As a restaurant owner, creating a stunning website for your business is one of the best investments you can make. With over 43% of all websites now running on WordPress, it has become the go-to platform for creating restaurant sites.
In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll walk you step-by-step through the process of building a powerful restaurant website on WordPress. With 15+ years as a webmaster, I‘ll also share plenty of tips, tools, and insider knowledge to help you succeed.
Contents
- Why Every Restaurant Needs a Website
- Step 1: Get Web Hosting and Domain for Your Site
- Step 2: Install WordPress on Your Hosting
- Step 3: Select the Right Restaurant Theme
- Step 4: Set Up Your Site‘s Pages
- Step 5: Set Up Navigation Menu
- Step 6: Extend Functionality with Plugins
- Step 7: Promote Your Restaurant Website
- Optimize Your Restaurant Website for Success
- You Now Have the Formula to Create a Thriving Restaurant Website
Why Every Restaurant Needs a Website
Let‘s start by looking at the key reasons you need a restaurant website:
Reach New Customers Online
These days, most people search online first when looking for a place to eat. If you don‘t have a website, your restaurant is invisible to these potential new customers.
A well-optimized site helps you get found by people searching for cuisine like yours in your local area or city. This allows you to reach diners beyond just those in your immediate neighborhood.
According to research by BroadbandSearch, 59% of Americans search online before going to a restaurant. So having an engaging web presence is critical.
Display Your Menus
Your website gives potential customers an easy way to browse your menu anytime. They can check out your offerings before even stepping foot inside your restaurant.
Menus often help make the decision for customers on whether your restaurant serves the type of food they want. Don‘t miss out on those potential sales by making it hard for people to access your latest menus.
Book Tables Directly Online
Table reservations bring in guaranteed foot traffic. By letting customers book tables right on your website, you remove friction from the booking process.
Data shows online reservations result in more covers. OpenTable found that restaurants see around 13% increased covers from online reservations. Don‘t leave money on the table by only taking bookings over the phone.
Build Customer Loyalty
Existing customers will love the convenience of features like:
- Booking online
- Ordering delivery/takeout
- Signing up for loyalty programs
- Contacting you easily
This directly improves customer retention and loyalty. Data shows acquiring new customers costs 5-25x more than retaining existing ones. So focus on keeping them happy through your website.
Get Valuable Insights
With tools like Google Analytics, you can gain incredibly useful intelligence about your site traffic and customers. This includes:
- Traffic sources: Discover your best referral sites driving customers to you.
- Popular pages: See which menus and offerings attract the most interest.
- Busy times: Identify peak periods to staff appropriately.
These types of insights help you make smarter decisions and better allocate resources.
Clearly, having a restaurant website brings enormous benefits. Now let‘s look at how to create one on WordPress.
Step 1: Get Web Hosting and Domain for Your Site
The first step is purchasing:
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Web hosting – This is where all your website files are stored on remote servers accessible 24/7. Shared hosting works great for most restaurant sites and starts around $7.99/month.
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A domain name – This is your website‘s address online, like
YourRestaurantName.com. Pick a domain name related to your restaurant brand and available to register.
My recommendation is creating your restaurant site with Bluehost, an officially recommended WordPress web hosting provider.
Here are a few reasons why Bluehost is a top choice:
- Optimized WordPress infrastructure for faster performance
- 24/7 expert support to help with any issues
- Free domain name for the first year
- SSL certificate included for security
- Manages over 2 million websites
Our readers can exclusively get Bluehost starting at just $2.75/month – a huge 60% off discount.
Get Started with Bluehost in 4 Steps:
- Click here to claim this Bluehost discount.
- Choose your hosting plan (Basic is fine) and register your domain.
- Verify your account via email and login to your Bluehost dashboard.
- Click "WordPress" in the dashboard to launch the famous 5-minute install.
That‘s all it takes – in a few minutes you‘ll have WordPress installed and ready to use for your restaurant site.
Now let‘s look at getting WordPress setup properly.
Step 2: Install WordPress on Your Hosting
If you signed up with Bluehost using our link, WordPress is installed automatically with one click.
But if you want to manually install WordPress, follow these steps:
- Login to your web hosting cPanel dashboard.
- Look for the WordPress or auto-installer icon and click on it.
- Choose the domain name where you want to install WordPress.
- Click through the setup steps:
- Enter your site title and admin credentials
- Select language
- Choose plugins to install (WooCommerce, security, SEO, etc)
- Wait for WordPress to be installed. This takes just a minute or two.
- Once done, click "Log In" to access your WordPress admin dashboard.
Your WordPress backend is where you will manage everything related to your site like settings, pages, posts, menus, plugins, themes, and more.
Spend some time familiarizing yourself with the WordPress dashboard. This is where the magic will happen!
Step 3: Select the Right Restaurant Theme
The next big step is choosing a theme for your restaurant site.
Themes control the layout, design, and front-end features of your site. There are thousands to choose from.
For restaurants, I recommend choosing an industry-specific theme designed with food sites in mind, rather than a generic multipurpose theme.
Restaurant themes come with custom features like:
✔ Online food ordering
✔ Reservations systems
✔ Restaurant menus
✔ Ability to display opening hours
✔ photo galleries
✔ Customer testimonials
✔ Maps and access information
Some popular restaurant themes to consider include:
- Foodica – $59 premium theme with drag & drop site builder.
- Restaurant Zone – $59 theme with lots of demos and customization options.
- Foodoholic – $59 feminine-style theme for bakeries, cafes, etc.
Install your restaurant theme from the WordPress dashboard. You can preview and activate themes from Appearance > Themes.
Browse options to find one matching the style, functionality, and design you want for your site.
Step 4: Set Up Your Site‘s Pages
Now it‘s time to build out the structure of your restaurant site by adding core pages:
Homepage
Your home page is the front door to your site. Use it to highlight your story, offerings, promotions, etc. to convince first-time visitors to become customers.
Menus Page
Add individual pages for each menu, like lunch, dinner, desserts, drinks, etc. This lets customers easily see all their options in each category.
Contact Page
This essential page includes all the ways customers can get in touch, including phone, email, contact form, physical address, etc.
About Us Page
Share your restaurant‘s unique story and team bios, highlight media features and awards, etc. to build trust with visitors.
Reservations Page
Includes an online booking form so customers can conveniently reserve tables 24/7 from your site.
Order Online Page
For takeout and delivery, with your menu items and seamless checkout process.
Fill each page with useful info tailored to your audience. Include photos, calls to action, and visitor-friendly content. Optimize pages for SEO by including target keywords.
I recommend using a page builder plugin like Elementor to easily create beautiful, conversion-focused pages with no coding needed.
The responsive drag and drop editor makes building pages simple and enjoyable.
Now that you have your core pages built, it‘s time to set up navigation so customers can easily move around your site.
In your WordPress dashboard:
- Go to Appearance → Menus.
- Click Create New Menu and name it "Primary".
- Select each page you want to include and click Add to Menu. Drag and drop to reorder as desired.
- Once your menu is complete, click Save Menu.
- Next go to Appearance → Customize your theme.
- Find the menu settings. In most themes, set the "Primary" menu location as the primary site-wide navigation.
This will make the menu with all your pages appear across the site. Add dropdown submenus as needed so customers can easily access any part of your site.
Properly structuring your navigation improves site usability and SEO at the same time.
Step 6: Extend Functionality with Plugins
One of the best parts of WordPress is being able to enhance your site‘s functionality with plugins.
There are over 55,000 free and premium WordPress plugins available. Here are some must-have ones for restaurant sites:
Online Ordering
- Lets customers order pickup or delivery directly from your site menu.
- Top plugins include GloriaFood, WP Food Menu, Simple Online Ordering.
Reservations
- Allows 24/7 bookings directly through your website.
- Plugins like Table Reservations, Reserve or Booking Calendar are user-friendly.
Waitlist Management
- Lets customers join waitlists remotely to be notified when a table is ready.
- Options like Waitlist Me, NoWait, WaitWhile.
Loyalty Programs
- Reward returning customers and encourage referrals.
- Consider Points and Rewards, LoyaltyLion, or SnipLoyalty.
Social Media Feeds
- Display your Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter feed to show off food and atmosphere.
- Popular free plugins like Smash Balloon Instagram Feed, Custom Facebook Feed, Custom Twitter Feeds.
Browse the WordPress plugins directory to find other helpful tools for your restaurant site. Only install what you need – too many plugins can slow down your site.
Step 7: Promote Your Restaurant Website
With your new WordPress restaurant website complete, it‘s go-time! Here are effective ways to get the word out:
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Add your site URL to your email signature so everyone you contact sees it.
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Send an email blast to customers announcing your new online presence and highlighting key features.
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Share site content and links on social media (ie Facebook, Instagram) to drive traffic.
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Create a Google My Business listing and link to your site. This helps you rank in local search results.
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Add a link to your site on your printed takeout menus, banners, business cards, and any other marketing materials.
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Launch an email newsletter to distribute news, offers, new menu items etc. and link to relevant pages.
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Consider small ads in local publications highlighting your new website and popular features.
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Ask happy customers to write online reviews on Google, Facebook, Yelp etc. and include your website link.
The goal is driving hungry people to your awesome new site, so they can see first-hand how your restaurant delivers a phenomenal experience.
Optimize Your Restaurant Website for Success
Here are crucial areas to focus on optimizing for maximum performance:
Speed Up Site Performance
A 1-second delay in load time decreases conversions by 7%. Optimize images, enable caching, minify code, and choose lightweight themes/plugins.
Strengthen Security
Your customers‘ data security is paramount. Install a security plugin like Wordfence, enable SSL encryption, use strong passwords, and regularly update software.
Improve SEO
Optimizing for search helps people find your site through Google. Research keywords, optimize pages for SEO, produce regular content, and build backlinks.
Track Analytics
Tools like Google Analytics give you powerful visitor data to identify opportunities to improve. Analyze traffic sources, conversions, popular pages, purchasing trends and more.
Back Up Your Site
Avoid losing your hard work due to disasters. Use a backup plugin like UpdraftPlus to schedule automatic backups to cloud storage.
Focusing on these key areas will elevate your WordPress restaurant site and deliver real ROI to your business long-term.
You Now Have the Formula to Create a Thriving Restaurant Website
We covered a lot of ground here! To recap, the steps to success are:
- Get your web hosting and register a domain
- Install WordPress on your hosting
- Select an appetizing restaurant theme
- Build out pages like your menu, contact, reservations etc.
- Set up navigation menus for easy access
- Add key functionality via plugins
- Spread the word and market your new site
- Continuously enhance and optimize
Following this comprehensive guide will provide you with an incredible foundation to build an online presence that captivates customers.
I hope you found this detailed walkthrough valuable. Please let me know if you have any other questions as you embark on creating your new WordPress restaurant website. Just contact me via my site – I‘m always happy to help fellow restauranteurs succeed online!
