Frankly I have no idea why a restaurant would choose to pay thousands of dollars for a website when there's WordPress and WordPress themes designed specifically for restaurant websites.
WordPress, if you don't know, is free except for a nominal $5 to $8 monthly hosting charge. Once you pay a one-time cost for the right theme for your restaurant website, you're all set. You can have a fantastic restaurant website up and running for less than $200 for the entire first year. That said, if you're looking for a restaurant WordPress theme, there are some criteria you should look for in a theme.
5 Tips for Choosing a Restaurant WordPress Theme
1. Menu page
A restaurant website has one unique requirement, and that's a menu page. This is probably the most important page of your site. Many website visitors will make their decision based on the presentation of your menu page. You want a WordPress theme for your restaurant that has a built-in menu-formatted page that is incredibly easy to set up your menu so it displays very nicely. It's imperative you menu page include photographs of your dishes. Ideally, each menu item will click into a full page explaining the dish in detail.
2. Location page
Most visitors looking at your location page have already decided to visit your restaurant. The only failure here is having a location page that doesn't assist your visitors. Visitors on your location page are your customers to lose. Therefore, find a Restaurant theme that includes some easy form of Google Maps integration. A map is important because many guests will be using mobile phones looking for your location. The Map makes it easy for guests to find your establishment.
3. Built-In blog
This is where many restaurants go wrong with their website. They don't have a blog. Fortunately, WordPress themes are essentially blogs. This makes it easy to set up a blog on your WordPress restaurant website. But a blog platform is useless unless you use it. Blog consistently to get more traffic to your restaurant website. A blog is a wonderful tool for search engine optimization. Instead of having a website with 5 or 10 pages like so many restaurants, create a powerhouse of a website with 50, 100, 200 pages of content. A blog makes this easy.
4. Stylish slide show on the home page
Make your home page attractive to look at and dynamic with a stunning slide show of you, your employees, your establishment (outside and inside) and of course your dishes.
5. Photos, photos, and more photos
Get a theme that makes posting photos all over your website easy to do with automated thumbnail resizing. The WordPress platform on its own makes it very easy to upload images into your individual posts and pages. A quality theme will then pull those images into strategic locations on key pages such as your home page, location page, menu page, etc.
Get professional photographs taken of your dishes and establishment and then use them. Put them all over your website. Be sure to take photographs of your restaurant when it's full of guests. But, inform your guests that it's a photoshoot as a courtesy. In fact, consult a lawyer about the use of such photographs. Alternatively, you could fill the restaurant with willing participants who have signed an authorization giving you express permission to use their photos in your marketing materials.
WordPress, if you don't know, is free except for a nominal $5 to $8 monthly hosting charge. Once you pay a one-time cost for the right theme for your restaurant website, you're all set. You can have a fantastic restaurant website up and running for less than $200 for the entire first year. That said, if you're looking for a restaurant WordPress theme, there are some criteria you should look for in a theme.
5 Tips for Choosing a Restaurant WordPress Theme
1. Menu page
A restaurant website has one unique requirement, and that's a menu page. This is probably the most important page of your site. Many website visitors will make their decision based on the presentation of your menu page. You want a WordPress theme for your restaurant that has a built-in menu-formatted page that is incredibly easy to set up your menu so it displays very nicely. It's imperative you menu page include photographs of your dishes. Ideally, each menu item will click into a full page explaining the dish in detail.
2. Location page
Most visitors looking at your location page have already decided to visit your restaurant. The only failure here is having a location page that doesn't assist your visitors. Visitors on your location page are your customers to lose. Therefore, find a Restaurant theme that includes some easy form of Google Maps integration. A map is important because many guests will be using mobile phones looking for your location. The Map makes it easy for guests to find your establishment.
3. Built-In blog
This is where many restaurants go wrong with their website. They don't have a blog. Fortunately, WordPress themes are essentially blogs. This makes it easy to set up a blog on your WordPress restaurant website. But a blog platform is useless unless you use it. Blog consistently to get more traffic to your restaurant website. A blog is a wonderful tool for search engine optimization. Instead of having a website with 5 or 10 pages like so many restaurants, create a powerhouse of a website with 50, 100, 200 pages of content. A blog makes this easy.
4. Stylish slide show on the home page
Make your home page attractive to look at and dynamic with a stunning slide show of you, your employees, your establishment (outside and inside) and of course your dishes.
5. Photos, photos, and more photos
Get a theme that makes posting photos all over your website easy to do with automated thumbnail resizing. The WordPress platform on its own makes it very easy to upload images into your individual posts and pages. A quality theme will then pull those images into strategic locations on key pages such as your home page, location page, menu page, etc.
Get professional photographs taken of your dishes and establishment and then use them. Put them all over your website. Be sure to take photographs of your restaurant when it's full of guests. But, inform your guests that it's a photoshoot as a courtesy. In fact, consult a lawyer about the use of such photographs. Alternatively, you could fill the restaurant with willing participants who have signed an authorization giving you express permission to use their photos in your marketing materials.
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