Recipe for Online Success: WEBSITE, SEARCH & EMAIL

Next up in our digital series we are looking at websites, search and email marketing. With more people than ever searching and looking online before they visit an outlet, it is important your website showcases your venue in the best way and you show up in search results.

Creating a website and making it work to bring customers into your venue doesn’t need to be time or money consuming, find out how with some of our top tips.

Website

5 features of a great bar or restaurant website:

Your website will always be the best platform to show your business' personality. Think of your website as a shop window online; it will create the customer's first impression of you and will provide them with all the information they might be looking for.

• Use fast, mobile-friendly templates for people on the go.
• Ensure the address, opening times and menus are easy to find.
• Make sure people can contact you via an email address and a telephone number.
• Add a link that opens your location in Google Maps.
• Use your site to promote events, deals and specials.

Search

With lots of people choosing restaurants and bars based on search results, it is important to consider how people find your outlet’s website online. Search is the process of gaining traffic and visibility online from search engines through both paid and unpaid efforts.

5 ways to make your website easier to find:

• Find locally relevant keywords using Google AdWords.
• Use keywords in your website, especially in your metatags—these are little content descriptors that help tell search engines what your web page is about.
• Include your name and location in your page title.
• Linking is important for SEO. Ask others to link to your site. It will help you rank higher in search engines.
• Share your website through your social media channels.
• Start a blog and publish a new article every month.

Email

This is how you can keep in touch with your biggest fans and is also a great way to share news, promotions and drive foot traffic to your outlet. By sending out emails directly to your customers with updates and information on your business you will drive them to your website via offers and other engaging content. It allows you to recognize what information your customers are interested in and therefore what to send them in the future.

5 steps to email marketing success:

• Always ask permission before sending fans emails via an opt-in box on the subscription part of your website.
• Make content engaging and relevant to the reader using information gained from customer emails.
• Use promotions to ask for names, birthdays and tastes of specific customers so you can target emails to specific customers at a later date.
• Don’t email too often, as it can turn people off and force them to unsubscribe from your mailing list.
• Subject lines like FREE and PROMO may go to spam so try to avoid using them.

With all of these tips you are now ready to start promoting your website, and therefore increase your customer’s loyalty and foot traffic in your venue.

We recommend that you take a look at some websites that will allow you to make sure you have a quick and mobile-friendly website that will also help send emails to your database. We think the best ones are: Mailchimp, Wix and Squarespace.

Take a look at our ready-to-use assets that are available to download here and will be perfect for your website.