If you are restaurant owner in Orange County how much can you relate to this statement: “Before they open your menu they open your website”
Now this is not the blog where I am going to talk about why your restaurant business needs a good website because if you are reading this than I am sure you know about it.
Here I will mention few actionable tips that you can implement on your restaurant websites right away to turn them into a powerful lead generating machine.
1) Keep your area in mind
You are a restaurant owner in Orange County who is looking to build either a new or redesign a website for your restaurant. Now, what is the first thing you will be looking at? Menu? Well, we have a different answer to this.
Even before you think about the colors and graphics of your website it is imperative to understand the area where your restaurant is located.
See what all areas are covered in your radius. Does it have universities or it is located near co-operate offices or it is easily accessible to nearby residential areas. Once you have the grasp of your area you will able to get the right:
– Tone: A Collage goer will have a different vocabulary than to an office executive. So you need to make sure that you choose the right voice.
– Graphics: If 70% of your audience is residential you would want to give them the theme that resonates well with their tastes.
Therefore it is imperative that once decide to build or redesign your website you are completely aware about these facts.
This will not only help you understand your market better but will also help your designer design the website as per your way.
2) Menu
Yes, now is the time to talk about it. Though we have written about it in our earlier blog but still this is one point which needs to be included every time it is mentioned.
Why would a user click on a Restaurant website?- To know about the food items it offers:
– What is unique about it
– Where it is located
Now, if a user has to search hard for these things or he is not able to access it on his smart device the effort on the website is a complete waste irrespective how good it looks.
Menu should be in front of the user in a jiffy when he/she open up the website. Not only it should be easily accessible but should also be readable.
3) Less Is More
Now, I could have covered this point above as well but I gave it a separate sub-heading because it is relevant and important.
Now, you will come across lot of websites that will write something ambitious like: amongst the best restaurants in orange county or best places to eat in Orange County.
Now these are generic statements that people don’t care about. More than making an impression they generally turn people away.
Now, I am not discouraging you from mentioning things you are good at but instead of adding these terms it is good to mention facts. This is what you can do:
– If you have good reviews on Yelp, you can mention that on your website
– Add testimonials and reviews of your customers
– Mention the ingredients and unique techniques you use in cooking the food
In other words cover less but cover things that are authentic and true. People want to will believe in you if you present them with facts rather than statements.
4) Get Your Audience To Act
Your restaurant website should have a good and clear call to action on all the pages.
Imagine this, by using proper tracking metrics you are able to gauge that a person is on your menu page for more than a minute, which means that is interested in it.
Now, when he is about to leave that page a small pop-up comes up asking would you like to make a reservation or add this menu or bookmark this page? Bam!
Once you have a customer on the website don’t become too aggressive or pushy with your call to action but at the same time don’t become so polite also that the other person don’t even notice you. Don’t have boring Contact forms. Make them user friendly and more interactive.
Remember that the success of your restaurant will ultimately depend upon the quality of food but to get them there you need proper tools.
Your website should be interactive and should cover all the essential elements so that when the customer walks in he is aware about where he is and what he can expect.
In case you need any assistance in creating or redesigning a restaurant website you can always contact your truly orange county website design company.