Don’t you hate it when a restaurant you try to Google doesn’t have a website? I do. It makes me talk to my computer. Here’s how my one-sided conversation usually goes: “What!? I can’t believe there’s no website! How am I supposed to find out what kind of food they serve? Or what the chef’s name is? Or how to contact them? Well, forget them.”
My personal rants are typically in the context of looking for exemplary restaurants and chefs to feature in magazine articles. I cross the potential source off my list after one of these episodes.
And I’m just a writer. What about potential customers who have the same conversation with their computer after not finding a restaurant website? It’s a big enough issue that I asked to write an article about restaurants that don’t have websites for The National Culinary Review magazine. (You’ll find it to the right under “my articles.” It’s called “Win with the Web.”)
In my research, I found that:
- Some 48.7% of independent restaurants don’t have a website.
- Only 4.2% of independent restaurants have a mobile website.
- Only 39.5% of independents that do have a website display their menu on their website.
The restaurant stats come from a survey of 2,600 independent restaurants. The researching company called each restaurant that admitted to not having a website to find out why. The answers are in the article.
But here’s what I have to say to all the independent restaurants that don’t have a website, and I won’t be snarky.
“I know you have your reasons, but if you will put up a simple website, you will increase your business and sales, which will more than offset the minor cost of putting up and maintaining a website. There are individuals out there who can help you. Do a food trade-out with them. You will be amazed when you are able to see how many people visit your website, what page they look at most, and how long they spend on your website. It will help you understand your guests and potential guests more. By all means, get a website!”
For those who already have websites, my research also led to some common errors and some website best practices. I’ll share three of them here, because they are so important.
- Make sure your website is optimized for mobile devices. Why? Because 25%-30% of all restaurant searches are on mobile devices, and you don’t want would-be guests throwing their cell phones out their car windows in frustration trying to get information from your website.
- Flash photography is beautiful, but save it for a slide presentation. It slows down the website search and doesn’t work on mobile devices.
- When posting your menu (and please do post your menu), include a text version and not just a pdf. Google does not read pdf text. You want guests to be able to find your menu on a Google search.
I’m hoping that independent chefs everywhere will read this and add “put up a website” to their priority list.
Tell me what you think.
Jody
