How to Drive Traffic to your Restaurant Website that gets Customers Through the Door

Your website is a virtual business card and it holds far more information about your business than a piece of paper or small card. In addition it can be accessed from any country, city or household in the world with an internet connection and computer.
Getting customers to your website is a little harder than handing out business cards. The best way of driving traffic to your site, and ultimately through the door, is to use the following multiple proven methods:

1) Print it

Perhaps, the simplest way to drive traffic to your restaurant’s website is through a printed card placed at each table. List your site and encourage visitors to go to it. Every piece of your marketing material should include your website address.

2) Social Media

Drive traffic to your website with social media. This can be achieved in multiple ways. For example, you can use social media to attract attention to a ‘scavenger hunt’ on your website to find the latest entree your restaurant will serve. You can jump on Twitter trending topics. If they like what you have to say, they may follow you and even visit your website. Moreover, social media promotion is only limited by your imagination. There are many ways to promote businesses and their products that have yet to be discovered.

3) Coupons

Coupons are an immensely successful tool to drive traffic to your restaurant’s website. Everyone loves free stuff! Coupons can be used for a free appetizer or dollars off. They do not have to have a high value amount. They only need to be high enough to encourage your customers to visit your restaurant instead of your competitors. Restaurants can make use of a PDF file or image placed on their website or a service, like coupons.com to make the coupons printable. Always place the coupon on your website to make that the first stop for prospective diners.

4) Giveaways

Giveaways do not need to be elaborate. A fabulous prize and an entry form is all that’s required. Make your website the only place where customers can enter. Combine social media marketing and print to make the giveaway more successful.

5) Blog About It

A restaurant’s website should utilize the blogosphere with a blog on their site and guest posting. A blog on your website keeps your site updated which satisfies the rules of search engines to maintain the site’s ranking in the search results. It also establishes the restaurant as an expert in its field and provides a reason for site visitors to keep coming back. Guest posting is when your restaurant (or a freelancer writer/ghostwriter hired by you) creates a blog post for another blog that promotes your business and establishes the restaurant further as an expert. Guest posts include a link back to the website, so readers can learn more about your restaurant.

6) Fill Your Site with Information

While filling your site with relevant and detailed information sounds a bit elementary, many restaurants forget that all sites need the basics; a detailed menu, ‘About Us’ page, promotions, and other personal details, for customers to read and obtain a better sense of your business. Without these, what exactly is the intent of getting people to your restaurant’s website? A website is a restaurant’s virtual business card and it should reflect the business’s image.

Driving traffic to your website begins with a good website and a marketing plan. A combination of the above methods will bring customers to your website and hook them into coming back. Continue with these efforts to keep traffic at optimal levels.

What methods do you use to get traffic to your website and subsequently through the door of your restaurant?

June 2012 Issue of Ideal Software's Niche Notes, our FoodService industry newsletter.

IdealSoftwareNicheNotesJune2012

The Importance of Social Media for Restaurant Profitability

It is uncommon now for a business person not to have heard of the importance of using social media in marketing their company. Since your customers are using social media to see what people are saying about your restaurant / food service establishment, if you don’t have a business development plan that includes social media marketing, then you losing out!

What is Social Media?

In a nutshell, social media are those social networking sites where individuals congregate to connect with friends and family; sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the newest addition, Pinterest, to name just a few. With so many people with similar interests congregating in one place it is no wonder that the business world quickly caught on to the importance of having a presence on these websites in order to promote their businesses. Facebook alone has 900 million users worldwide. Twitter has 200 million users worldwide. Another social media avenue to consider is your own website with a blog.  Having your own blog allows you to gain more advertising foothold in the social media world.  Blogging is often free or has very little cost associated with it, although there is a real time commitment to blogging.

How Social Media can affect your FoodService Business

One way to utilize social media when it comes to the food service industry is to ensure that your business has a presence within the social media structure.  For example, by using YouTube and Twitter channels to broadcast your company’s latest updates you can drive more traffic to your website or to your business itself.   By having a Facebook page you can ensure that your presence will be felt on Facebook, and that when you purchase selective advertising blocks on Facebook, that your ads will be seen by those who are most likely to increase your sales. One of the primary benefits to using social media – especially when it comes to food service businesses – is as an interactive two-way conversation with your customers; a means of getting input directly from them with regards to your food, service, location, cleanliness and any other aspect of your business.  Being able to determine how your customers really feel about your food service establishment can help you learn from them and to strike the right balance in your business. Engagement is the biggest key behind social media strategy.

Why Social Media Matters

No matter what marketing strategies you employ, the biggest advantage to social media marketing is in connecting and engaging with your customers; in making them feel as if they are a part of your business.  When your customers obtain instant updates in their email or on their Facebook page they feel as if they are involved in what is happening.  This is a feeling that does wonders for promoting customer and brand loyalty, even when it comes to an industry as volatile as that of the food service industry. But don’t take our word for it.  Look into what the leading social media sites have to offer in their corporate or business advertising sections and see if any of their options could potentially be used to promote your own business and to generate customer traffic.  You may find yourself pleasantly surprised at the results. Above all remember that social media requires patience, insight, some skill, and a clear understanding of your goals and of your audience.

What social media sites is your business using to connect and engage with your customers? 

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