Restaurant Website Mistakes to Avoid

Written by Justine Nightingale
Wednesday, June 12, 2024 at 08:00am CDT

Your restaurant website is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It’s your most pivotal piece of digital marketing. It is the beginning and end of your marketing strategy. Your website brings you business, informs people, and showcases your menu.

As such, you want to take very careful care of it. To help you, let’s uncover the restaurant website mistakes to avoid.

Your Navigation is Confusing

Think of your navigation as the roadmap to your website. The last thing you want is for people to struggle to find what they are looking for. (tweet this)

First, you want to categorize your pages and arrange them with a hierarchy. This makes it easy for people to get from one spot to another. Here are some solutions to navigation issues:

• Keep your main navigation at the top because this is where people expect to see it.
• Use a different color for your links or make them bold so you differentiate them from plain text.
• If you are using sidebars, make them noticeable.
• Make sure your navigation is mobile-friendly.

Clear navigation reduces user friction on your website. Keep your navigation clear and open, and avoid crowded spaces where people struggle to figure out where to go.

The bottom line is that your navigation is a roadmap and the backbone of your website. If yours is messy, fix it today so users don’t struggle to find what they’re looking for.

Your Website Isn’t Mobile Friendly

Many of your users visit your website on their mobile phones, so it’s essential that it is mobile friendly. Your website visitors should not have to pinch and zoom to find what they’re looking for.

So, ensure your site adjusts to multiple screen sizes, from smartphones to tablets to laptops and the largest computers.

Test your website in all browsers and devices to make sure everything looks good.

Your Website is Slow

Slow-loading websites frustrate Google’s algorithm, and because of this, your website may not show up prominently in Google search results.

In today’s digital age, you can’t afford to have a slow website. In addition to Google issues, you may find that if your site takes more than two seconds to load, users are going to move on to another restaurant website.

Attention spans are short, so you want to do everything you can to speed up your website. Here are some tips:

• Reduce the size of your images.
• Host videos on YouTube.
• Compress files.
• Use a caching plugin.
• Delete unused plugins.
• Minimize the use of unnecessary scripts.
• Regularly test your website’s speed to see where you stand. Look at the recommendations and implement as many as possible.

Your Site Doesn’t Use the Right Tags

We touched on navigational hierarchy, but there is another hierarchy to your website as well.

This comes in the form of your heading tags and sizes. For example, each page should only have one H1 tag. This should be the title of your page, and thus, it should be a larger font.

When it comes to H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6 tags, you can use multiples of these, but they should make sense. For example, H2 is the next largest size from the H1 tag, H3 gets a bit smaller, and so on.

You can also use different colors and even fonts for the different tags.

By separating these clearly, your readers can tell what’s most important.

Your Site Lacks Contrast and White Space

You want to make it as easy as possible for people to read your content. If your colors are too dark, or there isn’t the right contrast, people can’t see your words. (tweet this)

In addition, poor contrast makes it difficult for people with visual impairments to read your text. With bad contrast, your site also looks unprofessional.

To fix it, make sure you have a high-contrast color scheme. For example, that means dark text on a very light background or light text on a very dark background.

In addition, you want to make sure you have white space. You don’t want a cluttered website. Your goal is a clean design that is easy on the eyes. Use padding between your columns, text, and images. Allow space to let your content breathe.

White space on your restaurant website lets you highlight the most important information while making it easy for people to digest.

You Don’t Balance Your Copy

Every website needs content. This is what Google uses to learn about your website, and it’s how your website visitors learn about your restaurant.

There is a fine line between not enough copy and too much copy.

You want to ensure that there is enough content to contain your keywords and to inform search engines about your restaurant.

At the same time, you don’t want to overwhelm your website visitors. So, if you have a lot of text, be sure to break it up with heading tags, bullet points, images, and video.

Your copy should aim to inform and engage your website visitors. Since it’s a restaurant website, the copy should also describe your menu items and your restaurant.

It’s also a great idea to incorporate a blog on your website. This is a great way to get regular fresh content on your site while also providing more engaging information to your website visitors. A blog is also a great tool for SEO.

Final Thoughts on Your Restaurant Website

Did you know that people are 84% more likely to stay on a well-designed website than a poorly designed one?

You can improve the overall experience on your website by considering these restaurant website mistakes to avoid. Implement some of these easy solutions to take your website to the next level.

Finally, check your Google Analytics and your page speed on a regular basis. Keep your website optimized, and you’ll watch your restaurant grow.

Is your website ready to wow your visitors? At Restaurant Engine, we can create a website for you that provides the pivotal spot for your digital marketing. Your website is the centerpiece of your online marketing, and it needs to look and perform well to increase your online sales. You can count on us to create an amazing website that presents a unified brand for your restaurant and works across all digital platforms. Let us help you make the perfect site that draws customers in, improves customer engagement and your conversion rate, and enables you to grow your business! 

Are you ready to take your restaurant to the next level with a new website?

Get your free website consultation today!

Images: Sergey Zolkin and Jay Wennington on Unsplash