A few days ago, Creative Link posted Part One of Check, Please!: Checklist for Effective Restaurant Websites covering the visual essentials for your restaurant’s website. If you missed it, check it out here.

Today’s focus is Content. The sustenance for your website.

Checklist for Effective Restaurant Websites...Part II: Content...

__________ Always have your menu available on your website...lunch and dinner.  Menus are a top reason why someone visits your site. Make sure your menus are easily found, readable and up-to-date. It is a good idea to have a printable take-out menu available (PDFs work great). If choosing to display prices on your online menu, add “All Prices are Subject to Change” as a catch-all for any pricing changes that occur before you are able to update the content on the website.

__________ Include specials, catering options, reservations, Happy Hour, live music, gift cards and special events.  Customers are often seeking a restaurant to host a party, meet a group of friends or cater an event.  Highlighting special services and events tells them you are a full service restaurant that can meet their needs.

__________ Display images of your food, the interior (capturing atmosphere) and the exterior of your restaurant.  Food and atmosphere are why people go to restaurants. Make these key items visual throughout your website. Displaying some of your restaurant’s dishes can motivate someone to visit your restaurant. Use a professional photographer. How good your food looks will mean a great deal on the web. After all, they aren’t able to smell how delicious it is from afar. Have an amazing chef? Dedicate a section on the “About Us” page for a picture and bio.

__________ Offer a coupon for a discount or free appetizer. People love discounts and especially the opportunity to receive something free. Use this to your advantage. It’s called “give to get.” Offer the coupon, but ask for some information from your customer first. Think about what kind of information you would like to learn about your customers. Maybe their first and last name? Email address? What area of town they prefer to dine? It is ideal to have the customer complete the form on your website and have them receive the coupon via email. How does this benefit you? Coupons bring customers to your restaurant and you collect important information to reach those interested in your restaurant for future communications.

__________ List your location(s). Include your phone number, map, directions and a picture of your restaurant. You can simply provide the Google Maps link, but including a blurb about surrounding landmarks can be extremely helpful. Make it easy for people to find and share your restaurant location.

__________ Offer a feedback opportunity. Add a form to your website to allow customers to submit feedback about the experience they had at your restaurant. 

__________ Add Social Media icons. Link your website to your restaurant’s social media profiles: Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Be sure to link your accounts back to your website. Have a celebrity chef? Post their blog on the restaurant’s website. This adds dynamic content to your site and personality to your restaurant. Stay tuned to the Creative Link blog for an upcoming post on how to use social media to engage your customers and foster loyalty.

__________ Use optimized content. It’s important to use keywords within your site to help get your website listed organically in search engines like Google. Don’t over do it with keywords by “keyword stacking.” Use them naturally within your menu item descriptions, headlines and subheads.

Last but not least, have a website you control. Make sure you have access to make changes to content on your own. It’s your website. Own it. Update it. Love it. Feed it.

If your restaurant’s website “checks” out on all of these items, you’ll rate high on your website review. If not, you have a list of changes to guide you through improving your restaurant’s website.

Come back next week. We’ll be here...and be sure to tip your wait staff.