You have world-class food, the highest-quality decor, and the friendliest employees in your city. But for some reason, you’re not getting enough people through the door.

Without a formidable online presence, there is no way your bistro restaurant will be able to stand up to the competition. Here are some digital marketing tips that will get your restaurant the visibility that you’ve been craving.

Formulate a Plan

Trying to raise your website’s ranking without a plan is nearly impossible. You have to know who you’re supposed to be targeting to cater your marketing strategy. Make sure you do your research.

What do people in your area search for when they want to eat at restaurants like yours? Find those keywords and phrases and ensure they are included on your website and content.

It’s imperative that you use the correct keywords because they allow you to focus your marketing. You will see your rankings gradually rise if you consistently post content with a reasonable amount of keywords.

Build a Local Following

One of the hardest things for a small business to accomplish is getting people in your local sphere to talk about your restaurant. Gaining a sizable foothold in your local market is the most effective way to raise your profile.

Do your best to get involved in your community. Host and promote events or fundraisers. Build a favorable reputation among those in your area. Try to contact bloggers or influencers in your city that can help get the word out.

If you want to build your brand, you have to adjust your focus locally. Eventually, you’ll start to get more regulars through the door, which is a fantastic foundation for eventually building a national following.

Offer As Much Information as Possible

It’s not a good look if people try to search for your bistro restaurant online but cannot find any useful information about it. Online marketing is very competitive, and people will choose the restaurant that they think will suit their tastes the best.

If your location, menu, hours, and other pertinent information are not available online, no one will want to take a chance on your restaurant.

When someone searches for your business online, they should be able to see pictures of your food and exterior/interior shots of your restaurant. They should also be able to see contact info.

Use Social Media for Engagement

Social media is the best way to build awareness of your brand and a following in your market. The major benefit of using social media for small businesses is that you can forge a meaningful connection with your audience.

Make regular posts on your social media account about new menu offerings, events, and other announcements. The more appealing your posts are, the more likely they are to get shared, and the wider your consumer base becomes.

Social media is also a great way for customers to review your bistro restaurant. Reviews are crucial in the restaurant industry because they help you get a sense of what you’re doing right and what you need to change.

If someone posts a negative review on your Facebook page or Yelp profile, you should politely engage with them and ask them to give you some pointers on what you can do better.

Develop and Promote Content

But building your brand is not possible without the right content to deliver to your audience.

Developing content for a restaurant can be tricky because the content you end up promoting affects your brand status more than in the case of other small businesses.

Using your social media presence, find out what your customers want to read about and view. Do people seem particularly enticed by photos of your dishes? Make sure you are posting those regularly.

Does the manager of your restaurant have thoughts on the safe food practices and other issues revolving around the food industry that they want to share? Maintain a blog and promote it on your social media page.

The more interesting and targeted your content is, the more people will view your brand and your bistro restaurant favorably.

Fully Optimize Your Website

It’s extremely important that your website is fully optimized. Without employing the correct optimization tactics, you won’t be able to have the wide reach that you want your restaurant to achieve.

It starts with headers and meta descriptions. Make sure your page titles have keywords or phrases in them so Google knows to include your website in their listings when a search is performed.

Meta descriptions are more about the user. When someone sees your website listed online, they usually read the description below the page title to decide whether or not they want to click on it.

If your meta description is lacking, people will most likely move on to another website that might be more suited to their search query.

You should also make sure that your website is optimized for mobile. Many people search for restaurants online when they are on the go. If people cannot access information on your website through their phones, you will have lost a customer.

Images, Images, Images!

As stated before, images are usually the best content that a restaurant has to offer because selling food visually is a very effective tactic. But you have to make sure all your images are high quality and relevant.

You should have a professional photographer take photos of your food. Your customers will know if you are using stock photos and your brand will be looked upon unfavorably.

Once you find the right photos for your website, make sure you fill in all of the alt-text for each photo so they show up when a search is performed. This is another avenue through which you can increase the number of visitors to your website.

Get Your Bistro Restaurant Website Up to Par

Do you need help increasing the SEO ranking of your bistro restaurant? Don’t hesitate to contact us! We can increase the effectiveness of your website and the value of your business in no time at all.