Owning a restaurant directory listings website can be one of the best decisions you ever make. What your website will do is list restaurants that are in the locations you want. Such a website could turn into a reliable guide for tourists and locals alike to the best places to dine. At the same time, restaurant owners who want to increase their online visibility and attract more clients would find your site invaluable.
A 2023 report states that 84% of all restaurant goers go online to look up restaurant menus before choosing the restaurant to go to. This is a vast increase from a 2017 report by the same researchers that had a mere 59% comparing restaurant menus before choosing where to dine. Evidently, there is an increased reliance on online restaurant resources by diners, so this is the time for a restaurant directory listing website.
You may be thinking of starting an online business directory or already have a website up and running but can’t figure out where to start to sell listings to restaurants. If that describes you, you’ve come to the right place. We will walk you through a goldmine of information on all you need to know when getting started on approaching restaurants and selling them listings. Let’s get it rolling.
Content Outline:
- Why Are Online Restaurant Directories Necessary?
- How Do I Create a Restaurant Directory Website?
- How Do I Find Potential Restaurant Listings?
- How Do I Approach Restaurants to Sell Them Listings?
- How Do I Create the Most Effective Listings for Restaurants?
- How Do I Price and Package Restaurant Listings?
- Start Selling Directory Listings to Local Restaurants
Why Online Restaurant Directories Necessary?
Restaurant directories are very important for restaurant owners and their customers. Here are some reasons why restaurants need to be listed in online directories from both restaurant and customer perspectives:
Convenience and Visibility
Online restaurant directories offer a seamless route for diners to browse through available cafes and restaurants conveniently. They save diners from having to depend on word of mouth or wander the streets in search of dining options. On the other hand, online restaurant directories give restaurants online visibility so potential customers can easily discover them.
Real-time Menus and Reviews
Feature-rich online directories allow users to browse through the menus of different listed restaurants. What’s more, customers can view different kinds of real-time information, including operating hours and menu changes. User reviews and ratings also help potential customers make informed choices.
Target Marketing
Online directory listings provide restaurants with an excellent path for targeted marketing. The listings can categorize establishments based on location, menus, cuisine, and other factors. This way, the promotional efforts of such restaurants get to their desired potential clients, and they result in higher lead conversion.
Customer Engagement
As customers browse the restaurants listed in a directory, they can view up-to-date profiles with the latest menu items and promotions. This is one way to keep their patrons interested and foster a sense of loyalty and community.
How Do I Create a Restaurant Directory Website?
If you don’t have a restaurant directory website up and running already, don’t fret; we’ll get you there in a minute. Here are a few quick steps that will get you a top-notch restaurant directory website easily and at a negligible cost:
Choose Your Domain Name
A domain name is the address of a website. You should go with a domain name that reflects your business and identity so that people can find your directory website easily. You should also make it brief and memorable so that users can search it from memory.
For instance, if you want to call your business Culinalists, a good domain name would be culinaists.com. You don’t have to go with the .com extension if you prefer .org or a country-specific one like .us for Americans and .au for Australians; however, we recommend .com.
Once you settle on your preferred domain name, confirm whether it is available for purchase on Google Domain.
Register Domain Name and Choose a Host
A host, without which your site can’t run, is the storage for your website’s files. Companies that offer these services are called hosting providers. Some hosting providers double up as domain registrars, so you save time and probably some money by choosing them. Such companies are BlueHost and HostGator.
To choose the best host, consider the cost of their plans against your budget and the reviews on their customer support. Take one with excellent bandwidth and backup options that keep your site’s data safe and easily retrievable in case your site fails.
Choose WordPress and a WordPress Theme
WordPress is the most popular content management system. Some hosting providers offer WordPress-optimized plans, which makes your work even easier. Among the reasons are its user-friendliness and wealth of themes, plugins, and addons that help users create websites and their features easily.
There are many options for restaurant directory themes, which differ in quality, features, and pricing. To make your experience seamless, we can only recommend the best in CLRestaurant. It gives you a killer website with a wealth of features.
Why CLRestaurant Restaurant Directory WordPress Theme?
The first and paramount reason why CLRestaurant is the theme for you is its value for money. Despite its low cost, it integrates many priceless features into your website, including the premium Elementor Page Builder, Elementor Addons, and Gutenberg Addons. All these are to help you build a website like a pro without necessarily having any coding knowledge.
It has a wealth of pages, starting with 2 homepages for a multipage website. You also have 2 blog layouts and 3 inner header styles that accommodate 5+ variations. The theme also offers About Us, Testimonials, Error 404, and FAQ pages. CLRestaurant avails various pages on your directory, including Listings, Listing Details, Listing Form, and My Account pages.
This theme has many features for ad listings, including the following:
- Top, Bump Up, and Featured Ads options
- Membership and store facility with a store addon
- AJAX autocomplete search
- Category and location AJAX filters
- Custom fields in search and filter
- Add to favorites
- Google and OpenStreetMap support
- Multiple payment options (Offline, PayPal, Authorize.net, and Stripe)
- Automatic and manual listing approval
Install CLRestaurant
To create a CLRestaurant website, you just need to upload the files of the theme and activate it. You can do it in either of the following two ways:
- FTP: With your FTP client, upload the unzipped theme folder into the /wp-content/themes/ folder on your server.
- WordPress: Go to Appearance 🡪 Themes 🡪 Add New 🡪 Upload. Click on Browse and choose the zipped theme folder. Click on Install Now to upload and install.
You can then work with the homepage demo you want and do much more with CLRestaurant, but you already have a full-fledged website! Directions to do all you want with the theme are available in the theme’s detailed online documentation.
Step 4: Edit and Add Pages, Images, and Content
Since CLRestaurant has many ready pages, you have very little work to do. Just choose the layout variations you want, add content, add images, and launch your pages and site.
How Do I Find Potential Restaurant Listings?
When starting to sell listings to restaurants, you must know who to list and where to find them. Here is how you can find potential restaurants that would want to get listed:
- Research local restaurants: You can start with a “restaurants near me” Google search, which will give you their locations and other details. You can also go on local food blogs and similar websites as you choose those that fit your criteria.
- Go out to eat: As you eat at local restaurants, you can figure out restaurants that you want to list, compliment the owner afterward, and introduce them to your directory website. You could even sell a listing for a free meal every now and then.
- Search review websites and social media: Many contemporary restaurants have a social media presence on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. You can also find restaurants on review websites like TripAdvisor and Yelp.
- Collaborate with food bloggers and influencers and look up local print media: You could find suitable restaurants from local food bloggers, influencers, dining enthusiasts, and local print media and newspapers. They could link you with excellent dining options.
How Do I Approach Restaurants to Sell Them Listings?
Whether or not you’re introverted, you may have a difficult time initiating contact with restaurants to sell them listings. You may need help figuring out how to do it persuasively, professionally, and effectively. Here are some tips for getting it done:
- Research thoroughly: Before contact, conduct thorough research on each restaurant, understanding them from their target audience to their unique selling propositions.
- Lay out benefits of listing: Highlight all the benefits of listing them on your site (such as online visibility) while aligning your pitch with information you got from your research, such as their brand and goals.
- Personalize your pitch and messages: Avoid sounding generic by mentioning particular details about the restaurant, such as recent menu changes.
- Give free trials or sample listings: You can give them a risk-free chance of getting listed on your platform as they gauge the value you offer.
How Do I Create the Most Effective Listings for Restaurants?
Effective listings have to attract customers for your listed restaurants while bringing new clients to your site and keeping them. Even though your clients should access and update their own listings, there are a few pointers that can help you create the most effective listings possible. They include the following:
- Upload high-quality images and videos that accurately reflect the restaurants and their offerings.
- Include all important information like operating hours, location, and contact information.
- Accommodate customer reviews and ratings for increased trust and credibility.
- Optimize your restaurant directory website for SEO to improve its rankings on search engine results.
How Do I Price and Package Restaurant Listings?
To determine how you should price your listings, you should start by considering your competition and target market. Look at what other directories charge and factor in how much your clients would be willing to pay for your unique selling proposition. The average price for restaurant listings is $50, but you can go reasonably higher or lower.
You can have premium features on your site as well as sponsored listings. This way, your clients can pay for priority placement, added visibility, and featured listings. Clarify how these features will benefit your clients.
Conclusion: Start Selling Your Restaurant Directory Listings
An online restaurant directory can be an incredibly helpful marketing tool for restaurants seeking increased visibility and a competitive edge. What’s more, it can be a very profitable and rewarding venture for you. All you need to do is consider all that we’ve discussed in this brief piece. Whether you’re already running a directory website or want to create one, everything you need to know to start making a profit is here.
