Successful Restaurant Websites

With all of our big talk about online marketing best practices and usability, we sometimes forget to talk about the ssssssexy side of web design, i.e. the VISUAL DESIGN! Abduzeedo provides a wonderful list of well-designed restaurant websites. While each site might not get everything right, it’s a formidable selection that can serve as inspiration for the look and feel of your website.

Looking at the group of websites, one thing I find baffling is the way some restaurants choose to use their homepage to talk about themselves as if they are writing a press release for I-don’t-know-what. I’m referring to phrases like “the food, service and atmosphere reflect and compliment today’s lifestyles where balance and experiences coexist.” Seriously? This type of writing is hardly unique to this website, but it must be stopped.

While it makes me a little sick to say it, the Red Lobster homepage does the best job of promoting content of interest to users. First, they show photographs of actual meals. Secondly, they talk about “choice” and “value” – two things of great importance to diners. Finally, they incorporate action-oriented language into each of their feature areas. Phrases like “Enjoy a Taste,” “Watch How,” “Indulge in,” and “Check Out” make the page sound as if the restaurant is addressing customers directly, encouraging them to take action.

While these things may initially seem small or subtle, they can make an enormous difference in whether a user decides to explore a website or not. Failing to write copy that quickly engages visitors is guaranteed to reduce website traffic and undermine your brand.

Some questions to consider and discuss:

1. Notice how each website uses photography differently to represent their restaurant. Which subject do you think is of the most interest to the potential customer visiting the website? Is it the outside of the restaurant? The dining room? A shot of a single table? A close up of menu items? Images of customers at the restaurant? Or, an evocative image that is only tangentially related to the restaurant?

2. From an information standpoint, which homepage gives you the best sense of what the restaurant is about?

3. Each homepage provides multiple options of where to click first. Which one makes it obvious where to click first? Which one would make the visitor unsure about where to click?

4. Based on these homepage designs, which site do you think customers are most likely to come back and visit? Why?

5. If you saw each website design from across the room, would you necessarily know they were restaurant websites? What else do they resemble? [Without naming names, I think one looks like a site for a modern furniture store, another like a personal blog.]

Web Design: Restaurant Sites [Abduzeedo]