Doing business in 2015 means having a polished website, it is no longer optional. When potential customers are looking for a place to eat, a poorly designed website can mean a lost sale. The first thing visitors to your site will see is your home page, and as they say, first impressions are everything. So what are the most important things to put on your website? We looked at
Quora to see what consumers and restaurant owners think should be front and center.
Other than your restaurant's name and city, which should be clearly visible near the top of the page (think a Twitter profile style banner), the number one thing that most Quora answers mentioned was a restaurant's
menu, which makes perfect sense. Your restaurant's menu should be easily accessible from the main page, ideally either spelled out in text, or with a clear "Menu" link that takes users to a text-based version of your menu. As many of your viewers are likely to be using mobile phones, it's best to avoid PDF's. If you want to give site visitors the option of downloading a PDF version of the menu, include that in a separate link.
No matter how enticing your menu may seem, visitors are going to have a hard time experiencing your food if they cannot find your contact information. Your restaurant's
phone number and physical address should be easily accessible on the main page (not hidden under a "contact us" or "visit us" tab). It is best to format this information so that the phone number and address are clickable links, which will take mobile users straight to their dialer to call you, or directly to their smartphone's mapping application when the click your address. If you have a system in place for customers to make reservations via the your website, a link to the reservations page should be listed here as well. Also, be sure to include your
social media information on the home page, so customers can find your profiles. These can be small icons that do not take up much space, the top right hand corner, or along the side of the page are good, unobtrusive places.
If
parking is particularly crowded or difficult for your customers, you'll want to include information about that with the physical address and directions. If you have a parking lot that is free for visitors to use, by all means mention it! Likewise, give your guests a heads up if all the parking is metered, or provide them with directions to the nearest parking garage.
While you do not want your web page to look like an advertisement (after all, they are already aware of your restaurant, since they are visiting your website) you do want to prominently display any
specials (recurring or just for the night), and
happy hours on the home page. Now that you already have someone viewing your site, you want to make sure to entice them to visit your restaurant, so make these deals and special stand out, without taking over the page.
You'll also want to make sure that your home page clearly displays the
hours and days your restaurant is open. Be sure to keep this information up to date if anything changes, and include any closures for holidays or special events that may be coming up soon. If your restaurant hosts shows or other special events, put those on a separate "calendar" page. That way, the information that most people will need regularly is posted clearly, and they can go to a separate page for more detailed information.
Secondary information, things that do not necessarily need to go on the main page, include photos of the interior of your restaurant, and photos of your dishes and cocktails. While some designs can successfully incorporate one of these photos in your home page banner, if you want to include a gallery with several photos, it should be placed on a secondary page.
A single Quora user also astutely noted that accessibility information should be available, so that persons using wheelchairs or other mobility aids are aware of any ramps, elevators, etc.
Also important to note are the things you should
not include on your website. A few Quora posters mentioned that both music and animations are annoying, and we tend to agree. Flash based content is also out, as it does not play well with most smartphones and tablets.
For a good example of a well designed restaurant website, check out the page for the
West End Tap & Kitchen, a brewery in our area. Prominently displayed at the top of their home page is their logo, phone number, address and hours, along with an enticing photo of some of their brews. Directly below that, on the main page, is a text-based version of their full menu and drink offerings, clearly visible and readable for visitors on both computers and mobile devices. At the bottom of the main page, their location and hours are duplicated, along with a clickable map that can take mobile users directly to their navigation app. One neat thing about their website is that it is actually only one page. While they have links at the top of the page labeled "About", "Location", etc, clicking those links will just automatically scroll to the appropriate section on the main page, not take you to a new page, which makes it much easier for users on mobile devices to browse. It is stylish, clean and easy to navigate, and most importantly the information people will most likely need is the first thing they see.
What do you think are the most important things to show on a restaurant's home page? Be sure to check out Quora (link below) for more detailed info on what customers are looking for, and let us know what you think via Facebook, Twitter and Google+.
Source:
Quora
Tablebases.com
