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1Broadcast Your Services. The content on your website should be as fresh as

the ingredients you use in your restaurant. This will be an essential part of driving traffi c to your site. Do daily updates of happy hour specials, promotions—even include a calendar of events. Desperados Mexi-can Restaurant and Bar in Japan (www.dosdesperados.com) is a great example of this. The fi rst thing you’ll fi nd on its homepage is the restaurant’s special of the month with a corresponding picture, followed by a list of daily specials, a description of the restaurant and store hours. Also, make sure you have a place on your website that takes reservations; Facebook is a great tool for this as well.

2 Be a Non-conformist. Think about what sets you apart from your com-

petition. No other restaurant is more synonymous with a cocktail than Mexican restaurants are with mar-garitas. This gives you a great advantage over other establishments. Torreon Mexican Restaurant in Kan-sas (www.torreoncantina.com) allows customers to make its famous margaritas at home by selling the mix

via its website. Additionally, it’s a good idea to display your margarita fl avors on your website and through social media outlets.

3 Optimize Your Search Results.Include information in your website title that will

get you indexed in Google and put you on top of local searches. For instance, if you are an organic Mexican restaurant chain, make sure to have key words such as “organic” and “restaurant” hidden in your title—something you can hire an outside source to do. Before hiring someone to create or revamp your site, however, be sure to understand your target market and what they want. Use words they can understand and include information on your site that they would want to know.

4 Don’t Be Afraid to Brag.Creating a company blog is a great way to keep

your customers in the loop and add a personal touch. On your blog, you can promote various styles of cook-ing from different regions of Mexico with recipes and tips. Keep in mind a restaurant is a social gathering place; therefore it’s a good idea to celebrate all Mexi-can holidays from Cinco de Mayo to Dieciseis de Sep-tiembre to Día de los Muertos. Instead of telling your customers how effi ciently you can do your job, show them. Mexican restaurants are about fun and celebra-tion; not only is the food colorful and playful but so is the environment. Make your site refl ect this. Upload images or create multi-media components, such as a video with festive dialogue and music. And remem-ber, your bartenders are just as important as your chef. Shoot a video of your bartender making a margarita or your chef wrapping a tasty burrito.

After lunch and before dinner—every restaurant owner experi-

ences down time. But skip the siesta and instead, hop online!

With more than 200 million people around the country using

the Internet, and social networking becoming more popular than ever,

websites have become integral to a businesses’ success. And as a restau-

rant owner in a fi xed location, it’s important to engage with your local

market. The following Internet marketing tips from former restaurant

executive and internet marketing expert Ron Adelman can pave your

way to a sizzling site.

BY RON ADELMAN

Seven Steps to a SIZZLING WEBSITE

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20 el restaurante mexicano

5 Stay Image Conscious.Your website is a refl ection of your business. Consider

not only design but also colors, and keep it simple. Internet users want their information to be easily accessible. Use the one-click rule. With no more than one click of the mouse, your potential customer should be able to venture off your homepage and fi nd exactly what they’re looking for. Casa Fi-esta in Tennessee (www.nashvillecasafi esta.com) uses a clean design and cheerful color scheme on its site; the restaurant also breaks its menu into three categories: lunch, dinner and beverages & desserts. Each food category has its own tab on the homepage, which makes it easy for visitors to fi nd what they need.

6 Get Social Media Savvy. Although networking in person can build relationships,

the possibilities online are endless. It takes work to bring traf-fi c to your website, so link it to as many social networking sites as possible. You can promote yourself through Linke-dIn, Facebook and Twitter. Make your business its own Face-book and Twitter profi le where you can display company specifi cs and interact with local groups. Consider visiting relevant blogs like The Other Side of the Tortilla (theoth-ersideofthetortilla.com), where you can comment on posts, engage with Mexican food afi cionados and stay up-to-date with the culture. Also, make sure your website is compatible with mobile phones.

7 Stay Up to Speed!Google will penalize a website that takes longer than

eight seconds to open. There is nothing wrong with an aes-thetically pleasing design, but you don’t want to overdo it with Flash. Make sure you have the proper technical support so readers aren’t waiting forever for pages and pictures to load. Frequently check external links and make sure they are actually linking the reader to another site.

Bottom line—if you decide to hire outside help for your website, it’s important to fi nd a company that has the indus-try knowledge and marketing background to not only drive traffi c to your site but convert visitors to customers.

About the Author: The former vice president of operations for national Mexican restaurant chains including Garcia’s Mexican Restaurant and Casa Lupita, Ron Adelman is a leading franchisee with WSI, an internet marketing and web development company. For more information, visit phone (866) 759-0313 or www.wsiroi.com/.

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