Articles & Press Releases on Australian Websites

When it comes to restaurant and cafe websites, there are several crucial mistakes that you should avoid at all costs. They are:

Not having your menu on display

This is rare these days, but some restaurants and cafes still do not have their menus on their website! The whole point of having a website is so people can see your menu. Well, that might be a slight exaggeration. It’s also useful for people to see what your place looks like (see not having enough photos, below), but having a menu on your website is a must. And not a PDF file that they have to download and open manually (the internet is a lazy place; people are used to being spoon-fed) but an image or text that they can see directly on your website. Like with many of the suggestions below, even a rag-tag menu will be better than nothing.

Not making your contact information prominent

Whether it’s to make a booking or to order take away or delivery, the main reason people will be visiting your website is to get in touch. Many restaurants and cafes bury their basic contact information somewhere on the back page of their website in tiny text. This information needs to be prominent. Ideally it should be on every page, preferably in large type somewhere visible where it stands out. Visiting your website should be a pleasant experience for people, not an exercise in frustration.

Having slow-loading Flash and other effects

This is one of my pet hates. A few years ago it was all the rage for high-end restaurants to have a clunky animated welcome page which led into their main site. I remember pulling my hair out on multiple occasions during last-minute visits to various restaurants’ web sites because the page would take 10 seconds to load, when all I wanted was the address or phone number. And i don’t have much hair left to pull out, which makes this extra frustrating! There are still lots of fancy restaurants who think (or have been led to believe) that this is the way to go.

People are most likely to be visiting your site when they are in task mode, which means they are focused and expect fast results. Not only will these kinds of intro pages have people navigating away before the page even loads, it will also hurt your search engine rankings. Sites like Google take into account page load speeds and keywords on a page (Flash animation is all graphics and contains no text for Google to index) when deciding where to rank you when someone searches for restaurants in your area.

Mismatched theme (brand dissonance)

Brand dissonance is just another way of saying that you’re sending mixed messages. It’s important that your website reflects the look and feel of your establishment. If you’re a funky inner-suburban cafe, you shouldn’t have a website that looks like a family steakhouse, and vice versa. People want a smooth experience between what they see and what they get, so it’s important that your website captures your unique look and feel. Otherwise, people will be disappointed that their expectations are not met. This comes down to a variety of decisions that an experienced web designer can help you with; decisions such as which CMS to use (WordPress or Joomla), general layout of the site, and which photos to use and where.

Not showing enough photos

One frustrating thing (which it’s taken me a while to realise!) about designing hospitality web sites is that most people don’t have photos of their place readily available. Not only that, but it’s hard taking photos that look good without a professional camera. They will look okay, especially with a little Photoshop magic, but your website should really have at least three really high quality photos that look like they were taken by a professional photographer. These can then form a backdrop or a slideshow on your home page and elsewhere. The more upmarket your business, the more important this is, but in general having some photos, even average quality ones, is better than having none. People want to see that your place is what they are looking for. We are risk-averse creatures, and the slight risk of being disappointed with how your venue looks in person is often enough to have customers choosing somewhere else that they can actually see before they visit.