Comments on: Web tips for restaurants

By: fitzroyalty

fitzroyalty — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 07:15:34 +0000

Agreed, flash site = stupid client who agrees to buy such rubbish. And more on the social side of things. See my post ‘A social media guide for small business’ at http://indolentdandy.net/fitzroyalty/?p=1401

By: Ed

Ed — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:51:35 +0000

Good point.

By: hannah

hannah — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:16:56 +0000

Flash sites need not be a problem if they are optimized correctly and built to be user friendly – most of the time they are not and restaurants really suffer from this. Seriously when choosing your web designer why would you pick someone whose OWN website doesn’t appear on the first page of (unpaid) Google listings? If they can’t get good search engine listings for their own business they’ve got no chance of getting them for their clients. Also there should be no on-going costs with a website apart from hosting and occasional maintenance. If you are paying $7k a year you are being robbed blind. End rant!

By: littlem

littlem — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 03:31:12 +0000

I wish all restaurant websites had maps, opening times and whether they are BYO or not. I don’t mind so much if the menu is a little out of date, but I like to look at examples menu items to see what kind of prices are charged. I agree use of Flash is usually overkill.

By: stickyfingers

stickyfingers — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 05:58:54 +0000

A poorly thought through website can be detrimental to business custom. In the case of restaurants they seem to fly under the radar in terms of emphasis by management resulting in sloppy sites lacking appropriate detail and functionality.

I discuss with my clients the importance of having a strategy behind their online presence, which is something that smaller businesses overlook. Once that is nailed, then the right amount of content comes easily. The look of the site comes last, responding to the strategy, content, marketing and navigation.

SEO (Search Engines Optimisation) is important to any business with a website. Making sure that venue details are correct on sites such as Miettas’, Eatability, My Restaurants and Citysearch, is equally important as they will inevitable rise to the top of search results too.

RSS feeds are usually under-utilised, in favour of spamming customers. Newsletters (Viral marketing)are more cumbersome to web savvy consumers than restaurant news and events accessed by readers.

For restaurants, ease of navigation is as important on their site as is the food porn factor. Flash sites can work but should also include some HTML content to allow for searching and tracking.

By: Ed

Ed — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 05:11:34 +0000

The pheasant was pleased to hear you asked after him (or her). I’s like to differ. I think all businesses want to be searchable as a casual stumble from a search could win a new customer. I think with the arrival of the iphone mobile search and map search will become very important. A normal punter with friends can search pizza on the corner of Chapel St. The phone will geolocate them and serve up the top local results. Some flash sitesdo SEO well – Bottega seems to be one.

By: Duncan | Syrup&Tang

Duncan | Syrup&Tang — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 13:29:18 +0000

Say hi to that pheasant. While I loathe flash sites, a large number of restaurant sites don’t really need to be searchable, so the googlability issue isn’t so strong an argument. Many people go to these sites because they know what they want from them (typically location, booking or menu of a restaurant whose name they know) so the need for a random consumer finding a site by accident is relatively low. Googling the restaurant name with city usually works for me (though I’m sure there’ll be counter examples).

The primary argument has to be usability, especially for visually impaired visitors and for site owners who should be able to update content at will. Flash sucks.

By: Ed

Ed — Fri, 30 May 2008 10:41:39 +0000

Gobbler, I want to know about the people behind the restaurant. Who are they? Something interesting. Too many are anonymous as well as out of date.

Ellie, I shouldn’t mention then the coq au vin I was contemplating the other night at Gill’s Diner. It turned out it was made with chicken. The inevitable comment was made to the waiter. I was quite hungry too…

By: Ellie

Ellie — Fri, 30 May 2008 10:32:51 +0000

I think flash has its use, but it usually annoys the bejeezus out of me, especially when there’s any sort of noise involved. And I vote for no more references of well-hung fowl, have had some wine and the mental images being conjured are disturbing me (o_O)

By: the Gobbler

the Gobbler — Fri, 30 May 2008 02:05:56 +0000

What about this tip Ed?
Restaurants, please update information on your websites, especially your menus for crissakes!
I cant beleive how many out of date menus appear on the websites of restaurants that want to be taken seriously. One such place has had three chefs since the one who is still credited with being in charge smiles from the webpage. Its really lazy & sloppy.