Why Your Restaurant Needs a Website

“Your restaurant’s website delivers more value than an advertisement in a popular newspaper and at a fraction of a cost”

I have met many restaurateurs in my life and most of them do not believe that a website for their restaurants is useful. Most feel that a website for their restaurants is nice to have but it certainly does not sit on top of their priorities.

Restaurateurs believe that websites do not add any business value except provide them with some legitimacy and adding (ever so little) to the restaurant’s brand image.

I don’t blame them. In fact, I blame website designers for this misconception. Website designers often focus on non-business objectives and do not have any idea on how to make a business website for restaurants.

Case Study

Now, let’s look at one of our customers – this restaurant/pub had an existing website, it was slow, had very little information and did not display on smartphones and tablets.

We transformed it – made it super-fast, loaded with information, it worked beautifully on any device and created amazing content for it. Very soon, the visitors started coming in averaging about 2,600 visitors per month and the page views ramped up to about 10,000 per month.

This happened in just two months of our revamping the website. The annualized numbers projected are upwards of 150,000 page views and over 50,000 visitors. This is a very significant number and the restaurant management are sitting up. The figures will grow exponentially every year.

Suddenly, the website has become an important strategic tool for the management.

So, why does your restaurant need a website?

Lower Customer Acquisition Costs

A properly designed website with good user-experience can generate large traffic. Traffic acquisition on your website costs much lower than advertising or promoting on TV, radio or print media. A website for your restaurant can reduce your marketing costs and generate quality leads.

Available 24/7

Imagine the frustration of a potential customer if he’s unable to contact you over phone. Your website doesn’t have the problems of busy lines, tired employees or unavailability of responses.

Instant Activation and Changes

One of our customers put an offer on its websites. When it got tremendous responses on the first day, our customer realized that they had priced it wrong. It took us three minutes to un-publish the offer.

Imagine if the same offer had gone out on TV or in print. It would have been a disaster. Fortunately, on websites you can launch instantly, make changes as and when and you want it. And, this is at a fraction of the cost of traditional media.

Tell Your Restaurant’s Story

Yelp and Zomato may get millions in traffic but these portals don’t tell your restaurant’s story the way you want it told. Your website is your own. You control the content and you can tell your story. Highlight the philosophy of your eatery. Talk about your specials. Describe your signature dishes. Entice visitors and convert them to customers.

What Are You Losing Out?

As a restaurateur, you must ask yourself the question “What opportunities am I losing out on without a good website”? Some eateries do not need a website or social media. However, most do. As a business leader take an informed decision about your requirements about the cost versus benefits about a website.

You’ll be surprised at what you’ll discover.