Restaurant websites share many of the same principles of any website. They need to be user friendly, easy to navigate, have good information hierarchy, and exhibit consistent branding elements from the restaurant itself. While there's endless restaurant concepts, they all have the same goals:
- Get people to your restaurant
- Get people to your restaurant
- Get people to your restaurant
How this is accomplished will vary a bit from restaurant to restaurant, but overall good restaurant website follow the same general formula:
1. Make your menu easy to find and read
The first thing any diner will look for you on your site is your menu. This should be made prominent on your website through your primary navigation or a noticeable button.
The menu link is clearly visible in the navigation
People read content online differently than they do in print. Your menu should be in text and laid out neatly with prices and descriptions if applicable. In additional to loading faster, it's easier to share with friends and better for search engines, meaning more traffic to your site.
If you have a PDF version of your menu, don't be tempted to put it up as a downloadable file and call it day. Anything that requires the visitor to download and load up external programs like Adobe Acrobat or find the file on their computer will hinder the experience and potentially lose you a customer.
2. Make it easy to find your restaurant
Location, location, location. It can't be stressed enough in the restaurant industry. Your website should make it easy to find your location.
Dozens of websites offer free mapping services that you can link directly from your website or embed into a page.
If you have many locations, you can incorporate a proximity search function to locate the nearest restaurant to your diner. Website visitors simply enter their zip code and a radius, and the nearest results will be displayed.
3. Great photos
Dining is an activity that incorporates all the senses. You see, smell, taste, feel, and even hear food. So it makes sense that having high quality photos will help sell your food as well as a great description. An experienced professional photographer can give you the shots you need.
An example of great design and great photography.
Your dining room is often a deciding factor in selecting a restaurant, so images of your restaurant interior and the details that make it unique will make your diner familiar with your restaurant before arriving.
4. Make it easy to make reservations or order by phone
Whatever your preferred method of contact is, make it prominent on your site. If you accept reservations or orders by phone, make it clear to call a certain number and provide your operating hours. If you accept reservations online through a third party service like Open Table, indicate that they should complete an online form. If you accept fax orders, provide a printable order form or indicate what information you need to fulfill the order.
5. Make sure your website is consistent with your other marketing materials
In the competitive restaurant industry, standing out is important and building a distinct brand can be difficult. Use every opportunity you can get to reinforce your brand by keeping it consistent throughout your marketing materials. Your colors, logos, font choices, and graphics should be recognizable as part of the same restaurant.
6. Keep it current
If your restaurant holds events, specials, or changes the menu on a regular basis, you'll need to make sure your website reflects those changes. With modern content management systems, making these updates have become simple and hassle-free, so ask about a CMS for your website before you start.
1 reply on “Tips for Restaurant Website Design”
Nice Article, Thanks for sharing this valuable information .What are some important points to keep in mind while looking to make a restaurant website.