Restaurant Website Homepage Checklist
Before you push your restaurant website live or update your website, ideally you will have the following:
Homepage:
- The restaurant phone number and address. Make sure it is in the top right-hand corner and make sure it is large.
- A Contact Us page. Put the link in the top navigation - usually as the last tab, plus in the footer (the small stuff at the bottom). Make sure the landing page also has a form for emails (and a captcha), a map to your location, all relevant details like: wheelchair accessibility, your hours of operation, awards won, testimonials, etc. Make sure you a) either have someone monitoring the email consistently or you make a note that reservations will not be taken through email.
- Hours. Should be posted on the homepage above the fold (the top of your website before most people have to scroll down).
- Social media icons but you should only have them if you have someone to consistently do the work and monitor. Plus you should always have a good social media policy (example of a good one) and strategy.
- Videos: have your Chef whip up something wonderful, do a montage of menu items, show the sports team you sponsor, get testimonials….a walk through of the restaurant. They don’t have to be professionally (and expensively) done, either. Add them to YouTube and post on this page).
- You should have a “Join our Mailing List” and include a birthday field to send out birthday emails with a coupon or an offer (provided you have the resources to send emails) - bring 5 friends and get your birthday dinner on us, etc.
The top navigation should also include:
- Menus (which you must update) or sample menus
- Contact Us (as above),
- A link to the blog (if you have one - and consistently update it),
- About Us : Include Chef/Restaurant Manager/Owner Bios/The story of the Restaurant’s name or its history
- Photos/Videos
- Groups/events - what to do with group reservations, grat that’s included, if you have a set menu for groups, etc.
- Latest Offers
- Gift Cards (if you have them)
Footer (the bottom of the page) Must Haves:
- Privacy Policy
- Directions or Map (pointing to the contact us page)
- Company Information
- FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions - such as…do you have high chairs, kids menus, seniors discounts, do you use local food)
- Contact Us link (to same landing page as the top)
- Careers page
- Discuss why someone would want to work there
- What shift options there may be
- What the team is like
- What benefits they may receive (including things such as free lunches/aprons)
- Credentials
- Most importantly - how to apply. (Don’t you hate it when people show-up during the lunch rush resume in hand?)
- Media/Press
- How media can get in touch with you
- What news coverage you’ve received (could just be online reviews, testimonials, etc.)
- Icons for what credit cards you take
- Donation requests - stop the calls, get a form and create a policy of what types of donations you will accept. Or call out the specific charity (charities) you support. Ensure you ask for 3 months notice for requests, etc.
IMPORTANT: these items are for user experience. Now, you also need to be cognizant of the search engines (Google, Yahoo, BING, etc.). Figure out what you want to rank for such as “Italian Restaurant Chicago” and make sure you have a lot of written content on the page regarding these keywords, but be careful not to overuse the same terms.