customers who visit you are looking for more than just good food. A good restaurant is the one that provides a good experience along with good food.
The image gallery page of your website is the place where you can showcase your ambiance. One thing to remember during the website designing process is to add value to your visitor’s experience.
To achieve value, make sure to add plenty of images that comprehensively explain what you offer at your establishment. But remember not to forget about the image-optimization aspect of your gallery webpage to keep your site snappy.
Our Menu – Draw Them In
You are a restaurant, never forget that your website should reflect that. Many restaurants make the mistake of not having a dedicated menu page. In our opinion, this a grave mistake when it comes to restaurant brand building.
Restaurants are in the business of feeding people, the food that you cook, is your strength. While being in the website designing process, make sure to include the best pictures of your food with vivid descriptions.
For your menu to be effective, it must evoke the feeling of taste and hunger in your visitors. Hence the use of salivating images of your food becomes an absolute must.
Contact Us – Encourage Visitors To Find You
Injecting a welcoming attitude into the website designing process is an absolute must. The contact us page is above all one of the most important pages that need to have warmth. On the contact page, you are directly calling onto your visitors to reach out to you. Therefore make sure to use language that reflects your brand philosophy.
After you have taken care of the language, you should look to add functionality onto the page. The following is a list of must-have aspects of a good contact page:
- Location data showing where your restaurant is located geographically.
- Hours of operations and any special dates you would want your customers to be aware of.
- The customer feedback form is extremely important.
- All relevant and updated contact information, for example, phone numbers, emails, etc.
Mobile Application – Take The Next Step
You are a restaurant owner in 2020 of the 21st century, this alone should encourage you to embrace new tech. Today 50% of all global internet traffic is generated through mobile phones, thus mobile native apps are critical for your success.
But remember to carefully tread into the territory of mobile apps. Since not knowing what you are doing while making a mobile app can lead to disaster.
In Conclusion
Running a restaurant business is a tough endeavor to undertake. You don’t need the added pressure of creating a website that generates leads or converts those leads into paying customers.
Restaurant businesses must partner with experienced and skilled website designing experts to handle their website design and development.
