If you own or run a restaurant, it is necessary that you have a professional and functional website. A great website is important for all businesses because most people use the Internet to find businesses, as opposed to using the yellow pages of phonebooks, but a restaurant website is also important for other reasons. To get customers to try your restaurant, you need to provide certain important information online and you need to make your website easily accessible by people who are not on their home computers, otherwise, it is much less likely they will ever walk through your doors.
Must-haves for Your Web Design
Your restaurant website must include a few certain elements in order to make customers want to visit your establishment. First, the homepage must include the location of the restaurant, the days and hours of operation, whether or not reservations are required, and current contact information. If customers can’t find your restaurant, they can’t eat there and if they don’t know what your hours are, it will make them unwilling to risk visiting in case you are closed. Another must-have for a restaurant website is an easily-viewable menu. For new customers, this is very important since the biggest determining factor in visiting a new restaurant is the type of food and how good it sounds. Upload a current menu, and include prices. Many restaurants post menus without prices, but this can actually be a deterrent for customers who want to know how much money they should plan to spend while eating at your restaurant.
Creating a Mobile Version
Since so many people use mobile devices to find businesses online, and since a restaurant is the type of business that people may find and visit while they are away from their homes, restaurant mobile sites are very important. You can create a mobile version of your regular website by simply finding a mobile website template online that will import all of your content into a mobile version. Make sure that you include all the same pertinent information on your homepage and include an option to view or download your current menu. Your mobile website can also link to driving directions to your location, which is a great feature for people who are out and about and looking for a place to eat right at that moment. You can attract new customers by making it easy for them to find and arrive at your restaurant by using your mobile website on their smartphones. According to hospitalitymagazine.com.au, many restaurant owners are overlooking the power of mobile accessibility for their website.
A website is incredibly important in the competitive business of restaurants, so if you don’t let customers know where you are, when you are open, what you offer, as well as making it easily accessible, you could lose sales in the long run. A website will also allow you to link to other sites that can make online reservations on your behalf, as well as websites to review your restaurant. These features will increase the likelihood that you gain new customers and retain your repeat patrons.