When you own a restaurant, cafe or other hospitality business, it's essential to have an effective restaurant website design. In today's digital age, you cannot do without one.
There are many tips and tricks on the Internet that talk about what a 'good restaurant website' should include, but often, they simply focus on things like 'having professional photos' and 'including your menu'. Pretty obvious things, but also: secondary. Because, first and foremost, you must decide the purpose of your website and the message you want to communicate.
Restaurant websites are not similar to other business websites. There are certain traits that you must correctly follow to create a restaurant website. In this post, we will share with you strategic decisions you should make before designing your website.
“Who” is your restaurant?
Before you start with your website design, you should think about your restaurant's personality. What is your style? How do you speak? How do you ‘dress’?
Think of your restaurant as a person. How do they behave with other people?
Describe your style, characteristics, and things you like. Make a list of the five words that best describe it.
Who do you serve?
Once you know who your restaurant is, you need to decide who you serve. Some people might argue that you should do this in reverse.
It's much better to first clearly state who you are and then sketch an image of the customers you want. People look for brands that match their interests. So, you want people who match the brand you want to build, right?
You may have a vague idea of your ideal customer in your head, but planning your customer persona will greatly help in designing a profitable and effective website. It will help guide you through essential design principles. For example, how you name certain menu items or which items should be highlighted.
A buyer persona can be summarized in a few sentences, but the more you elaborate on this topic, the better.
Essential messages for your restaurant website
So now you know who you are and who you want to serve. The next step you want to take is to write your essential messages. The most important ones are the texts for your restaurant's homepage and "about us" page.
I recommend that your restaurant website texts be short and concise, full of your essential messages. You can ask yourself some simple questions to help you:
What do you want people to remember about you when they leave?
How do you want people to describe you to their friends?
What do you offer now that you will still be offering in 5 years? (The best roasts, innovative cocktails, vegan food, the best wines...)
Structured design
Make your restaurant website design well-structured. Easy to navigate. Many restaurant websites lack essential navigation elements, such as "menu" or "contact."
Remember why people visit your restaurant's website: because they want to see your menu, know your opening hours, find your contact details, or make a reservation. These 4 things, therefore, should be easy to find.
Most returning visitors to a website want to see the food menu. Presenting it in front of them makes the job much simpler and more accessible for your visitors.
Don't turn your website into a maze. Prioritize easy navigation.
Other online media
Your website should be kept up to date, but it's not the best place to constantly bombard with new photos. You can use other online platforms, such as social media, for those purposes. Or opt for an integrated social media feed, which updates automatically.
If you use WordPress, there are many plugins you can install to display your Instagram or Facebook account. These plugins are usually beneficial also for attracting more people to your social media accounts.
These are some of the important things to consider in restaurant web design.
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