For Restaurants to have an effective website and “Online Presence” it is essential to have a web presence that promotes credibility and the essence of the establishment. Statistics show that 9 out of 10 consumers will research a restaurant ONLINE before deciding to visit or make a reservation. Think about your own practices, you probably check a restaurants website before making a decision to have dinner or make a reservation.
Since the competition is one click away, a restaurant with a poor web presence (or no website) runs the risk of never having a future customer visit or call for that reservation. When you think about it, a new prospect is worth quite a few dollars since they may frequent the establishment once per month or more…?
So here’s what restaurant’s need for their website:
- The ability to change banners and website elements weekly/monthly to look current with the season. (shows a prospect that your active)
- Menus – users will want to view the menu’s for lunch, dinner and if appropriate kids.
- Clearly notate liquor license or BYOB options
- Daily specials are a great thing to add to the site
- Area to show current discounts/coupons or ad’s
- Catering menu (if applicable)
- Social media links with activity: facebook/twitter feeds with fans and activity. Nothing is worse than a restaurant facebook fan page without any comments or activity. If you think you can’t make time to handle this don’t add it it at all.
- Testimonials – Everyone knows a resturant wouldn’t post bad testimonials however it still means a lot for users to see this.
- Map – Google maps integration or written directions are always welcome
- GPS instruction if there is something quirky about your location.
- Parking instructions
- Entertainment (if applicable)
- Review section – There are some very cool widgets that allow a user to log into your site and write a review with a start rating, of course you would monitor these reviews before posting, but it looks good on the site and also comes up in google searches.
- Links to online ordering (if applicable)
- Gallery section of photos, bar, dining areas, banquet areas.
With a restaurant website designed in WordPress, you have the flexibility to make changes in-house; providing you the power to maintain your website without a web designer’s assistance. A WordPress site comes with a complete content management system or admin panel, so you can easily add/change page content, add blog posts, add articles, change pictures, up-load image gallery’s, add/remove pages, create landing pages, change advertising banners, just about anything. If you have a website that changes on a daily or weekly basis, WordPress is the perfect option to manipulate your website with out having formal html/php coding knowledge. In other words, you could easily add your daily dinner or lunch special, you could even post in advance and schedule them to show up.
Keep in mind, it’s important to communicate with your WordPress web designer the areas that will change and the kinds of changing content that will appear on the site. By doing this, your Restaurant Web Designer can make it easier for you to make changes and manipulate the page content.
Even if you don’t plan on making website changes in-house, if the website is built in WordPress your web designer will be able to make changes, additions, even a theme overhaul pretty easily and cost effectively.
Ask your Restaurant Web Designer about the option of a complete content management system.