How to Create a Restaurant Website: Step by Step Guide

Whether you’re a veteran restaurateur or just starting out, you can’t afford to be left behind in today’s digital world.

Your online presence has become a vital part of your business, and it’s likely that most of your customers will first interact with you online. 

The first step toward creating a restaurant website is deciding what kind of site you want: do you want something simple and minimalistic like we have for your businesses? Or would something more elaborate better suit your needs (and budget)? 

These are the questions I’ll be addressing in this post. I’m going to teach you everything you need to know about how to create a restaurant website. Let’s start!

Start With a Domain Name

When it comes to creating a website, you need to start with a domain name. 

A domain name is what people type into their browser when they want to visit your restaurant’s website, so it’s important that it has a few qualities:

• Easy to remember: Your domain name should be memorable so that customers can recall it easily. You should also consider how much space your chosen word takes up, as this may impact where on the page your website appears in search results.
• Easy to spell: This one seems obvious, but there are plenty of restaurants with domains that include common misspellings (like “Wendy’s” instead of “Wendys”). Don’t let this happen to you!
• Easy to type: Some restaurants choose long names with multiple syllables; these can be great for branding purposes, but they’re often difficult or impossible for customers who don’t know how they’re pronounced. If possible, keep things simple by using only one word in your URL — this will make it easier for visitors unfamiliar with the site’s brand or location to find what they need quickly without having to click around looking for directions.

To buy a domain, you can visit a domain registration site like Namecheap or GoDaddy and purchase your domain name.

Once you have a domain name, it’s time to select a CMS.

Choose a Content Management System (CMS)

A Content Management System (CMS) is a tool that allows you to manage your website. With a CMS, you can add and edit content like pages, menus, and blog posts. 

There are many different kinds of CMSs out there — some are really simple, while others are more complex. 

For example, if all you want is a simple site for your restaurant with minimal features like a menu and a blog, an easy-to-use CMS like WIX or Squarespace would be a great choice! 

If on the other hand, you want something more robust like a detailed food ordering system or an event calendar where people can sign up for events or make reservations for meals at your restaurant; then WordPress might be a good fit.

For this post, we will use WIX as a reference because it’s one of the simplest CMS to use and it has a free plan for small businesses. 

Note: If you want to use WordPress, we recommend using Cloudways (they provide a good hosting service at an affordable price). You can read the guide to set up WordPress here.

Setup the CMS

To start your restaurant website, you need to create an account on WIX and then choose from one of their packages. You can choose from a free package or a paid one. 

If you want more features, then go for paid packages. The features include adding images, videos, an online store, blog, and other content to your site.

Creating the website itself is quite easy with WIX. Just follow these steps:

• Go to wix.com and click on the “Get Started” button at the top right corner of the page.
• Fill up all the required details like first name, last name, country, etc. Then click on the “Continue” button at bottom of the page.

Now, enter a keyword related to your website (in this case you can write “restaurant” or simply select an option from the dropdown list).

On the next screen, enter the name of your restaurant (you can write anything here and change it later in the settings).

Next, select everything you want to offer on your site online: such as a menu, table reservations, events, blog, forms, etc.

Finally, click on Next and then click on Go to Dashboard and your site’s initial setup will be ready.

Now you need to choose a template for your website. Let’s see how to do that now…

Select a Restaurant Template 

When choosing a restaurant template, the first step is to select one that matches your brand’s aesthetic and style. There are many options available on WIX, but it can be difficult to know which ones will work best for your business.

Luckily, most templates come with customization tools that allow you to make changes without having any coding experience. This means that even if you’re not tech-savvy or don’t know how to code websites yourself, you can easily customize the template so it looks exactly like what you want.

So in your Wix dashboard, go to customize your site and you will get a page to select a theme for your site.

First, you have to select the theme base (we’ll go with Elegant for this example).

Next, select a homepage design that you like (you can always change this later).

On the next page, select the pages you want to add.

Finally, your site design will be ready!

After choosing the theme for your site design, you will be taken to another page where you have to select different elements for your restaurant website such as header style, color scheme, etc., as shown in below screenshot:

You can now edit everything in this Wix editor. But before you start editing, let’s first look at all the pages you will need for your website.

Plan Out Your Content (Pages)

Restaurant websites are full of information to help you attract customers, but they need to be organized in a way that’s easy for users to navigate. The best restaurant websites have a clear hierarchy and are easy to read and use.

Here are the main pages that every restaurant website needs:

1. A menu page. This is where customers will go to see what you’re offering, including prices and descriptions of each dish.
2. An events calendar. List any special events taking place at your restaurant — from wine tastings to live music performances.
3. A contact form for customer service inquiries (including reservations). It’s important that people can easily find your contact information and reach out if they have questions or problems with their meal.
4. A blog page. This is a great opportunity to post articles about what’s new at your restaurant, as well as interesting dishes you’ve created or ingredients you’re featuring for the season. 
5. A gallery of photos. This is a good way to show off your restaurant’s atmosphere, décor, and culinary creations.
6. A menu page. This should include a full list of your restaurant’s offerings, including prices and specialties. You can also include links to your online reservation form here, as well as any other pages you’d like visitors to see when they visit.

Once you have a solid contact map in place, it’s time to start customizing!

Customize Your Template

In your Wix dashboard, click on your website name to start editing it.

Wix provides easy-to-use options to add and style elements like text, image, button, box, gallery, link, menu, list, events, blog, and more.

If you’d like to make bigger changes, such as changing the color scheme or adding more photos, head over to the design center. 

Here you’ll be able to choose from thousands of free images, add background music and adjust other elements of your restaurant website’s design until it’s exactly how you want it!

Make Sure You’re Mobile Friendly 

With over half of all Internet traffic coming from mobile devices, it’s important that your website be optimized for the growing number of users who are browsing on their phones.

To increase the number of people who visit your restaurant website, here are some tips for making sure it’s mobile-friendly:

• Use a responsive design rather than a separate mobile version of your site. A responsive design will display correctly on any device, regardless of whether it’s being accessed via desktop computer or smartphone.
• Keep the font size large enough so that it can be read easily on smaller screens and adjust the layout to accommodate smaller screen sizes, such as using sidebars instead of full-width content on certain pages.
• Make sure that all links are clickable by ensuring they have underlines or other distinguishing characteristics so they stand out against the background color.

Note: All WIX templates are responsive by default, so you can simply visit your newly built site from a mobile device to ensure everything’s working smoothly.

Once this is done, it’s time to set up some basic SEO for your new website.

Setup Basic SEO

If you’re serious about growing your restaurant website, you’ll want to ensure that it’s set up for success. The right SEO strategy can grow your restaurant site’s visibility and increase its conversion rate.

The good news is that there are plenty of simple optimizations that can help you achieve this goal. Let’s take a look at some basic SEO strategies to get started with:

• Write informative, keyword-rich content. This is the foundation of any SEO strategy. Write content that people want to read and that addresses their questions and concerns. Use keywords frequently, but make sure they’re in context and relevant to your audience.
• Include images. Images may not rank as highly as text on search engines, but they can increase the number of pages indexed by Google. This means more visibility for your site in search results!
• Optimize titles and meta descriptions. Search engines use title tags and meta descriptions as ranking factors, so they’re worth optimizing accordingly. Make sure each page has unique titles and descriptions so that users don’t see duplicate content when they search for information about your business on Google or another search engine.
• Optimize URLs. Search engines use URLs to determine the relevancy of a page, so be sure you’ve optimized yours for search. This means making them short and descriptive, including keywords in the URL, avoiding unnecessary parameters (like “?p=123”), and using hyphens instead of underscores.

SEO for restaurant sites is fairly easy to do yourself. You can read more here on how to do keyword research and on-page SEO.

Review & Publish Your Site

Now that you have everything in place, it’s time to publish your new restaurant site.

Before we do this, though, let’s make sure the entire process is working smoothly.

To check your site, visit your site in a new tab and check if everything’s working properly. Are the links working? Is there spelling or grammar mistakes on the site? How does it read overall, and is it clear and easy to understand or difficult to follow? Does the color scheme work for you?

Once you’ve confirmed that everything works as expected, click on Publish in your WIX dashboard.

Note: Make sure that everything looks good before publishing anything so that everything runs smoothly once published!

Final Words!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this quick tutorial on how to create a restaurant website. 

I’ve been using WIX for years now, and I’ve found it’s one of the best platforms for creating websites of any kind. It’s easy to learn, use and customize, so if you’re looking for a new website or want to upgrade your existing one then I highly recommend WIX.

If you found this tutorial useful, please feel free to check out some of my other tutorials. Like how to build a podcast site, and the best free website builders.

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below or send me an email by visiting the contact page. I’ll be more than happy to help!

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