Restaurant website mobile optimization guidelines

Mobile is here, and it’s not going anywhere any time soon. People love the convenience of having all the information the Internet can provide at their fingertips, wherever they are.

People of all ages in cities of all sizes trust their mobile devices for guidance on where to have a bite or drink. According to a recent Google report, 30% of searches relating to restaurants are made off of mobile devices.

Consumers want to make informed decisions, and they rely on mobile devices to acquire that information. This is understandable. What you also have to understand is that viewing your website on a laptop or PC is not the same as viewing it on the small screen of mobile phones.

Quick test!

1. Get your phone, open your browser, and enter your website URL.
2. Make note of how long it takes your phone to load your site, and what actually gets loaded.
3. Ask yourself whether this was a good user experience, and whether you would be satisfied with it and visit your restaurant if you were a mobile visitor.

What makes for an optimized mobile restaurant site?

Here are some tips on creating mobile optimized versions of your site:

• Fast loading – If your site takes more than 5-6 seconds to load, many mobile device users will move on. Your site’s mobile version should optimize your content, images, CSS and JS for mobile rendering.
• Anticipate visitor intent – Research suggests that most mobile sites will want to know a restaurant’s phone number, address (directions), menu card and specials.
• Mobile homepage – Inline with the above, make the most searched info easy for them to find. Include your phone number, address, Google Map and menu card on your mobile homepage.
• Finger-friendly – Remember that mobile visitors use their thumb instead of a mouse. If a menu or button is too small to accurately push with a thumb, things won’t work out well.
• Platform-friendly – Optimize for Android, Blackberry, Windows and Apples devices (no flash).
• Simple navigation – Unlike real websites, the navigation of mobile sites should be much simpler. No drop down navigational menus.
• Conversion – Include mobile optimized online reservations and coupons
• Consistency – The colors and feel of your mobile site should reflect that of your main site, and the info on your mobile site should consistent with everything that is on your main site.

Just in case you were wondering, yes, MyRestaurantTheme provides an automatic mobile optimized version of your restaurant/bar site, meeting all of the above expectations.