5 Tips For Designing An Awesome Restaurant Website With WordPress
Your restaurant business relies on website design to tell a story and attract customers. This is especially true for new restaurants that are working hard to grow. Websites are your brand’s first impression, and statistics have shown that visitors who aren’t attracted to your website will leave within a few seconds. You should have a secure WordPress site, a great design, and content that’s informative. Your website should not only be a pleasure to look at but keep all information easily accessible.
As with website design in every industry, you need to understand your target audience before you set to work. When you know your market, you can build accordingly using design tactics that most appeal to them. Here are five tips towards creating a site that helps get customers into your restaurant:
Incorporate High-Quality Images
Images are the most efficient way to convey a message. Your restaurant website should have stunning, high-quality photos of your cuisine and space. Not only does this contribute to your overall site design, but can increase the chances of a visitor coming to your restaurant. There’s a little science involved here. Studies have shown that the protein hormone “ghrelin” (which controls eating behavior) in the blood increases as a result of visual stimulation through images of food. In layman’s terms, this means that great food photos can make an individual hungrier. The more enticing the images are, the more likely your potential customer will want it.
There are quite a few WordPress photo plugins that help you make the most of your images. Plugins like Upfront allow you to quickly create beautiful galleries, while the WP Canvas – Gallery plugin extends base WordPress photo functions. You’ll also want to check out what available functionalities come with your theme, as some of the premium options are equipped with unique widgets and other features designed to optimize visual content.
Use WordPress Restaurant Themes
One of the most significant advantages of using the WordPress platform is that there are thousands of templates to choose from, both free and premium. Fortunately, there are many restaurant WordPress themes on the market to eliminate much of the design guesswork for you. These themes come packed with a handful of essentials built to help you succeed.
Because they’re crafted with the restaurant owner in mind, much of the work becomes plug-and-play after the theme has been installed. This provides you with a sound foundation for publishing a beautiful site. With a little customization, you can make any pre-built WordPress theme your own. Alternatively, you can draw inspiration from these WordPress recipe blogs.
Add A Menu
One study has shown that 80% of people would instead look at a menu before going to a restaurant. The same amount of consumers have looked at a list online within the last six months. Your website should allow visitors to quickly and easily view your menu on both mobile and desktop devices.
There are quite a few ways to add a menu to your site. You can go the classic, simple route and just upload your current list as a PDF (which many designers don’t recommend), or you can use a WordPress plugin to manage your menu. RestaurantPress is one such restaurant menu plugin that allows webmasters fully responsive menus with photos that can be easily edited. Food & Drink is another WordPress option. Check out a few other WordPress menu plugins here; use these to showcase your food options and attract more visitors.
Be Mobile-Responsive
As previously mentioned, a large volume of consumers uses their smartphones to look up information about a restaurant. Local businesses rely on this information to attract customers to their location. Additionally, Google mobile searches have officially surpassed desktop searching, making it the most popular way for consumers to seek information. With those statistics in mind, your website can’t afford to be mobile-ready.
Keep It Branded
Anyone who visits your website should have an idea of what to expect when they visit your restaurant. For example, let’s say you own a pizza parlor whose interior is reminiscent of Tuscan-style decor and 70s Italy. You wouldn’t want your website to appear modern and contemporary, or vice versa.
Branded design — from your landing page to your interior wallpaper — is critical. The same applies to language. The tone and style you use on your site should carry through to how your waiters speak to customers and how your menu reads. Take a look at any well-known restaurant (even fast food places like Dominos or McDonald’s), and you’ll see precisely how branding is done right, on and off the site.
