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.
Capitalize on Increased Holiday Search Volume
November 11, 2009
People in the U.S. are beginning to research their Thanksgiving dining options online. Google insights shows that the annual spike in search volume for Thanksgiving restaurants has begun, with the highest search volume occurring in Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey and Colorado. The top five thanksgiving-related searches are shown in the table below:
What should a restaurant do to attract these searchers? If open for the Thanksgiving holiday, post a distinct page on the website that clearly lists hours of operation, links to online reservation portal, directions to the restaurant and the menu offerings for the day. The Inverness Hotel website, The Fort and Villa Mosconi have specific pages already posted on their websites. To further market Thanksgiving dining, a restaurant could set up a pay-per-click campaign that was targeted to searchers located within their state, metro area or even within a particular radius of their location. Facebook is also a great marketing option because of the ability to add events to company pages and the powerful advertising platform that Facebook offers.
Another study, conducted by HitWise, shows that the search traffic for holiday recipes and menus is also on the rise. Consider posting a few recipes or a video of the chef preparing a holiday favorite to capture these searchers, if this material is available or can be created soon. This type of link bait can be re-purposed in social media venues; for example, a video could be uploaded to YouTube and the recipes could be posted on the restaurant’s Facebook page.
Bottom line? A restaurant needs to get creative this year and utilize all the options available to maximize holiday revenues. Taking advantage of every online venue to market the restaurant and its unique offerings is smart business, plain and simple.
Do Your Customers Hate Your Restaurant Website?
September 11, 2009
It’s quite possible that they do. Even if they tell you that it’s great, chances are that they just can’t or won’t tell you the real deal.
So I’m going to.
Admittedly I’m treading on thin ice here; the only thing more dicey than pointing out that your website stinks would be to tell you that your pet chihuahua is ugly and annoying. Here I go anyway because, like exercise, immunizations and brussels sprouts, it’s for your own good.
Why would your customers hate your website? It could be because…..
I don’t know where your restaurant is and your website doesn’t tell me. This is a quick and easy problem to fix on almost any website and one that I implore you to remedy today. Put your restaurant’s full physical address and phone number in a prominent place (in text, not as a graphic element) on every page of your website. Don’t make people dig for it and do not assume that the only people who visit your website already know how to find you. A good portion of the online dining searches are performed by tourists who aren’t familiar with your city. Help them. If you are located in a suburb or neighborhood that visitors may not recognize, make sure to relate it to a location with which they will be familiar. For instance, you could say “located 10 minutes north of downtown in the trendy Highlands neighborhood.” Including a map, driving directions and parking information is also helpful and appreciated. The bonus points you get for this one? Adding your address (in text, not graphics) will help your ranking in the local search listings.
I want to see your restaurant’s menu before committing and it’s either: 1) not online 2) out of date or 3) it can’t be read in it’s online form. The very first thing I want to see when deciding whether or not to eat at your establishment is the menu. Please make it easy for me to find, don’t give me the menu from last summer and please don’t make me download it in some obscure file format. Make your menu an actual page on your website and update it regularly; your customers will love you for it and, if the page is optimized, the search engines will reward you with rankings as well.
I want to see your restaurant’s website; I don’t want my time wasted with an intro. You know that really cool video? The one that plays when I land on your web address and requires me to either sit through it or, if available, click the “Skip Intro” link to get to your website? Yep, you guessed it. I hate it and I am probably leaving your website without going any further. Don’t put hurdles in front of your potential customers and the information they are seeking. If it’s an interactive element that you want on your website, integrate it into your homepage. There are many design techniques that allow you to feature some form of video presentation prominently within the main website. A bonus for ditching the intro is that this also improves the search engine performance of your website.
I need a lunch/Sunday brunch/happy hour/late dinner option and I don’t know if you are open. The little brother of this one is not updating the restaurant’s hours, even if they are on the website. Need a real-world example? Recently, I wanted to go to one of my favorite local eateries for lunch. I checked their website and it only listed that they were open from 5 PM to 10 PM. I went to lunch elsewhere only to find out later that they indeed served lunch on weekdays. Bummer. Put the operating hours of your restaurant in a prominent place and ensure the times listed are accurate.
Do I need reservations? Don’t bury your online reservation link and/or phone number and please let me know if you’ve got a first-come, first-served, no-reservations-accepted policy. I may be willing to wait for an hour or more for a table if you let me know beforehand what to expect.
When I search for your restaurant’s name, the website is not listed in search results. I see reviews on Yelp, perhaps some local blog posts but your website is nowhere to be found. Don’t scoff, this really happens and there could be many reasons why. Maybe your site structure impedes search engine indexing, maybe your site is brand new or maybe you don’t even have a website?! Most issues can be resolved by employing basic search engine optimization techniques. If you search in Google, Yahoo, Bing or any search engine and cannot find your own website in the search results, call us at 888.822.5836 or submit our quick form to get a free, no-obligation analysis of your situation.
It’s clear that restaurant website designs are in need of improvement. Online customers are begging for it, even if they won’t tell you that to your face. Even worse, there are hundreds of potential patrons every day that can’t offer their opinion on your website design, because they can’t find it. Harsh, to be sure, but true all the same. How long can your business afford to ignore its web-loving clientele?