Seven Steps to Create a Restaurant Website
These are the steps that you need to take to create a new restaurant website from scratch. If you already have a site, you may still want to check the resources since they may be better than your existing ones:
Find a reliable hosting company and register a domain.
Select a site building software for your restaurant web site. I suggest that you use a professionally design template or your site will look very amateurish.
Select a reliable email marketing and auto-responder company.
Add a signup page in the home page of your restaurant so that you capture your prospects name, email, birthday and anniversary.
Select a reputable restaurant online booking reservations company, sign up with them and add their HTML code into your website.
Add a restaurant Online Ordering System.
So now let's cover in more detail each of these steps:
1.- Find a Reliable Hosting Company and Register Your Restaurant Domain
I use them to host my domains (yes, including this one) and strongly recommend them if you don't have a Web presence yet or are not happy with your current host.
Just click on the graphic link to access their site and find more information about their offerings. You can start with a Business package, including email, hosting and templates to build your website for just $9.99 a month. This includes the free registration of your own domain.
If you don't have a domain yet, it will probably be very difficult to register the name of your restaurant, since most of the domains are already taken. Don't despair; you can use some creativity to find a good domain name for your restaurant.
For example, let's imagine that you own an Italian restaurant called Angelo's. The domain www.Angelo.com is already taken, so what can you do?
Well, you could try to add the word "restaurant" before or after the name of your restaurant. If those are taken as well, you can try to add the city where you are located (or the neighborhood if the city is big). If these are also taken, then you can try a combination of all of them.
For example:
- www.angelorestaurant.com
- www.restaurantangelo.com
- www.angeloseattle.com
- www.restaurantangeloseattle.com
- www.seattleangelorestaurant.com
- www.angeloballard.com (Ballard is a neighborhood in Seattle)
- www.angelorestaurantballard.com
- www.restaurantangeloballard.com
- etc.
Now, where can you go to check if the domain for your restaurant is taken? You can try www.1&1.com (even if don't plan on hosting with them, use can use their free service to look at domains). Let's check how this works:
Where you see the arrow, change the .net extension into .com since you want your restaurant to be found under the .com (commercial) domain, not .net
Enter the first of the names and click the red button "> Check"
1&1.com will let you know if the domain that you've entered is available. If it is, you can click the ->Continue red button and you will register the domain. If it is already registered, you can keep on looking by entering the next name on your list in the box "Choose your domain name(s)" located in the bottom of the 1&1.com screen (see screenshot below).
If you already own a domain, you can transfer it to 1&1.com and they will host it for you. They also offer you suggestions of available alternative domains that you may register. Sometimes they can give you good ideas!
If you already own a domain, you can transfer it to 1&1.com and they will host it for you. They also offer you suggestions of available alternative domains that you may register. Sometimes they can give you good ideas!
1&1.com also offers you the possibility of buying a domain for sale that relates to your search (see screenshot below). It may be worth it to check the prices if you see a domain that totally matches your restaurant name.
OK, so I assume that you now have registered a domain and you also have it hosted with a Web hosting company. So the next step is to create your website. To do so, you will need a website building software program.
2.- Select a Site Building Software for Your Restaurant Website
Since I don't know how technical you are and what kind of machine you are using, I will give you three scenarios. Please select the one that better fits your requirements:
If you have a Windows PC: I strongly recommend you XsitePro 2.0 . This is a very powerful, and yet easy to use, software application that will allow you to develop professional websites. Benefits include:
You can learn how to build your website from scratch with XsitePro 2.0 following this new training course Complete Guide To Website Building from Intellimon (the same company that makes of XSitePro). Highly recommended if you want help learning the process step by step.
- Quick and easy learning curve
- Step-by-step tutorial
- As easy to use as word-processing software
- Creates search-engine friendly pages
- Comes with hundreds of templates and thousands of royalty free graphics
- 'Round the clock technical support if you have any questions
You can learn how to build your website from scratch with XsitePro 2.0 following this new training course Complete Guide To Website Building from Intellimon (the same company that makes of XSitePro). Highly recommended if you want help learning the process step by step.
If you have a Mac: The best tool is Rapidweaver 4.3. Very easy to use and with lots of Themes (templates) and add ons to improve the web site creation. The price of Rapidweaver as of this writing is $79 but you will end up by paying more since you will need to buy at least a theme and Stacks, the best and most useful of all Rapidweaver plugings.
Stacks sells for $24.95 directly from a company called YourHead Software. More information here: Stacks.
Stacks sells for $24.95 directly from a company called YourHead Software. More information here: Stacks.
If you prefer a Web-based (hardware independent) platform: You have two choices here:
If you sign up with www1and1.com , then you can use their Website design module. They have pre-designed templates for all the industries, including restaurants, and it is very easy to build a site using their software. And the best is that it won't cost you anything more than the $9.99 that you'll pay monthy for the hosting.
You can use Wordpress. WordPress is a blog publishing application and content management system.
You can download and install a software script called WordPress from www.WordPress.org. To do this you need a web host who meets the minimum requirements (www1and1.com does) and some patience. WordPress is completely customizable and can be used for almost anything although it is not for beginners since you need to run a script in your host server and setup a MySQL database.
At least that you enjoy tinkering with computers, I wouldn't suggest that you use Wordpress. That said, if you feel comfortable around technology, Wordpress is free and extremely flexible. It also has a big following and many templates to satisfy every need.
There is also a service called www.WordPress.com which lets you get started with a new and free WordPress-based blog in seconds, but it is less flexible and less professional than the WordPress you download and install yourself.
You can download and install a software script called WordPress from www.WordPress.org. To do this you need a web host who meets the minimum requirements (www1and1.com does) and some patience. WordPress is completely customizable and can be used for almost anything although it is not for beginners since you need to run a script in your host server and setup a MySQL database.
At least that you enjoy tinkering with computers, I wouldn't suggest that you use Wordpress. That said, if you feel comfortable around technology, Wordpress is free and extremely flexible. It also has a big following and many templates to satisfy every need.
There is also a service called www.WordPress.com which lets you get started with a new and free WordPress-based blog in seconds, but it is less flexible and less professional than the WordPress you download and install yourself.
3.- Follow the Ten Basic Rules to Have An Effective Restaurant Website and create your own site.
I've covered these rules in an article. Just click on the link below to read it.