One of the most important aspects of an effective restaurant website is a clean, simple design. When it comes to website design, it’s better to be minimalist than it is to crowd your site with too much information.

Using plenty of white space will help to highlight your message rather than confusing it. White space doesn’t always have to be white, though. It can be any color or even an image, like in the example above. Simply put, it’s the blank space around buttons, text and other design elements.

It’s especially important to maximize the space above the fold (the portion of a webpage that’s visible without scrolling) by keeping it professional and simple.

There are a few reasons why people visit a restaurant online. They may want to learn about your hours or location, to call for a reservation or to place an order for carry-out. But, the number one reason people will visit your restaurant website is to check out your menu!

It’s incredibly important to display your menu on your website — not just a downloaded PDF or picture of your menu, the menu itself. It needs to be beautiful and easy to read on any device, as shown in the example above, so that visitors can learn about your food and decide if they want to try it!

There’s nothing more enticing than the smell of a cheesy slice of pizza, a perfectly cooked steak or a juicy burger, but unfortunately, websites haven’t yet mastered the sense of smell. The next best thing, though, is stunning images of your food.

While well-written descriptions of your food are important, if you really want to whet the appetites of your visitors, you also need high-quality images, like in the example above. Also, make sure to include images of the interior and exterior of your restaurant that capture its mood, pictures of your staff in action and more.

Your images help to set the stage and give people a preview of what they can expect when they visit you in person. Make them count!

When someone visits your website, reads your delicious menu and gets a look at the amazing images of your food, it’s just the first step! The next step is to actually book a reservation or place an order.

The best way to get your website visitors to actually convert and become customers is to make it as easy as possible for them to do so. Do that by giving them the option to place their order or book a table right from your website, like in the example above.

Some people will always want to do things the old-fashioned way by calling in an order or a reservation, but others prefer to do it online. Making it possible for them to do that from your website makes it easy and convenient for those people.

There are a lot of things that go into the decision about whether or not to eat at a certain restaurant. The descriptions of your food, images and location all play a role, but the number one most important thing people consider is what other customers have to say about you.

People don’t want to waste their time and money on a subpar restaurant. They want a great dining experience, and they rely heavily on reviews in order to make the decision about whether or not to try a new restaurant.

Make customer reviews easy to find by displaying them on your website, like in the example above. Also, give customers an easy way to give you feedback by having a feedback form directly on your website. Plus, have links to the review sites you’re listed on, like Top Rated Local®, Yelp and Google.

Whether a visitor wants to place a carry-out order, schedule a reservation or stop by your restaurant for dinner, they need to know where you’re located! Make your restaurant easy to find by making your location obvious.

Including a phone number and address is good, but including a map on your restaurant website, like in the example above, is even better. It shows your visitors exactly where you are and helps them find you even better.