5 Free Tools to Boost Your Restaurant Online Marketing Plan
May 5, 2010
In honor of Cinco de Mayo, here are five easy, no-cost things you can do today to jump start your restaurant website marketing plan. Follow these steps, and by Memorial Day you’ll be well on your way to improving your business’ online presence:
- Update or Claim Local Listings – Enter your business name and zip code here, to see if your business listings have been claimed and updated on Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yelp, and Business.com. In less than 15 seconds, a report similar to the one below but specific to the business you have entered, will be available for you to view and act upon.
- Check for new marketing opportunities via keyword research – There are many good keyword research tools out there for professional marketers, but if you want a no-cost alternative it’s hard to beat Google’s own tool. Simply enter your website address or a keyword phrase, such as “Denver restaurant” and Google will show a list of related search phrases. Don’t rely heavily on the specific number of searches that are returned, instead use the results to rank relative demand for keyword phrases. Are people looking for restaurants that offer gluten-free alternatives in your area? Maybe a good place for Mother’s Day or Graduation celebration? Keyword research is a great way to uncover emerging trends to be included in your restaurant marketing plan. Make sure to include a new page on your website for any new markets you uncover!
- Do a bit of competitive research - How and what are your competitors doing online? Check out Compete.com and enter in up to three website addresses to compare unique visitors, top search phrases and top referrers for each site entered. This is a great way to discover new sites from which to get links to your own website and new search phrases to use in marketing your website.
- What’s being said about your restaurant online? – Here’s a two-for-one freebie! Monitor what the search engines are finding about your brand by setting up Google alerts for your restaurant’s name and the name of your chef. You’ll receive emails, for the time frame you select (immediately, daily or weekly), listing all mentions found on the web by Google. Do the same with social media mentions at SocialMention.com, where you can enter your brand name and see, in real time, what is being said about your business on social media websites such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs. You’ll not only see each mention listed, this site also calculates the strength of your brand, the ratio of positive to negative mentions and lots more. Subscribe to the RSS feed for your brand search to remain updated on mentions across the social networking universe.
- Download TwoTables’ whitepaper, Big Picture Internet Marketing , where we detail how to formulate an all-encompassing internet marketing plan for restaurants. Although compiled last year, the message, resources and tactics are still effective in 2010. You can also keep up to date on all things internet and restaurant related by subscribing to the TwoTables blog, following TwoTables on Twitter and liking TwoTables on Facebook.
That’s it! Enjoy your Cinco de Mayo celebrations, everyone.
Local Newspaper Websites Most Trusted Advertising Source
March 1, 2010
A ComScore study was released last week in which, among other findings, consumers ranked online newspapers the top source for local information (29 percent), local sports (27 percent), local entertainment (26 percent) and local classifieds (39 percent), ahead of both local television Web sites and online portals. Most relevant to restaurateurs and restaurant marketers, the participants identified local newspaper Web sites to be the most trusted source of online advertising, with ads that are perceived to be more current, credible and relevant to them. Newspapers outranked portal sites (such as AOL or Yahoo), local television websites, specialty websites and social networking sites when respondents considered the trustworthiness of the advertising available on the sites. These findings underscore a broader trend: internet users increasingly are looking to local and hyperlocal websites for information ranging from breaking news to must-visit restaurants in their city.
Local newspaper advertising is hardly groundbreaking, but while many restaurants include advertising in the newsstand version of their local papers as standard, few restaurants have added the digital equivalent to their marketing mix. In a brief review of the online versions of newspapers throughout the state of Colorado, we found that there were no restaurants currently displaying advertising on either the homepage or the food/dining/entertainment sections of these websites.
Based upon the study results, we’d recommend that restaurants consider adding local online newspaper ads (linking directly to the restaurant website) to current advertising efforts. Many newspapers will include an online version of an ad in addition to the print ad for a comparatively low cost. It’s also possible to bypass the newspaper altogether and use content advertising in Google Adwords to select specific newspapers in which to display an ad via pay-per-click campaigns. Expected benefits include increased brand recognition and trust in brand as well as increased traffic to the restaurant’s website, resulting in more diners at tables.
Have you considered or tested online newspaper ads? Give us your thoughts in the comments section!
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.
Keep up-to-date on internet marketing issues as they relate to the food service industry! Subscribe to our blog feed, get blog posts via email, follow TwoTables on Twitter and Facebook.