Unleashing the power of the web
This article was written exclusively for CatererSearch by the editor of mad.co.uk, the website which delivers business insight to professionals in marketing, media, new media, advertising and design. To subscribe to mad.co.uk and receive full access to their database of articles on the industries click here.
Restaurateurs are too often guilty of ignoring the internet, writes Sarah Lelic, Editor, mad.co.uk.
For any thriving business in this day and age, a strong web presence is a crucial part of a successful marketing strategy. However, the restaurant trade often lags behind other industries in this important area, with many eateries, even leading chains, having either poorly designed websites, little more than a directory listings page, or no web presence at all.
There seems to be a feeling among some restaurateurs that a decent web presence is not necessary, with many taking the view that as word-of-mouth marketing has always worked well for the restaurant trade, there is no reason to believe that it won't continue to do so in the future.
The problem is that while word-of-mouth is still very much key to a restaurant's success, this form of marketing now operates in a very different way to how it used to.
People these days are used to searching online for recommendations on the numerous foodie websites that have sprung up over the past couple of years. So, for restuarants, no real need for a web presence.
Today's consumers, however, are used to doing almost everything online. The natural progression from seeing a recommendation for a restaurant online is to then search for the restaurant's website in order to carry out some further research.
If no site can be found, or if the website in question offers the consumer very little to go on then immense brand damage can be caused, and more than likely a potential booking lost.
A good restaurant website should offer consumers a wide range of information, including sample menus with prices displayed, the wine list, booking information, opening hours and directions.
Really good restaurant websites also include 360 degree virtual tours of the dining space, the ability to book a table online, photography of sample dishes and information on the head chef and his background.
For the modern diner, a restaurant's website should act as a showcase providing the casual surfer with reasons to go a particular restaurant, not stay away. In theory, at least, the more information you can provide consumers with, the more appealing your restaurant will be to them.
What's more, having a well-designed and well-functioning website can help attract new custom through being properly optimised. While seen by many as something of a dark art, search engine optimisation - at its simplest - is merely a means of ensuring that if a browser types the name of your restaurant into a search engine that your website is picked up by those search engines and appears in as high a position as possible. It is surprising how often this doesn't happen.
Optimisation can be achieved by a variety of means, some of which are more technically demanding than others, but any decent web design outfit should be more than capable of building the basic principals of optimisation into a website.
The importance of having not just an effective website, but a properly optimised one, cannot be over-estimated and will become even more crucial as time goes on.
Search engines will soon not only be crucial to desk-bound browsers of the internet, but are gradually moving into the mobile sphere, surely all the more important for restaurateurs.
Ultimately, there is little point having a strong web presence if nobody can find your site. Equally a poor website will only let you down when potential customers come calling.
For true marketing success, a good website must go hand in hand with search engine optimisation. If both these things are done effectively then the power of the web can be fully harnessed.
