| In discussions with restaurant owners we quite often | | | | area, find out what else in going on in the city all make |
| get asked why they should list their restaurants on | | | | online guides an attractive place to do restaurant |
| online restaurant guides (ORGs). The easy and | | | | research. Features like these, especially the ability to |
| obvious answer is that online restaurant guides such | | | | write reviews, give the consumer power and satisfies |
| as Zagat.com, RestaurantRow.com, Urbanspoon.com, | | | | their need to express their opinion. |
| Chow.com, Metromix.com, CitySearch.com, | | | | VR National conducted a survey in the 3rd quarter of |
| OpenTable.com, etc., increase the online exposure of | | | | 2009 and discovered that more than 75% of |
| those restaurants listed in the guide. But do they? And | | | | consumers look for restaurants online. That number is |
| if so, how so? And how much do they help? This is | | | | significant but many restaurant owners might conclude |
| really what the owner wants to know. | | | | that their web site will capture any potential customers |
| The answers to these questions are multi-faceted and | | | | looking online. However, when asked how consumers |
| require knowledge in quite a few areas. No wonder | | | | do research online we discovered that a restaurant |
| restaurateurs have a hard time coming up with them. | | | | web site is largely ineffective. Of the people that look |
| So we'll begin with the basics. | | | | for restaurants online over 80% use online restaurant |
| Five years ago many restaurants didn't even have a | | | | guides versus doing a search on Google, Yahoo, Bing |
| website. Or, if they did, it was rudimentary and didn't | | | | or another search engine. Only 18% use general |
| attract much traffic. Today, nearly all restaurants have | | | | search engines. And when those 18% do search on |
| websites. But a website that has no traffic is like a | | | | search engines, as stated above, the likelihood of a |
| Lotus without an engine. It produces nothing and has | | | | specific restaurant popping up on the first page is slim |
| diminished value. Restaurateurs, like many business | | | | given the SEO capability of the ORGs. |
| owners, realize this and spend time, effort and money | | | | So really what is happening in marketing of restaurants |
| on building traffic to their site. This is called search | | | | online? The trend is very similar to what occurred in |
| engine optimization or SEO. They hire a company to | | | | the hotel industry over the last 10 to 15 years. We've all |
| optimize the site and initially they get results. The | | | | seen the ads for Travelocity, Priceline, Expedia, and |
| problem is that SEO is an ongoing endeavor requiring | | | | other online travel agencies (OTA's). What we don't |
| constant observation and change. | | | | necessarily realize is that there are hundreds of OTA's |
| One restaurant client of ours in New Orleans has a | | | | that are not advertised as heavily. The value |
| website that gets an average of 150 hits per day. | | | | proposition to the consumer is that if they book a hotel |
| That's not bad for one restaurant. When the phrase | | | | room through one of these OTA's they'll save money. |
| 'New Orleans Italian Restaurants' is put into Google, the | | | | They'll also be able to book airfare, a rental car and |
| restaurant comes up first on left hand side of the | | | | learn a lot about the city or area they are visiting. And |
| page. This is the pot at the end of the rainbow in SEO | | | | yes, have the ability to write reviews. Do you see the |
| isn't it? However, when the phrase, 'New Orleans | | | | similarity? As a result, OTA's took approximately 70% |
| Restaurants' is entered into Google, the restaurant is | | | | of the online bookings away from the hotel web sites |
| nowhere to be found. The same result occurs with | | | | only to turn around and charge the hotel a fee for |
| many phrases people would use in trying to locate | | | | giving them the reservation. Hotels begrudgingly paid |
| restaurants in New Orleans. Most restaurant owners | | | | this fee. Today it's about a 50/50 split between |
| of individual units or a small 2 to 3 unit company cannot | | | | consumers booking directly on a hotel website and |
| afford to hire someone to optimize the site on a | | | | those that do so on an OTA. |
| constant basis. | | | | The same thing is occurring in the online marketing of |
| But even if the restaurant did spend the money to do | | | | restaurants. As we've described above, online |
| proper SEO on their site, they still cannot compete with | | | | restaurant guides are giving the consumer more |
| the ORGs. ORG's sometimes have a staff of people | | | | convenience and features than the restaurants can |
| whose sole job it is to keep their guide coming up on | | | | individually. They are also charging fees to the |
| the first page of Google around the country. | | | | restaurant for online reservations that come through |
| Zagat.com, for instance, has links to every restaurant | | | | their guide. |
| listed on the site, and links back from most. This alone | | | | The trend is clear. The smart restaurant owner will |
| propels the ORG in terms of its adherence to the | | | | embrace the change and develop excellent |
| criteria of the latest algorithms used by search engines. | | | | relationships with every major national and regional |
| But the ORGs also have Google Ads, banner ads | | | | ORG and make sure they are featured on that guide |
| from restaurants, rich media content, and a whole host | | | | if possible, have menus, photos, virtual tours and every |
| of SEO-friendly items. Individual or small restaurant | | | | other tool available from that guide including a link to |
| owners lose the competition with the ORGs for the | | | | make a reservation online. |
| space on the search engines in most cases. | | | | Restaurateurs would be wise to embrace this |
| In addition, ORGs offer consumers interaction with their | | | | consumer shift and get out in front of it. Otherwise |
| guide and features that individual restaurant sites | | | | they'll either find themselves playing catch up or watch |
| cannot. Features such as the ability to write reviews, | | | | their potential business go to a competitor restaurant |
| take surveys, find information about the metropolitan | | | | down the street. |