The 5 most important pages of a Restaurant Website Sitemap

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So, you have decided to create a website for your restaurant and the web designer told you that you needed to create a sitemap? If this is the case, below are the 5 important pages that a restaurant sitemap should include:

1- Home Page- This is the page where your site visitors will “land” when they type yourrestaurantname.com, and it should include the following:
- great photo of your restaurant.
- introduction to your restaurant.
- your unique selling proposition (USP) (click here if you don’t have an USP for your restaurant).
- contact/ reservations, social media icons & operation hours (sidebar).

2- Menus – This page is where the website visitor will understand what kind of food you are offering and should include:
- menus of your restaurant.
- signature item photos.
- contact/ reservations, social media icons & operation hours (sidebar).

3- Gallery – This page is where your visitors will get the first impression of your restaurant ambience. Because the first impression is very important, make sure that you display photos that showcase the best of your restaurant. And these are:
- photos of your restaurant, your team, signature dishes, events at your restaurant etc…
- contact/ reservations, social media icons & operation hours.

4- Story/ About us – At this page, you should create a story why your restaurant exists, who are your team members, why website visitors should come and try it.
- your story.
- contact/ reservations, social media icons & operation hours.

5- Location and Contact- this is also a very relevant page. This is where your guests will find their way to visit you, so make sure that all information is correct and easy to understand.
- your address.
- your telephone number.
- your email.
- google map of your location.

These 5 are the pages that I consider fundamental for any restaurant website. If you can add more pages, add some client reviews and testimonials. These offer an independent indication of your service and food quality and increases your business credibility.
Are you building your site? Did you add any extra pages that you believe relevant to your business?

 

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What time and where do your customers “play around social media”?

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You already know that is important to promote your restaurant in social media. You have asked someone to start posting something in facebook or other social media platform in order to promote your restaurant. Do you know if these efforts are bringing you new customers or retain the existing? Let me tell you something, it all depends on which platform you are posting it, and if you are posting interesting content for your target market.

So, how to find what are these effective social media platforms and when is the best time your customers are using these social media? The best thing to do is “Ask them!” You can do it directly or through a survey, and believe me, the time and efforts you spend acquiring this information will pay off as soon as you start making your social media efforts at the “right time” and “place”.

Do you know which social media platforms your customers use? How did you found out?

 

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75% engagement | 25% promotion rule - Social Media for Restaurants

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We already know that social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube are powerful tools to engage with your clients and promote your special menus/items. What happen in most of the restaurant social media platforms is that they spent 95% promoting their products (ex: come and try our Valentine’s Day set) and only 5% or 0% in engaging with their “fans”.

In this post, I will explain why you should spend much more time (approximately 75%) on engaging with your customers, instead of promoting your products (around 25%).

I understand that your objective is to let your customers know what you are serving in order to drive more sales. But you should stop for a while and think, why people love social networks? Why they use it daily? Is it to buy products and meals? Probably not! People use social media to see what their friends are doing, to communicate with their families and see what’s happening related to their hobbies and interests.

If your clients are using social media to communicate with their friends and relatives, why it is important for you to be there as well? Simple, to communicate with them as someone close to them, who cares about what they say. Social media marketing efforts are more powerful for client retention than to client acquisition, and we know that in the restaurant business a regular customer worth much more than a few onetime visitors.

So please don’t just post about your new menu items, focus on starting conversations with your clients through comments/ likes that will make your client feel important to you and be part of your restaurant. This will make them come back regularly and not just because you are offering a special menu for Valentine’s Day.

Do you have any social tactics that you have seen great results?

 

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What is the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) for your Restaurant

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In restaurant business, many establishments offer similar products. There are many Pizzerias in Macau, and if I want to open one and win more clients to the competition, I need to find in what characteristics, product, price, place or promotional strategy my restaurant is different and better from the others that offer similar products or services. These stand out difference is the one that will make clients choose to patronage my restaurant instead of the others, and this is what I call my USP (unique selling proposition).

A good example of a USP was the Dominos Pizza: “fresh pizza fast!”. Previously, if you ordered from Domino’s and didn’t get the pizza in the next half hour, it will be free of charge. This unique selling proposition was Domino’s advantage to its competitors, but unfortunately didn’t work for a long time because one of its drivers had a severe accident.

So, how you come up with a unique selling proposition?

First, you need to identify what differentiates you from the competition. Is it your price? Your location? Your food quality? The biggest steak? Your public relations skills? And especially, why people should choose your restaurant instead of your competitors?

In order to create an effective USP, you will need to put yourself into your customer shoes and this is really important. I met restaurant managers that were so “in love” with their menus and restaurant decorations, and forgot that is not all about what you like, but what your customers like in your restaurant that will make them come to you.

What is your USP? Can you please share below?

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6 Tactics to enlarge your restaurant email database

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In my opinion, email lists are the most powerful marketing tool you can have. They allow you to communicate “personally” with your clients when they are not inside your restaurant. In this post, I’m going to talk about a few strategies that you can use to collect emails from your existing and potential customers. Please note that guests will only give you access to their email inbox if you also offer some benefits that will reward them in return.

- Contests: Create contests concerning your restaurant. Ex: a lucky draw for 2 cinema tickets and dinner for 2. Guest will need to fill a small contest form where email address will be mandatory.

- Reservation number: When they call to make a reservation, you can easily get their mobile phone number. With this mobile number, you can use the SMS sample below, or ask for their email address during the telephone conversation. And if you ask for their email, please let them know what you intend to do with it. (Ex: to send monthly newsletters about your restaurant, promotions, etc).

- SMS: You can run in house ads or ads at any local newspapers asking customers to send you SMS (ex: SMS to 6121234 I love cheesecake and get a free cheese cake next time you visit our restaurant). As soon as you received the SMS, reply by asking them to provide their email address so you could send them the e-cheesecake coupon.

- Comment cards/surveys in your bill folder: Guests like to feel important and in order to get their feedback regarding your product or services make them feel “powerful”. Make sure that every comment card and survey you provide to guest request their email address.

- Your website: Have a sign up form at your restaurant website. Make sure that you make it clear, what are the benefits people will get when they sign up. Ex: discounts, free coupons or copy of your recipe book.

- Facebook Welcome tab: Have a special tab at your restaurant Facebook page. This special tab/ page can be easily created with tools like hike.

These are just few tactics that can be used to enlarge your email list. There are lots of options but I believe the 6 above are great start and will certainly work. Do you use know other methods? Can you please share them below?

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How to write effective facebook post titles for your restaurant promotions

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So, you want to promote your upcoming event or new restaurant dish on Facebook and not sure what title you should give to the post in order to get more post views? If this happens to you, below are some tips that will help to get more attention in your posts, and eventually bring more likes and shares.

1- Define your target market for that post. This is extremely important because you need to create a title that it is interesting to your target. A good Facebook post title is usually not appealing to everyone, so you need to define well to who you are talking to.

2- Study what post titles have worked for you and your competitors in the past. Try to understand why the title(s) worked, so you can tweak it without losing its power.

3- Focus your title about the guest experience and the product qualities. Example, don’t write “the best lobster in Macau!” but instead “Come and experience the best lobster you ever tasted!”

4- If you have a strong offer that will attract likes and comments, make it short, simple and direct. Examples: Book today for 2 nights at XXX hotel… and get 30% off, or Dinner at Restaurant A this Saturday, and get a free signature dessert.

5- Write your title as breaking news rather than advertisement. People love to be informed about the latest news. Ex: Introducing the New Mooncake! Blueberry Mooncake!

6- Use one of your guest testimonials as your post title. Potential customers always trust more on third party comments and reviews. Example, “the best egg tart in town!” Always write it in the first person point of view and add quotation marks around it.

Like with the Pareto Principle, in out of 10 persons, 8 will read your title but only 2 will read your post. Do you have any other tips? Please leave them at the comment box below.

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