You know what every business needs? A website. Seriously. This is especially true for things like restaurants. How the heck am I supposed to order takeout if you don’t have a freaking menu for me to look at? It’s actually a lot more common than you’d think. In this day and age, it’s also unacceptable if you ask me. You can get FREE websites and webpages that take an hour to slap up. I’m not asking for much, I just want to know what flavor of bubble teas you have, sheesh! Fortunately for some of these businesses, people like me can occasionally be driven to do the extra work of finding out what they offer. In my case? I go to Yelp, find their business, browse the photo section and find actual pictures of the menu, which I then write down and order from. Lotta work, right? They’re dang lucky their Bahn mi is so good or this would not be happening.
Being “Findable”
Not every customer is like me. In fact, most aren’t. I’m extra motivated when it comes to good food but the average person wants something easy, fast, and FINDABLE!!! How much business do you lose because you’re not online? Probably more than you want to know.
My website you’re perusing right now? It took me weeks. WEEKS! And it’s not even perfect. But you know what? It’s presentable, colorful, and simple to navigate. It gets the job done. You don’t need to pour buckets of money into your site. You can do free or low tier options. Heck, if you’re really desperate you can actually just make a Facebook page and call it a day. I recommend doing a bit more if you can, but at least it’s better than nothing. There are TWO restaurants I frequent that do it this way, and it’s still better than fishing through Yelp pictures somebody else took.
You Need More than Just a Sign
The other day my husband and I drove by a sign on the side of the road. It was one of those stand up ones, hand painted and all that. It just said, “Smoked meats and cheeses.” That’s it. No arrows, no name of the company, no phone number, no nothing. In fact, the sign was placed next to the woods. The WOODS! Either some serial killer knows my weakness and is trying to lure me to explore a dark and creepy forest, OR, someone really doesn’t know how to advertise themselves very well.
The sad thing is, if I knew where to look, I’d absolutely stop and find them. But who has time to explore going 40 miles an hour on some random road?
A Happy, Smoked Meat Ending
So guess what?
In the middle of writing this half rant/half blog post, I decided to see if the sign people could be found online. BAM! I just typed in, “smoked meats and cheeses,” and my city. Immediately they came up. I know it’s them because it’s a smoked meat and cheese place with a storefront not far from where I saw the sign. Obviously they should have placed the sign better but at least they redeemed themselves by having an actual website. It’s very small, it’s very simple, it doesn’t matter. It got the job done.
Finding people willing to buy your product is hard these days. The economy sucks, money is tight for everyone, and you’re going to need to really put your best foot forward if you want to show customers that your business is the one they should spend their money on. But guess what? It helps if they know you exist first. So if you’re not online already, get your buns moving! And if you’re going to put an old-school sign out, maybe put it a little closer to your freaking store, eh?