If you are reading this article, then you know the importance of a good restaurant website design. Your site is your front door to new customers and it needs to be easy to navigate, informative, and beautiful. There are loads of free website templates available on the internet that will help you create a modern restaurant website for free or inexpensively. This blog post will show you how to tackle your restaurant website design like a pro!
We’ve created steps that will guide you through all stages of the process: from choosing colors and fonts to content creation and optimization.
Font choice is important, but you also need to consider the overall look. After all, you are giving potential customers a glimpse into the design of your restaurant. Your website needs to be pleasant to look at and inviting.
Choose a theme for your site that is clean and elegant. Try to have a light look without being too dark or too saturated with color. If possible, stick to dark/black and white as your main colors because they contrast well with light backgrounds of white and/or gray of your photos and menu images. You should also use subtle colors such as black, gray, white, beige, tan, or brown depending on the accent color of the text.
The key to good design is balance. It all comes down to choosing complementary colors. Use a light background color (black, white, or beige) for your site. Work with shades of the same color, such as grey, dark blue, and light blue, to make your website look well-designed without being over-the-top busy.
You can also use patterns and textures on your site design such as brickwork, wood grain, and velvet. This will also keep it from looking too sterile and clean. You can add these items in small quantities for interest but not so much that it becomes overwhelming and provides no help in finding content or items on the website.
Your goal is to offer straightforward navigation so that your users can find what they are looking for in as short a period of time as possible. Some site visitors may have specific information or products in mind and need quick access to your content. For example, users who are ready to make a purchase will want to get help from customer service, find the location, hours, or contact info quickly. The challenge is enticing users past the homepage while also highlighting important info.
You can choose between three options when creating navigation schemes for restaurant websites: vertical menus, horizontal menus, or using a combination of both vertical and horizontal menus.
This is the most common scheme that you will see for restaurants: sites with one primary horizontal menu, one primary vertical menu, and a few sidebars. The main menus are usually displayed at the top. If your site has both horizontal and vertical menus, then make sure that each menu is exactly the same height and width so that users have a consistent experience when using both (and if they use only one of them).
This method keeps things simple by showcasing all of the different sections in your restaurant in one large area. Horizontal menu schemes work well when you have a high volume of content or different types of content (text and images) that need to be shown separately. You can also use sidebars for navigation when using this scheme.
This method is good for sites that have a ton of information to share but don’t have a lot of content in one category. You still want to keep the number of categories small for usability’s sake. In addition, your navigation should be displayed on either side rather than at the bottom because we read from left to right. The top works best if you have lots of categories or sub-categories.
It’s possible to combine both horizontal and vertical navigation. This is a good way to display more options to users while still keeping the main focus on what you want them to see.
For usability reasons, users will read only the first few words of each menu item title and then click on the link if they want more information about a particular topic. Having long titles will not help with your SEO efforts either because search engines don’t like it when your content is too long for users to read quickly.
It is in order to attract search engine attention and user interest. Here’s how you do it: write in a clear and succinct way with the shortest possible titles or headings that are still clear. Use only one heading for each category. In addition, create a navigation menu on the left that showcases all of the main categories on your site.
It’s crucial for search engines to find it and know what website it links to when they load your site. You want to have it there so it can be found whenever someone searches for your brand name or restaurant name.
Lastly, get your logo there in the top left corner (for horizontal menus) or in the top center area of your site (vertical menus – or at the very top of a header area if you’re using a combination scheme). These areas are reserved for your logo and should not be used for any other type of navigation. In addition, use your logo with the site name when you are sharing links to social media and other parts of your website.
It should contain content that is segmented and organized into specific topics. This will make it easier for users to get information quickly about important things such as menu items or important information about the restaurant.
It must be at the top of vertical menus and will really give your site some visual appeal. Try it out and let us know how it goes!
It will help with navigation on a site that has a lot of content. For example, on this page, the subheadings tell the user what they can expect from each menu item before they even read the full menus.
It draws users’ attention to your brand. Then, as they scroll the site, they will notice other sections of content on your site like the About page to learn more about you or your business and the gallery to see who is behind the brand.
It is a key component for ranking well in search results. Don’t forget to include a call to action at the bottom of each page so users can be encouraged to click on a link and learn more about your business. Visitors are looking for things to click and once they have clicked through from one page it can lead them down another path on your website if you’ve specified that it’ll take them there.
Those are 15 steps to help you tackle your restaurant website design like a pro. Have a suggestion on how to do something better? Anything we missed? Contact us and let us know!
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