Building a Better Restaurant Website
A few of you may know that I come from an IT background and spent about 14 years in the web and eCommerce space before opening my first restaurant 13 years ago. I still manage all our restaurants’ web presence, marketing, social media, etc and thought I would share a few cornerstones of what makes a successful restaurant website. Start with Why This is the first question you need to ask. Why does your website exist? Why are people be visiting your website? There are two reasons people visit your website – research and to find contact details. I discuss research more in Social Media & New Customer Acquisition where…
Top 5 reasons why restaurants fail in the first year
To be fair, in a restaurant, there are a million-and-one things that are likely to go wrong and you need to be the master juggler at a circus to stay on top of everything (or, better, have a good team who does). However, here are five key areas you need to focus on to ensure a better chance of success through the first year. 1 – Location Not understanding the difference between destination locations and high traffic locations, also termed A and B in the UK market. If you are looking at a location in an area classed as “A” (high traffic), it will usually be a more central location…
Social Media’s Impact on New Diner Acquisition
Does social media have any impact on website traffic? Will social media bring more customers to your restaurant? I’m going to lay my cards on the table at the outset – Social Media has a valuable impact on your ability to get and retain customers. But, it’s not entirely quantifiable. Let’s take a look at how this works. First, we need to look at how people find you – a primer on marketing funnels – so we can see how social media ties in with the bigger picture of traditional marketing. The recommendations in this post are based on my own real-life experience of applying different techniques over many years…
The Real Cost of Online Reservation Systems
You are a restaurant and you want more customers. You want control over your booking system and a database of your customers. You want a simpler way for your customers to be able to book without needing to always have to speak to somebody, or for that same somebody to check emails constantly. And you want to be able to quickly and easily check the bookings you have. Enter the online reservation (or online booking) system. There are lots of companies that provide this system, including ResDiary, Open Table, Quandoo, Bookatable, Welcome Table, simpleERB, et al. Some offer fixed pricing, but the bigger players offer a per-cover model that is…
Has TripAdvisor lost its relevance?
As a restaurateur with two businesses listed on TripAdvisor, we noticed a change when Priceline bought TripAdvisor. Apart from the modernised interface, the slight colour change and a few other updates, the biggest change I noticed as a business owner was the introduction of paid-for listings. It’s a clear revenue grab by the behemoth that separates regular listings from premium advertisers, who can now choose their preferred review and preferred photos to be seen by visitors to the site. In essence, the introduction of a 2-tier model which directly promotes paying businesses over everybody else. Even the spirit of objective reviews (which left the platform long ago) is now duly…
Advice for Coping with Online Trolls
I read a letter from Tucker Max in the book Choose Yourself! which I thought totally on point about dealing with negative online trolls. It was written to James Altucher about his blog, but can equally apply to any field where you get public feedback. Here is the letter, and I also recommend the book (link above). “I assume your blog post was mostly tongue in cheek about the feedback affecting you in a negative way. But if not, then please take this compliment to heart: From one very successful writer to another, I love your blog. Yes, it has its quirks and stylistic issues, but it is utterly original and…
BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL RESTAURANT
