10 Must-Have Restaurant Website Features You Need to Sell More

What Makes a Good Restaurant Website?

A good restaurant business website needs to offer users a flawless, optimized browsing experience. This involves certain features that you cannot go without. But don’t worry, you won’t have to spend a lot of time or money to add those features to an existing site.

Even a simple restaurant website can bring more customers through the door and increase orders for delivery and takeout.

First, you need to understand the purpose of restaurant websites. Some of the best restaurant website in the world focus on:

• Building a brand that customers trust.
• Ranking high in search engine results.
• Getting more people to visit their restaurant location.
• Increasing food sales.
• Educating potential customers about what the restaurant offers.

Once you know the purpose of a website, you can make a list of restaurant features that match those goals. To get you started, here are the 10 most important restaurant website features.

Most Important Features of Restaurants’ Websites

Some food website features matter more than others. In fact, you might even call them restaurant website requirements. For example, you could include a video on your website that shows off your beautiful dining room or how you prepare the meals. Some people will love it, but it probably won’t boost sales unless you work in the high-end market.

You can think about adding extra features to your online restaurant website later. For now, focus on the most important aspects:

• Good domain name.
• SSL certificate.
• Fast server response time.
• Correct Schema markup.
• On-page SEO.
• Off-page SEO.
• Mobile responsiveness.
• Optimized “order online” button.
• Quality images on your website and menu.

Good Restaurant Domain Name

What does a good restaurant domain name make? Well, first of all, it should be catchy and memorable so that customers will remember it. For instance, I will never forget the name of the restaurant Burgatory. It is witty, punny, and definitely memorable.

That being said, be careful not to make it overly complicated in your desire to stand out. Your restaurant domain name should be easy to remember and spell. Avoid double consonants or alternative spellings.

In-depth reading: Restaurant Domain Name Ideas and How to Choose a Good One

Restaurant Website SSL Certificate

A secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate is mandatory for keeping both your business and your customers safe. It will make it significantly more difficult for hackers to steal your information and the customers’ payment info if you accept online payments. SSL certificates come in a wide range of prices but they are 100% worth the effort.

In-depth reading: Why Buy an SSL Certificate for Your Restaurant’s Website and How

Fast Server Response Time

Did you know that more than 40% of shoppers leave a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load? When customers are hungry, you don’t want to keep them waiting. Otherwise, they might get frustrated waiting for your website to load and switch to the competition.

There are a lot of factors that slow down server response time such as web hosting, PHP usage, scripts, etc. Luckily, these are all things you can optimize.

In-depth reading: How to Reduce Server Response Time on Your Restaurant Website

Correct Restaurant Schema Markup

The Schema markup helps search engines learn more about your website, which can boost your SERP ranking. Not just that, but it also improves the user experience, because people who search for your restaurant will learn information about you at the touch of a button.

The Schema markup can be difficult to implement if you don’t have any technical knowledge, but we’ve prepared a guide to help you with that.

In-depth reading: How to Correctly Implement the Restaurant Schema Markup

On-Page Restaurant SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is what can put you on the first page of Google. Needless to say, all restauranteurs should aspire to get their restaurant there. There are two main types of SEO you can do, on-site SEO, which is everything you do directly on your website, and off-page SEO, which involves everything you do outside of it.

In terms of on-page SEO, you can work on keywords strategy, image optimization, internal and external linking, and local SEO.

In-depth reading: Complete On-Page Restaurant SEO Practical Guide: How to Rank High

Off-Page Restaurant SEO

Off-page search engine optimization relies mainly on two things: link building and social media. Getting backlinks from high-authority websites will also boost your website’s authority and subsequently, ranking. Moreover, social media will help you keep in touch with your customers and attract new ones.

In-depth reading: Off-Page SEO for Restaurants: How to Boost Your Online Visibility

Responsive Restaurant Website Design

Did you know that 81% of Americans own smartphones? Moreover, as early as 2018, 52.2% of internet traffic came from mobile. Nowadays, when people want to order food or look for a restaurant, they do so on their phones, often on their way back from work.

This means you can’t afford your restaurant website not to be optimized for mobile devices. This is especially true for restaurant menu website design. What a responsive restaurant website design does is make sure your website looks great no matter the device you look at it from.

If someone can’t read your menu on a small screen, then that person will probably dismiss your restaurant. Plenty of your competitors already use responsive website designs that look great on any device.

As an additional bonus, search engines also love responsive websites. By choosing a responsive food website design, you make it much more likely for your restaurant to get a better Google ranking.

In-depth reading: Benefits of Responsive Web Design and How to Get It for Your Restaurant Website; Why Choose GloriaFood Responsive Restaurant Website Templates

Optimized Order Online Button

When you think about what to include in a restaurant website, you need to put online ordering and reservations at the top of the list. Some of your customers might prefer calling your restaurant to place orders or reserve tables. Millennials and other young people, however, dislike phone calls. They prefer using texts and apps to communicate.

You might balk at the idea of building an app for your restaurant. However, you can solve this problem by simply adding an online ordering page and button to your website. Once you add your menu, you give customers the opportunity to order food in a way that’s convenient for them.

If you don’t offer food for delivery and/or takeaway, you should consider it ASAP, especially in these trying times when a lot of restaurants aren’t allowed to open and people prefer to order food online.

But in order for the customer to have a pleasant ordering experience, the order button should be highly visible, on your homepage, above the fold, and sticky.

In-depth reading: How to Place the Order Online Button on Your Restaurant Website to Sell More

Quality Food Photography on Your Website and Menu

The images on your restaurant website should have the sole purpose of making customers drool and motivating them to place an order or reserve a table. With that in mind, consider investing in a professional photoshoot that is guaranteed to highlight the best your food and restaurant have to offer.

In-depth reading: Why Food Photography Is Important for Your Restaurant Website and Menu

Bonus: 3 More Restaurant Website Features to Keep an Eye on

Engaging Content for Restaurant Websites

Content writing for restaurants keeps customers informed, highlights your products, and helps search engines find your website. You can’t rely on boring content, though. You need engaging articles with beautiful pictures.

Creating a blog for your restaurant takes you one step closer to increasing sales. With a good blog, you can:

• Personalize your business to make it seem friendly and fun.
• Promote your menu’s latest specials.
• Show mouth-watering pictures of food that will make customers hungry.
• Popularize upcoming events.
• Connect with current customers to make them feel like they’re part of a group - and turn them into loyal customers.

With the right website template, you can get your restaurant website’s blog up and running within minutes.

Directions to and a Map of Your Location

Your restaurant website needs a page that includes a map of your location and directions on how to get there. A location page will make it easier for new customers to find you.

Google and other search engines also like to see location information on websites. When you post information about your location, phone number, and directions, you make it easier for your website to get a higher ranking.

Links to Social Media Accounts

Most of your public outreach probably goes toward social media accounts on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Social media for restaurants is an amazing tool to interact with customers. For example, you can share positive reviews and photos taken by your patrons.

You can also use social media to address negative reviews. If someone has a bad experience at your restaurant, you want to take control of the situation by addressing the issue head-on and finding a solution.

Related: How Diners Choose Restaurants: The Importance of Customer Reviews for Restaurants

Your existing customers might already follow you on social media, so they’ll see the things you post. Someone that hasn’t visited your restaurant before, though, will probably want to look at your website first.

Linking to your social media accounts is a great idea for people who are interested to learn more about what sets you apart from other restaurants in your area. It’s never a bad idea to encourage interaction with your customers.

Get the Essential Restaurant Website Features to Help Your Business Thrive

Restaurants without a website can’t thrive in today’s competitive industry. If you want to know more about what to include in a restaurant website, you can get started by checking out the restaurant website builder, restaurant website templates, and food ordering API from GloriaFood.

Why is ours the best restaurant website builder? Because it generates a one-page restaurant website with an online ordering system included in the price. If you want to check out a restaurant website sample created using our system, visit pronto-ny.com.

GloriaFood makes it easy to add essential restaurant website features that will boost your sales by attracting more customers and increasing your online orders. Turn yours into the best restaurant website in your area!

Simply click the Get Started button at the bottom of this page to create your GloriaFood account and enjoy all the perks that come with it.