Increase SEO With Keywords

Savanna — Wed, 09 May 2012 19:44:21 +0000

Customers search millions of things a day on many different search engines. In order to take advantage of these searches, restaurants can use keywords and phrases to increase their SEO ratings and learn more about what their customers are really searching for.

The big mistake that restaurants do at the beginning of creating their keyword campaign is not using the proper keywords to attract people to their sites. To avoid this, there are few things that restaurants should do to insure that their keywords and phrases will be effective.

They should first ask does the keyword match the content that their site offers. It is important that the people that will be directed to the site by the keyword will be able to find the information that they are looking for. It is also important that the customers who visit the site will turn their search into a purchase from the site. If the keyword does not have this potential, it should not be used.

Doing research on the keyword or keywords that a restaurant is planning on doing is critical in order to see how beneficial it will be the restaurant. They can do this by searching for the term on the major search engines and see if it appears in their search results. Also, they can use Google AdWords to do a sample run of the keyword. All that they have to do is pick exact match and direct all the traffic from the keyword search to their webpage. Then they can track how many impressions and the conversion rate of their keyword.

The last thing to do is evaluate how well the keywords and phrases did. A restaurant should see how valuable a customer is who used the keyword to get to their site. They can do this by looking at the number of people who visited the site and then how many were actually converted to profit. If this number is reasonable, then the keyword was successful, but if it was not up to par then the restaurant should rethink their keyword strategy and try again.

Restaurants are seeing satisfying results from search marketing when they implement it correctly. It can help increase profits and build awareness of a new business. In the end, restaurants should take SEO very seriously and apply it to their business in order to see the benefits their counterparts are already enjoying.

Savanna Eckenrode
MenuDrive
www.menudrive.com

Promotional Tools for Restaurants

Savanna — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:07:55 +0000

Today there are tons of different promotional tools that restaurants can use to increase their business. It can be difficult however to tell which ones are best for them. There are a few key tools that can be especially useful for promotions and spreading the word about their restaurants.

Foursquare
This is a tool that allows customers to check in to locations and share what they are doing there. Customers will also be able to see who is around their current location. Businesses have special promotions that require customers to check in with Foursquare. For example, if a customer checks in with Foursquare 10 times then they get a free drink. Another example would be if they check in and then post about what they just ate they could get a certain percentage off their meal. It is similar to a rewards card which tracks how many times people visit, but it has the added benefit of free advertising for a restaurant.

Pintrest
People love seeing and taking pictures of everything they do including eating. Restaurants have a wonderful opportunity to show their customers how appetizing their dishes look through Pintrest. Pintrest is based solely on pictures. People pin pictures of things they like to boards and can share them with all of their friends. Restaurants can pin pictures of their dishes, but also expand into other things that they may like or value. Boards for the chefs of the restaurant, their care for the environment, or even good recipe ideas are all perfect options for a restaurants Pintrest site. It shows customers the side of the business that they don’t get to see when they visit and gets them engaged with the restaurant.

Yelp
Yelp is a place where anyone can review anything. Here customers have the ability to rate and discuss different places and services they have tried. It is important for restaurants to see this because both good and bad reviews can be posted on this site. By keeping an eye on reviews, they can fix bad reviews before they get out of control and also receive valuable feedback from their customers. It is also great word of mouth online which is the best form of advertising that a business can get.

OpenTable
Restaurants hate when they have empty seats. This app lets restaurants post online what empty tables they have and then customers can see what is available. Customers can also reserve their spots ahead of time and they earn points which they can use at any of the restaurants on OpenTable for discounts. This app can be set up so that a restaurant keeps all its reservations on it and can help keep everything on track.

Restaurants have a wide array of options which they can use to promote themselves to the public. Promotional tools allow them to have their customers spread the word about how wonderful their restaurant is to all their friends. Customers love telling everyone about their favorite things and with these tools, they can do it quicker and to more people which will help build the brand of a restaurant and eventually drive in more customers.

How Restaurants Can Use Google Analytics

Savanna — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:14:24 +0000

Google is a powerhouse when it comes to the internet. They are involved in everything from search engines to applications to advertising and promotions. One of their best creations, Google Analytics, has an array of features that restaurants can use to help track their customers and increase their effectiveness. It is used on 57% of the top 10,000 internet sites which makes it easy to see that somebody thinks it works.
The first feature of Google Analytics is the Analysis tool which can be used to help create reports and view all the data which Google collects. It has real-time reporting which measures the activity as it happens and restaurants can then create customer reports based on the information that is important to them. A dashboard makes seeing all the data that is collected easier and gives a restaurant the ability to share it with other people.
Google’s Content Analysis measures the content that is placed on restaurant’s website and how effective it is. Site Search shows what customers are looking for while In-Page Analytics shows how customers move on a restaurants website. Site Speed lets them know if customers are having a hard time loading pages and how many times they click on their links and downloads.
Mobile Analytics is designed to measure how mobile affects a restaurant and shows which devices and operating systems people are using to access their website. It also tracks the location of mobile traffic and tells if a restaurant’s mobile performance is successful.
The Conversion Suite feature goes beyond just collecting data and tells a restaurant why customers behave the way they do. It breaks down customer behaviors and shows what customers are more likely to do when visiting a restaurant’s website. It also shows the channels by which the customers are arriving at a restaurant’s site.
Social Reports tell a restaurant how well their social media is working for them and what social media their customers are using. They can also see which social media sites their customers engage most in and see what their customers are sharing and where.
The last feature is Advertising Analytics which measures how well a restaurant’s online advertisements are working for them. It gives them tips on how to increase SEO and how display advertising works. It also gives advice for advertising on mobile devices and does marketing campaign measurement which shows a restaurant what they need to do more of and what they need to rethink.
Google Analytics is a very informational and effective means of collecting data about a restaurant’s website. It has invaluable features which can give restaurants an edge against the competition. By using this creation from Google, a restaurant can gauge the effectiveness of its online presence which will in turn help increase its customers.

Savanna Eckenrode
MenuDrive
www.menudrive.com

10 Ways To Increase Online Ordering Sales

Savanna — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:36:18 +0000

You have your online ordering website setup, but how to you get people to actually use it? There are a number of ways in which a restaurant can make their online ordering system more appealing to their customers.

1.Increase awareness: Tell all your customers about your online menu through email, face-to-face, and through social media.
2.Provide coupons only useful online: Send out coupons and promo codes to your customers which they can only redeem online. If people want to take advantage of these deals, they will have to go online to do it.
3.Make a loyalty program: Create a loyalty program that rewards customers who order online and make it so they can track their points online too.
4.Make your website visually appealing: Post pictures and descriptions that will bring your food alive and give customers the extra push to buy.
5.Complete all content: Make sure your site is complete with accurate information so customers are not surprised when they receive their order.
6.Have free delivery for orders over a certain amount: To get people to buy more, offer them the option of free delivery if they spend a certain amount. This will make office groups more willing to buy together and will make people more likely to spend extra money in order to get free delivery.
7.Customer service is still important: Even if they are ordering online, customers should be able to communicate with your restaurant. Make it easy for them to contact you if they have a question.
8.Make it even more convenient: Make sure everything is easy to see and read. Put things into categories so customers can quickly search for what they are looking for.
9.Offer limited time offer: Post options that are only available for a limited time online to get impulse buys and trail purchases from customers.
10.Add new options: Add new items to your online menu that people can use to customize their orders. Make these only available online so people have to order online to get them.

These are just some of the ways in which you can spice up your online menu and get more of your customers to visit and use your site. Online ordering is a convenient way for customers to order from restaurants and a more efficient means of business for restaurants. When set up properly, it can be a very advantageous means of seeing an increase in profits and customers for restaurants.

Restaurants Can Use HTML 5 For Mobile

Savanna — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:08:57 +0000

Restaurants have heard the buzz about mobile devices. In 2011, 31.8 percent of handsets that were sold were smartphones and there were 234 million people age 13 and up who owned a mobile device in the United States. But what is new is not the devices themselves, but how people are viewing online webpages with them.
HTML 5 is the newest language of the internet. HTML, or HyperText Markup Language, is the language that developers use to build webpages. The most recent form of this, HTML 5, allows for a variety of different upgraded resources for developers and makes for a better online experience for users.
HTML 5 replaced the need for plug-ins in order to view media online. Usually, Flash or some other add-on is needed to view video and photos online, but HTML 5 allows tags like and to be placed in the webpage code which satisfies this need without plug-ins. The photos and videos are also in high resolution and have the capability of zoom which makes it easier to see them on the mobile device’s screen.
The webpages designed with HTML 5 are very similar to apps. Users can flip through the pages just like they would an app, but they do not need to go through the hassle of downloading it. Browsers also save information for the users so they can access it later when they revisit the page. A feature that is very useful for restaurants is the location awareness feature. This allows restaurants to have their pages set up so when a user logs in, the webpage will tell them where the nearest store to them is located.
There are about 1.2 billion mobile web users in the world. In January 2012, 8.94 percent of website hits were from mobile devices. It is easy to see that people are buying and using their mobile devices more frequently to view online content. With the aid of HTML 5, restaurants have the ability to upgrade their sites, make them more engaging and easier to use, and eventually tap into the vast amount of potential customers using mobile devices.
MenuDrive recently launched its Drive Plan which includes the new Mobile Optimization HTML 5 for their websites. Restaurants who decided to use the plan will be given a website that is viewable on mobile devices as well as computers. If you have any questions or are interested in trying the Drive Plan, contact MenuDrive at 877-787-6368.

Savanna Eckenrode
MenuDrive
www.menudrive.com

Integrating Credit Cards With Online Ordering Systems

Savanna — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:44:42 +0000

In today’s fast paced and technology based society, credit cards are becoming more frequently used than cash. Over 200 million people have at least one credit card with the average of people owning about 3.5 cards. Restaurants have evolved and taken advantage of this type of payment, but the process of using online ordering and credit card integration is sometimes confusing. Without knowledge of the process or how it works, restaurants could actually be hurting their business rather than helping it.
When a restaurant has an online ordering system the easiest way for customers to pay is by credit card. This means that the restaurant needs to connect its online ordering website to the bank that its uses. The way to do that is by using a gateway. This gateway is going to provide the security of the transaction information and the means of transporting that information to the bank.
This process is fairly simple. First the customer will submit their credit card information for the purchase. The gateway will then pass the information to what is called the “processor”. The “processor” will then submit the purchase to the credit card network who sends the transaction to the customer’s bank. The bank will then decline or accept the transaction and sends the results back to the credit card network. The network then sends the results back to the “processor” who sends the results to the gateway and finally back to the restaurant who completes the purchase with the customer. The customer’s bank will then send the funds to the credit card network who then sends it to the restaurant’s bank who deposits the funds into the restaurant’s account.
The benefit of this is that restaurants do not have to create an infrastructure for the transactions as this is difficult for them to do. The gateway will do this all for them and it makes it easier on the restaurant. The restaurant does not have to install software and they can manage their accounts through the gateway to make any changes. The gateway also checks to see if the card number is valid and if there is enough money in the account.
The down side is that the gateway and the bank sometimes take a small percentage from the sales for themselves out of the transaction.
With the addition of credit card processing to a restaurant’s online ordering system the restaurant will make it more convenient for customers to purchase online. This means that customers may have the inclination to purchase more and do so more often, increasing purchase frequency. Overall credit card integration is something that restaurants with online ordering systems should include in their system to reap the benefits it provides.

Savanna Eckenrode
MenuDrive
www.menudrive.com

How Google+ Can Help Restaurants With SEO

Savanna — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:15:21 +0000

It can be assumed that restaurants have heard the buzz about Google+, but do you even know the benefits or how to start one? Google+ was a little bit of a mystery at its beginning in 2011, but now it has become something of importance in the business community. The benefits and opportunities that are available for restaurants through Google+ are nothing to scoff at, and with a little advice, they can greatly increase a restaurant’s SEO standings and importance in the digital arena.
Creating a Google+ page is fairly easy to do. First a Google email account is needed which can be done by clicking on create account at the Google start page. Then click on Google+ and create a page. Pages have categories that restaurants can choose from depending on what they want to be seen as; product, brand, business, etc. Next is to fill out the basis details of the restaurant. Make sure you fill out as much as you can and make it public. It will be of no benefit if Google cannot get access to it. Finally follow as many people as you can. Building a network of followers is important to gaining more SEO standing. Restaurants can send out emails to existing customers and have them follow them.
As it was noted before details are very important for Google+. Every detail that is put on Google+ gains a restaurant a SEO “point”. These points determine how high in the search results a particular restaurant will be. Google uses the size and importance of one’s Google+ to prioritize results, which is another reason why having followers is important as well. Google+ is similar to Facebook in that you can post articles, pictures, and videos. It is also possible to link other people’s accounts in posts by adding a + in front of their names.
The biggest thing about Google+ is the +1 feature. Similar to the Face book “like”, +1s are things that people like. These +1s show up on their profile when they like something. The goal is to get as many people as possible to +1 every post you have because theses +1s will increase how important the post is to Google. The more +1s, the higher in the search results. The +1 button can be added onto any page, even those not powered by Google.
Google+ is gaining popularity and will continue to grow into the future as more businesses and people discover the advantages that it provides. MenuDrive has a Google+ page so create your own and enjoy the same benefits MenuDrive is!

Savanna Eckenrode
MenuDrive
www.menudrive.com

Receiving Online Orders from MenuDrive

Savanna — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:23:39 +0000

You have your online menu set up, but how are you going to get those orders sent to your restaurant so you can actually make them? MenuDrive gives its customers a variety of different options when it comes to receiving orders. There are four ways by which a restaurant can have orders delivered to them from their online site; those being email or fax, through the MenuDrive dashboard, or POS integration.
When a customer places an order through a restaurant’s online menu, the order is sent to the restaurant to be processed. A restaurant can choose to have the orders emailed to them. Once they receive the order by email, they can print it out, place the order into their POS system, and then send it back to the kitchen to be made. They can also choose to have orders faxed to them. This is similar to email except the orders will be sent by fax to the restaurant and printed out from the fax machine. Again the restaurant will need to place these orders manually into the POS system and send them to the kitchen to be made. There is an unlimited amount of orders that can be placed through email and fax and at anytime the restaurant can go back and get an order it might have missed.
The next option is to use the MenuDrive dashboard. MenuDrive offers an auto print solution which will automatically print out any orders that it receives. This is a type of software which has a real time dashboard that restaurants can access and runs on any computer. The dashboard shows all orders and allows them to print any order that may need to be reprinted. It can be set to alert the employees when a new order arrives and is compatible with all operating systems.
The last way that a restaurant can have their orders delivered to them is by means of POS integration. MenuDrive will integrate their ordering system with the POS system that customers are currently using. The orders are placed online by the customers which is then sent directly to the POS software and put into the system. Once received the order is printed in the kitchen. Integration removes the second step of printing the order and putting it into the POS system manually. This method saves time and leaves less room for error.
MenuDrive offers all these great ways to receive orders for restaurants. Depending on how many orders are placed every day and the types of orders, some ways are more efficient for restaurants than others. By talking to a MenuDrive team member, you can find which method would work best for your restaurant and help you process orders quickly and effectively.

Choosing a POS System for Restaurants

Savanna — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:05:22 +0000

Deciding on a POS system for a restaurant is a big commitment. There are hundreds of different systems out on the market that restaurants can use and this can make it difficult to decide which one is best for their business. Certain steps should be taken to ensure that a restaurant will be getting the best system.

One of the main things that a restaurant needs to consider are the needs of their business. Some businesses might need a single terminal while others need a multiple terminal system. POS Systems should also be able to track inventory so managers can spend less time with inventory and purchase orders.

Setting a budget will help a restaurant narrow their choices. A restaurant should include all the hardware, software, and services that will be needed to make the system work. Restaurants should look for companies that provide everything so if there are any problems they only have one place to go for help. For the POS software, a restaurant can choose a web-based software which they lease from a third party, or software that they buy completely.

A restaurant should ask its customers what type of features they would like to get from the system. Asking them if they would like a loyalty program or if they prefer to order online will tell a restaurant what specifics it needs to look for in its POS system

Trying a demo of a POS system is invaluable to a restaurant. By trying a demo, they will learn how the system works and will see the pros and cons firsthand. It will also show them if the system will fit into their business with ease or if it will be a challenge.

When picking a POS system, a restaurant wants to make sure that it is getting a good product from a reputable company. They should research the company and talk to them so all questions can be answered directly by the company. Asking for references from friends who use POS systems will give background to the inner workings of the system from people who have actually used the system.

By following these guidelines, choosing a POS system will be easy for restaurants. Restaurants looking to find a system should take their time and do their research so they can be confident they made the right choice.

Savanna Eckenrode
MenuDrive
www.menudrive.com

Group Ordering Helps Restaurants Satisfy Customers

Savanna — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:32:02 +0000

As a previous employee of the foodservice industry, I know the dread of seeing a huge group of customers ready to come in and order all at once. Mistakes are always made and it is very stressful for the employees to try and make all the customers happy. Online ordering has resolved some of these issues and now with group ordering it is even easier for restaurants to deal with the difficultly of tackling large group orders.
Online ordering systems have begun to adopt the idea of group ordering. The steps are fairly simple for groups to follow and successfully place their order. The first step is placing the order. For some systems this means having an individual place an order and then having others join while some systems allow one order for the whole group. Customers can place a separate order and pay using their own computer or mobile device. Once everyone has completed their order, it is sent to the restaurant which then gets the order and begins making it. After it is complete, the order is either delivered or picked up by the customers. This process eliminates the waiting time that customers have to go through and makes is easier on the restaurant to get the order right.
Group orders can tend to overwhelm the restaurant which also has other customers waiting to be served. By placing a group order online, it takes some of the stress away from the restaurant and allows them to serve the people in the restaurant quicker. Everything is placed on one order which makes it easier to see how much of what needs to be made. It also helps a restaurant increase their take out sales which has become increasingly important in the restaurant industry. Technomic has done research and found that take-out sales grew by 10 percent over the last three years. Group ordering is a tool which can be used by a restaurant to help them take advantage of this increase.
Restaurants can also give customers more benefits when they use this system. Most restaurants give discounts to large group orders. This would make it better, for example, an office to order lunch from the same place. This is also good for the restaurant because they are going to get more customers than before. Instead of buying lunch at five different places, the employees will all go to one place because it is easier and will save them money.
Online ordering has helped speed up the process of ordering and now group ordering is something that restaurants are taking a serious look at. Have any of you tried group ordering before?

Savanna Eckenrode
MenuDrive
www.menudrive.com