Should Your Restaurant Have a Blog?

If you own a business, you’ve probably heard that you should have a blog. Most businesses benefit from having social media and websites, and a blog is just another online marketing tool. One type of business that doesn’t frequently blog, however, is a restaurant. If you’re a restaurant owner, should you be blogging? Or is it unnecessary for your line of work?

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Benefits of a Restaurant Blog
The potential benefits of a blog for your restaurant are the same as other types of businesses enjoy. A blog can help you demonstrate your expertise in the food industry. It can help you show off everything your restaurant has to offer. It can also help boost your website’s SEO so that it gets a higher ranking in Google’s search results. You can use it to connect with fans of your restaurant and cultivate new ones.
For restaurants in particular, a blog can help give people more information to hopefully sway them to choose to eat at your place rather than somewhere else. A blog could also help counteract any negative reviews that you may have online.

Disadvantages of a Restaurant Blog
The nature of a restaurant, however, doesn’t lend itself very easily to blogging. While you can blog about things like recipes, cooking techniques, or drink selections, you’ll probably want to mostly post information about your restaurant, such as new reviews, menu changes, specials, and other promotional materials. That type of information can be helpful to consumers, but it doesn’t make for a blog that will earn loyal readership or stimulate rich conversation. It may be more of a challenge to create a meaningful blog, if that’s your goal.

Restaurant Blogging Ideas
If you want to try a blog for your restaurant, you should make sure to follow certain blogging practices that are universally important. For one thing, make sure you’re committed to blogging quality material on a consistent basis. Your blog should also reflect the image you want to portray of your restaurant, and it should be professionally designed and edited.
Besides some of the ideas mentioned above (drink selections, new reviews, specials, etc.), there are many things you can blog about if you just get a little creative. Try blog posts that put the spotlight on regular customers or exceptional employees; those types of personal stories can be very interesting to readers, especially in a smaller town. Commenting on local events or issues, or commenting on national news stories relevant to the food and beverage industry, are also good ideas for providing varied and valuable content to your readers.

Is It for Your Restaurant?
Many restaurants won’t have blogs because they have no one on staff with the time, dedication, or expertise to maintain one, and that’s okay. It’s better to have no blog at all than a low-quality blog. If your restaurant’s image centers around being modern or trendy, a blog would just be another logical way for you to show that your restaurant is current. Whether you decide to start a blog or not, just remember that most of your new customers will find you online, and a blog gives you the opportunity to connect with them.

Julie Myers is a professional chef and avid blogger.  She enjoys writing blog posts about her favorite recipes and used restaurant wordpress themes to design her restaurant’s blog.