Getting the Big Picture, TwoTables Style
February 5, 2010
“Though the Web site may be the most important part of the marketing campaign, for true effectiveness it has to be part of a larger, big-picture marketing effort,” said Malcolm O’Keefe, CEO of the Blue River Interactive Group.
Amen! It was refreshing to see the TwoTables’ mantra published in the current issue of The Restaurant Standard, published by the California Restaurant Association. The article underscored several recurrent themes we have addressed in this blog, including:
- Regularly review the restaurant’s website to ensure that it is presenting a fresh, up-to-date image
- Keep SEO at the forefront of the website’s goals when contemplating a design/redesign project
- Integrate social media into the website
- Adopt a simple, easy-to-use content management system (such as WordPress) so that any member of the staff, no matter how technically-savvy, can make updates to the site
- Keep the website simple and effective – avoid annoying “click to enter” landing pages, flash-only pages, intrusive music and poor photography
In addition to these points, I would add the following to the list to ensure a thorough Internet presence:
- Claim and update the restaurant’s local search profiles. (Find out in less than a minute if this has been done for your establishment here.) Make sure the full street address and phone number appear on every page of the website.
- Search for <restaurant’s city><restaurants> in Google. Where does the website currently rank in the search results? Do the title and description entice searchers to click through to the website? This step takes just a minute to complete and offers valuable insight into the restaurant’s search engine presence.
- Claim and update the restaurant’s listing on directories such as Yelp, UrbanSpoon, TripAdvisor and any local review sites.
- Monitor the restaurant’s online reputation at the above-mentioned sites and respond to reviews (both good and bad) when appropriate.
- Use social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook and a company blog, to create a community surrounding the business. SAME Cafe in Denver does a great job of utilizing their blog and Facebook to include their customers. They also realize the benefit of a redesign; currently TwoTables is developing a fresh, new look for their website.
- Review the website’s statistical data regularly. Don’t have access to this information? Ask your website hosting company to provide it. If they can’t, Google Analytics is a free tool that offers in-depth information about your website visitors.
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