All About Technology

The restau­rant indus­try is turn­ing to tech­nol­ogy to help increase their sales and attract new din­ers. More specif­i­cally they are turn­ing to the Inter­net and restau­rant web­site design. It’s a grow­ing trend that many restau­rants have yet to embrace but the inevitable truth is that those restau­rants who fail to present a mod­ern web pres­ence, will miss out on the major­ity of new busi­ness in their area.

How big of an impact is the Inter­net play­ing in this industry?

Accord­ing to a study con­ducted by AIS Media, 89% of con­sumers who they have researched a restau­rant online before din­ing there, and of those 89% of con­sumers, 57% indi­cated that prior to select­ing a restau­rant they view the restaurant’s Web site. And 33% view other consumer’s reviews online prior to dining.

The restau­rant indus­try isn’t unique in these sta­tis­tics. These are the same issues that busi­nesses are fac­ing across all indus­tries. Your suc­cess is greatly depen­dent on your abil­ity to adapt, and your abil­ity to brand. More and more con­sumers are turn­ing to the Inter­net and it adds a new ele­ment to your mar­ket­ing strate­gies. Today, con­sumers can research vir­tu­ally any and every­thing online, and they do! The econ­omy is still a wreck and fear is pre­vent­ing con­sumers from spend­ing in the same ways that they were before. Unfortunately, one of the first places peo­ple look to cut their spend­ing is on din­ing out. That’s why it is so much more impor­tant that your restau­rant web­site is a dom­i­nate force in your mar­ket­ing area.

So what are the ingre­di­ents that make a pow­er­ful restau­rant web­site pres­ence? It’s sim­ply a com­bi­na­tion of usabil­ity (acces­si­bil­ity or ease of use )and vis­i­tor expe­ri­ence. Yes, the same very ingre­di­ents that keep your loyal cus­tomers com­ing back to your will help you gain new ones via the Inter­net. It’s not as easy as it sounds though. It is six times harder to attract new con­sumers than to please your loyal con­sumers. Your cur­rent cus­tomers already know how good your food is. Your mis­sion is to con­vince those near 90% of con­sumers who are using the web to find their next din­ing expe­ri­ence that your restau­rant is the one they should choose.

An effec­tive restau­rant web­site should com­bine enough ingre­di­ents to allow poten­tial din­ers to gather an idea of the atmos­phere, and also offer the con­sumer incen­tive to visit your restau­rant. Reward con­sumers for vis­it­ing your web­site and they will reward you with their busi­ness. Whether you offer a low cost appe­tizer or even a entrée or desert free of charge for any­one who presents a coupon off of your web­site, you’re pulling the vis­i­tors in. Be cre­ative though, there are sev­eral meth­ods for mak­ing your web­site a money mak­ing machine. Metro­tain­ment Cafes, an Atlanta, Geor­gia based com­pany offers a cus­tomer loy­alty pro­gram via their web­site. While most of their cus­tomers hear about their loy­alty pro­gram inside the restau­rant, they have to sign up on their web­site, and it has resulted in a 10% increase in  new busi­ness since it’s incep­tion accord­ing to owner Jeff Landau.

By Jerrod M Fisher

Web development has a very broad spectrum that includes more technical aspects such as programming, server configuration and search engine optimization. There is a galore of companies that offer such web development services.

The requirement of launching a website may generate for having a success in business, services or providing information. Developing a website has become an easy task as technology has made it easy to understand and implement. The best aspect of technology is that it has made it easy for both, developer and user. That is perceptible form the ever increasing number of users the internet is attracting.

Website companies are able to provide interactive platform to the users. Precisely, this feature sets the web apart from the other sources of information and entertainment.

From here we go

In spite of availability of various techniques and methods to improve performance of a website, its online success depends remains much to be desired. Website companies must look forward to give equal or rather more footing to the users in order to have online success.

From here, users are going to define the parameters of web development. The two most important features, content and presentation are already becoming user- oriented and friendly. Website companies shall provide for and analyze interactive feedback from the users.

Doing homework for online success.

Understanding requirements: Before designing a website for online success, the website companies must understand customer requirements. They also shall be aware of what the client’s product or services range is. Only then will they be able to strive for steering a perfect mix.

Theme formulation: Understanding the theme on which the website is going to work will provide a definite design module to work on.

The theme shall be designed keeping in view the above point and technicalities that are involved in the process. Seeking expertise: In order to design for online success, professional website companies must have a group of people who hold expertise in analyzing web page layout, profiles and algorithms.

Availing latest technologies for online success.

Web designing and optimizing platforms like PHP, Apache, mySQL, Linux, etc shall be used to derive the maximum benefits. Most of these platforms are for free and effective. Other than these tools, many paid technology solutions can cater to specialized requirements.

Graphic technologies: Latest technological innovations are adding new dimensions to the way content is presented. Pictorial and easy on eyes representations of information in more interactive way has more users hooking on to the website that adapts these technologies.

Digital imagery: This is changing the way images are being projected. Retouched, edited and virtual images are a norm. The latest technology is a perfectly allowing these images to be appealing to the users, and at the same time being technically ‘light’. The perfection in the images is increasing but easiness in uploading and downloading is reducing day by day.

Audio-video ensemble: Today’s website demands a heady mix of audio and video. Latest technologies are ensuring them for online success. In future, users are more likely to face pod casts and video-casts on the web for user convenience.

The main hindrance that used to come on the way of online success was the restriction of hardware support. With the advent of latest chips and cards, almost every possibility is being put to use. Now, the onus lies on the website companies to utilize the resources provided by the technology to match the customer needs and give utmost online success to the clients.

By Todd Herman