Tips For Getting Your Food or Hospitality Website Ready For Christmas

The Christmas season is coming, meaning not only are consumers soon about to begin their Christmas shopping, but it also means the party season is finally here. Whilst ecommerce stores are busy preparing their checkout processes for Christmas, food and hospitality services should be paying attention to optimising their websites too. 

Your menu and location isn’t the only thing you should be preparing for Christmas, your website plays a huge role in attracting bookings and informing customers of what’s going on within your business. If your website isn’t prepared for Christmas then you could find yourself missing out on a huge number of customers or guests.   

Optimise Your Homepage 

One of the most important things you can do during this time of year is decorate your website for the Christmas season, this shows that your business is into Christmas spirit and ready to embrace the Christmas rush. By adding banners, optimised copy and even Christmas themed images, you can instantly appeal to those looking for somewhere to eat over the Christmas period, who will spot your Christmas imagery and know that your establishment is the place to eat this Christmas.  

Upload A Christmas Menu 

Whilst you might already have your regular menu featured on your website, if your Christmas menu is massively different then there’s nothing wrong with creating an optimised, targeted page featuring your Christmas menu. Having a standalone page with you menu let’s those looking specifically for Christmas parties or meals find it easily and also shows that your business welcomes those looking to celebrate Christmas at your restaurant.  

Make The Most Of Your Blog

Your blog is one of the best marketing tools your business could have, especially during the Christmas period. By using your blog to share news about any Christmas events, Christmas parties and even tell people about your Christmas menu, you can not only create engaging, fresh content but also rank in search engines. By including relevant keywords into your blog posts you can, this can improve your SEO rankings, allowing you to expand your reach.  

Optimise Your Booking Process

Just as an ecommerce store needs to optimise it’s checkout process, if your website allows for customers to book tables or rooms online then you need to be sure that your booking process works efficiently. Be sure to test your booking process before the Christmas rush, testing that it loads well, doesn’t take too long to complete and offers customers all the necessary fields. Without a great booking process you could find potential customers getting frustrated and heading to your competitors website instead.   

Share Your Social Media

If your social media links aren’t already visible on your website then it’s a good idea to feature them on your website. Giving your customers the chance to visit your social media platforms it means they can find out more about your business, view images of your food or events you might have had and even allows them to read reviews on social media platforms such as Facebook. With social media you can build a great customer relationship and failing to include these links could see you losing out.  

The Christmas period gives your business a number of exciting of opportunities, from work parties, to Christmas Day dinners and even New Years get togethers, Christmas truly is the party season and as long as both your business and your website are ready there’s no reason you shouldn’t be reaping the benefits.