Online Marketing Guide Restaurant Magazine

Online

Marketing

Guide to

In association with

>

www.livebookings.co.uk | restaurant | 3

Contents 4 Why it’s important Online marketing could be the most effective tool you’ve got in attracting more customers. Why? Well read on

6 Data collection Who to ask, what to collect, how to collect it and where to store it

9 Using the data Customer behaviour is more than just interesting information – it offers huge marketing opportunities 10 Email marketing The dos and don’ts for a successful, targeted campaign 12 Measuring success Want to know how effective your last campaign was? Then look no further than your online tools 13 Case study: Fire & Stone, Westfield

15 Online Why your website should be more than just a pretty page to entertain web surfers 18 Case studies: The Green, Geronimo Inns, Pearl Liang

23 Social media How joining the online chattering classes not only makes you look cool, but tells the world who you are 27 Case study: Guerilla Burgers/Giraffe 28 Promotional networks How to take advantage of the wealth of other internet sites out there that promote your business

29 Checklist Data collection, tick; Twitter account set up, tick; a simple way to keep tabs on your progress

30 Glossary For those who don’t know their HyperText Markup Language from their Hootsuite

For more on how to market your restaurant, hotel or pub online, visit BigHospitality.co.uk http://tiny.cc/npz47

In association with

> >

4 | restaurant | www.livebookings.co.uk

Guide to online marketing

Welcome to the world of online marketing...

Believe it or not, there’s much more to online marketing than just having a

brilliant website (although this helps). Online marketing is about collecting data from your customers in many different forms and then using it to target them with promotions and

special offers. And, crucially, it’s about getting bums on seats and

encouraging repeat business.

You couldn’t be more wrong. Online marketing is probably one of the

cheapest and most cost-effective ways of getting people into your restaurant.

Once you’ve set up a website and an email address and spoken to the

companies that can help your business, you can target customers quickly but

in a way that won’t break the bank.

It’s about using the internet to start a dialogue with existing

customers, and potential new customers, to build brand awareness and loyalty and

encourage people to come to your restaurant. This can be done in many ways,

from setting up a customer database and emailing promotions, to getting to grips with social media sites and making your website not only the most user-friendly

possible, but ensuring it actually drives business.

Online is the most important place to be right now. With 200,000

Google searches every hour for restaurants, and with 70% of the UK

population online, if you haven’t got a digital presence then you’re missing out

on the huge potential to grow your business or boost footfall. You can also

track the results and effectiveness of your online marketing campaigns much more easily than using traditional

advertising or PR.

It’s not as difficult as you might think, but it does require putting in some initial groundwork and speaking with the right people. The beauty of online marketing is that once you put the right systems in

place you can use it again and again with no extra work involved.

By reading on. The next 27 pages feature step-by-step instructions on how to get started with online marketing, the tools you need to make it effective and

what you need to do to ensure it proves to be a success. After that, it’s up to you.

What exactlyis online marketing?

This sounds expensive

So why do it?

How do I do it?

Now it sounds complicated

So where do I start? >>>

> >

6 | restaurant | www.livebookings.co.uk www.livebookings.co.uk | restaurant | 7

Data collection T he word “data” is unlikely to get

many restaurateurs salivating, but collecting information is potentially

the single most important thing a restaurant can do – after making sure customers have an experience that will make them want to return. It certainly shouldn’t be regarded as a dirty word, says Anneliese Hainz, key account manager at Livebookings, the global online marketing and reservations service for restaurants.

“Data sounds scary and corporate, but it’s really collecting information on guest history and behaviour, and that’s something restaurants need to be aware of. Data is important from a marketing aspect, but also from the point of view of a

restaurant operation. Restaurants need to know who their customers are, how often they come and dine, whether the customers on a Monday are different to those on a Saturday night and the only way to do that is to collect data.”

In all probability, restaurants with an efficient maître d’ or restaurant manager already collect data – such as who regular customers are and what their favourite tables are, when the restaurant is less busy, what specials need to be pushed more than others, and so on – whether they are aware of it or not. But it’s how they store it and use it that really matters. “Restaurants are essentially very good at storing information, but not all are good at

capturing it and writing it down,” says Hainz. “Maitre d’s have it all in their head, which is fine until they go on holiday and then things in the restaurant fall apart.”

Collecting and storing dataCollecting and using data effectively is, therefore, essential to any businesses wanting to attract new customers, keep existing ones happy and boost profitability. But what is the most efficient and controlled way of doing this?

Most restaurants will already use a diary – whether it be a traditional paper one or an online EPoS booking system – to hold basic details such as customer reservation times and contact details. But what many restaurants don’t realise is that investing in a reservation system with a built-in database that works with an EPoS system means simple reservation information can be transformed into key marketing tools.

Restaurants that collect customer information in just paper diary form already run the risk of losing all their information should the diary go missing, so those that input their information manually into a database are already at an advantage. However, both approaches still miss out on the wealth of opportunities that this data can offer them and the ease with which they can use it if they were to incorporate a more integrated data capture system. Only by hooking up with electronic reservation

Sources for datan Online bookingn Telephone/walk-in bookingsn Customer feedbackn Social median Competitionsn Promotionsn Newslettersn Business cardsn Website sign-up formsn The traffic on your website

and marketing systems such as Livebookings, Restaurantdiary and Quadranet, can restaurants easily collect customer information and exploit its huge marketing potential.

Using Livebookings’ reservations services, for example, enables restaurants to easily search through data and avoid making mistakes. Its standard packages can also remove duplicated information – so if the same customer has booked into a restaurant but used two different contact numbers it will ensure that that customer is only logged into the system once. This means that if a restaurant wants to target the customers on their database through emails they won’t get sent irritating duplications, just because they have supplied different email addresses or numbers in the past.

Investing in services that can integrate with reservation booking solutions is, therefore, essential for anyone looking to upgrade their EPoS system. “If I were to predict what will be happening in five years’ time I would say that EPoS systems will live or die by their ability to connect to electronic reservations books,” says David Norris, COO at Livebookings. “In the same way that TV, phone and broadband have converged in the home, I can imagine in the next five years that there would be convergence around email marketing tools, reservation books and EPoS systems.”

Fast fact The majority of restaurant bookings are taken midweek during lunchtime, with Tuesday the most popular day to make a booking

Types/sources of dataSo what types of data should you be collecting? The short answer is as much as possible, as the more information you have about your customers the easier they are to target and the more predictable their movements become.

At the very least, you should be collecting data on your customers’ contact details, whether they are happy to receive information from you, the preferred way for them to be contacted – ie, by phone or email – important birthdays and anniversaries, preferences, such as likes and dislikes, preferred tables and allergy information.

There are many ways to get this information, including asking for it when a customer books over the phone or getting them to give you the details when they book online (see ‘Building a database’, overleaf). Staff should be trained to collect

It might be regarded as a dirty word by people in the restaurant industry, but datawill be your single, most effective weapon in getting bums on seats this year


> >

www.livebookings.co.uk | restaurant | 98 | restaurant | www.livebookings.co.uk

Building a databaseWhy is it important?The goal for your database should be to increase guest loyalty and value through conversion, retention and repeat custom and to allow you to create new marketing opportunities. It allows you to get to know your diners, keep track of them and create tailored marketing messages specifically for them, all of which will help increase revenue.

What information should it contain?Guest data doesn’t just have to consist of names and addresses – it can also include guest information and history. This information will allow you to tailor your messages to different segments of your database, through promotions, special offers, events and other targeted campaigns.

How do I build one?When diners make bookings through an online reservation service such as Livebookings, they are asked whether they would like to receive marketing messages from your restaurant. If they click “yes”, then you immediately start to build your own database. Most diary systems offer database functionality, but if you are not using a diary system, you can still collect contact details in an Excel spreadsheet.

Keeping it cleanFirst impressions count when contacting guests so it’s essential the data you hold on them is correct. When talking to a guest, reconfirm all contact details including: the spelling of their name, their title, email address and mobile number; make sure you unsubscribe all diners who ask to be removed; investigate any bounced back emails and either remove them from your database or update their contact details; remove any duplicate details you find.

relevant information as well – while computers and the internet are very useful in collecting data, do not underestimate the importance of staff asking questions, as long as they input the answers into the system afterwards.

As well as asking customers for information, you should also be collecting and storing data they give you just by eating in your restaurant. Systems today have the ability to store information on how many walk-ins there were on a certain day, how many no-shows there were, the number of bookings taken online, whether there was a particular reason why the restaurant was full or empty – such as a major sporting event or terrible/excellent weather – and how many covers were served. All of this data is exceptionally

valuable and not something a paper diary can hold.

You should also not underestimate the information available through your website, advises Magnus Hultberg, strategic advisor at Livebookings. Using free internet services such as Google Analytics, Hultberg says that you can see what internet pages your visitors have come from to paint a clearer picture of who your potential customers are and what they like on the internet. “Google Analytics, correctly set up, can give you a wealth of information that is staggering,” he says.

“Where people come from, what time of day they arrive at your website, etc. It’s all information that you can collect and use to your advantage.”

Top TipKeep customer

information in your database and clean it regularly to remove

duplicates or incorrect details

Using the data I t’s all very well collecting lots of

“useful” information about your customers, but it’s what you actually

do with it that counts. Sometimes restaurants don’t realise the value of the information they hold on their customers or how to make best use of it, but the time has come to unlock that potential.

Any restaurant that takes reservations through an electronic system can use all the data automatically stored to great effect, says Abbie Hanks, UK marketing manager at Livebookings. “You can run a report that shows all the people booking last month who bought wine and dined at peak times,” says Hanks. “Those could be your prime customers that you want to invite back, rather than those who came in on a special offer and didn’t spend much.

Data can also be used to enhance a guest’s experience. An online booking system will automatically provide information to the restaurant manager, such as whether the people dining are celebrating a birthday or anniversary, how

many times they have been to the restaurant or whether they have a preferred table. “Restaurant guests like extra touches such as birthdays – it shows care and attention if you wish them happy birthday, for example,” says Anneliese Hainz, key account manager at Livebookings. “It’s fantastic to be able to understand that a guest has dined 10 times with you and say to the customer, ‘The chef has developed a new dessert – would you like to try it?’.”

Your website offers another potential wealth of data about customers’ habits if you have the know-how to unlock it.

“Google Analytics,” says Magnus Hultberg, strategic advisor at Livebookings, “can tell you which internet pages people have come from when they visit your website, enabling a restaurant to paint a clearer picture of who their potential customers are and their interests. This also shows businesses which sites are helping to drive traffic to their website and which aren’t.”

Fast fact The optimal frequency to send promotional emails is once a month. Send more or fewer than this a month and unsubscribe rates go up

So, you’ve got a database with information on everything from what a diner spends to their eating habits and birthday. What do you do with it all?


> >

www.livebookings.co.uk | restaurant | 1110 | restaurant | www.livebookings.co.uk


Email marketingOne of the most effective ways of getting bums on seats – particularly during quieter times in the day or the week – is through email marketing, which restaurants can use to target existing customers who have agreed with a restaurant that it can use their details. By using customer data, restaurants can target consumers in a much more effective way than traditional marketing techniques such as PR or advertising, use quicker, more accurate techniques and measure the results of their efforts.

If you are collecting guest data through online bookings, your website or any other marketing channels, you should be thinking about running regular email campaigns. Email marketing is the quickest, most simple and least expensive way of reaching new and existing guests to encourage them to visit your restaurant. Along with building a database, this is one of the cornerstones of successful online marketing for restaurants.

Setting up a system to send regular email promotions to your guests may sound like an arduous task – and indeed it can be – but it is easy to do if you use an online booking system. When a reservation is made using Livebookings’ electronic reservation book and a diner opts in to be sent marketing information, for example, this information is automatically stored in a database. A restaurant can then set up a special offer and send them out to its entire database at just three clicks of the mouse.

“If you wanted to do this on your own, you’d have to set up a database, design a nice branded email using html, get a web developer to set up a website and then pay an email provider for booking statistics on how successful it has been,” says Olivia FitzGerald, general manager for UK & Ireland at Livebookings. “All this is included in Livebookings’ reservation system. You could spend £500 and a few days doing this or two minutes using an online diary. We try to promote restaurants’ brands not our own to help them build their brand.”

Targeting the right people is obviously a restaurant’s main priority, but after that it should be making sure that any email promotions are the most effective. Remember, the best emails create a dialogue with readers and enhance your brand; the worst can put a diner off your restaurant for life. Email campaigns can be used to create awareness of your offers and menus, increase booking levels and encourage repeat business.

Email campaigns – what to consider:

LayoutCommunicating with your guests is unique: it is immediate, personal and potentially intrusive. Three seconds is often quoted as the time a reader will give an email from an unknown sender before deleting it – so if you’re going to tell your audience why your email deserves their time, you’d better do it fast. Put the most important information, including a call to action such as ‘book online’, at the top of the email and also in the subject box because many recipients only read emails in their preview pane and may miss it otherwise.

ContentAs you are writing the emails, regularly ask yourself what action it is that you want the reader to take as a result of reading it and whether the content drives the desired response. People reading your email are either scanning to see if anything interests them or looking for detailed information, such as special offers. Clear, concise and relevant text helps both these types of reader. Use bullet points and highlight your important points in bold.

DesignEnsuring that your email is attractive and user-friendly to the reader is key to getting guests to engage with the content. Keep the design simple by using plenty of white space. This will keep your design looking up-to-date and will make it easy for the

customer to read. Try using splashes of colour to direct the customer’s attention to the most important pieces of information. Use images to capture your readers’ attention but avoid sending image-only emails.

Sending emails that only contain images or text in images is not advised. Images in emails are often blocked, unless the recipient has given permission for them to be displayed, which could mean that even if your email does get through, it won’t be seen, except as a broken image link or not as you would like.

There are a huge number of email providers – Google, Yahoo, Hotmail, Microsoft Outlook and AOL are just a few – and each will display your email in a different format, so make sure you test your email before sending it out. Test sending your emails at various times on different days. This will enable you to work out what the optimum time and day is for generating the most positive response from your customers.

Success parametersThere are a number of key performance indicators for email marketing campaigns, such as response rates, open rates, click- through rates, delivery rate, unsubscribe rate and the number or proportion of spam complaints.

Average open, delivery and click-through rates are difficult to define as they vary depending on the relationship developed with the email database. A good click-through rate is about 12%-15%. For an offer email, aim for a yield of 20% – anything above that is very good.

Once you identify your end goal, you can begin to decide what that campaign’s key performance indicators should be. Examples include getting more covers for the week or filling an otherwise slow Monday night slot with special offers. Keeping valuable results from previous campaigns means you can monitor successes and failures to improve your future campaigns.

Email marketing – dos and don’ts

don Collect data, such as comment cards and telephone reservations, wherever you cann Only send emails to diners who have opted in to receive themn Run regular email campaigns to build a relationship with your database about once a monthn Include a call to action on all emails, the best being ‘book now’, to ensure a quick return on investment. Make sure that it is stated clearly and is above the foldn Ensure the emails you send are your best messages and most enticing offersn Be honest, making sure you have enough availability and can deliver on your promises n Personalise your emailsn Make sure the email is unique to your restaurantn Only email when you have something to sayn Include a clear unsubscribe linkn Include contact detailsn Track and measure your success and repeat what worksn Be clear about who the email is from: use from, to and reply-to addresses

don’tn SPAM your databasen Send image-only emailsn Cram emails with too much information and textn Display contact details of all your recipientsn Exceed 60 characters in your subject linen Use images that are too largen Email guests who haven’t given you permission to do son Forget the point of your emailn Send it when everyone is asleepn Misspell words or use poor grammarn Worry if you have made a mistake – they happen. However, remember to correct it immediatelyn Use words such as ‘free’, ‘help’, ‘percent off’ and ‘love’ in your subject line – they are generally recognised as SPAM

> >



Measuring successA well-executed, targeted campaign will help boost brand loyalty for a restaurant, but unless you get customers to quote a reference number when they book, or brandish a coupon or other such promotional activity, it is often impossible to quantify and assess actually how successful it has been.

However, by using an online marketing campaign that links directly into your website and your reservation system, restaurants can now gain a clear insight into how effective any of their marketing campaigns have been as well as learning which approaches have been the most/least successful and why, and understanding how best to market themselves in the future.

“Using Livebookings’ reservation system, the EPoS system knows the table number, time of the reservation, amount that was spent and what was bought for any transaction,” says David Norris, Livebookings’ chief operating officer. “The reservation book tells you who was sitting at what table, at what time, and how many people were in the party. It will also show if they booked by telephone, online via the restaurant’s own website, via a third party website or even through an email marketing campaign. With that sort of information you can start to see which reservation methods and campaigns are generating the most value.”

There are plenty of other ways and resources at your disposal to measure the success of your digital activity and ensure you’re not just firing promotions into cyberspace and hoping for the best. As well as measuring basic things such as newsletter subscribers and website visitors, restaurants should also be tracking their online success by looking at the conversion of their website traffic to

actual bookings and online mentions using free tools such as Google Analytics and Google Alerts. You can also use these tools to measure which keywords on your web pages are proving best at driving traffic from Google.

Other key indicators that matter, include how many unique visitors your website has – in other words, the number of different people who visit your site rather than just the number of visits it gets – as well as how many pages they view per visit and average time they spend on your site. This can show a restaurant whether it needs to change its website design to get people to linger longer or, alternatively, make it more user-friendly to speed up its effectiveness, for example. It also tells them exactly how many potential customers its site is reaching, so that marketing campaigns can be tailored accordingly.

Livebookings also runs a free service called Barometer that enables your guests to tell you about their experience at your restaurant by answering a few questions online.

Each month Livebookings sends the restaurant a summary report of its guests’ feedback, so they can “benchmark” their performance against the rest of the industry. It says the summary report helps restaurants identify highs and lows in performance on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis, spot important service issues that guests have identified, get a better understanding of their customers’ needs and rate their restaurant alongside their most relevant competitors.

Analyse that!Start tracking your key

performance indicators, such as total covers, walk-ins and

no-shows to ascertain what you want from your marketing

strategy

Fire & Stone

Case Study

When Fire & Stone opened its second site at London’s Westfield shopping centre there was a lot of pressure to make it as successful as the brand’s hugely-popular first site in Covent Garden. The company, therefore, wanted to develop a launch marketing strategy that was “targeted, measurable, ensured return on investment and delivered a busy restaurant from day one,” according to Louise Routledge, sales and marketing director at owner CG Restaurants.

To achieve this an online auction was devised by the marketing team at CG Restaurants, offering hugely-discounted pizzas on a first-come, first-served basis. The promotion offered 100 pizzas available for £1 and 500 pizzas available for £5 to customers who signed up to the auction and used a specially-designed web page displaying all the details of the auction. To increase the client database used for marketing future offers, a compulsory pre-registration form was hosted on the website, collecting data on everyone who entered into the auction.

In tandem with this, CG Restaurants launched an extensive marketing and awareness campaign to encourage traffic to be directed to the web page. “We wrote and distributed press releases, placed promotional cards in all the bill-holders of our Covent Garden branch of Fire & Stone, distributed details of the auction on flyers around the Westfield shopping centre area and also notified (via email) all members of our marketing database,” says Routledge.

The auction went live at midday, having attracted more than

1,800 people to register on the website, with a further 8,800 online diners aware of the opening by having opened the email. Within five minutes all of the £1 pizzas had been booked and within an hour all £5 pizzas had been claimed. Due to the response received to the online auction, on the day of opening the restaurant had in excess of 600 covers booked in for the first 14 days of trading and received more than 500 bookings in 10 minutes. “We served 8,500 people within the first four days. As it’s a 180-cover restaurant, that means we were turning each table roughly about 12 times a day – that’s busy.”

The promotion required a maximum limit of covers per day across multiple sessions, with minimum and maximum party-size restrictions, limited date range, multiple (£1 and £5) offers handled within the same interface and with the option to switch promotions (including à la carte) once each promotion was full – something Livebookings was able to offer through its online booking system. For each day the promotion was available, eight covers booked for £1 and 32 for £5, delivering the exact number that was asked of Livebookings.

In order for the auction to run smoothly, it was important that CG Restaurants worked closely with Livebookings which provided the booking interface that managed the availability. This type of promotion would not have been possible without the capability to take online bookings, and receiving 500 telephone bookings in the space of 10 minutes would simply not have been possible, according to Fire & Stone.

> >


Online I f your restaurant hasn’t got an online

presence it’s the equivalent of putting up a sign saying that you’re not that

interested in getting customers through your door. With more than 70% of UK households now online, and with more than 200,000 Google searches for restaurants every hour – 33,000 of which are for the UK – you are missing out on a major marketing opportunity (that is also very cost-effective) if you don’t keep pace with the digital age.

Today, the internet plays a crucial role in the way people search for restaurants and book tables. According to an American Express Hospitality Monitor Report back in 2007, 62% of diners search online before eating out and 17% of diners prefer to book online, so it’s essential you give potential

customers the chance to do both. Restaurants, to be fair, are very good at

the first – 98% already have a website – but fewer than half take online reservations and could be missing a trick as a result.

Yet there’s more to having an effective web presence than just having a website that people can visit, according to Magnus Hultberg, strategic advisor at Livebookings — it has to drive business. “If a restaurant’s website is about design they need to stop,” he says. “People aren’t interested in being wowed by a flashy site or music. An unusable website doesn’t help the diner, the restaurant or the search engine. Restaurant websites can drown in all the other results if they are not effective. A website is a sales tool. Full stop. I want to dispel the myth a website is anything but that.”

Fast fact With 70% of UK households now online, 200,000 Google searches for restaurants are carried out per hour — and 33,000 of these are for the UK

A strong online presence means having a booking service that drives up numbers of reservations via an effective, user-friendly website


> >


Getting startedIf you want to build a website, or if you are thinking of overhauling your existing one, it is important to get a few quotes and proposals from different companies in order to compare cost, but also service, knowledge and experience. To receive the specific requirements of what you need from a website for your restaurant you will need to produce something called a Request For Proposal (RFP), bringing structure and clarity to what you need from a web-design company.

How to produce a killer RFP1. Assume that the web designers know nothing about you or your restaurant. You need to include a detailed description of who you are and what you do. Consider your size or capacity, cuisine or restaurant theme, location, your main selling point as a restaurant, and your nearest competitors. Also provide some pictures of your restaurant as this will give them a good idea of how you perceive it to be. Include the contact details of a project manager for the web-design company to liaise with. This person will be in charge of managing the relationship with all the suppliers in the development of the website. They will be in regular contact with the web-design company to ensure deadlines are adhered to and be the point of contact for all website stakeholders. It’s also a good idea to list who the decision makers and stakeholders on the project are.2. Have you got a website already? Include the URL of your current website if you have one. If you don’t currently have a one you will need to put together a wish list of the top three URLs you would like for your restaurant. (Make sure these are available for purchase by checking them in your web browser). If you do already have a website, why do you want to change it? What do you want to do differently and

why? The main question you need to ask yourself is ‘What do I want from a new website?’ A new website can be a large investment so you will need to ensure you can measure the return on this investment. The following section looks at specific areas of interest you will want on your new website.3. Probably one of the most important jobs that you will need to undertake in building a website is writing the content. Every word that is displayed on the website needs to be collated from the text used on the home page, to tabs, disclaimers, hyperlinks and page titles. Consideration will need to be given to who is writing this content. The most knowledgeable people on the subject of your restaurant will be those that work there. Collating all the information you know as a company into words could prove to be a difficult task. If you do not have an in-house marketing team or PR company, then seek the advice of the web-design company and set clear deadlines for what is needed and dates of submission.4. Provide the web-design company with your budget so it will be able to accurately pitch a website to suit your needs. Depending on the features and quality of the website, prices will vary between a standard website set-up to that of a highly complex and integrated website.5. You may want to redesign your website to coincide with a rebrand of your restaurant, a change of premises or an event you are holding. If this is the case, ensure you give the design company a date of completion. The more complex a website is the longer it will take to produce. If you have not got a timescale in mind then seek the advice of a few web-design companies who will all be able to give you an accurate time line. When you have decided on a design company agree on

Talking the same language?

Livebookings gives restaurants the option of taking bookings in

13 different languages, so you don’t have to let language barriers get in the way of

booking a table


some milestone deadlines and keep up to date on the on-going progress. 6. The website might be sent over to you in stages for you to proof and sign off. Make sure you send this around to people internally and externally of the restaurant to get feedback and comments before approving the site to go live. Test these links to ensure they work.

Essential elements of a websiteOnce you have found a suitable website designer there are important things you must consider to ensure your site is more than just a pretty preview of your restaurant. The biggest return on investment comes from getting your website visitors to actually book a table, according to Livebookings, which says one in five people that see its bookings interface on a website will book a table.

Online bookings are certainly the direction in which people are moving, says Livebookings’ Anneliese Hainz. “Practically every other industry has moved in this direction. I don’t know anyone who has booked a flight over the phone in the past year. People are used to booking flights online and banking online and naturally restaurants are also moving in that direction. A lot of restaurants don’t see online as being very important because they don’t spend a lot of time in front of a

computer but for office-based people it is a very

natural thing to do.”Hainz admits that there will also be a

core of people who would prefer to speak with someone direct – whether through a mistrust of technology, a desire for a more personal service or in the hope it will secure them a better table – but she says the ease of online booking means this is becoming less common.

“I would never say switch the phone off, but people don’t need to call. And, if they are coming from abroad and don’t speak very good English they will prefer to book online. With Livebookings you can make the interface change language so that a Dutch person can book in Dutch and be sent a confirmation in Dutch, but that booking will be sent to the restaurant in English.” In fact, Livebookings has the option of booking in 13 languages.

Driving successful online bookings takes more than having a booking page, adds Hultberg. “You need to make sure your booking interface is on a few pages because you never know which pages of your website a click will lead a user to – they might come to your contacts page or menu page depending on what link they clicked on or what they searched for. If you only put your bookings link on the one page you think the consumer will end up you might be wrong.”

Creating a winning websiten Reflect the brand and feel of your restaurant n Have an online booking service, and on more than one pagen Keep your customers up to date on the latest developments, special offers and promotional campaigns n Include an area on your home page for visitors to join a mailing list to build a customer database and run regular email-marketing campaignsn Make the menu easy to read and easy to updaten Include a printer-friendly map on your websiten Publicise private dining or events n Promote your à la carte menu and special offersn Allow customers to make online bookings 24/7n Open up your availability for online bookingsn Include clear contact detailsn Use good photographyn Do not sacrifice speed for design

Search Engine OptimisationOnce you’ve launched your online presence you’ll want people to find you easily. It’s therefore essential to ensure that your website designer delivers a site that is search-engine-friendly, meaning that it is built in such a way that it is very visible to Google.

Well-optimised websites contain information in the programming called meta-tags – tags that search engines look for – and contain relevant words in the copy text that search engines can find. You could, for example say ‘We are a Thai restaurant in London’ on your home page and have the keywords ‘Thai restaurant London’ in your meta-tags if you want people to be able to find you

by searching for ‘Thai restaurant London’. Search engines will also examine the content of your website, such as

menu copy or the descriptions you have written about yourself, and rank you according to the frequency that certain words appear. For example, if you are a Thai restaurant in Docklands, the more you mention that you serve Thai food in Docklands, the higher your search engine ranking if someone is searching for ‘Thai restaurant in Docklands’. You can enhance this potential by adding hidden text on your site, written in the same colour as the background colour, so visitors can’t see it but search engines can.

> >



Pearl Liang

Case Studies

Due to its quality reputation and prime location in the heart of Sheldon Square, Paddington, London, Pearl Liang has long been a popular choice with the hoards of office workers looking for authentic Chinese cuisine in a contemporary setting. However, the restaurant had in the past struggled to generate large numbers of evening and weekend bookings as it was unable to take reservations during their normally frantic working day.

“The restaurant was doing well, but we wanted to increase bookings in evenings and on weekends as well as build stronger relationships with the local community. To do this, we needed to make it as easy as possible to book a table on our site,” says restaurant manager Humphrey Lee.

The former owner of Covent Garden Restaurants and consultant to Pearl Liang, Philip Matthews, advised the restaurant to work with Livebookings to allow

prospective customers to book a table at any time of the day or night without taking up the valuable time of the staff.

Pearl Liang added Livebookings’ online, real-time booking interface to their website allowing customers to make confirmed table bookings, 24/7. They also now benefit from additional listings, promotional opportunities and bookings via a range of websites in the Livebookings Network. All reservations are received, controlled and optimised, using the web-based Livebookings diary.

Promotion of Pearl Liang on websites including lastminute.com and restaurant-guide.com, improved service through online bookings on its website and enhanced relationships with regular customers via email marketing.

In addition to improved promotion and customer-service levels, Pearl Liang’s newly raised profile also improved their organic rankings in search engines such as Google, really taking the business to the next level. “We used to have 10 to 20 online bookings per month on the website; since Livebookings was introduced in February, there has been an average of 150 bookings per month,” says Lee. “This has transformed the restaurant from being a staple lunch destination to being one that is busy seven days a week.”

“The reservations team knew that in order to turn more tables in the evening and on the weekend they needed to build stronger relationships in the local area,” says Olivia Fitzgerald, general manager of UK and Ireland for Livebookings. “We were able to provide Pearl Liang with the tools it needed to build a customer database and run offers for specific times, meaning it is now busy in previously quieter times.”

The Green

Geronimo Inns

Geronimo Inns wanted to bring together the 21 pubs in their group on one website and create an easy-to-use booking service for both customers and employees alike.

With lots of pubs and staff, the management needed to keep up to date with how bookings were faring across the group, which was an ongoing challenge. They needed a central system where this could be monitored and managed.

As Ed Turner, commercial director, Geronimo Inns comments: “We wanted to maintain the individuality of the different pubs in the group without having to create 21 different websites,” says Turner, Commercial Director, Geronimo Inns.

“The biggest challenge we faced was getting the managers up to speed with a new way of taking bookings. It took a bit of getting used to, but we are now feeling the full benefits as bookings have really been boosted.”

Geronimo Inns implemented Livebookings’ online, real-time booking interface that allows customers to make confirmed table reservations on their website 24/7. They also used lastminute.com to take advantage of third-party online marketing through the Livebookings Network.

Through Livebookings, Geronimo Inns was also able to establish a recognisable brand for the group as a whole while also promoting the individual appeal of each pub.

“Livebookings’ services have enabled customers to book at any of our pubs from the same website in a really simple way,” says Turner.

“Online bookings across the group went from zero to 1,100 a month within three months of using Livebookings. This was obviously fantastic for us and we now want to take the next steps to promote the

When The Green bar and restaurant in Clerkenwell wanted to maximise its great location and find a way to take table reservations, even when staff were unable to answer the phone, it turned to Livebookings for help. The restaurant didn’t have an online reservations system, but knew that to stay ahead of the game in a popular area like Clerkenwell, it needed to find the best solution available.

It implemented Livebookings’ online, real-time booking interface that allowed customers to make confirmed table bookings on their website 24/7. It also benefited from additional listings, promotional opportunities and bookings via a range of websites in the Livebookings network and was able to capture email addresses and mobile numbers from customers making bookings, to use in future marketing campaigns – encouraging them to come back as repeat guests.

“Customers often want to book tables outside of normal opening hours, which is

obviously difficult to organise without an online booking system like that offered by Livebookings,” says director Charles Silver. “The other important factor is that Livebookings provides more than just the table-booking facility; it has given us continued support about the best way to co-ordinate our marketing efforts, which has been great in driving extra revenue.”

As a result, The Green now typically gets more than 100 bookings per month. “This would be quite difficult for an independent gastropub like us to manage if we didn’t have Livebookings,” says Silver. “From feedback that we received, customers will quickly go elsewhere if they’re unable to easily make a reservation.

“Livebookings has not only helped us reach out to a larger audience, it has boosted our online profile, which is important for a relatively small business such as ourselves. It has also allowed the staff the freedom to concentrate on what they are best at: serving customers.”

group and turn even more tables.”“In the future, we are looking to do

more to build our database of customers even further and take advantage of the range of pubs within the Geronimo Inns group by carrying out more targeted online marketing with Livebookings.”

When a group of pubs is looking for new ways to market itself under one roof without losing the individual identities it can be difficult to work out the best course of action, says Olivia Fitzgerald, general manager for the UK and Ireland at Livebookings, comments.

“Geronimo Inns has pubs across London, Surrey and even at Heathrow airport, so it has very different needs to one of our single pub customers. By building its user database across the group, Geronimo has been able to develop a stronger relationship with its customers and increase revenue as a result.”

> >


Social media D o you tweet? Do you regularly

update your Facebook status? Have you got a restaurant blog

that informs your loyal following what you are up to? If the answer is “no” to all of these then maybe it’s time you woke up and smelt the 21st century.

Social networking is a craze that has swept the globe like wildfire in recent years, thanks to websites such as MySpace, Twitter and Facebook that let people link up with each other across the world to share everything from pictures to casual observations. Twitter has already racked up more than 10 billion ‘tweets’ since its launch more than three years ago – and while the majority of these tweets, or

messages of no more than 140 characters, come from individuals, savvy companies have already realised that they too can have a presence and get their message out there.

Many companies still regard networks such as Twitter as more for frivolous fun than for serious brand building, but Livebookings’ Magnus Hultberg says that the restaurant industry, for one, should be taking social networking very seriously indeed.

“There are few industries with such a good fit to social media as the restaurant or food and beverage business,” he says. “Food and restaurants lend themselves very well to people talking. Everybody has

Fast fact There have already been more than 10 billion ‘tweets’ on Twitter since the site launched in 2006

If you think social internet sites like Twitter and Facebook are full of vacuous musings,then you’re right. But there’s another, potential profit-making, side to them too


> >


an opinion, everybody today carries a camera with them (increasingly not just a photo camera either, but a video camera), and more or less everybody potentially carries their entire network of friends in their pocket.”

When done right, social media is about igniting word of mouth, the kind that puts you in a positive light and brings more customers to your door. There’s nothing new about this, except rather than spread the word in person, now people are doing it online. What is different though, is the scale, reach and speed of this new sort of word of mouth.

Is it for you?Hultberg admits that social media isn’t for everyone. While sites such as Twitter and Facebook offer what appears to be a free and very effective way of speaking to a wide range of customers and potential customers and getting your business known, they require regular updating and clever content if they are to be successful.

Twitter is already a graveyard for restaurants that have set up accounts and then failed to keep people up to date with information and this doesn’t give out a very positive message. As Hultberg says: “If you haven’t got enough time for social media then don’t start.”

You will also need to assess whether a social network is suitable for your brand. The approach particularly suits fast-casual restaurants or those that regularly update their menus or try new things, but, if used correctly, pretty much any style of operation can make use of it.

Most importantly, maybe, is how you use it. Because social networking sites weren’t originally designed to help

companies promote their brands, there is less of a tolerance among users for overt advertising. A restaurant that plugs itself in the same fashion week in week out will soon become tiresome to its followers – a successful business will also engage with its followers, entertain them as well as educate them about the brand and by doing this will gain a bigger following and more credibility, which ultimately leads to increased bookings.

“There’s an old saying,” says Hultberg. “Don’t tell people you’re funny, tell them a joke. Brands have spent the past 50 years telling people how good they are, now they need to show that they are good. It’s possible to not take social media too seriously and still be professional about it.”

There are some very compelling reasons to find time to embrace a new way of promoting your business outside of the traditional marketing and advertising methods. With press and TV advertising on the wane online has become a very effective way of reaching the masses. Brands like YouTube, MySpace and Facebook that didn’t exist six years ago, today get 25 times more traffic (250 million unique users per month) than ABC, NBC and CBS, which have been around for almost a century, says Livebookings.

The main cost of using social networking sites is time rather than money as the sites are free to join, making social marketing a very cost-effective practice.

However, it’s worth remembering that, just like your website, a social networking site’s ultimate function is to drive business. “It really is just one potential tool in a mix of things a restaurant could and should consider,” says Hultberg. “Sure, social media is free, reaches everyone and allows

It’s quality, not quantity

Asking how many followers you have on Twitter is not the right question, you need to ask how influential they are and which

tweets lead to a click on a link


you to engage. But all of those are empty words if it doesn’t help you reach the right customers.”

Tracking successScepticism does exist about how useful a strong Twitter profile or Facebook page is, mainly because many companies believe it is hard to quantify how much influence social media has on their bottom line. Save from asking the customer to mention Twitter or Facebook when they book, restaurants struggle to monitor success and it can, therefore, be a struggle to justify to the FD why you need to put more resources into social media.

There are a number of tools available that can paint a strong picture of how effective social media is, however. Using Google Analytics, for example, it is possible to see how many people have visited your company’s website via your Facebook or Twitter pages and can also tell you how many of these were converted into bookings. Other services include Klout (www.klout.com), a website that can analyse a company’s Twitter reputation, and Hootsuite (www.hootsuite.com) which tracks Twitter activity.

Getting startedIf you want to get involved in social media the two outlets worth considering are Facebook and Twitter. Both have a similar function in the fact that they both offer an effective way of getting information to the masses. However, they operate in distinctly different ways, so you’ll need to work out which one, if not both, best suits your restaurant and what you want to say about it.

Facebook

With more than 300 million active users, Facebook is nearly the size of the US in terms of population, so if you’re a business owner you really need to set up a fan page, or else you risk being left behind as more businesses shift to social networks.

You can have a profile as a person, but your business can’t have a profile — it has a page. A page is a place to house pertinent information about your company, such as an overview, your website and contact info, press releases, company news and status and customer interaction.

One of the major benefits of a page on Facebook over (or in addition to) a webpage is that it’s simple to update. With a website, if you’re not technical, you have to contact your web developer, who will charge you to make even a tiny change. With Facebook, updates are as easy as logging in and typing or uploading.

Setting up your pageOnce you’ve logged in to Facebook, scroll to the bottom and click on “advertising”. Then click “pages” and “create a page”. Select the type of business you own and start filling in all the details. The more info you add, the better your page will be (and remember: Google thinks highly of Facebook in its search engine results).

Make sure to include your company logo, any RSS blog feeds that are relevant, videos and images. Once you’re satisfied with the page, publish it. You can also

enhance your page by adding applications to it, such as drawing in your blog’s RSS feed or YouTube videos.

Another option is to internally develop a new application. Pizza Hut’s Order App, which allowed fans to order their pizzas directly through Facebook, was a huge hit, for example, and Red Bull has a custom application on its Page that pulls in Twitter updates from all of the athletes it sponsors.

Developing an app can be pricey, but if you can afford it or have in-house development talent that can get the job done, it can be very rewarding.

Promoting your pageThe tricky thing about Facebook pages is that you can’t befriend someone the way you can from your profile. People can elect to become fans of your page, but only if they know about it. So you’ve got to spread the word organically (and keep doing it) to introduce people to your page and to your company.

First identify contacts from your profile that are either business connections, people working in a field related to your business, or who would otherwise benefit from the information your company provides, and invite them to become a fan of the page. Send a short note explaining what you want to offer from the page (remember, people are thinking “what’s in it for me?”) and include a link to the page.

You should also promote your page

elsewhere online by putting a Facebook page button on your website to help others find it, spreading the word on Twitter if you’re there (and you should be), sending out an email notification, or putting a link on your business cards. Do whatever it takes to help people know that you’re on Facebook and you want them to become a part of your community.

Get the most out of your pageIf you’ve got a brand that already has a strong following, Facebook can be a great way to launch a community. Encourage discussion among fans by asking questions like: “what’s your favourite product?” or “what could we do to improve our product?” Post updates weekly, if not daily and point your fans to any off-site promotions, such as giveaways hosted on different web sites. And keep it fun. Nobody likes straight-up business all the time!

Zappos, for example, has crazy videos and posts that aren’t related to shoes, which is why their fan base is well over 21,000. It will take time to build your fan base, so remember to keep sending out invites to new contacts asking if they want to become a fan of your business page. Constantly promote the page in any way possible, and keep content fresh – give people a reason to visit your page regularly. And check your analytics: before long you should see a large portion of your website’s referrals coming from Facebook!

Susan Payton, managing partner of Egg Marketing & Public Relations

> >



TwitterTwitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users’ updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters, displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers). Think of Twitter as a pond of fish. There are fish out there (Twitter users) you want to attract, and so you need to sprinkle a little food on the surface so that they congregate around your corner of the pond. The food is your Twitter updates, and if it’s tasty they tell their friends and come back for more. Your following will grow. People will follow you for a reason, so make sure that you are consistent in your updates. Keep feeding your fish and your shoal will grow. Your Twitter presence should be a natural extension of your brand. Think about how you portray yourself elsewhere and make sure your Twitter identity lives up to those ideals.

Getting startedFirst of all, you need to create a Twitter account at www.twitter.com/signup. A couple of things to consider when choosing an account name is to keep it short – Twitter space is limited (140 characters), and so if someone were to forward your message to their followers, and they were to include your name, then every character that you use for your name limits the character space left for the message – and keep it meaningful. When you create a Twitter account you need to also create a ‘bio’. This is a short description of who you are and what

Chefs/restaurants already on Twittern Mark Hix – HixOystern Leon – Henry_Leonn Le Café Anglais – LeCafeAnglais n Hawksmoor – HawksmoorLondon n Brindisa – Brindisa n Raymond Blanc – raymond_blanc n Gordon Ramsay – GordonRamsay01n Wallace & Co – wallaceco n Sweet Mandarin – sweetmandarin n Giraffe – giraffetweet n Bob Bob Ricard – BobBobRicard

Guerilla Burgers/Giraffe

Case Study

Newly-launched burger bar Guerilla Burgers, owned by the team behind restaurant brand Giraffe, used Twitter and Facebook in the run up to its opening and continues to use both social media networks to drive awareness and sales. Using both sites it invited its followers to a special party, which filled the restaurant on the day after its launch with bloggers, local workers and burger fans. The result, says marketing manager Vikki O’Neill, not only meant a full restaurant from launch, but it also got people talking about the brand on Twitter and Facebook and has encouraged more people to pay a visit.

Inviting bloggers to a launch can be dangerous as comments and opinions can spread like wildfire across the internet, so any poor first impressions can be damaging. But this shouldn’t put operators off doing this, says O’Neill, providing they are careful. “The trick is to not fall into the trap of hyping yourself up,” she says. “You do open yourself up to hype on Twitter, but it’s other people’s hype. We’re not saying we’re amazing we’re just saying come and try us.”

In Guerilla’s case many of the blogger reviews posted of the event or of subsequent visits were positive, although a few were more critical. Rather than just ignore these blogs, however, Guerilla responded to them and attempted to build a dialogue ad relationship with the writers. “You have to do this otherwise people think you have something to hide,” says O’Neill.

“If you are not searching out what people have said about you and responding and telling people your story then it won’t work.”

Guerilla’s sister company Giraffe also uses Twitter and Facebook in a similar way – to build a sense of community among its followers, but also to use it for promotions such as its current “Wake up Wednesdays”, which offers a free take-out coffee.

The Giraffe website has clear links to its Facebook page and also runs its Twitter comments along the top of its home page to drive traffic to its page. With more than 3,500 followers on Twitter it’s a tactic that seems to be working. “People take pictures and tell me which restaurants they are in and take part in promotions. It has really helped build an online community.”

How this has translated to increased revenue is still anecdotal, according to O’Neill, but she is unequivocal in her belief that the company’s attention to social media has helped drive sales. “Our chairman Luke Johnson said he wasn’t sure how it would drive business, so I sent out a tweet to our followers saying that our chairman wanted to know if you have visited more, less or the same since we went on Twitter,” says O’Neill. “

“One hundred people replied and all of them said they visited more as a result of our tweet. There us no doubt in my mind that social media works – it is not just a bit of fluff.”

In the future, both brands intend to keep the social media impetus going and there are plans to do more to attract web followers to its restaurants and to track success. One thing Guerrilla is considering, is tapping into the work done by website Foursquare (www.foursquare.com), which awards people with titles when they become regular visitors to particular places – the most frequent visitor is named ‘mayor’ of a place. “We could in the future run promotions such as boards outside saying that if you are the mayor of Guerilla come in for a promotion. All they have to do is show on their phone that they are the mayor and they can have a free burger. There are so many different ways to bring people through your doors.”

guerillaburgers.com giraffe.net

you’re all about. Why would someone want to follow you? Do not underestimate the importance of getting this right. Include your location (eg, London, Mayfair) and also include your website address. Be sure to select a good image for your logo and don’t use the default image. Make it yours.

Sending out tweetsOnce you set up an account you can start “tweeting” straight away. You can do this from Twitter and make sure, of course, that your updates give some kind of extra value. This could be to highlight special offers and events, but often it might be an insight into what is going on within the restaurant, or with some members of the team. Show a personal touch, but think “what would my customers like to know?”, not just what you want them to know. If you have a Blackberry, download Twitterberry (www.orangatame.com/products/twitterberry/) so that you can tweet on the move, away from your desk. This means you can quickly drop in a discreet message from the bus, on the train or from inside the restaurant. If you have an iPhone, a good application for the same purpose is Tweetie (www.atebits.com/tweetie-iphone/)

Scanning the airwavesFrom your desk computer, you can really start to use Twitter even better by installing services such as Hootsuite and TweetDeck. These are Twitter browsers that you can customise. They are both free (www.tweetdeck.com, hootsuite.com)and allow you to perform a number of really neat tricks. Firstly, you can set up a

column for searches that contain your brand name and if you find them you can follow them – they’re your customers (maybe) and if you follow them, they might follow you back. You can also monitor what’s going on with competitors by setting up searches to see what people say about them, pre-schedule your tweets to provide content to your followers at any time of the day and manage multiple Twitter accounts.

Generating trafficTwitter is all about getting people to follow you so that what you tweet goes to as wide an audience as possible. To generate traffic, first of all start following people. If you follow people that interest you and your restaurant, they might follow you back. Look at who other people follow and see if there’s anyone on those lists that you might find interesting. Then advertise your Twitter address in the restaurant, eg, when you pass out your bill, on your card, your website, your email footers and list yourself on Twitter directories.

> >


Promotional networksWhat are they? The ultimate goal of your website is to drive bookings and people to your restaurant, but with so many websites in cyberspace how can you get yourself seen?

One answer is to build a promotional network, which extends your reach to customers you would otherwise not be able to by linking up with third-party websites. Potential customers are walking past your virtual shop front all the time, so the more places you are listed, the more likely you will be to attract new customers and for the restaurant world these include sites such as lastminute.com, Bookatable.com, Sugarvine.com, Timeout.com and www.118.com – sites where people look for information on where to eat out and on which you will want to have a presence.

This shouldn’t be confined to UK sites either. With people travelling all the time and looking for advice on where to stay, what to do and where to eat, linking up to the websites that they will most commonly seek information from is vital.

How it worksOn a basic level you should ensure that your restaurant details can be found on any sites that people are likely to search for information on, including yell.com, localsecrets.com, hardens.com,

priceyourmeal.com and sugarvine.com, as they offer a great way to generate new customers and it typically costs nothing to have your details listed. Uploading your details to all these sites manually would take a long time, which is where linking in with an online booking company helps.

Livebookings, for example, has more than 500 local, national and international websites around the world – collectively reaching 200 million potential customers and forming the largest global marketing network for restaurants – and immediately shares your restaurant’s details with them when you join.

Become a partnerYou may also want to partner with restaurant-booking websites such as Restaurant-guide.com that levy a charge to promote your restaurant. Here you can place promotions you are running and if diners book a table through them they take a fee. There is often a cost associated with these websites, but this should be seen as an acquisition cost as you only pay for the service if it gets you bookings, says Peter Clack, network partnerships manager at Livebookings. And, once the diner has visited using a third-party site, it is your job to get them to come back again, but this time booking directly with the restaurant.

Tracking your total online presenceWith so many websites that can potentially hold your information, keeping track of them all seems like an impossible task. This is where web-based measurement and analysis tools can do the work for you. NetTrackz, for example, is a new online presence tool, provided by TouchLocal.com, that helps restaurants, as well as other businesses, keep on top of where their data is being stored and whether it is correct.

The company provides a report to companies spelling out their web presence and whether it is as effective as it could be – which in many cases it isn’t, it says.

According to NetTrackz, 85% of the businesses it has tested are missing from more than 50% of the directories they should be listed on and that 72% of the information held across these sites has some kind of errors, such as wrong addresses, phone numbers and web addresses.

Its report tells restaurant owners their overall score based on their current web presence across business directory sites and local search engines, the details that UK business directories hold on their restaurant, how well the restaurant is found across local search engines and what information is correct, what is incorrect, what is missing and what is unavailable.

Benefits of being onlinen The majority of diners search online before eating out

n It is a more cost-effective way of talking about your restaurant than traditional marketing

n You can quickly and easily capture important data on your customers and use it to your advantage

n Taking online bookings relieves the stress from the phone and gives staff more time to serve customers

n A strong website can help build your brand

n Sensible use of social media can generate interest in your business and encourage loyalty

n Marketing and email promotions are simple and easy to implement

n You can use related websites to promote your business to potential customers across the world

n You can easily measure your return on investment and justify the cost of your activity

n You can easily track what works and what doesn’t and adjust your approach accordingly


Checklist - Getting to grips

with online marketing

Speak to an online bookings co

mpany

Start to build a customer da

tabase

Set up an email campaign ta

rgeting customers

on your database

Write a detailed request for pr

oposal for a

new website or give your existing

website a

health check

Set up an easy-to-see online

booking service on

your website that automatical

ly feeds into

your reservation diary

Build a promotional network w

ith other

websites

Set up a Facebook account

Get on Twitter and regularly p

ost tweets

about what you are doing

Measure your online presence an

d success

Must speak to:Livebookings0207 934 9275email: [email protected]

> >

30 | restaurant | www.livebookings.co.uk


Glossary of key termsBlogAn online diary with entries made on a regular if not daily basis.

CMSContent management system – a system that allows company employees to publish new content to their websites.

CTRClick-through rate – a way of measuring the success of an email campaign by showing the number of people to have clicked on various links within the email.

ESPEmail service provider – will provide tracking information showing the status of email sent to each member of an address list. They also provide the ability to segment an address list into interest groups or categories, allowing the user to send targeted information to people who value the e-correspondence.

FacebookA social network where companies can set up groups, post pictures and news stories.

Google AdWordsA service that provides a user with the ability to create and run keyword specific ad campaigns on a cost-per-click basis. You can find out the typical daily cost incurred for a specific word by visiting:https://adwords.google.com/select/TrafficEstimatorSandbox and to see the popularity of a particular word through Google since 2004 visit www.google.com/trends.

Google AlertsA service that allows you to follow breaking news on your brand www. google.com/alerts

Google AnalyticsA free web analytics tool offering detailed visitor statistics. The tool can be used to track site activities, visits, page views, pages per visit, bounce rates and average time on site, etc.

Google Insights for SearchAllows a company to compare search volumes over a specific time www.google.com/insights/search

HootsuiteA website for tracking Twitter activity www.hootsuite.com

HTMLHyperText Markup Language. The programming language used to mark up web content and display it in a formatted manner.

IP addressInternet protocol address. A unique numerical reference that is assigned to a computer or device connected to the internKeyword. A word that a search engine user might use to find relevant web pages – if a keyword doesn’t appear anywhere in the text of your web page, it’s highly unlikely your page will appear in the search results.

KloutA website that analyses a company’s Twitter reputation www.klout.com

NetTrackzA website that enables companies to check where they are listed online – www.nettrackz.co.uk

Opt in/Opt outGiving diners the choice on whether to allow their details to be used for marketing purposes

PPCPay per click – paying a website vendor for a visitor’s click on an ad that sends them to your website. Most of the vendors, largest being Google and Yahoo, do not charge you until the visitor actually clicks to your site.

ROIReturn on investment

SEOSearch engine optimisation – the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results. Typically, the earlier a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine.

SPAMSpecifically persecuted advertising mail – unsolicited bulk emails, junk mail, or commercial emails sent in large quantities to an indiscriminate set of recipients.

SpiderAlso known as a bot, robot, or crawler. Programs used by a search engine to explore the internet in an automated manner and download the HTML content from websites.

TwitterA social networking forum where users paste ‘tweets’ of up to 140 characters to their followers. Is used by restaurants to keep people up to date with menu changes, special offers etc.

URLUniform resource locator. URLs can specify the location of a web page, an email address, or a file on an FTP server, among other things.

Website optimisationWhereas SEO works to optimise your site to get it as much visibility on search engines as possible, website optimisation is all about what the visitor does once they’ve landed on your site. What do you want them to do there? Contact you? Buy something? Book online?

Sourced from seoglossary.com and Livebookings

> >

Online

MarketingGuide to

In association with

>

Online Marketing Guide Restaurant Magazine

Documents

Transcript of Online Marketing Guide Restaurant Magazine