Your Coffee Shop Website
Why you need a website to control your online reputation...
What we learnt from visiting 1500 coffee shop and cafe websites...
What makes a good coffee shop or cafe website?
Recently we looked at 1500 of London's coffee shop and cafe internet presence.
There are some truly stunning examples out there, beautifully designed, fabulous images, easy to navigate that made us want to stop what we were doing, jump in the car and go there!
At the other end of the scale, there were some that were self-sabotaging, warning everyone contemplating a visit not to bother!
We often get asked
What a good coffee shop or cafe website should look like and how much it should cost? Or even 'do I need a website when I've got a Facebook page?
The answer to this last point is - Yes - you do need a website if you want to be in control of what people find when the search for you.
Simply its need to be inviting with real images, not stock images, and tell the story of the place, and the owners.
It must have the address (a google map would be great), telephone number and contact details and be easy to navigate on
Now I know at this point I will have website designers and SEO experts screaming at the screen about key words, meta data, load speed, tracking pixels etc.
However for most small independent coffee shops or cafes as long as they get the things I have mentioned above right then, they will be found online by the people who want to know more about them!
Google is excellent at searching for local businesses and will show your website in its results providing you have these simple things in place.
For more complicated situations - multisite, e-commerce then you are recommended to get professional advice, but for a simple website, the cost is less than £2 a week if you do it yourself through a website builder like Wix.
It needs to be fit for purpose. That is to get people through your doors.
These are the 7 top mistakes we found...
They talked in the 3rd party about the business - "Caffe Caffe is renowned for its great food and coffee."
Something like this would be so much better
"Paula & Simon spent 17 years in Australia and France and discovered their passion for coffee and love of simple, healthy food."
The most significant advantage a small independent has over the chains is that local people want to support local businesses.
When small business talks in corporate speak, this advantage is lost completely. Customers want to know about your story, what you stand for and why you started the business.
Social media icons not linked to accounts - the links still send you to the default pages, usually the home facebook page and sometimes the home of the website theme maker!
is not working, the email address bounces, the phone number is not listed - if people can't get in touch, they will go elsewhere.
When people visit your website you have go a great opportunity to persuade them to visit you, there will be a number of things going around in their mind so you should identify these and talk about them.
Make sure you mention the key benefits - e.g. are you family friendly or wheelchair accessible. Do you sell gluten-free, vegetarian options? Is there wifi or plug sockets. Are you dog-friendly? Are you close to car parks, or is there on street parking? Can you book? What time do you open or close?
Who doesn't have a phone that takes pictures now?
Why would you not feature your team or yourself in a photo? People love to see what they can get, where they can get it, and who will serve them. It's all part of your story.
Who looks at your website when out and about on a pc or laptop, it's got to be mobile friendly.
Not only will it rank better on search engines, people will be able to read it & navigate it easily, many function like calling, emailing or getting directions, are also made easier.
What is the absolute minimum website content?
1) Name, address, phone number - or NAP - these must be identical on every digital platform. This helps the search engines match all your listings, and brings everything together. Everywhere on line you have a presence, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, TripAdvisor, local business listings, trade associations
2) Email address or contact form that works
The most significant surprise though was that over 50% of the coffee shops and cafes that we searched on google didn't have a website at all.
They were not in control of their online reputation, so at the mercy of whatever anyone posted about them.
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