During 2012, there has been an increase of mobile search activity for restaurants according to Yelp and Groupon. Yelp has found that mobile usage of their site is up to 40% from 27% in 2010. Groupon contributes 30% of all transactions to mobile device use which is triple what it was last year.
With these trends it’s important to consider how people are accessing your website and to tailor it with mobile search activity in mind. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Thinking about a website redesign? Think about tailoring it to be a “mobile-first” or Smartphone or Tablet friendly website that will also work fine on normal browsers. Since your target audience is favoring mobile solutions to accessing restaurant sites, your site should address that part of the market.
- Perhaps you’re not ready for a website redesign yet. However, consider these two things: 1. Make sure there’s a clickable phone number on your homepage. 2. Make sure there’s also clickable driving directions on your homepage. This will make it easier for your customers to find you via their phone or home computer.
- Thinking about doing an app for your restaurant? Well you probably don’t need one. You want to make sure your already established customer base and new potential customers can find you easily. An app is necessary if you need to be in constant contact with your customer base, otherwise a mobile site is perfect.
- Wondering how your reservations will be affected by a change in website? Make it a priority to get listed in search engine results that Smartphone/Tablet users frequently use like Google Places and Yelp.
- Looking for a way to advertise to Smartphone/Tablet users? Google’s Mobile AdWords can be the best investment you make to advertise on mobile devices. It can provide you with cheap advertising that doesn’t require you to give your receipts to sites like Groupon.
- A big boost to your restaurant’s overall ranking online depends on customer reviews. Encourage customers to visit sites like Yelp and post reviews mentioning what dishes they enjoyed the most. This will make it easier for search engines and software like Apple’s Siri to find your restaurant by the dishes you serve.
Redesign or no redesign, these tips can help you get started and make your restaurant known on the mobile platform while also connecting you with your customer base.
SearchPro Systems
2024