I hate hate hate when a restaurant doesn’t have a website. In 2008 it’s downright dumb not to have a website, even a 1995-esque template website is fine with me. Luckily for us foodies, we have the wonderful Yelp.com (hi, have I mentioned my addiction yet?).
But Yelp really isn’t enough. I’m a super foodie, and some of my favorite places to eat have zero online presence. I’ve even considered working pro-bono for some of my favorite places to get them a website and perhaps some social media mixed in there when appropriate.
So hence, I decided to make a list of the websites that every restaurant owner should look at and start working on, or at least contact me about so I can do it for them.
Dine.com: It’s never been easier to have a website. Free website for restaurants… with photos, menu, feedback page and more. The just buy a domain name, point it to your dine.com URL and you’re all set. Instant website!
Foodler.com: Sets up online ordering from your menu. If you offer delivery, there’s no reason not to use this service. Where I live in North Providence, RI there are TWO places in this listing, even though I know of atleast fifty surrounding restaurants that deliver. When I lived in Boston, Foodler was the ONLY way I ordered delivery. Now that I’m in P-town I have to, ::scoff:: actually call places.
Yelp.com: One of the biggest social food, business, and event review sites. Every business is entitled to “claim” their restaurant, add info, etc. if they’ve been reviewed. If you haven’t been reviewed, ADD YOURSELF ALREADY. In fact, if you don’t have a website, Google will now assign your Yelp profile to your business, whether you like it or not.
WordPress.com: A free website with free hosting! Get yourself a theme that has tabs (such as “Digg 3 column”) and add your menu to one of them. Simple! WordPress even offers domains now for $15, so it’s easy cheesy.
OpenTable.com: Not free, but if you have a busy restaurant, it could be worth it. Let your users reserve seats at OpenTable.com, from your website, or from their hotels.
MenuPix.com and AllMenus.com: Submit your menu to these sites so that even if you don’t have a website, people might still hear your name, look you up, and find something they can look at in order to call in an order.
EveryBlock.com, Craigslist.org, Eventful.com, Yelp.com/events: Use these when you have events, grand openings, whatever.
I could write for days about bars and clubs and other joints that use MySpace or Facebook to promote themselves, but I don’t have any real opinion on that. If you’re a super trendy joint, you’ll probably get a lot of friends, people will comment, it will be the bees knees. If you’re not so much, it probably won’t do a heck of a lot for you, it might actually be kind of embarrassing unless you have a lot of supportive employees willing to comment and build up it’s social status.
I could also probably write forever about other ways to market yourself online. But the point of this was STEP ONE: GET ONLINE.
Please???
I like to use websites that actually control the reviews. Like eat24hours. I can make a review only if I have ordered from the restaurant. This way any type of criticism is by someone that I know for certain have tried the restaurant’s food and not trying to put bad word for it.