A company, no matter what sector, cannot afford not to have an online presence. After all, the website is used to inform current customers and even makes it easy to find new ones. But each industry has its own challenges. That is why the website of a restaurant must be designed differently from other businesses. Let's see why..
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Nowadays it is common, before visiting a restaurant, to find out before the menu on the Internet. What kind of food is offered? What price are the dishes? Does the environment correspond to what we are looking for? Restaurant web pages make it easy for potential customers to find the gastronomic offer they are looking for..
But it can also help you rank first. If someone is looking for a good place to dine or a coffee shop close to where you are, they will use an internet search engine. So, if you have created your website according to SEO criteria, it is very likely that new customers will meet you.
Obviously, the main business will remain local, but a good website can help and support your business. For example, systems that make it easy for customers to reserve a table are becoming increasingly popular. If you also offer home delivery, you can offer an interactive menu where customers can place their orders..
Web pages have also become indispensable in other sectors:
The restaurant industry has been severely affected by the pandemic. While in other sectors there is the possibility, although it is not applied in a generalized way, to move the office to the home, this option does not work for restaurants. However, they can use their website to remain accessible to their customers: if, for example, food delivery is offered, it should be featured prominently on the web. An interactive ordering system encourages customers to enjoy their food despite the closure.
As long as the health crisis lasts, even without an ordering system, restaurant websites can go a long way in keeping business afloat. A blog (perhaps in combination with social media) could be used to report on the current situation and keep in touch with regular customers.
IONOS wants to be your digital partner. On this special website we offer you information that can support you at this time.
There are several ways to launch a website: you can choose to use any of the web creation tools offered by the market or you can invest in a team of professionals. Although they are always helpful, today it is no longer necessary to have knowledge of HTML or CSS.
A content management system (CMS) is a program specially designed to facilitate the publication of content on a web page. First, with the CMS, you create a page with the support of templates and plugins . Creating a page with WordPress is very easy. In many cases, these systems are available for free. However, you have to plan a budget for the web space and possibly also for the paid extensions. It is worth comparing the different CMS beforehand to make the best decision.
If you're interested in IONOS WordPress Hosting, creating your own website will be even easier: as the technical framework is already in place, you can fully concentrate on creative design.
A website builder kit is an easy-to-use online software that allows you to create a website for your restaurant quickly and easily. For this they usually offer several modules that can be combined with each other in the interface and customized there. But the price of such simple operation is the limited scope for individualisation. Working with a modular system means meeting the limitations of the software .
IONOS provides you with MyWebsite, website creation software . With just a few clicks, you can create your own professional website.
Some hosting providers offer a design service in addition to basic technical equipment. A team of experts creates individual web pages in cooperation with the client based on design templates. You don't need any technical knowledge or design experience. The designers take care of all aspects of the site creation and while the client has a lot of influence in the process, they also have more time to focus on their business.
IONOS can also actively support you in the design of your website. With the MyWebsite Design Service you have everything in a single source: hosting, domain and web design.
Another way to create your restaurant website is to hire a web design agency or freelance designers. If you turn to these professionals, you are completely free in the design of the website. Everything that is technically possible, specialists can implement it for you. The designers will also ensure that your restaurant's presence on the web is of the ideal quality.
The decision you make is influenced by three aspects: individuality, knowledge, and budget. If you want a highly individualized website, but do not have the necessary experience, you will have to accept the corresponding costs of the specialists. If, on the other hand, a simple web page is enough for you, you can create it cheaply and easily using a web page builder.
The size of a restaurant's website depends primarily on the variety of objectives it pursues. If a one page web is, in principle, a good web design solution, it might not be suitable for gastronomy. Therefore, you should plan the following subpages:
The first thing a potential customer sees is the home page. So you should already leave a good impression on it. One or two photos of a typical or local dish already give a good idea of the restaurant. You can also inform about the opening hours on the home page.
The most important thing in a restaurant is, of course, its menu of dishes, therefore, a virtual menu should not be missing on the website of a restaurant. Many restaurant businesses integrate their menu through a PDF file, for example, since it is sometimes easier to adapt than a web page. However, this can be problematic if it is opened with a mobile device, so it is best to integrate it as content on the web page. If you have images of your dishes, take advantage of the potential of images to whet your appetite by adding them to the menu.
Many customers will come to your business for the good food, but not only: the atmosphere is also an attractive factor of great value. Therefore, it is worth posting photos on the web that give an idea of the space before you go. That page is even more important if you rent the restaurant for private parties. In this case, other additional information, such as the size or possible seating arrangement, can be very helpful.
Table reservations offer more security to both the restaurateur and the customer, so it is about making it as easy as possible. If a simple reservation system is integrated into the web, other advantages are also gained: people who are already on your page can make their reservation without having to call by phone and the staff will be freed from organizing and telephone attention.
You don't have to create that reservation system yourself. There are several providers whose systems can be quickly integrated into your own website.
If your restaurant also offers a home delivery or pick-up service, you should also consider an ordering system. Your customers save themselves on the phone and can take their time deciding what to order. There are also external providers for this purpose, whose systems can be integrated into the restaurant's web pages. In many cases, the software even takes care of the payment.
There is always news that you want to share with your customers, whether the season has started again for a certain dish or there is a new wine in the range. A blog, for example, is suitable for this type of news, but also to offer a "behind the scenes" look. This encourages loyalty. The interaction of blogs and social media profiles is also a productive solution.
While the most important thing about a restaurant is the food it offers, those who work there form the soul of the establishment. So introduce yourself and your team in a separate section and give your business a personal touch. This is also a great place to put a photo of your team or your work behind the stove.
Many people go to the restaurant's website when looking for its address. So create a page for this too. There you can also give more directions, especially if the building is difficult to find. Information on public transport connections is also useful. If you embed a map with Google Maps, you will provide visual assistance for navigation.
It's important that customers can get in touch with you as easily as possible. On a separate page you can present all possible ways of contact. Enter a phone number and an email address. An interactive contact form makes communication even easier. Your visitors will only have to write their request in the text field and click send.
Almost all websites need a legal notice to comply with the legal requirements in which the liability information is provided. The name and address of the owner are required elements, as well as the contact details or the company's NIF. On the Internet you will find many templates and generators for a legally compatible legal notice.
It doesn't matter which option you use to design your business website: building a good presence on the web always involves certain steps, from choosing the correct domain to making it known.
The domain is the address of your company on the Internet. This will be the first thing your potential customers see of your page, hence its great importance. This address should be easy to memorize and unique. From a search engine optimization point of view, it is also worth including the name of the place where the restaurant is located in the URL. This can be done with a dash or by using a local top-level domain (TLD) such as .madrid .
If you buy a domain with IONOS, you will also receive a free email address and an SSL Wildcard certificate. Check now if the domain you want is still available!
The aesthetics of the website must match that of the restaurant. If the restaurant has a rather minimalist interior, the online presence must also settle for a few elements. If, on the other hand, you have a rustic restaurant, you can also show it on your website. However, web design should not be confused with interior design, because different rules apply: user-centered design focuses on the experience of website users. They must find the information they are looking for in the easiest and most intuitive way possible. This type of web design also means that websites can be opened just as easily on a mobile device as on a desktop PC or laptop.
If you decide to do the web design yourself, you usually don't have to start from scratch. It doesn't matter if it's a website construction kit or a WordPress homepage, there are plenty of templates available. Some of the templates or themes are also specially designed for restaurant web pages.
The variety of design proposals from IONOS are also suitable for restaurant websites. Be inspired by the design and content of the templates!
Good design ensures that the most important element of the web, the content, is in the foreground. Texts and images are the core of any online presence , the reason why guests visit your website. So spend all the time you need on this task. You must create and maintain content that stands out for being:
Ideally, your website attracts new customers. To publicize your website, it must also be designed from the point of view of SEO optimization. Several factors influence how Google (and other search engines) find your website:
With IONOS rankingCoach you can quickly find weak points in your SEO strategy.
