Crafting the perfect website for your restaurant is a lot like making a sales pitch. Your restaurant’s website is your first line of defense for many prospective customers, and it’s your website’s job to get them to say “Yes, I’m going to eat there.”

Here’s a quick rundown to get your restaurant’s website in prime shape.

Cover the bases

No ideal website is complete without the essentials. The most obvious of which being your restaurant’s menu. This should be one of the easiest things to access right off the bat. If you can’t access the menu within a single click, you may want to consider making it easier.

While on the subject of menus, be sure to include any additional menus you might have. Whether we’re talking about breakfast menus, bar menus, a wine and cocktail list, or even time-sensitive menus, there’s always the chance that someone is coming to your website searching for something a little more specific.

An awesome about section can go a long way towards selling your restaurant to a visitor who hasn’t made up their mind on whether or not they’re planning to dine with you. Detailing your brand’s story, its history, and what’s special about your restaurant can add a personal and appealing touch.

Don’t forget about pages for reservations, takeout, delivery, and catering services, if you offer them. With delivery and reservations, whether you link to a third-party service or run everything through your website, make sure it’s featured prominently.

Quality design

The design of your website is (arguably) about as important as the actual content itself. A poorly designed website can turn customers away if they feel frustrated with the design. That’s why ease-of-use is paramount.

Make sure there’s not too much going on. Nobody likes a website that’s too busy. Use pleasing colors and savory images. Have a simple directory indicating where everything is on your site. Nothing should be too difficult to find.

When it comes to design, optimizing for mobile is absolutely necessary. A good chunk of people won’t open up their laptops to check a restaurant’s website. Instead, they’re pulling out their mobile device and finding your website through a quick Google search.

Go beyond

The basics are important. But what separates a passable website from an excellent website? That depends! Websites are incredibly versatile, and every restaurant has its own particular brand story to tell. Here’s a few examples of some ways your restaurant can really separate itself from the pack.

  • Feature your chefs. Every chef has a story. Featuring your chefs gives your restaurant a face behind the food.
  • Highlight your ingredients. Does your restaurant use only locally-sourced, organic ingredients? Is all of your fish specially imported from Japan? That’s all worth talking about it!
  • Is your restaurant involved with the community? Show it off.

The CoGoBuzz Advantage

Upgrading your restaurant’s website will feel like a total pushover once you’ve gotten started with CoGoBuzz, our state-of-the-art digital marketing service.

Leveraging state-of-the-art WiFi, SMS, and Email solutions, our service digitally engages your customers both in-store and out. We automatically build profiles for every single customer login to your HotSpot. We’ll hook you up with the most crucial data behind your top customers. Refining your website is easy when you know exactly what customers you’re targeting.

Check out the rest of our website to learn more about the many benefits of CoGoBuzz!

What does your restaurant’s website look like? Let us know in the comments!