How to Build a Strong Online Presence for Your Restaurant

In today’s landscape, your online presence can make or break your success. While it’s entirely possible to thrive without the fastest website or trendiest social media, the tools that we have available to us can make a massive impact. As such, building a strong restaurant online presence  can actually be far simpler than one might think — and it’s an incredibly powerful tool to have in your belt.

Why Online Presence is Crucial for Restaurants Today

New customers will often try to check out your website and/or social media before ever setting foot in the door, and that means that you need to impress. A nonfunctional website or online ordering experience can become so frustrating that guests choose to simply pick another place to eat.

A strong restaurant online presence allows you to entice guests into taking the leap and trying your restaurant. It makes ordering easier, shows off what you do best, and helps guests get an idea of what your restaurant fundamentally is. 

Key Components of a Strong Online Presence

There are several key aspects of a strong restaurant online presence:

• Your Website: While websites certainly aren’t cheap, they’re also easier than ever to build without really any technical know-how. Sites like WordPress and SquareSpace allow you to quickly and easily make a good-looking and functional site — and that may very well be the best route for many restaurants.
• Social Media: Social media is a tool that we’ve seen grow over the past two decades into a major part of daily life. Because of this, you should absolutely have a presence on multiple social media sites. From TikTok to Instagram and Facebook, there’s a lot to be gained by showing off your food, drinks, and environment — and it costs very little to run. Even one post a week, with a single photo and some text, can be enough to get the ball rolling.
• SEO: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a fancy term for a simple concept. It revolves around the idea of optimizing your online presence (including your website, social media, and any Google pages) to be found by people searching relevant terms. Peppering in a few keywords, and properly tagging images does wonders when trying to get new eyes on your business.
• Reviews: Reviews are an odd part of your restaurant online presence, in that you don’t really have much control over them. This means that you need to be aware of your reviews and ratings across third-party ordering sites, review aggregators, and search engines. Respond to those that you can, take their feedback, and use it.

Setting Up a Professional Website

First things first, let’s talk about building a website to help your restaurant's online presence. 

Essential Features Every Restaurant Website Should Have

A well-made restaurant website will have a few important features that’ll help guide guests to your location:

• A landing page: In short, this is the front page of your website. It’s the first thing guests will see and, importantly, is a reflection of your business. 
• Contact page: This should i include everything that customers will need to know about you at a glance. It should have your address, phone number, email, and (ideally) a plugin from Google that can help guests navigate to your restaurant.
• Menu: Every restaurant has at least one menu, so every restaurant should have their menu(s) displayed clearly — and accessibly — online. Do your best to avoid forcing guests to download anything and optimize your site to the point that it can quickly and easily load new menus as they come up.
• Social media: Whether this is accomplished through a gallery that allows customers to see your recent posts or with simple links at the bottom of the page, make it easy for customers to find you on social media.

Best Practices for a User-Friendly Restaurant Website

The beginning and end of designing a user-friendly restaurant website is ease of use. This means that it should load quickly (less than three seconds), even on phones or tablets, and that it’s easy to navigate. Guests shouldn’t have to randomly click around until they find what they want; instead, your most important pages (usually your menu and contact information) should be easy to find and navigate.

If you’re struggling to design your website and get it functional, it’s always a good move to call a professional. Reach out to local web designers to see if one can help build and optimize your site.

Benefits of Offering Online Ordering on Your Website

Offering online ordering on your website does three things. It makes it easier for potential customers to find you, allows them time to parse your menu without the pressure of a waiter, and it helps you reach farther than you might otherwise be able. By bringing in third-party delivery services, you’re able to reach customers across town (without needing to hire your own delivery driver) and potentially earn new regulars! 

Leveraging Social Media to Boost Online Visibility

As we’ve mentioned before, social media is an incredibly important part of your online visibility. So… how do we use it?

Choosing the Right Social Media Platforms

Picking the right social media platform(s) for your restaurant is actually rather simple. Think about it in the following terms:

• Who is your target audience?: This matters because each social media platform will generally reach a different demographic. Instagram and TikTok tend to have younger (sub-30) users, whereas Facebook generally appeals more to older millennials and their parents.
• What do you want to do?: If you’re trying to show off appealing plates and delicious drinks, Instagram will likely be the place for you. Alternatively, those who want to highlight their ambiance may opt for TikTok. And those who want to run events (karaoke, game nights, etc.) will likely find more success with Facebook.
• How much time do you have?: While platforms like TikTok can be incredibly powerful tools, some social media takes more effort than others. After all, it’s far easier to snap a few photos and caption them than it is to edit videos.

Creating Engaging Content 

This aspect of social media is one that will never be the same for any two restaurants. You’ll need to get a hang of what your demographic identifies with, how to reach them, and then regularly post content that scratches that itch. 

It’s generally pretty simple to see if your content resonates — you’ll see more engagement. If you find that images or text don’t do well but videos do, consider opting for a new social media account on TikTok or Instagram. It’s important to continue to measure and learn from what’s working.

Local SEO Strategies

SEO is an often overlooked aspect of restaurant work. While it can be frustrating to learn, once you have the hang of SEO, you’ll see its power — so let’s jump in.

Importance of Google My Business for Restaurant Visibility

Google, like every other search engine, uses information that it finds to determine the “best” results for any given search. With restaurants, this means that they generally look for keywords (like pizza, burgers, open late, etc.) that match the search and index them against reviews. Because of this, it’s vital to have a Google My Business page. 

These pages are what you see when you search most businesses — but think for a moment about what happens when you find a restaurant without a website or Google My Business page. Would you trust it? Being redirected to a Facebook page can be odd in this day and age, especially because Google ensures that business owners have easy and regulated access to their business’s information. 

In other words, get yourself established on Google and take a bit of time each week to check in. Update hours, menus, social media links, and highlight quality reviews, and you’ll find that more people find you online.

Enhancing Your Online Reputation with Reviews and Ratings

This is a difficult line to walk, but once you’ve figured out how to build your restaurant online presence with reviews and ratings, it becomes pretty straightforward. 

How to Encourage Positive Reviews

One of the most common ways to encourage reviews is with a post-service discount in exchange for a review. While this won’t always bring in lots of reviews, it’s important to note that some reviews are better than none. Teach your servers to ask how service was and, if it all went swimmingly, have them pitch a review. Whether you reward the review with a free drink, a discount on their next visit, or something else, it’s a lot easier to get guests to take time out of their day if they get something out of it.

You’ll find that people have no problem posting bad reviews when they have a bad experience, and that’s because you’re expected to do well. It’s part of the expectation of the service industry. 

Ultimately, positive reviews act as a passive way to get new customers through the door (thanks to SEO). Good reviews tell search engines that you’re a quality establishment, and because of that, they send more people your way.