Your opening a new Las Vegas restaurant, you have all your tablecloths in place the silverware has all been polished and the place is set. Your menus have been painstakingly reviewed, revised and designed to perfection. Even your napkins have a unique fold to them. So have you paid this much attention to your new website design?
Most people who are looking for that new and exciting place to eat out at most likely are using the internet as their main way of finding you, so does your websites first impression live up to your in-house standards?
Branding, are you being remembered?
I’m sure you have come up with a catchy and memorable name and a cool logo for you new restaurant, but are visitors remembering you, are they returning and do they patronize your establishment. Does your website design reflect the passion, color and textures you put into your food and the decor. Making sure you convey these in-house feelings on the web is crucial to being remembered.
Does your food look as good online as it does in-house?
Nothing makes a better impact than mouth watering, gorgeous well comprised photography. Even if you are working to maintain a modest budget investing in professional photography needs to be a part of the big picture. If you are just getting started and have limited finances – selective use of stock photography would be a better choice than attempting to do it yourself (unless you are a prof). Either way, make sure photography is not a budget cut, but a budget must. Investing in quality photography using a professional photographer and food stylist to shoot your food, interior and exterior shots or your establishment will pay off. Using your iPhone to snap a dark, blurry or blown out image will not win you new patrons. Allowing users to observe your culinary artistry and get an authentic look and feel of your place gives potential patrons a sense of what you are about, make it look it’s best!
What-cha cookin?
Whether you are giving a smaller sample menu or plan to list the entire menu, potential patrons want to know before they arrive. Showing what kind of food you have in store for them is easy to do online. Always make sure the menu you feature on your website is easy to find and is legible to view on smaller mobile devices. Good website design can make this a breeze to do and to also update ongoing as you change up the offerings.
Is this seat reserved? Online table reservations – Yes please.
The ability to make reservations whether its from a well placed phone number or via an integrated online reservation system such as opentable can make all the difference between an empty room or table service on steroids. You should always be sure that your Las Vegas based restaurant website design delivers a full scale, full service experience. Believe you me, your customers have grown to expect this with current technologies the way they are. Don’t disappoint your customers with a lack luster online experience. This holds especially true with respect to delivering a responsive mobile optimized user experience, because after all the mobile phone is likely where they’ll look first to look at menu offerings, hours and location etc.
Are you blogging?
You should be, and here’s why… Let potential patrons know what your chef’s specials are, give them insight to upcoming events, offer information about seasonal menu offerings and more. Organize a theme for the week you plan to host an event or holiday, either way just keep your loyal patrons searching and looking for more. In the ad world we refer to this as “engagement.” Maybe even take the communication process a step further and feature your staff and announce any changes you have in the works. Blogging is a great way to get your message out and keep your patrons close. And on the flip side, blogging has big potential for Search Engine Marketing (SEM) results, which helps to boost your website above your competitors.
I hope this generalized basis of information helps you to consider all decisions that become part of your website design project. Great upfront planning and marketing know how makes all the difference between make or break in the highly competitive restaurant business. Trademark Creative Ltd. Is a creative design agency with the experience and know how to accelerate your Las Vegas restaurant website design project. Contact us today to schedule a sit down to go over your restaurant website design needs.
Note about the author: Tim Davis has over 20 years experience building websites ranging from large .coms to small business and nonprofits. For the last 4 years he has devoted his craft to building responsive websites in an agency setting working with small to large enterprise level clients. Currently Tim hangs his hat at Trademark Creative – where a close nit, world class team of creatives work in tandem everyday, striving to deliver extraordinary responsive website solutions designed to propel business sales and marketing goals.
