what makes a restaurant website exceptional

Today, most restaurants have some kind of online presence. However, not all of them manage to create Websites for restaurants that are attractive and usable.

This means that your visitors might have difficulty finding the information they want, and you could lose many potential customers in the process.

The best type of restaurant website needs to encourage people to visit the place as soon as possible. It should be simple for them to find your contact information, and even make an online reservation if relevant. If you can handle all that while still creating a gorgeous website, you will be well ahead of the curve.

In this article, let’s talk about what makes a restaurant website exceptional, d

What Makes an Exceptional Restaurant Website

If carefully designed, restaurant websites can be fun and easy to use.
Ideally, every website you work on should look stunning and be as easy to use as possible.

This is particularly true for your restaurant’s website. Let’s discuss some of the key elements that your site should include if you want to turn interested visitors into customers:

Your restaurant menu:

After all, many people visit restaurant websites and want to know what the options are and know the prices.

Pictures of your food and atmosphere: There is no better way to attract people to visit than by using beautiful photographs of what you have to offer.

Contact information and schedules: Especially if your restaurant requires reservations, including contact information is a must.

Next, let’s talk about the right way to include these elements on your website. We will also give you some examples, to help you discover what works and what doesn’t work.

3 Tips for Creating an Excellent Restaurant Website

The number one mistake most restaurant sites make is putting too much emphasis on style over usability.

Websites give you a lot of flexibility over the elements you can add, but it’s easy to lose sight of what’s important in the process. Simplicity is going to be a recurring theme throughout this section, so try to keep it in mind as you plan your own site.

1. Include lots of photos of your food and location

Offering photographs of your dishes and restaurant is by far the most effective way to make people want to visit your establishment. Some restaurants make the mistake of displaying their menus but not including photographs, or of using very few images on their websites in general.

Other sites will include many photos, but will hide them behind crude menus that are difficult to navigate. Or they will use shots that are too small or of poor quality for viewers to appreciate the details.

There are many ways to drop the ball when it comes to the proper use of images on a website, and it is important that you avoid them.

2. Make your contact information easy to find

Potential customers will often visit your website to find basic information. They may want to know how to get to your restaurant, when it is open and how they can get in touch. If that information is difficult (or impossible) to find, those visitors might get frustrated and leave.

We recommend that you include all this information on your site and that you find it easily. It’s also smart to highlight links to social network profiles, which are often the main way people keep up with your restaurant.

For example, El Muelle places these icons at the top of the site, making them prominent (although you could use a little more contrast to highlight them):

3. Show your menu

It can be a lot of work to include a full menu on your website, especially if you update it frequently. When people see the menus, they also expect to be able to check prices and even nutritional information, which requires significant effort on their part.

However, the benefits of including a menu on your website far outweigh the disadvantages. Many people will visit your site to plan ahead, and including a full menu can help them find dishes they’ll enjoy and check their prices.