7 Reasons Your Restaurant Needs a Website
Having a website for your restaurant can do wonders for your business. In today's digital age, having an online presence is not just a nice-to-have, it's a must-have. Most customers want to see a menu before they decide to visit a restaurant. Your website can serve as a virtual storefront that operates 24/7 and provides information about your restaurant to potential customers. Here are just a few ways in which having a website can help your restaurant.
Menu Availability
According to research by OpenTable, 93% of people read online menus before dining out. Your restaurant’s menu tells your story. It highlights your culinary strengths and shows off your brand persona. It’s the first thing handed to customers as they sit down for a meal. Chances are, your selection of appetizers and entrees were what inspired them to dine with you in the first place. Your menu matters. Having an online menu matters too. Is your restaurant’s menu online? It should be! Oftentimes, your online menu is the first impression. With the majority of people turning to the internet to research before choosing a place to dine out, online presence is crucial. Seven out of ten customers visit a business or make a purchase based on info they found online! And without a searchable menu, you risk being undiscovered by new customers.
Customers Want to Find You EASILY
If a potential customer has never eaten at or heard of your restaurant, they’re unlikely to just visit your website directly out of thin air. They’ll be using search engines, like Google, with terms like “Thai food near me,” or “Cocktail bar near me,” and you want to appear in those results when your business offerings are relevant. Another great thing about searchable menu content is that specific menu items can be found through search as well. Even though most customers search without a specific business in mind, some people know what they’re in the mood for already!
Increase Your Local Search Results
If someone is craving pizza in Charlotte, they’ll most likely perform a local search “pizza near me.” When the search results populate, they’ll be able to find the restaurants that have what they’re looking for on the menu. There, the business name, and other essential information, like the address and phone number, will also be available. Diners can quickly navigate to the restaurant’s website as well to learn more.
Search Engines Can Find Your Menu
If your menu isn’t crawlable, you may have just lost a customer. When we say crawlable, we don’t mean by real-life insects. But, search engines do have what they call “spiders,” which are basically algorithms that follow links. When Google, and other search engines’ crawlers find your website, they’ll read it and its content is then saved in an index. Crawlers look for HTML content, otherwise known as the content on a webpage. PDF Menus do not allow search engines to do this, mainly because it views it as an image. To be picked up, it needs to be in text format, and readable to the software. Even though you do offer pizza, if search engines aren’t able to pull information from your menu, like in a PDF version, searchers may not discover that you have exactly what they’re looking for.
Customers Want to Know What to Expect
If someone is planning to dine out, looking at delicious photos of your daily specials and reading online reviews can help persuade diners to choose your location. But, knowing all the options of what you offer is essential in making the final dining decision. We are also in the age of the planner. Customers want to know what kinds of food a restaurant has available and know what they want to order in advanced. No one wants to be the one holding up the table from ordering!
Tourists and Visitors Need Suggestions
In addition to your local regulars, you need to be able to reach customers who don’t know you exist. Tourists will more often than not look up a town or city’s restaurant options in advance of their travels. Having a website with a menu that search engines can pick up allows them to see your online presence and decide to eat at your establishment before they’re in your town! Nothing shows off your offerings more than an amazing menu, testimonials from customers, and pictures of your business.
Online Ordering
We all have those nights when we don’t want to cook, but we also do not want to sit in a restaurant full of people. That’s when it’s great to be able to order food online and either have it delivered, or pick it up. If you don’t have a website, and the ability to fulfill those types of orders- you’re automatically losing business to competitors that do. We live in a digital age, and gone are the days of calling in takeout. By offering online ordering your expanding your customer base, as well as profits!
