Why are restaurant web sites so bad?
juliansanchez.com
Why are restaurant web sites so bad?
1–10 of 124 posts
Re: Why are restaurant web sites so bad?
#2[deleted]
Re: Why are restaurant web sites so bad?
#3Obviously, because the sites are based on decisions made by one person who is not a web design expert. But that's okay, there are ways around that problem for the restaurant-goer: yelp.com provides a useable interface, socially vetted, and normalized so that places can be compared. I hardly bother with the restaurant's site anymore, they're all on yelp.
Re: Why are restaurant web sites so bad?
#4Obviously, because the sites are based on decisions made by one person who is not a web design expert. But that's okay, there are ways around that problem for the restaurant-goer: yelp.com provides a useable interface, socially vetted, and normalized so that places can be compared. I hardly bother with the restaurant's site anymore, they're all on yelp.
true, but it makes it hard for those of us working on local search sites to crawl their sites too :/
Re: Why are restaurant web sites so bad?
#5I've been thinking about developing a custom cms/site builder of sorts, pitch it to one restaurant and make both the customer and owner experience really smooth. On one side, I would have a restaurant directory with all the info, recommendations and what not, but the owner would get a site with no 3rd party branding and their own domain, charge a monthly fee and get free dinners on a bunch of places.
But then I imagine explaining my idea to other people and having them ask "so, uhhm, like geocities?"
Re: Why are restaurant web sites so bad?
#6Perhaps there is no business case for having a good, CSS/HTML based website when your business is turning over tables?
That's a serious question. Has anyone here been involved with a restaurant or food-service related start-up that isn't an aggregator or social networking play? Maybe someone can shed some light on the roadblock?
Re: Why are restaurant web sites so bad?
#7Obviously, because the sites are based on decisions made by one person who is not a web design expert. But that's okay, there are ways around that problem for the restaurant-goer: yelp.com provides a useable interface, socially vetted, and normalized so that places can be compared. I hardly bother with the restaurant's site anymore, they're all on yelp.
true, but it makes it hard for those of us working on local search sites to crawl their sites too :/
Look into the Factual API for restaurants to solve this problem.
Re: Why are restaurant web sites so bad?
#8I've been thinking about developing a custom cms/site builder of sorts, pitch it to one restaurant and make both the customer and owner experience really smooth. On one side, I would have a restaurant directory with all the info, recommendations and what not, but the owner would get a site with no 3rd party branding and their own domain, charge a monthly fee and get free dinners on a bunch of places. But then I imagi…
I did local SEO work for a while - I assure you, assuming small business owners have knowledge of even geocities is greatly overestimating their technical knowledge.
Re: Why are restaurant web sites so bad?
#9Perhaps there is no business case for having a good, CSS/HTML based website when your business is turning over tables? That's a serious question. Has anyone here been involved with a restaurant or food-service related start-up that isn't an aggregator or social networking play? Maybe someone can shed some light on the roadblock?
Restaurant owners don't know who to trust, and have no judge of the skill of website builders and/or price. They are often pitched by various company's and the one that eventually gets through will by no means be the best.
Re: Why are restaurant web sites so bad?
#10All I want to see are the menu and the hours of operation.