Your Restaurant Should Be Using Twitter, Here’s How

Posted on May 8, 2013 by timhinkel

When a restaurant is new to the internet, and wants to leverage it to increase their business, asks us what kinds of things they can do, one of the suggestions we have for them is to post on Twitter, and to use it regularly. Twitter, if you don’t really get it, is a place where your restaurant can sign up and get an account.

Then you can post a short message or ‘status’ of 140 characters (ie 140 letters, numbers, spaces, etc). Anyone can see them, anyone can search on them.

They’re a great way to do a number of things for your restaurant though, from informational

b.good ‏@b_good_ 23 Apr west side & southwestern salad get better today. kinfolk, check inboxes for details & an incentive to try them asap pic.twitter.com/lZ6p9cEN9L

to customer service:

@boloco 3 May We just announced the winner of our @personsname burrito-guessing contest! Head to http://facebook.com/boloco  to find out the answer!

The problem usually is though that people don’t know what they can tweet. They’re sitting at their computer and don’t know what to put in. Here’s some ideas to help you.

  • Don’t try and put in what you are literally doing. “I’m grinding beef” Try and put something in that’s interesting that caught your eye. “It’s amazing the difference between good local beef and national chains beef.”
  • You should be blogging as well as tweeting, and when you blog you should post a link to it on twitter. Don’t just post the link though, describe what the blog is about, see below:

@TrystRestaurant 7h  Give Mom what she deserves this #MothersDay: a special two-course pre-fixe brunch menu and a complimentary Mimosa!… http://fb.me/Np9h62v7

  • Ask questions. Hopefully over time people will follow your tweets and you can ask questions and get answers from people.

    @b_good_ 17 Jan debating next “seasonal veggie”. start brussels (w/ bacon, apple, dried cran) or bring back our homemade veggie chili? pic.twitter.com/zo2bYrcN

  • Search for topics that interest you IN twitter, and find people who post interesting things about those subjects. Then you can “retweet” those items to YOUR followers.
  • Give advice. Any basic things involved in your restaurant that you can share with people. Advice on how to properly fry french fries, or make a certain type of salad.  Include a picture or a video.

@MarcusCooks 4 May The best tips for you to get restaurant-perfect brussel sprouts in your home. http://bit.ly/10Sw3Wo

  • It’s important to show your human side to on Twitter. Be social. Pretend that you’re actually talking to a customer. Don’t be a robot.

@JerryRemysGrill 7h #RedSox need to win – it’s been nice without the doomsday mentality! #Bruins took care of business … c’mon Sox!

  • Don’t get to cocky and constantly toot your own horn. Be modest in your tweets. Humility goes alot further than braggadocio. At the same time don’t be afraid to link to good reviews.

@Houlihans 18 Apr Shout out to our new location in the Columbus, OH area (Upper Arlington). Only open 5 weeks & already getting props: http://expi.co/0eRa

  • If you have any local partners, say a next door business, promote them as well. If you help promote companies you work with or who are near you, they might see it and help promote you as well.
  • Lastly, and most importantly…Tweet your food. Every day send out a tweet about your specials, or a specific menu item. Remind people about your food. Link to a picture of it on your website or put your picture directly into your tweet (sweet new functionality from twitter). Do it in the morning, and you’ll see a difference in your lunch crowd.

@bostoncafecater 20h Fun and healthy dessert made possible!!! http://fb.me/1Gxu9RTKg

Lots of things you can put on Twitter and a few minutes a day can gain you more regular customers.

You could also twitter stalk a few restaurants who do a great job of communicating, marketing and having a good time, here are a few suggestions to start with: @TrystRestaurant, @boloco, @b_good_, @piperspub, @JerryRemysGrill

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Just Say NO To Image Phone Numbers

Posted on April 30, 2013 by timhinkel

image-phonenoAttention eating establishments – if you do any takeout business or take reservations via phone, your phone number should be listed as text and NOT an image on your site. Why, you ask? When someone views your site on a cell phone, if your phone number is listed as text, it is automatically converted to a click-able link so all your potential customer needs to do is hit the link and they’re calling you for an order or reservation!

The alternative is potential customers trying to dial your number from memory – this is what happens if you have an image phone number on your site. Customers have to go to your site, try to remember the number and go out to their keypad to dial it, instead of making one click. So take five minutes -go to your website from your cell phone and make sure your phone number is listed as text. If it is, great! If not change it yourself, call your web guy or call us and we can do it for you.

I wrote this from personal experience with trying to order restaurant takeout and make restaurant reservations. It’s annoying. Don’t annoy your customers before they walk thru your doors.

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Let Your Website Bloom!

Posted on April 26, 2013 by sayfsharif

You’ve gotta commit to your website if you’re going to be successful. It’s like anything in that regard. How many things do you know that work if you just ignore it, leave it alone.

If you want even something like a garden to thrive you’ve got to tend it. Water it when it doesn’t rain. Weed it. Put up sticks for the peas to climb, to hold the tomato plants up. It’s not your whole day (as long as it’s not a huge garden of course), but it’s something you keep an eye on, do a few minutes every day, maybe a half hour, and then let it work for you.

But if you do nothing? The weeds will overwhelm it, the rabbits will eat it, the plants will sag, and at best you get some mediocre production out of the garden. But for just a few minutes a day, you can get a huge return back in the quality and quantity of food that your garden produces.

It’s the same thing with a website.

Sure if you put it up, it’s gonna maybe get you some stuff. People might find it, come in to your restaurant. But you’re going to have the same reaction to the garden. That it’s not really doing much for you. It’s not wowing you. Yet you’re doing nothing.

You don’t need to spend hours and hours every day on it. You just need a little bit of time. Post a blog, post a picture, tweet your specials for the day, post something on your Facebook page. if someone responds, or asks a question, check in regularly to respond to them and help them out. Heck even running contests, using game mechanics, writing an email newsletter and doing email marketing, none of that will eat up your day, but if you do it and do it regularly, by the end of the growing season, your website will be like your garden, and business will be blooming….

…er… booming…

To find out more about how we can help your restaurant’s website bloom, sign up or contact us today!

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How To Make Your Own Website

Posted on February 20, 2013 by timhinkel

So what can you do to make a website by yourself for your restaurant without paying anyone else a dime, including us?

1. Get a domain name. Go to godaddy.com (or any other domain name registrar) and find a domain name for your restaurant. Be sure to follow good usability measures in picking one, but other than finding a good domain name that works for your restaurant both matching your restaurant and SEO practices as well as usability all you need do is purchase it. Prices vary but figure 10 bucks a year. You can’t get around this cost.

2. Get a web host. I’m am going to call out a specific company here but you can go on the cheap and get a company for less than $10 a month, if you dig under $5 a month. Of course every host isn’t the same, we recommend WPEngine.  If you don’t go with WPEngine, be sure it gives you access to PHP and MySQL or mentions that you can install a WordPress blog there.

3. Point your domain to your new host. You’ll need to log into Godaddy.com and then adjust the DNS settings on your domain to point to your new host.

4. If you want to have email with your domain name you’ll want to set that up as well. We recommend using Google Apps. Good email hosting for free, plus you get shared calendars, and webmail separate from your web host. It’s a good idea to have your email on a different server from your website. So sign up for Google Apps, and then set up the MX Records in Godaddy.com as well to point there, and then configure your Google Apps settings for your email, and get it set up.

5. Download WordPress and install it on your new hosting environment. Once you sign up for your web host you’ll get some log in information. You’ll need to FTP up to it (you’ll need an FTP program if you don’t have one yet) and move the WordPress installation files up to it.  Once they’re there you’ll also need to set up a database on your web host, and then run the installation files for WordPress.

6. Find a theme you like for WordPress. There are tons of free ones. If you’re lucky you’ll find one that matches your restaurant enough to not throw people off. If you’re in doubt go simpler rather than more complicated. Once you find one install it into your WordPress installation.  You could also use Headway, which allows you to drag and drop you design.

7. Enter your information. Lastly be sure to set up the information on your site, probably you’ll want to create a front page template to be just your front page, so the front page isn’t a blog roll, and lists out the pertinent information about your restaurant in a attractive but informative way. Create other pages and put your information on them, enter your menu, locations, get an embedded google map, etc. Download some plugins to help out your ongoing things like submitting sitemaps to Google and Bing, as well as any social sharing helpers like Shareit.

And voila. You’ve made the site yourself.

One more thing, that should help you immensely.  Install the OpenMenu Plugin.  Easily create posts that is based on your OpenMenu. Fully integrates an OpenMenu(s) into an existing theme. This is the official WordPress Plugin for OpenMenu. From creating custom menu posts, to widgets to display specials and restaurant information, to the ability to add menus anywhere (any post or page) in your WordPress Theme, this plugin handles it all.

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Does your website work on Smart Devices?

Posted on February 1, 2012 by timhinkel

Yes, you still need a website, but the game has changed. Potential customers are no longer just searching for places to eat or drink on traditional computers. Smartphones, tablets and IPads are everywhere.

During a recent trip to Washington D.C., I was startled at the number of people cruising Yelp and other websites using smart devices while out and about. These days, when your potential customers find themselves in unfamiliar neighborhoods, they look up where to go on their smart phones and computer tablets.

So if your site is unreadable on these smart devices, you are missing out on many customers (butts in seats). Do something about it – now is a great time to update any website. The advent of content management systems and open source technologies has brought prices down to historic lows for quality websites (that work on smart devices).

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Your Profit Is Blowing Out Your Door

Posted on January 10, 2012 by timhinkel

In the last few months, I’ve been struck by the amount of money restaurants and bars spend, or more accurately, throw away, needlessly. Before you stop reading, take a minute to think about your restaurant or bar like your home. In your house, you do everything you can to minimize your expenses on utilities such as electricity, cooling and heating. Why not your restaurant/bar? A few simple and easy moves (keep reading!) can go a long way towards netting you significant savings as well as keeping customers coming back and happy.

We tell kids to turn off the lights and close the refrigerator door to save money. We also pay attention to things such as defrosting, nighttime ice production, and ensuring refrigerators have the right amount of space around them to maximize savings. Why not also at work? (more here 3 Easy Refrigeration Energy Consumption Tips To Save Money)

Enclosures save you restaurant moneyEnclosures can also save you a considerable amount – again, we tell kids to close doors and not linger in the doorway.  If you don’t have double doors at your location, every time a customer walks through the door your heat and/or air conditioning dollars go right out the same door. Consider adding double doors or a temporary winter entryway.  I’ve also seen some restaurants use an even simpler approach by adding a big curtain in front of the door.  Nothing is worse than sitting down to a nice meal with your coat off only to have that gust of freezing or hot and humid air hit you every time the door opens.

During the summer months, turn down the AC – the last thing your customers want is to feel like they stepped into your walk-in freezers! If the outside temperature is 90 degrees and humid, having your restaurant set at 75 degrees and dry will feel nice and refreshing.  Rule of thumb – if your customers are rubbing their arms or reaching for a sweater, it’s too cold.

A few more quick and easy tips – if you notice drafts, go around and seal them up – a peel-off silicon sealer goes for $7 dollars a tube. Turn off lights that are not in use and replace inefficient bulbs with high efficiency ones. Replace old inefficient appliances.  An old dishwasher or refrigerator will cost a home owner $20 – $30 extra per month to run. Do the math – you’re throwing money away and letting it blow out the door.

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Help People Find You With a Better Map

Posted on August 2, 2011 by sayfsharif

Boloco Locations Using googleYou know what I really hate? When I go to a restaurant website, usually because someone mentioned it to me so I’m checking the website to see how the site looks (hey what can I say, it’s our business) but also to check out how the place looks, what kind of food they have… And I can’t figure out where they actually are. You’d be surprised how many restaurants either don’t even put their address on their websites (seriously, it happens), or worse they have the address on their website but it’s part of an image. So I don’t know where 342 Park Street is… Is that in the city? I can’t even copy and paste the address out of it into my browser to find out where the restaurant is. I have to retype it. Very annoying.

You know what else I hate? Driving directions. You put your address on the site, and then rather than put a map, or a link to Google or Mapquest or Bing which can all calculate specific routes for people, you put directions.

From the North: If you’re coming down I-93 from the North get off at the Such and Such Exit, and take a quick right….

You know what people expect these days? An actual map, and you can do it really easily with some flair. Just check out the Boloco locations page we just put up. It uses Google’s API so you have a dynamic map on the page, and customized little icons to show where the restaurants are located, as well as addresses and a zip code finder to find the closest location. Whether you have 1 location or 100 using a map application like this is practically a necessity these days. If you’re not doing it, you’re losing business.

Don’t make it hard to find your restaurant. Make it easy at a glance, and let people determine their own driving directions. oRestaurantDesign can help you implement a Google Map for your restaurant on your website as part of our basic services. It’s necessary, you need it, so we’ll help you make one. Just another example of what you get when you sign up with us.

If you’re interested in a free trial contact us today.

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