As a restaurant owner, you know that attracting new customers is key to your success. But how can you make sure that hungry diners find your restaurant? Using online marketing tools like search engine optimization (SEO) and social media can reach more potential customers and bring in more business. Keep reading to learn more about how SEO and social media can help your restaurant thrive.

Create a Website for Your Restaurant

Your website is one of your most essential tools when it comes to online marketing. Creating a website and optimizing it for search engines can reach more potential diners and bring in more business.

Your website is the central hub for your business online, so be sure to include all of your restaurant's information. This info includes location, hours, menu, and most importantly, a call-to-action that gets visitors to order online or book a reservation.

There are three important uses for your restaurant at the early stages of your business:

Collecting Email Address

If your restaurant is just getting started, the main purpose of your website should be collecting email addresses for future customers. These are people who are genuinely curious about your restaurant and can be immediate customers when you do open.

I like to put email subscriber forms in a pop-up on the "Order Online" button because that captures individuals who were already looking to order from you.

Once you have email addresses, you can contact these individuals when you open, send coupons, and give them exclusive offers for supporting your business from the start.

Let Visitors Know What to Expect

Your website should also help visitors know what to expect from your restaurant. If you're a new, unknown restaurant, potential diners will want to see your menu, along with high-quality photos of the interior and food on the menu.

Make sure that all of the information on your website is up-to-date and correct. This includes hours, location, menu, and contact information. The more accurate and reliable your website appears, the more likely potential customers will trust you.

Use SEO to Rank Higher in Google

One of the most important things you can do for your restaurant is use SEO to rank higher in Google.

When people are searching for a local restaurant online, they often use Google. By optimizing your website and content for search engines, you can make sure that your restaurant is one of the first results that pop up.

Remember, you are looking to rank highly for your local area, so you want to include keywords related to your location, like town and landmarks.

Claim Your Google Business Profile

Another important way to make sure that potential diners find your restaurant is to claim your Google Business Profile.

This free tool from Google allows you to control what information about your restaurant shows up on Google Maps and in search results.

Make sure to fill out all of the information on your profile, including hours, location, and contact information. You can also upload photos of your restaurant and menu.

Your Google Business Profile is often the first impression diners will see when searching for your restaurant, so make sure it's accurate and up-to-date.

A few tips to help your Google Business Profile stand up are:

Order Online with Google

Google lets businesses update their Google Business Profile with a link to their online ordering or reservation platform. This helps potential customers searching for your restaurant find out how to order online or book right away and remove any friction that may come with them clicking on your website.

You can either connect your online ordering platforms to Google Business Profile so users can order directly through Google or add your online ordering link to a Place an Order button.

Secure Reservations through Google

Another great way to reduce friction for hungry diners is connecting your reservation system with your Google Business Profile.

Connect your Open Table, Resy, or any other reservation management system you have to your account and let users make reservations right on Google.

Include High-Quality Photos

Google Business Profiles with high-quality photos stand out from the rest.

Photos are a great way to show potential diners what your restaurant looks like inside and out. They can also help showcase your menu items. Make sure to upload photos of your restaurant that are high resolution and accurately reflect your business.

Google even offers a section where you can include pictures of your menu which users can find in a tab under your profile for easy navigation. Again, this can help reduce friction for users who may be searching your business before reaching your website.

Show Off Your Menu

Within your Google Business Profile, you can submit your entire menu to Google so diners can see your menu without leaving Google.

No, I'm not talking about a picture of your menu! You can actually include every menu item into Google, so it shows up on your Business Profile page.

I don't see many restaurants doing this, but you may want to give it a shot and see if it helps!

Social Media

Social media is a great way for restaurants to connect with potential customers and promote their business.

There are a variety of social media platforms that restaurants can use, but some of the most popular ones for local businesses are Facebook and Instagram.

Facebook

Facebook is a great platform for restaurants because it allows you to post longer updates and photos. You can create a page for your restaurant and add information like hours, location, and contact information. In some ways, it can act similarly to your Google My Business profile to help patrons quickly get the information they need.

For a local restaurant, you really do not have to pay for any Facebook ads to get results. You can post organically, interact with customers, show off menu items, and get involved in local Facebook Groups to gain a following.

You should also pay attention to Facebook groups that are related to the type of food you serve. If you are from Central Massachusetts, you may have heard of ChewOnThis, a local restaurant group that has a huge following. Through this group, many restaurants have been able to promote their business and generate a following of their own.

Instagram

While Instagram is not as important for local restaurants as Facebook, it still serves an important purpose.

Think of it as a gallery to share your restaurant's best photos. It can be a great way to share your menu items, offer discounts, show off the environment of your restaurant, and get potential visitors excited about what you have to offer.

Citations/Business Listings

When you are trying to build up a reputation online, it is important to make sure that you have your business listed in the proper directories.

Yelp is probably one of the most important listings to control because it has a large consumer user base. It ranks incredibly high on almost every Google search related to a restaurant, so it is always in sight.

Other Citations include Yahoo Local Business Listing, Bing Places for Business, Apple Maps, Better Business Bureau, and more.

One way to manage multiple citations from one platform is with a tool like Brightlocal.

Your information must be accurate across the board. Google will penalize you for having listings that are not accurate. At the same time, you will want to make sure that you don't use the same descriptions for each one either.

There are some dissenting opinions on this, but it makes sense. If Google sees the same description across multiple business listings, it will penalize you for duplicate content. The best method is to put in the extra work and create unique listings for each citation. That will require claiming each one and not using an aggregating tool like Neustar Localeze.

In my opinion, using a citation aggregating tool is better than nothing at all, but if you have the time and bandwidth to do so, you should claim all of your listings yourself.

Get Your Restaurant Found Online

A restaurant's success is dependent on how well it can reach its customers. Whether you're trying to rank highly in Google, using social media to drive traffic into your website, or claiming citations and listings for your business - it all starts with a high-quality website that showcases what makes your venue unique.

If this sounds like something you are interested in for your restaurant, contact me today!

Are you interested in a free website mockup? Inquire here.