"Marketing expert Guy Holmes explains how to use the far reaching power of the web to publicise your hotel or restaurant."
The internet is now firmly established as an essential tool for researching everything from new cars to holidays, but it's not only used for the bigger things in life. Growing numbers of people now use the internet when they are looking for a place to eat or drink, making it a useful business tool when it comes to increasing awareness and custom.
A good website is a must in this day and age, even if you are a small independently-owned hotel or restaurant. It should be an integral part of your marketing policy, especially as it saves the time and hassle of faxing your menu to potential customers - they will be able to view it on your website.
There are a number of key ingredients that make up an effective restaurant website. These include photos, menus, a map and other useful information such as bus numbers and full contact details. A mission statement of some kind on the home page is also a useful thing to have. A brief summary of what you are trying to achieve with your food and atmosphere can act as a useful sales initiative and will help to get bums on seats.
Another addition that is often overlooked is a small form for details such as name and email address, enabling customers to join your database. You can then keep them informed of specials and special events.
Getting Seen
There are many websites that act as online food and drink guides, some of which are free and some of which are paid for. However, in some cases you may be able to negotiate a free trail to see whether a listing on the site results in more bookings. to start off with, take the time to get your restaurant listed with free sites, many of which allow you to include photos and a menu as well as all the standard information such as address and style of cuisine.
There are other websites and listing guides that will be of interest if your establishment has any special nights such as live music or wine tasting. These listing guides and what's on diaries allow you to publicise events, along with your contact details.
Other ways of increasing traffic to your site include 'optimising' the site so it's more easily seen by search engines such as Google and Yahoo. Make sure you include key search phrases such as 'Oxford restaurants' or 'eating out in Oxford' on the site. These can be written onto the website on a white background so that visitors don't see the phrases but they will be detected by search engines.
Obviously, the more keywords and phrases you can include the better. Once the website is up and ready then submit it to as many search engines as possible. Speak to your web designer for a detailed account of how to optimise your site.
A Click Away
Hotel
June 2005
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