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What should a restaurant website look like?

If you already own or run a restaurant, you know that the most important component is the food. You’ve probably spent countless hours in the kitchen coming up with new dishes, perfecting your recipes, and creating delicious meals. So how do you make sure that you have plenty of customers to appreciate your hard work?

These simple tips on web design for restaurants will help you create a site that that is visually appealing, informative, and user-friendly enough to attract new customers.

Make your food the focus

While many businesses struggle find visually appealing elements for their websites, restaurants have the advantage of one of the most appealing products of all – food. Photos of fresh ingredients, exquisite dishes, and mouth-watering specials are enough to grab the attention of any casual browser, and should be a centerpiece when you design the website for your restaurant.

If you already have photos on your site, but don’t think they do an effective job of showcasing just how delicious your cuisine is, consider hiring a professional photographer. It may be expensive, but an investment in great photography is an investment in attracting customers to your restaurant.

Offer easy-to-use menus

Although photos are what grab visitors’ attention and get them interested, they do not fully explain what you have to offer. People who are considering visiting your establishment likely want to know exactly what it is that you serve, and will want to see a menu. Keep this in mind when you start thinking up the web design for your restaurant.

When creating your menu, avoid the lazy approach that many restaurants take and do not simply upload PDFs of the print menus you give to customers. While the information should be the same, the digital format means that you can make perusing the menu even simpler. Break your menu items down into clickable categories, and make it quick and easy for potential customers to find exactly what they are looking for.

Localize your website

While gaining widespread attention for your restaurant may seem like a great idea, the most likely people to become customers are those who are nearest to you. With that in mind, another web design tip for restaurants is to make sure that they are built to attract locals. Make sure that you put the name of your city in the title, and also be sure to register your website with Google places so that customers searching for restaurants in your area will see you on the map.

You should also make it easy for customers to find and get in touch with you. Even the most beautiful restaurant website is useless if it does not tell visitors where you are located. Also, be sure to make your phone number prominent. This is especially important if your restaurant requires reservations or takes orders for delivery or take-out.

Create a responsive design

If there are visitors to your city that are looking for somewhere to eat and aren’t familiar with the area, there’s a good chance that they will search for a restaurant on their smartphone or tablet. If they find your website and use it easily, they are much more likely to choose your restaurant over others nearby.

In order to make sure that your site will load fast and look great on any computer, smartphone, or tablet, you need to make it responsive. This means creating a design that is compatible with all devices and screen sizes.

By combining these four tactics, you should be able to create a beautiful website design for your restaurant that both attracts and informs potential customers. And if you aren’t sure how to do them yourself, don’t hesitate to contact us. We are more than happy to assist you with building a website that meets all of your restaurant’s needs.