The Covid crisis accelerated the move online for just about every element of our life. While most businesses didn’t have an online presence just a few years ago, it’s now mandatory for every business to have at least some sort of online presence where customers can find them.
If you still don’t have a properly designed website, then you could be hurting your business more than you know. In the pandemic economy that is more important than ever. Too many café owners don’t realize the number of opportunities they’re losing until they get a well-designed website for their business.
However, not everyone has to make the same mistakes, and you can learn how to get an online presence before you suffer any losses. We’re going to take a look at the various things that you should keep in mind while hiring a web developer to make your café more visible on the internet. So without any further delay, let’s get into it and explore the best way for you to work with your web developer.
1. Stay Updated
The most important thing you need to convey through your website to the customer is that you’re accessible. That’s important when it comes to the basic information to put on your website, like opening hours, contact details, and a map of how to find you. You may also want to add advanced details like table booking or online payment.
Accessibility is also important in terms of the aesthetics, or the look and feel of your website. In order to appear easier to reach and be more appealing, you have to keep your website fresh. If your website has a modern user-friendly interface, has various advanced features, and looks contemporary, then you can be more relatable to your target customer base. The vast majority of people view websites on their mobile phones these days, so your site should be mobile-friendly.
2. Call to Action
The main motive of any marketing tool employed by any business in the world is very simple, it is to make more money. However, you can’t expect to make more sales if your customers aren’t using your services. They might’ve heard about your café but they might not have tried it out yet.
To ensure that the customers do try out your products, you need to push them a little by giving a call to action. The web developers at Envisage Digital say that a café’s website can play a huge role in pushing a customer towards trying your eatery. For example, make sure that you have attractive pictures of the food you serve and an up-to-date menu, in both PDF and responsive formats. Reviews are probably the most important call to action – so make sure that you integrate reviews from trusted intermediaries, like TripAdvisor, on your site. And of course, you will only attract great reviews if your food and service are excellent in the first place.
3. Communicate
When you’re having your website developed by a professional, you need to be able to convey your ideas clearly and precisely to the designer. You might have ideas that can enhance the effectiveness of your website, but if you don’t speak up, your web developer won’t be able to implement them.
A good web developer will see your website project as a partnership. They will offer you a range of style and content options in a planning meeting. They will send you drafts to review and you will, of course, have the final sign-off on the project.
Proper communication will ensure that the website is exactly what you wanted and it’ll be able to convey your brand and your message to the customer more clearly as well.
4. Improve Discoverability
SEO or Search Engine Optimization techniques are used to make your website rank higher than the competition on any search engine. Utilizing this tool is important for you as a café owner because more people will be able to discover your café through the internet. All you need to do is ask your web developer to put SEO-optimized content on the website. This is a relatively low-priced method for boosting your website’s traffic and can make your presence quite significant in your area.
Alongside SEO make sure that your café is registered, for free, with Google My Business and with all relevant directories and review sites.
These are some of the most important things you should keep in mind while working with a website developer.
Getting your business online opens you up to newer opportunities that can skyrocket your sales. If you can properly communicate with the developer and implement the right strategies in your website, you will be able to create an online presence that will be trusted and preferred by the customers.