Before You Open Your Restaurant You Need To Build A Visual Presence On The Internet

It’s never too early to start creating a visual presence in your potential customer’s memory.

Your Restaurant Needs A Website!

No, a Facebook page is not ENOUGH!
It can help get your name out there, that’s for sure and I’ll cover that later on in this post.
It’s a fact that an actual website, even a simplistic one, tends to rank higher in search results and that’s exactly where you want to be when someone Googles your restaurant.
You don’t need to get fancy, well maybe not yet. Start simple and let your reputation and word of mouth build your following.
Remember you’re not open yet, now is the time to tease them and get them excited about your restaurant.

It’s important that your website reflects your concept, color scheme, and décor.
Well-known restaurants use ways of interacting with customers to brand their restaurants, such a mascot, a catchy designed logo and even a tagline.
These types of interactions should be reinforced on your website as well.

What does a simplistic successful website look like?

A Simplistic website should have:
The restaurant’s logo
Your address
Phone number
An online map
Hours of operation
An e-mail address to contact you
Menus
An “About” page that gives customers an idea of what the restaurant offers.
Highlight who the owner(s) is a quick story explaining how they got to this point and possibly some of the important stuff such as who is the chef and some background on their cooking experience.
Some tasteful photos
Most importantly your website should load quickly on all devices and look beautiful and appetizing when people are looking for a place to eat.

Setting Up a Facebook Page!
People who aren’t technically suave can find updating a website intimidating.
Here’s where Facebook can be a big help!
Setting up a fan page for your restaurant and updating it is easy. You can include all the same info as you do on your site’s homepage.
You can post updates on your restaurant’s wall, share photos of new menu items, and use it as your primary way of communicating with your customers.
In fact, more and more restaurants announcing events, specials and new menu items put it on their Facebook pages first. Some may update their official sites days later or not at all.
Once you’re your website up and restaurants is open, and you are comfortable updating your Facebook page, it’s a good time to start branching out into other forms of social media such as Twitter and Instagram.

Building a loyal customer base is the foundation of brand awareness.
Loyal customers will spread the word faster than anything else!
Creating brand awareness through a website and social media is the best tag team to reinforce loyalty.
Start with a simplistic website during your startup and you’ll be that much ahead of the game and famous before the doors even open.

If you need more advice on the startup of your restaurant contact us today!