Basic Website Tips For Atlanta Restaurants

You have come so far.

You have built the restaurant of your dreams by putting in plenty of sweat equity, some of your life savings, and probably all of your free time. Not to mention you are now busier than ever trying to run a business. It seems the job never ends, and there is always just one more thing to do.

It would be a shame if all of that hard work, patience, and funding were to go to waste. You better make sure it doesn’t. You better make sure you are taking advantage of every single opportunity to bring another new customer through that door in order to grow to the successful business you want to be.

There is one thing that you absolutely should have in order to get a ton of free exposure and make bringing in new business just a little bit easier on you.

Build A Website

You are going to want to build a stunning website for your local Atlanta restaurant.

A website is the key to gaining a massive amount of organic reach without having to do anything. Think about a website for your restaurant like you do your brick and mortar building.

How many people do you think drive by, see your restaurant, wonder about how the food is, and then come into try it? Well, if you answered every single one of your customers at one point, then you might be right assuming you have not done any other marketing or ad placements.

The same could be said for your website.

A website is an extension of your presence. It is your store’s brick and mortar location, just online. And being that we live in a digital age, more people are likely to find your business online, than are to drive by and notice you.

Therefore, I would say it is absolutely necessary for every local restaurant in Atlanta to have a website in order to maximize those chances of being found by new customers. Although, what platform should you use to build your website?

Best Website Platforms For Restaurants

A majority of restaurants around Atlanta will use a simple all-in-one web platform for their online needs.

The two most popular providers for this are Shopify and SquareSpace. Both of these platforms offer hosting tied into easily manageable back ends that will allow you to customize a website to your desired look. Both of these options additionally have very reasonable pricing structures, additional online check out capabilities, and a strong support team ready to assist if you have any questions or need help building your site.

Another great thing about using popular platforms like these, is there are a ton of online tutorials and YouTube videos that will teach you how to build stunning sites to represent your business in mere hours. In just one evening, with a cup of coffee or two, your business could have a professional looking website ready to bring new customers right through your door.

Although before you start building your website, you might want to think about what you want to have on there.

What Should You Have On Your Website

The most common things that you will need on your website for your business are the obvious things.

You are going to need ways for people to find and reach your business like:

Address for ease of GPS or Google maps so people can find you
Hours of operation so they know when you are open
and an Email or phone number for call in to-go orders

In addition to the above necessities, you might want to also include:

Your complete menu online
Positive reviews from customers
Photos of your food
Possibly a backstory to your restaurant’s origin for those interested in learning more

Most of these things are very common to find on a restaurant’s website. Besides those basic items, there are a few extra things that you can put on your website to increase organic reach, ease of ordering, and possibly to make additional revenue.

Extra Things To Add On To A Website

The first thing you might want to consider adding onto your site is an area for online ordering.

Online Ordering

This is all the rave with restaurants these days.

Everyone seems to want to be able to click on your website and easily place an order. Although, it really is great for the restaurant as well.

Because, if customers have easy access to placing orders through a simple app or website, then they are more likely to place an order out of impulse. Sometimes, people will avoid ordering out simply due to the human interaction or a bad experience they had over the phone. Not to mention, your severs and hosts now do not have to constantly answer the phone and risk confusing or putting an order into your POS incorrectly.

This entire process simplifies to-go orders, makes you look more professional, and could potentially bring in more business as people learn about your online ordering system.

Restaurant Blog

Another great feature to add to your website would be a blog.

A website blog does a few things. First it allows people to find your website organically across the internet through your blog posts. Every post you write will rank for specific keywords, and ultimately bring people back to your website where they will hopefully place an order.

Other than that, posting blogs can do a great deal in increasing your domain authority. Your domain authority is highly dependent on average daily visitors, backlinks, and content. If your posts are engaging, get shared a lot, and provide useful information to other businesses or your customers, it really could make a huge difference in your website’s rankings.

This means when people search for “restaurants near by” in Google, you have a much higher chance of coming up first!

Store For Vendor Items

The last thing I would consider adding to your website is an online store.

This won’t be for everyone, but if you sell anything from your restaurant like tee-shirts, coffee, homemade goods, or any physical item then you can list it on your website.

customers then have a chance to purchase these items straight from your site. Even better, people who do not even dine at your business will have a chance to see what you are selling and potentially buy something. This is extremely useful for restaurants that sell things like funny shirts or some iconic symbol of their establishment.

This is definitely not for all local restaurants, but the option is there if you do find yourself in the retail business or trying to sell food in bulk.